Question for the local duck hunters

[micci_man]

I hear ya Sutton. lead for one and steel for the other in the same waters. Crazy ain't it?? As for those that do it... Very few shoot shoot birds that you can with lead on the lakes but even then there is so much silt that the lead shot is so far down that a duck will never get to it much less find it.

Back to the duck rules

[MudDucker]

After 30 years of absence, I visited Miccosukee this year. I did this because last year I found a little surface drive that met the criteria for the lake. Although I used to hunt Iammonia with a friend from Cairo years ago when everyone had unofficially assigned blinds, I didn't bother going there this year.

I don't like too much governmental regulation. Myself, I am fine with off limit days to let birds rest. Some studies have shown that there should be a least 5 days of rest.

I don't understand why you can put a 100hp in a lake 10 months out of the year, but then only a 10hp during duck season, although I suspect that was done at the request of duck hunters. I've been on another large local public lake that the best shooting at times was when the bass boats stirred the ducks up.

I am against a shell limit. Some days at my age, I am as deadly as I used to be. Some days it takes more powder to get the job done. Also, like Dannibeth says, she likes to shot coots, which has a larger limit than ducks.

I don't think there is enough difference between Mickosukee and Iammonia to explain why one allows gas motors and other does not. I say either remove all restrictions or at least allow a 10hp motor.

I don't want to add any additional regulations to Lake Jackson. Although I had carb issues with my airboat, I had planned to hunt with it in Jackson and probably will in the future.

No fees! The government has proved one thing and that is it will waste the money and it will somehow figure a way not to spend it on what it was originally intended for.

Corn is not a good food source. I think they need to dump a mixture of corn, wheat and wild rice into the ponds on the day after the hunts are allowed.

[micci_man]

Good reply MD and thanks

[bman]

I feel like I stepped out of the room for a drink and came back way into one of my favorite conversations!

I think one of the reasons we are talking about this at all is the mild winter that has hit up North.
There were a lot less birds on our lakes than usual and that makes us all think about what we can do to make it better.
From talking to other hunters this was the case all over the state... even the famous STA duck farms down South.

Also Duck hunting is COOL again- It seems like everyone I know keeps telling me they want me to take them duck hunting.
Its a blessing and a curse. There will be more stamp dollars to spend on habitat and more money given to DU and Delta.
But there are a lot more Duck dynasty wannabes out there that have no idea what they are doing.

1- Opening Iamonia and Carr to motors - This was debated at a FWC commissioners meeting last year. Over 200 folks showed up to speak against the change. 2 were there in favor of it. Iamonia and Carr are so close to Tallahassee and our bigger subdivisions that I believe opening them to 10hp motors would severally damage the hunting.
Carr is so little you could run every duck off the lake with the "scouting" I see most folks do.
I know a lot of the Miccosukee hunters think it would reduce pressure on their lake. Maybe, but there is already more pressure on Iamonia than you know.
Many days we counted +20 trucks at the Bull Headly ramp and 10 or more at the two bridges. I did not hunt out of Highway 12.

2- Five day a week hunting? They birds need a rest... Maybe the off days need to electric motors only on Micc and Jackson.

3- Blinds. Dang I sure miss hunting from a real blind. But going back seems impossible.

4- Shell Limits- not a fan. I agree that there will be more cripples left on the water. And I think mentoring hunters will limit sky busting - not limiting shells.

5- Corn? Funny thing is one of my buddies has a corn pond near Miccosukee and the hunting was poor on it this season.


The problems I see are harder to fix. Lots of young "duck dynasty" crews with face paint, new mud motors, truck stuckers and boats running the lakes looking for ducks.
Those same guys are skybusting, crowding other hunters, and leaving their trash behind. They just don't know any better and are being educated by the big league duck shows on TV. Heck you can go to Bass Pro and get your license, decoys, Benelli and a case of 3.5 inch shells and your a duck hunter.
I sound like an old man to myself but these kids need dad's that take them out and show them the right way to do things.

Several times this year we had guys ask us if they were setting up too close. Yes if you can have a conversation with me you are too close.
Had one guy set up 50 years across a cove from us and I went over to explain if we shot a duck their direction they might get hurt. They were CLUELESS- but had a surface drive and new texas rigged decoys

I like what RCS said -" Mud motors, particularly surface drives, were among the best things to ever happen to duck hunters, and the among the worst to happen to the ducks."
I went to Jackson several times to see where birds were going at sunset only to watch surface drives running through birds that had just come on the water to roost. No wonder they go somewhere else.


Finally, We have it a lot better off than they do down in South Florida. After a week hunting the STA's and Lake Okeechobee I love what we have here.
The crowding on the lakes there and the crazy lines and permit situations at the STAs bring out the nut cases. Don't get me wrong, its fun and there are some cool birds that we can't get here. But we had air boats run over our decoys on lake O, guys paddle through our decoys at the STA's and a guy sky but every duck that came into our assigned cell at a WMA. Had me wishing for a Wednesday morning on Iamonia

[micci_man]

Thanks for the post Barry

[sabalo]

Hello Gentlemen-

This is a subject near and dear to my heart and some of the ideas proposed here are interesting to say the least. I have hunted this area since I could walk in the seventies so I qualify now as a grumpy old man who reminisces about the good old days. I still hunt the lakes but rarely as it depresses me to see what has become of what used to be a priceless natural resource. I now shoot ducks on the plantations because that is where the ducks are. I live on Lake Jackson and can see all the way across the lake on a daily basis. All of the local lakes had thousands of birds before, during, and after the season. Everyone knew everyone else by name and whose blinds belonged to whom. We respected each others blinds with the understanding that if it was empty it could be hunted, and if the builder showed up and asked you to move- you moved. Typically they would say good luck- and move on to another blind. We routinely shot limits on most hunts and typically shot 30 days out of a 30 day season. I dont know when things started changing, but they did, and none of it for the better. In my opinion there are 3 reasons for the dramatic decline in duck hunting quality in this area. The reasons are interrelated and some of them are irreversible.

First and foremost is the number of hunters pressuring the ducks constantly. This is not news to anyone but landings that used to have 5 or 6 trucks on opening day now have 30 or 40. It is not just the number of hunters, but the fact that they insist on constantly running their boats from before sunup until after sundown. I have watched thousands of ducks trying to roost on Jackson only to be spooked off by multiple boats running through them on a daily basis. You would not believe how many mud motors and airboats run that lake EVERY day. Even if we had tons of ducks- they will not put up with that. These boys think that scouting means opening a six pack and cranking up the mud motor and running the lakes. If they would drink beer at the landing, leave the boats at home and buy some binoculars they might see and shoot some ducks.

Second and related to the first reason is that the lakes are shot and pressured too much and too often. I would bet anyone that more ducks would be seen and killed if the lakes were limited to one or two days per week (preferably not back to back days like Sat, Sun) Yes it would limit the opportunity- but we have been reduced to the opportunity of staring at empty skies now. I'd rather have one quality hunt a week than 7 days of nothing but coots. The Leon County rule of Sat, Sun, Wed is a joke when you add in all the holidays and special days, sometimes the birds are shot 7 out of 9 days (Opening Week). We cannot shoot our ducks on the flood ponds more than once or twice a week without running them off- theres no way 60 boats can hunt a public lake for 5 days straight and expect any ducks to be around.

Lastly there has been an exponential increase in the number and acreage of flood ponds built in our area over the last 25 years. People with money figured out that if they built it they would come and so build they did. So much so that like the housing boom- ponds were overbuilt and many never attracted ducks and those that used to dont hold what they once did. Our ponds near Jackson have experienced a steady and significant decline over the years. You simply have a similar amount of ducks spread out over a larger area of private, unmolested water. That being said- I think peace and quiet is as important as the food source. Some of the largest accumulations of ducks in Leon County over the last 5 years have not been on flood ponds, but on large private natural ponds with nothing but natural food in them. I'm talking tens of thousands of ducks on these ponds which do not get shot or are rarely shot. By the way- its amusing to see the continued urban myth of the plantations running airboats to scare ducks. They dont have to boys- you do a great job for them for free! You're cutting your own necks with your constant "scouting". I personally want as many ducks on the public lakes (especially Jackson) as possible- its good for everybody.

Thats my 2 cents and probably what its worth but its a shame what has happened to the ducks and duck hunting over the last 15 years. Its a terrific sport that may soon be gone like the quail we used to enjoy.

[hookedonred]

Best and Most Accurate Post I have read. I too remember these days. 10 years ago Miller landing or Crowder would have maybe 5-6 trucks there opening day. Amazing how things changed. I would also like to add to this. It might be inter-connected with what was mentioned previously or just poor timing, but the banning of permanent blinds seemed to open the doors to the lakes. I believe the urban legends that lingered around Tallahassee about the permanent blinds kept a lot of wanna-bees off the lakes due to the amount of blinds. People who didn't know how to hunt or had no business hunting were too afraid to sit in a blind that they had not built. Every year that has progressed since the banning, the pressure has significantly got worse, and it started before duck dynasty, but ole Phil didn't really help the cause either. Instead of spending the time scouting before the season and building a blind where you thought the "X" was, now the new generation of duck hunters have turned to a scalloper mentality for the most part (show up look for lights and head that direction, bc surely that's where the birds are) . This past opening morning I watched more boats zig-zag through each other then I have ever seen in my entire life of duck hunting, at one point I would have thought I was hunting in a metropolitan area due to the amount of lights on the lake, it was absolutely absurd. Bringing the blinds back will only cause more harm then good bc there are more hunters then ever before and people will just tear your blind down and build theirs. The only way the hunting is going to get better is for the numbers to die down, and maybe that will happen over time. Anyways I'm tired of ranting...

[SHOWBOAT]

good points, but ya'll are missing an important thought process, in my opinion.

The increased number of hunters, and young hunters, is good. In fact, it is necessary for the long term success of duck hunting. Indifferent of whether the popularity is b/c of Duck Dynasty, the bizzare draw of young boys to face paint, or something else, we should all embrace the youth that want to hunt. We should help them learn how to do it correctly. This is the case even if means fewer ducks for us.

I hate regulation, but if the consequence of increased pressure is that we need regulations to keep a healthy population of birds, then so be it. That regulation can come in the form of restrictions the number of days/week one can hunt, reduced bag limits or elimination of power boats. Prior to implementing any new regs, FWC/USFW needs to enforce the ones already in place! One officer could have reduced a lot of pressure on Iamonia this year if he rode in my boat. I saw violations almost every hunt. I've seen federal resources on the coast enforcing waterfowl regs, never on a Leon County Lake.

Separately, the flyover survey numbers I mentioned previously were conveyed second hand, so I may well be incorrect. Does anyone know where those numbers can be accessed?

[MudDucker]

Hello Sabalo,

We are obviously of similar age and memory of the olden days.

The biggest difference to me of then and now and the pressure on the ducks is the advent of the mudmotor. Back before the go-devil came on the scene, only an airboat would get to most of our marsh areas and most didn't own or have access to an airboat. Most would not do the work necessary to get out to where the X was.

Now everyone with money can easily access more and more waters.

Having said this, Brice's pond, Iammonia, Jackson and Miccosukee were very productive lakes that were easy to access. Brice's was and is private, but the other three were "public" back in the day, however, folks built blinds and nearly made those lakes quasi private. I got to enjoy some of them and had some great hunts, but I also saw folks get basically run off from the ramps of those ponds by folks who all but told them they were private lakes during duck season. That is why I do support the ban on building of blinds. Public lakes should be public.

I agree on nearly everything else you said.

As we used to say in the duck hunters blessing so many years ago, May the wings whistle into your many morning to come!

[bman]

As we used to say in the duck hunters blessing so many years ago, May the wings whistle into your many morning to come!

I like that!

Is there any more to it?

[MudDucker]

As we used to say in the duck hunters blessing so many years ago, May the wings whistle into your many morning to come!

I like that!

Is there any more to it?

As I recall, anyone who gave the blessing gave their own blessing, but always ended the blessing with this sentence. I heard it many times over the years back in the day. I suspect Sabalo might have as well.

[micci_man]

Thanks for the reply sabalo and you too hook

[onefishtwofish]

open motors on Iamonia and Carr to 10hp or less. - The people have spoken pretty clearly on this and I do not think FWC will revisit this any time soon. I have no opinion.
Allowing at least 5 hunt days a week on all 4 lakes, possibly 7 if it means no hunting past 1 or 2pm to give the ducks time to rest.- I would give one of my toes to close the lake I hunt at noon. I would also LOVE for Leon to be open on all week as it would take the pressure off my haunts. Too many folks from Leon strike out and bother me. HEY KIDS, GET OFF MY LAWN!

Allowing blinds to be built out of vegetation only and them not be classified as permanent and can be left out and hunted without being ticketed. (I only know of 1 ticket given out in the last 3 years and it was opening day of this season. $550 and 4 months probation) - No blinds. Take it with you if you bring it in. The Micc Blind Wars are infamous. People are hogs and want it all for themselves. Build a blind and think you own the spot. Bad recipe. Count me as a NO WAY!

Motor restriction on Jackson to 10hp or less-People have spoken.

25 shells per hunter per hunt- New regs = bad in almost every case. Skybusters are skybusters and I believe you can't regulate ethics.
FWC needs to dump corn by air over all 4 lakes at lease twice a month or allow.- LOL

And I am pretty sure that hunting in Leon is closed EXCEPT for Talquin and Ochlocknee. That would include woodie holes (as we had some in Leon and could only hunt them on those days).

Glad to see Steve and Dani are consistent in their opinions over the whole state. Dang Steve, is there ANYWHERE you don't hunt? Tell Dani to get up with me. I would like to host the two of you on a hunt next year. I half expect to see you in SK and MS while hunting. You are a hunting gypsy!

[micci_man]

Thanks for the comment onefish.

[BlindHog]

My two cents.
1) The blinds rule was a pain and FWC will likely not want to go there again.
2) The Iamonia NO GAS MOTOR rule was addressed and a poll taken and fought over and no change was made (maybe 5 years ago, dont recall date). That said, I hunted twice there in Jan and saw motors in use.
3) Miccosukee over 10 HP violations can only be solved with more FWC LEOs I suspect. They are out doing deer work or whatever. Violations are rampant but since it was increased to 10HP recently (6-7 yrs?) I doubt FWC would want more incremental increase.
4) Shell limits -- I bet the same number of ducks would get run off with 25 per person. So many boats have 2 or 3 in them also and that's a lot total. Plus FWC would not be there to count/check boats.
5) More hunting days -- ducks are successfully run off with 3 days a week. Hate that our lakes are singled out, but I think Tallahassee is unique in proximity to lots of hunters and the limited days are a must. Five would be too much. Also plantations and other groups like Tall Timbers have influence, see #6 below.
6) Corning the lake by FWC - its been sorta cold, but not freezing hell over any time soon. (Plantations are immune from scrutiny till that freeze happens, too.)

Of course what FWC "wants" and what has been done aren't just automatically the BEST thing, I am just being pragmatic.