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Feathers and Fins

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To start let me say this is about Public Lands.

I have a spot that is public land but for many years no one hunted it as it was nothing more than a small pothole about 1.5 acres total and had I not seen an ungodly amount of Mallards drop in to it one day prefront I would have blown it off as a jump shoot at best. But post front on a NW Wind or Prefront with the same wind ( 15mph or more ) this area has produced time after time after time the kind of place you can set a watch by. Never found trash on it or shells and no signs of anyone hunting it a dream spot if there can be one on public land.

So anyway I took a friend out there and told him before we went to please not share it with anyone else as it is a small area and very dependent on the perfect conditions and pressure would certainly mess it up. H e had been bugging me for years to take him to this spot as he has seen the pics from it.

So last year I relented but made him promise me to never go without calling me first or show anyone else. Well a another friend called me the other day that had a first timer with him ( his son 6 years old ) and asked if I knew someplace where he might be able to get him on a couple birds. Knowing the conditions were right I told him where to go and where to set up and how.

He got there and found 6 trucks in the parking lot and saw the lights on the spot I told him to go, this is a blind I built out of a willow tree that is perfectly natural you couldn’t ask for better. So he decided to set- up on a pond a little north. By 8am the people were done blasting away and were leaving. He saw who they were and knew the one guy was a friend of mine. He picked up his spread and went to where they were and found all kinds of hulls donut wrappers and Styrofoam coffee cups all fresh.

He sent me the pictures, needless to say I was more than a little pissed off. I called my “old friend” and asked him why he didn’t at least call me and his response was “It’s public land and I don’t need to F_____ call you or ask your permission” Now that’s true but it is public and he certainly does not, but here is the question.

If a person takes you to a spot and ask you not to hunt it or show or tell others or hunt it without at least calling you first is that even though its public what is your opinion of that person?

BTW my other friend and his son picked up the trash and did get a few birds for the boy. The other friend will NEVER hunt with me again and as far as I am concerned will I will never associate with him again. A promise is a promise in my book and if you cannot keep your word I don’t want you as a friend or associate even.

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I couldn't agree more with your frustration. Public land is what it is, but a friend should have more respect for you and themselves than to "rape your hole". Especially when you specifically asked them to give you a heads up. Im sure most decent folks have had similar situations. it's disappointing on several levels. I hope you find a new honey hole!

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I understand your anger and frustration. I once found a Verdigris River slough that required carring your innertube through 500 yards of marsh to reach. It sat hard against the river itself but was blocked from water access except at high flood stages. Don't even begin to ask why I was looking for that kind of fishing hole or how I found it. About two years after i discovered it, I made the error of taking someone into fish it with me. You know what happened.

Take comfort that your ex-friend and his friends will over hunt your pothole, declare it worthless, and forget about it. Then a couple of years later it will be empty of people but full of birds again.

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Loose lips sink ships,

This is why I am ever so careful who and where I am able to take people especially on private ground, yes you can have the same problem even on private. I have even encroached on some of BirdWatchers ground but with permission from him even though I had been granted trespass from the landowner. AND I would take him to my other spots if we wanted. Trustful friends can be hard to find. If you don't want company don't spill the beans. Even without telling you can be seen or heard and give up your spots.

Speaking of public ground Scott I got some intel for the place you like to hunt West of me,

BilletHead

"We have met the enemy and it is us",

Pogo

   If you compete with your fellow anglers, you become their competitor, If you help them you become their friend"

Lefty Kreh

    " Never display your knowledge, you only share it"

Lefty Kreh

         "Eat more bass and there will be more room for walleye to grow!"

BilletHead

    " One thing in life is for sure. If you are careful you can straddle the barbed wire fence but make one mistake and you will be hurting"

BilletHead

  P.S. "May your fences be short or hope you have long legs"

BilletHead

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Your buddy is a DB. I have divorced buddies for doing that.

That being said, It's public property. There are no secrets on public property. Just spots that the people who came before you have forgot about and the people that will come after you haven't found yet.

I'd forget about it. Ducks are migratory. Today's hotspot is tomorrow's dead sea. But lesson learned on the "friend"

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Been there done that haven't we Nathan ;). Frustrating to say the least. Bothers me more though about the trash left behind, one of my pet peeves is trash including empty shells. I Understand your not going to find all your empties especially in the brush and grass but it's obvious some people have no respect. Pack it in, pack it out.

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