Duck Season 2024

[ness]

On 11/25/2024 at 6:35 PM, Ryan Miloshewski said:

Did my first Kansas hunt since teal yesterday. Did not shoot a duck. Saw a few, but nothing in range. However, it was eventful.

I deer hunted KS in the morning so I got to the public marsh around 9:30. Was prepared to wait if the lot was full. Not a vehicle, which is usually a bad sign. I hauled my Invisiman, Hank's Invisilab, decoys and gun to a good spot on the south end with the south wind. Jumped up 20 or so mallards walking in. 

About 2:30 these two younger cats come walking down the levee. Mind you, this is a very small marsh. It can hunt one party on a south wind, two on a north. They get to within 150 yds of me on the levee and finally see me (was happy with my hide). Well they decide to keep going and setup within 120-yds of me. Strike one.

Then they start talking loud. I mean I could hear every word loud. Then came to cacophony of their attempts at duck calling. I mean it might be the worst I've ever heard. Whatever, no ducks were flying over anyway.

Finally a group of gadwall and mallards circle and they just blow them out with their first note. I said calmly "guys, I can call and I'll let them pick where they go." No answer. So the entire rest of the day they blow their calls and essentially ruined my hunt. They were ignorant, loud, and horrible hunters.

So shooting light end comes near and I know I wasn't going to shoot anything so I pick up my decoys and gather all my things and haul them in two trips to the levee. They yell at me to quit moving. I ignore them. It's now 10 min after shooting light and I watch a drake mallard circling. I knew they were going to do it, and they did. Of course they shot at him at 70 yds and he flew away. I said "hey you know you're supposed to stop shooting at sunset, right?" Their reply was "f**k off, go away you p***k!"

Ok, now I'm going to get petty. You ruined my hunt for 4 hours, so I am going to ruin yours. I hustle back to the lot and get their plate info and call my buddy Tanner, who just so happens to be the game warden. "Shoot, I'm 5-min down the road, I'll head there now." 

He waited for them at the lot. Tickets for shooting after legal hours, tickets for no hunting licenses, and tickets for no federal duck stamp.

I am no narc, but these guys were the absolute worst and they deserved it. I was going to let everything go and just chalk it up to younger guys not knowing any better and maybe have a parking lot conversation, but nope, they had to mouth off after ruining my day. Petty? Yes. But hopefully they never set foot on that area again, because those types of people are the one's ruining public land duck hunting for everybody. Lesson: be careful who you mouth off to in the marsh when you've been an a-hole all day. 

Anyway, this front should make things fun!

Not petty, in my opinion.

Glad you were able to get a quick response and nail the jerks. Maybe they'll follow the rules next time. There's no excuse for not having proper license and stamp or knowing the times.

But they're still inconsiderate, mouthy a-holes, which will likely continue. I hear stories about those kind quite a bit.

 

[Johnsfolly]

Clueless🤔😉

 

[Ryan Miloshewski]

3 hours ago, ness said:

Not petty, in my opinion.

Glad you were able to get a quick response and nail the jerks. Maybe they'll follow the rules next time. There's no excuse for not having proper license and stamp or knowing the times.

But they're still inconsiderate, mouthy a-holes, which will likely continue. I hear stories about those kind quite a bit.

 

You know, you are right. I'm no narc but those are the type of people who ruin public land duck hunting for everybody. Maybe now they'll think before doing what they did. Or just stay away. There are TONS of guys who go about it the right way, don't get me wrong. And those of us who despise the type of guys I ran into want them to go away. I get it, it's public land, but it's not too much to just be a decent person.

Some good examples. When I was in Iowa this year, I was dressing at the lot and met Frank, a professor. Pro tip: you will know within 30 sec of meeting somebody at a lot if they are good people. I knew Frank was. He said "well hell, we might as well hunt together instead of competing." I agreed. I had a blast. We shot ducks and laughed all morning. I have his number now and invited him to come to Missouri or Kansas should he want to. 

Teal season in Kansas met Trevor and his son Malcolm. Asked where they were going and he said well I don't know, haven't been able to scout. I had. It was his son's first duck hunt. I said well if you want to hunt together, come with me and let's get him his first duck. We have been friends ever since. Had my buddy Chris make him some calls that I am delivering on our next hunt together.

Two years ago I was in between jobs so I could hunt whenever. Got out to the marsh at 8:30. Two guys in the spot I wanted to be. I watched them shoot their limits from the lot and as they came back helped them lug their gear and full straps back to the trucks. "Wow, thanks so much for not walking in on us and setting up close. That's rare these days." They left and I went in and shot a limit, too. 

It's more good than bad, but the bad ones certainly stand out.