# Found the ducks



## fsamie1 (Mar 8, 2008)

went to Canada this afternoon for some divers. Driving on M29 and looking between houses there were raft of ducks for miles. Do not get too excited, they may not be there next weekend. In Canada, I saw thousands and thousands of mallards flying high out of shooting range. They were all in a refuge and coming out in group and fly high toward Walpole for corn dinner, I think. Even that high, whenever I looked up, they flared, seems like they were all looking inside the blind. For divers, they were a few miles out and many of them. Cannot believe there are so many ducks with PhD. Damn skybusters must have educated them.


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## drakester (Nov 17, 2015)

fsamie1 said:


> went to Canada this afternoon for some divers. Driving on M29 and looking between houses there were raft of ducks for miles. Do not get too excited, they may not be there next weekend. In Canada, I saw thousands and thousands of mallards flying high out of shooting range. They were all in a refuge and coming out in group and fly high toward Walpole for corn dinner, I think. Even that high, whenever I looked up, they flared, seems like they were all looking inside the blind. For divers, they were a few miles out and many of them. Cannot believe there are so many ducks with PhD. Damn skybusters must have educated them.


 Those CanadianMallards have been hunted in hard flying out of the CWS since September. Anchor bay is loaded up with ducks right now ,but by noon next Saturday most will be back in Canada. It will be a frantic race to see who can get there limits in the bay before then. Sunday will have a fraction of the Shooting you will hear on Saturday. Should be a great weekend for waterfowl hunting remember its still December and to be safe.


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## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

drakester said:


> Those CanadianMallards have been hunted in hard flying out of the CWS since September. Anchor bay is loaded up with ducks right now ,but by noon next Saturday most will be back in Canada. It will be a frantic race to see who can get there limits in the bay before then. Sunday will have a fraction of the Shooting you will hear on Saturday. Should be a great weekend for waterfowl hunting remember its still December and to be safe.


Unfortunately all of the people out scouting the day before will disturb them.

The birds are pretty dispersed. It's going to be a Clusterama on an epic scale.


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## Bertslash (Sep 3, 2011)

fsamie1 said:


> went to Canada this afternoon for some divers.



NO YOU DID IT!! 
You will have EVERYBODY driving over there and RUINING that side of the lake!! :lol:ne_eye:

Just Kidding! I was referring to that post about people "ruining" the other side of the state!!


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## drakester (Nov 17, 2015)

Bertslash said:


> NO YOU DID IT!!
> You will have EVERYBODY driving over there and RUINING that side of the lake!! :lol:ne_eye:
> 
> Just Kidding! I was referring to that post about people "ruining" the other side of the state!!


 When, you can see them all piled along the shore off M-29 cyber scouting really isnt a issue and as far as people traffic the day before might not be that bad its Christmas day. Oh but Saturday morning on anchor bay will be one to remember , the term Blitzkrieg comes to mind.


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## Divers Down (Mar 31, 2008)

I think Uncle Ted wrote this about the 2 day spilt.


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## onebad800 (Apr 28, 2003)

gonna be layout mania, I got 300 dekes ready to go


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## fsamie1 (Mar 8, 2008)

do not need 25 dozen decoys, we do pretty good with 5 dozen. some of these ducks have arrived since our season closed and should be easy targets. As I said, lots and lots od them are still in Canadian water which is illegal to layout shoot.


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## [email protected] (Mar 13, 2012)

Had some friends in Canada the past three days. They did ok!!! Shrubby


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## ice ghost (Jan 17, 2015)

They must be everywhere because certain areas in the SW are serving as refuge for huge flocks of Mallards and Blacks. I thought this freeze we had this weekend might move em but it seems to have brought even more.


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## Divers Down (Mar 31, 2008)

[email protected] said:


> Had some friends in Canada the past three days. They did ok!!! Shrubby
> View attachment 199808


Omg, that's incedible!


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## ice ghost (Jan 17, 2015)

Incredible? Hardly. Same thing happens every year and I don't have an uncle named Ted.


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## fsamie1 (Mar 8, 2008)

Must have been a killing field! I have been there when cans just arrived. It was like 3 in the afternoon, a flock of 20 decoys, we shot a few and rest of them land. shoot a couple in the water, and rest of them jump and decoy right back. it was like murder, I still feel bad about shooting those tired dumb ducks. It was about 10 years ago and now I want one to mount and still working at it.


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## grassmaster (Jan 10, 2009)

You can layout shoot on Lake Ontario, why not LSC ?


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## wavie (Feb 2, 2004)

[email protected] said:


> They did ok!!! Shrubby
> View attachment 199808


Atleast I see they shot one real duck.


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## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

wavie said:


> Atleast I see they shot one real duck.


The Ringer?


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## tonyhomer (Aug 15, 2011)

Sammie its not illegal to layout hunt in St Clair you just have to do it in the right places. They have a 300 meter rule. But the stake line to walpole is where to take the layouts. Due NW from where you were when we seen you its open water with the property lines marked with sticks in the water. LOL Perfectly legal to layout there outside the states within 300 meters. Thats where I would have been when we seen you had it not been so rough.


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## fsamie1 (Mar 8, 2008)

tonyhomer said:


> Sammie its not illegal to layout hunt in St Clair you just have to do it in the right places. They have a 300 meter rule. But the stake line to walpole is where to take the layouts. Due NW from where you were when we seen you its open water with the property lines marked with sticks in the water. LOL Perfectly legal to layout there outside the states within 300 meters. Thats where I would have been when we seen you had it not been so rough.


That is a pretty good distance. My boat does not plane with all that load. 7 mph at 2000 rpm and 10 mph at 4400 rpm. I used to go south of the point a mile or two and setup near the stake line.. did not do too bad there.


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## deadduck365 (Nov 5, 2010)

[email protected] said:


> Had some friends in Canada the past three days. They did ok!!! Shrubby
> View attachment 199808


It's a good thing is American hunters save the lives of all those canvasbacks. The Canadians wouldn't have any to shoot if we could shoot 6 a day.
Don't get me wrong. I love seeing pictures of a successful hunt. Last year we could have had likes like that of cans and reds. I bet we were inside the 300m rule on the US side. I just don't understand how there is such a difference on the side of a river/lake. I understand it is a federal thing. It's just a lot confusing on the side of conservation.


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## wavie (Feb 2, 2004)

deadduck365 said:


> The Canadians wouldn't have any to shoot if we could shoot 6 a day


You answered your own question.


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## tonyhomer (Aug 15, 2011)

just ducky said:


> I haven't hunted over there...well I did hunt the open water off Walpole with the Indians years ago, but not the "public" areas over there. So my question, after reading all of these posts, is does Ontario have a similar safety zone of 450' from an occupied building? If so (as some of you pointed out), that doesn't give you much of a window if there are homes along the shoreline. It must be that the area around Mitchell's Bay doesn't have many houses right up on the shoreline like the US side does? Again, I haven't been there...excuse my ignorance.


Completely incorrect lots of houses along the shores in Canada. the 300m still applies there as well. look at a map of Mitchell's bay and look at the southern shore of the bay and its all houses and a city park. The southern shore is all houses as well. 
The rule is 300 Meters. simple as that. Im sure certain jurisdictions and cities may have others but for the MB area its 300 meters as stated before. Its not easy to learn and understand for a while but you learn and figure it out after a few years of doing it and reading the rules.


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## Duckman Racing (Oct 11, 2004)

tonyhomer said:


> Completely incorrect lots of houses along the shores in Canada. the 300m still applies there as well. look at a map of Mitchell's bay and look at the southern shore of the bay and its all houses and a city park. The southern shore is all houses as well.
> The rule is 300 Meters. simple as that. Im sure certain jurisdictions and cities may have others but for the MB area its 300 meters as stated before. Its not easy to learn and understand for a while but you learn and figure it out after a few years of doing it and reading the rules.


You didn't answer his question. Is there a safety zone around houses in Canada like there is in Michigan?

In Michigan you must be 450' away from any houses in order to legally hunt. If you were forced to hunt within 300 meters from shore, but had to stay at least 450 feet from a house that is on the shore, then you would have a sliver of the lake roughly 530 feet wide in which you could legally hunt.


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## tonyhomer (Aug 15, 2011)

Duckman Racing said:


> You didn't answer his question. Is there a safety zone around houses in Canada like there is in Michigan?
> 
> In Michigan you must be 450' away from any houses in order to legally hunt. If you were forced to hunt within 300 meters from shore, but had to stay at least 450 feet from a house that is on the shore, then you would have a sliver of the lake roughly 530 feet wide in which you could legally hunt.


As far as I am aware the only rule as I stated is 300 Meters. Which could take over the 450ft rule you have now.
Different areas have different rules as I stated before. best to get on canadas website and read the rules. I hunt the eastern shore area around Mitchells bay.

There can be areas that are tight. No doubt. But your thinking to much into it. its really simple. 300 meters as stated from shore, Vegetation or stake line. simple as that.


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## jtiede (Feb 5, 2010)

There are areas on the Canadian side of St Clair you can hunt directly from the shoreline (some hunt 2 feet from their dock). Other areas have a local bylaw that you need to be 200m from shore. In the areas that fall under the local bylaw, you must be 200m from shore but you are able to hunt out past 300meters.


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## jtiede (Feb 5, 2010)

Tony is right about the east shore, you cannot go out beyond 300m from any shoreline, stakeline or vegetation able to hide a boat.


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## Divers Down (Mar 31, 2008)

It doesn't have to be 300 meters, make it 600. Still better than what exists.


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## drakester (Nov 17, 2015)

tonyhomer said:


> Thats what they are saying, It could and would work. Its really a simple yet effective rule. And easily controlled and managed. 300 yards from any shoreline, natural vegetation or stake line(private property line).
> 
> The problem will be in a few years your big reed islands will be gone real quick from hunters beating them down and make it tough to find a place to hunt. Same thing happens in Canada. very very few places to set up over there anymore to much pressure. And only those who have done it for years earn where to go and the little hidden spots that most have no clue about. Why you think those guides are killing ducks regularly? They leave at 2am to get the spot and have some hidden secret spots as well.
> 
> But in the end this sollution works for them But the fact all the private gun clubs bait them also helps hold 10s of thousands of birds.


 Tony, yes, agree, fact is it could work on the American side of lake Saint Clair. I also agree with 365 that there is not a ton of room to work with when you consider the amount of hunters on our side and maybe it could fall between a 1/4 and 1/2 mile distance. This would help hold ducks. As far as the clubs baiting in Canada ,yes this is very true but you must be 400meters away from the regulated baiting areas. Its really no different then going to Harsens Island and hunting the state regulated baited corn strips. The difference is they are private clubs many owned and used by Americans that dont rely on state regulated hunting.


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## onebad800 (Apr 28, 2003)

you can off your dock in Michigan long as you have your neighbors permission if there under the 450 rule....


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## Timber (Jan 1, 2009)

drakester said:


> Tony, could not agree with you more. I have a UFO and layout hunt the problem with Lake Saint Clair is the size compared to hunting pressure on the U.S. side of the lake. Only 1/3 of the lake is in U.S. waters, layout guides push the ducks out farther each day of the season.Couple that with the tremendous weekend pressure and you are lucky to see a duck without binos on Sunday. Look at Anchor Bay today hundreds of thousands of ducks are piled along the shoreline because of no hunting pressure. A 300 yard rule would keep ducks on our side all season long. This would make for safer hunting and more ducks in the bag.


I feel like the ducks will get educated and wont decoy one way or another, but I also agree that bumping the birds pushes them further away!


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## walter sniper (Jan 21, 2010)

Two weeks ago there were two layout boats and a tender set up about 3 miles out of the Saginaw river mouth. There must have been a hundred walleye fisherman zipping around and pushing birds. All I know is that every time a boat pushed a raft, guns were blazing. Not saying pressure doesn't push birds but sometimes it gets em moving. We put up a flock of at least 300 squaws and they went right to these guys Dekes, someone owes me a beer, lol, it was awesome.


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## Divers Down (Mar 31, 2008)

walter sniper said:


> Two weeks ago there were two layout boats and a tender set up about 3 miles out of the Saginaw river mouth. There must have been a hundred walleye fisherman zipping around and pushing birds. All I know is that every time a boat pushed a raft, guns were blazing. Not saying pressure doesn't push birds but sometimes it gets em moving. We put up a flock of at least 300 squaws and they went right to these guys Dekes, someone owes me a beer, lol, it was awesome.


Jumped rafts don't decoy well, pass shooting at best.


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## walter sniper (Jan 21, 2010)

If your a big water diver hunter,50% of the time you pass shooting anyway, not like ducks are gonna land in your lap chest exposed at 15 yards every time.( unless you like buffleheads)My point is, you can't shoot birds all rafted up, unless your sculling.

Anyone ever seen that Debbie Downer Saturday night live skit? Jk to each his own, good luck.


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## Zeboy (Oct 4, 2002)

I have been hunting the Canadian side of LSC for 10 - 15 years with a layout crew on public water. A good friend of mine has a place over there. Some of the guys have been going for 25 years. We know that area well. For years I have read the posts about the Canadian side and laughed. There is always a lot speculation about what's going on over there on this board. Some of it is accurate, a lot of it isn't. 

There is no doubt that having "no hunting open water areas" help keep birds in the area, but 5000 bird flocks don't exactly decoy very well. I can't tell how many times I have sat in the layout boat just hoping and wishing some perch fisherman would come out and break them up.

To comment on a few posts. There are certainly areas that have lots of houses, though there are plenty of areas where there are not. I do not know about the safety zone question, but my hunch is they do not. One big pain is all the Indian water, private marshes and hunt clubs. There are many from Walpole on down around the shore. It makes the "public" spots highly competitive. Someone made a comment about guides heading out at 2 am to secure their spot. I don't think that is too far off.

Our big concern if just how poorly we have done the past 5 years on divers (cans, reds, bluebills) compared to the 20+ years before that from the layout boats. We used to easily outshoot the barge blinds 5 to 1. Now it seems like they are doing better then we do. There are still plenty of ducks, we just are not getting them to work the spread like we have in the past. Sure, it probably used to be too easy and we were spoiled but we struggle to figure out the main reasons.

For a few years we thought it was the low water. After the last couple years we have ruled that out. The ducks have certainly changed where they roost and what direction they go to feed every day. It used to be automatic. It isn't anymore. Is it the windmills?? They are nowhere near us, but boy have a lot those suckers gone up all along the Canadian side the last 5 years. Is it more layout rigs all through their migration? We don't see anymore by us, but it sure sounds like Michigan waters from Munuscong on down have plenty. Has the food sources changed causing the divers to change their patterns? Is it the cleaner / clearer water? We know that we do better when the water is dirty. Dekes look so much better in dirty water and the boat blends in more. The water in general is much clearer and cleaner than it used to be all through the great lakes. This fall there was little rain and little sediment washing into the lake which kept it quite clean did not help at all.

Do we still kill ducks? sure. There are still good days and bad days and hunting is about a lot more than just how many you killed. There are certainly a lot more days where you might as well go fishing because you are not going to kill ducks from the layout boats, unless you are into ruddies and buffies. We still have tons of fun, bu it's not the duck Nirvana that some people think it is.


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## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

Zeboy said:


> I have been hunting the Canadian side of LSC for 10 - 15 years with a layout crew on public water. A good friend of mine has a place over there. Some of the guys have been going for 25 years. We know that area well. For years I have read the posts about the Canadian side and laughed. There is always a lot speculation about what's going on over there on this board. Some of it is accurate, a lot of it isn't.
> 
> There is no doubt that having "no hunting open water areas" help keep birds in the area, but 5000 bird flocks don't exactly decoy very well. I can't tell how many times I have sat in the layout boat just hoping and wishing some perch fisherman would come out and break them up.
> 
> ...


Very astute observations and well written. I used to take my place in the Mitchell's firing line in the early '90s out of Bass Haven. Kept the fire lit during the 3 duck/30 day US seasons.
You pose an interesting question: what changed? I would guess the food source is the main reason. Maybe during the last cold winters the birds were congregated over a small area and stripped it clean. Your theory about layouts is a good one. Used to be you had to know John Kalash or Bucik, or build your own. Now the birds see dozens. Anyway merry christmas


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## Divers Down (Mar 31, 2008)

walter sniper said:


> If your a big water diver hunter,50% of the time you pass shooting anyway, not like ducks are gonna land in your lap chest exposed at 15 yards every time.( unless you like buffleheads)My point is, you can't shoot birds all rafted up, unless your sculling.
> 
> Anyone ever seen that Debbie Downer Saturday night live skit? Jk to each his own, good luck.


Have to disagree about all the pass shooting (on Erie that is) but what evs. Divers Downer? I like it lol


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## drakester (Nov 17, 2015)

Zeboy said:


> I have been hunting the Canadian side of LSC for 10 - 15 years with a layout crew on public water. A good friend of mine has a place over there. Some of the guys have been going for 25 years. We know that area well. For years I have read the posts about the Canadian side and laughed. There is always a lot speculation about what's going on over there on this board. Some of it is accurate, a lot of it isn't.
> 
> There is no doubt that having "no hunting open water areas" help keep birds in the area, but 5000 bird flocks don't exactly decoy very well. I can't tell how many times I have sat in the layout boat just hoping and wishing some perch fisherman would come out and break them up.
> 
> ...


 Hunting Canada and looking at a 50,000 bird raft a half mile out is still better then looking at 3 layouts rigs three miles out and no ducks. The theory is by locals on that side of the lake layouts spook ducks from rafting in close to shore. The barge boat blinds tucked in along the weeds also allow more guns to shoot at one time. Also Cans many fly higher a little more like a Mallard and are more likely to see the layout boat then a cedar como boat. All the Americans paying for guided hunt would like to shoot 6 bull Cans. As we know Cans and Mallards eat better then ruddys and bluebills. For those of us that love duck hunting the options on that side of the lake while maybe more money are far greater. I want to wish everyone a happy holiday and a safe succesful end to thier hunting season.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Duckman Racing said:


> You didn't answer his question. Is there a safety zone around houses in Canada like there is in Michigan?
> 
> In Michigan you must be 450' away from any houses in order to legally hunt. If you were forced to hunt within 300 meters from shore, but had to stay at least 450 feet from a house that is on the shore, then you would have a sliver of the lake roughly 530 feet wide in which you could legally hunt.


thank you


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

tonyhomer said:


> As far as I am aware the only rule as I stated is 300 Meters. Which could take over the 450ft rule you have now.
> Different areas have different rules as I stated before. best to get on canadas website and read the rules. I hunt the eastern shore area around Mitchells bay.
> 
> There can be areas that are tight. No doubt. But your thinking to much into it. its really simple. 300 meters as stated from shore, Vegetation or stake line. simple as that.


You still aren't getting what we're saying (do I need to draw a picture...with all due respect?). If the Ontario reg is WITHIN 300 meters of cover, shoreline, etc., and the Michigan rule says you must be at least 450' AWAY from occupied dwellings, that carves out a tiny slice in between those two measurements....follow us? So the question remains...could you be as CLOSE as you want to an occupied dwelling there, as long as you are no FURTHER than 300 meters from cover/shore, etc.?


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

jtiede said:


> There are areas on the Canadian side of St Clair you can hunt directly from the shoreline (some hunt 2 feet from their dock). Other areas have a local bylaw that you need to be 200m from shore. In the areas that fall under the local bylaw, you must be 200m from shore but you are able to hunt out past 300meters.


Thank you. That begins to clear things up.


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## deadduck365 (Nov 5, 2010)

IN my 13 years of layout hunting I agree about the many changes in the us side of LSC. When we started there were maybe 5 boat trailers at the launch before ice. Mostly musky guys. (That has exploded with pressure) we rarely ever saw more than a single other layout. We shot a mixed bag most times. Now it seems we have seen a single species or 2 in most places we hunt. Much of the vegetation and food source has changed. There are still the standard places. The clear water sure hasn't helped. The entire ecosystem of LSC has changed dramatically. I can't say the pressure is the only problem.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Zeboy said:


> ...Our big concern if just how poorly we have done the past 5 years on divers (cans, reds, bluebills) compared to the 20+ years before that from the layout boats. We used to easily outshoot the barge blinds 5 to 1. Now it seems like they are doing better then we do. There are still plenty of ducks, we just are not getting them to work the spread like we have in the past. Sure, it probably used to be too easy and we were spoiled but we struggle to figure out the main reasons.
> 
> For a few years we thought it was the low water. After the last couple years we have ruled that out. The ducks have certainly changed where they roost and what direction they go to feed every day. It used to be automatic. It isn't anymore. Is it the windmills?? They are nowhere near us, but boy have a lot those suckers gone up all along the Canadian side the last 5 years. Is it more layout rigs all through their migration? We don't see anymore by us, but it sure sounds like Michigan waters from Munuscong on down have plenty. Has the food sources changed causing the divers to change their patterns? Is it the cleaner / clearer water? We know that we do better when the water is dirty. Dekes look so much better in dirty water and the boat blends in more. The water in general is much clearer and cleaner than it used to be all through the great lakes. This fall there was little rain and little sediment washing into the lake which kept it quite clean did not help at all...


Kind of hijacking the thread, but humor me. Having sat in on many of the Michigan CWAC meetings over the last few years, I can tell you the theory of the Michigan "experts' in the DNR and the region is two fold....1) the food supply in most of the great lakes has DRASTICALLY changed over the last couple decades, partially due to zebra mussels and other invasives, which changed the migration patterns of the ducks coming from the north. Many of those that used to follow the Mississippi Flyway pattern apparently now head towards the typical Atlantic Flyway path. And 2) the increase in water in the prairie pothole region (the dakotas and the southern Canadian provinces) since the mid-90's has made more Mississippi Flyway birds follow the Central Flyway path. The most recent maps I've seen from the experts that compare today's flights with those of the 60's/70's/80's show that more and more birds now peel to the east coast or the Dakotas more than they previously did. So the theory is we in the great lakes are seeing a small fraction of what we did 20, 30 or 40 years ago. Again, just a theory. But as someone who hunts North Dakota each year, I can certainly vouch for the water there. Most of what was pasture or farm fields prior to the mid-90's are now potholes from a few acres to hundreds of acres. The farmers that we rent from have what amounts to a lake next to their farm that is about 3 miles long and 1/2-3/4 mile across...they jet ski on it. Prior to '95, it was a pasture that they had cattle in.


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## walter sniper (Jan 21, 2010)

Divers Down said:


> Have to disagree about all the pass shooting (on Erie that is) but what evs. Divers Downer? I like it lol


Lol glad you have a sense humor!!!
I mainly hunt northern sag bay awesome mixed bag of divers should be killer Sunday NE 15-20 rain snow mix....blue bills are my blue pills

Wife just gave me a hall pass for eiders in Maine New Years weekend as long as I get her lobster Is life really this awesome


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## tonyhomer (Aug 15, 2011)

just ducky said:


> You still aren't getting what we're saying (do I need to draw a picture...with all due respect?). If the Ontario reg is WITHIN 300 meters of cover, shoreline, etc., and the Michigan rule says you must be at least 450' AWAY from occupied dwellings, that carves out a tiny slice in between those two measurements....follow us? So the question remains...could you be as CLOSE as you want to an occupied dwelling there, as long as you are no FURTHER than 300 meters from cover/shore, etc.?


I get what your saying and the answer is NO. The shoreline would have to come into play where the house is located.


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## Tavor (Sep 10, 2011)

I would probably give up layout hunting if I were forced to do it 200 yards in front of someone's picture window. Nearly all of LSC's Michigan shoreline is solid houses; one against the next. Duck hunting is a wonderful experience, but a lousy spectator sport. In layout hunting, lots of ducks go down far from dead, and they have to be chased down and shot, sometimes repeatedly, before they are put into the boat. It is often a brutal, ugly, gruesome thing to watch, and especially so to a non-hunter. Moving duck hunting into the general population's face would probably increase anti-hunting sentiment tenfold. Besides that, I'm not so sure it is the hunters that chase the ducks off the bay. I think it is the crazy amount of non-hunting boat traffic that is crisscrossing the bay all season. We have it all nowadays; fishermen, joy riders, wet-suited jet skiers, sailboats. It wasn't like this forty years ago when I started layout hunting.


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## Jerry Lamb (Aug 3, 2015)

Tavor said:


> I would probably give up layout hunting if I were forced to do it 200 yards in front of someone's picture window. Nearly all of LSC's Michigan shoreline is solid houses; one against the next. Duck hunting is a wonderful experience, but a lousy spectator sport. In layout hunting, lots of ducks go down far from dead, and they have to be chased down and shot, sometimes repeatedly, before they are put into the boat. It is often a brutal, ugly, gruesome thing to watch, and especially so to a non-hunter. Moving duck hunting into the general population's face would probably increase anti-hunting sentiment tenfold. Besides that, I'm not so sure it is the hunters that chase the ducks off the bay. I think it is the crazy amount of non-hunting boat traffic that is crisscrossing the bay all season. We have it all nowadays; fishermen, joy riders, wet-suited jet skiers, sailboats. It wasn't like this forty years ago when I started layout hunting.


Well said Tavor. I hunt to get the hell away from people I don't want to make a spectacle of it. Always felt the same way.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Jerry Lamb said:


> Well said Tavor. I hunt to get the hell away from people I don't want to make a spectacle of it. Always felt the same way.


Reminds me of the guys who used to post up on this site the pics of their boat blind in Tawas Bay a couple hundred yards out from the beach. My ex was from there, so we'd go up every holiday time, and I'd see their boat parked there and just shake my head. The local rag paper got opinions from locals that were all over these dudes because they were in plain sight of everyone, and they were shooting the ducks that tourists feed bread to along the beaches all summer. And what I, and others, tried to tell them was sure, you can shoot ducks there, and sure it's perfectly legal. But at what cost? You've fired up an entire small town to be against duck hunters.

Yeah....get me away from the crowds. Whether I kill a limit or not is irrelevant to me. I basically have quit doing the bingo's for that very reason...just not my cup of tea any longer. To each his own guys! 

Merry Christmas!


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