# blind debate



## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

smoke said:


> The way I see it a well placed quart of gas and a spark and no one has to worry about that blind every again! I've done it before more than once.
> 
> You should see what happens at 5:00 am when the lights are coming through the marsh. Walking up and shinning the light all around and around.............and around looking looking............... walk a bit further look some more. All the while i'm set up doing recon with no lights whatsoever. I finally had to laugh out loud. Looking for your blind are you? :yikes: D pickles. It was on a public marsh and this idiot thought he could tie up the entire area because he had "his illegal blind" there! I DON'T THINK SO! :lol: I burned it after work on night on like a Wednesday being as I live on the river where it was. They came out Saturday figuring on hunting the said blind!
> 
> ...


not necessarily disagreeing with you my friend. However as much I believe this guy was wrong, no way would I ever confront an illogical moron out in the marsh when they are carrying a loaded gun. My view is that there are just way too many nutballs in this world who think nothing anymore of pulling a gun or other weapon on anyone. Case in point...the MSP trooper who was shot up by Manistee for no apparent reason...I know his dad personally.  But I also wouldn't just accept what this guy did...I'd contact the law and make my voice heard.

And as far as burning it, I had this discussion with my bro one time, who's a long time state trooper. his opinion was even though the guy is legally wrong in maintaining a permanent blind on public property for all those years, the law would in fact consider it his personal property, and by burning it, you COULD be charged with MDOP. Sad as that sounds...that's what the law would say. So don't make a bad situation worse by getting yourself a ticket :yikes:


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## Nuff Daddy (Dec 5, 2012)

jehler said:


> surprised how many guys say to move on, confrontation is the only exciting part of hunting puddle ducks


:lol::lol:


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## 3006 (May 16, 2000)

HEre are the rules from the waterfowl digest:

DECOYS, BLINDS, RAISED PLATFORMS


You may not leave decoys set out between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. in waters of the Great Lakes and connecting waters, and lakes wholly enclosed by publicly owned lands.


You may not erect or use a hunting blind on any public waters without permanently affixing to the exterior, in waterproof letters not less than three inches high, the name and address of the person who placed it there. Any unoccupied blind on the Great Lakes or Lake St. Clair may be used by the first person to occupy it each day. 


You may not leave any hunting blind or part thereof anchored or affixed to the bottomlands of any public waters within the state of Michigan prior to Aug. 15 or later than Jan. 16. 


You may not hunt waterfowl with a firearm from a raised platform except over submerged bottomlands. Blinds or platforms constructed over public waters must meet marking and removal requirements. 


You may not use or occupy a blind on the waters of the state that does not comply with marking and placement requirements. 


Contact the Plainwell DNR office (269-685-6851) regarding blind rules for Allegan County.


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## waxico (Jan 21, 2008)

Ha! The decoys! 

Went to my opening day spot and there were 4 dozen brand new G&Hs with no one there. I told my guys to grab any they could as we rowed back out as an A hole tax. Frankly it was cheaper than the decoys overnight ticket he would have gotten.

Had that happen in Canada too. Evidently all you have to do is leave 4 or 5 decoys in your spot to reserve it. Leave them there all year and the spot is yours.

Leave 4-5 in all the spots and no one gets to hunt but you!

And I'll stick with the saw. I didn't destroy the blind built on my land too, I simply re arranged it.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

only time I had personal experience on my own property was with a bow hunters tree stand. went out to my woods one year about a week before the 10/1 opener and found a stand in one of my trees on a major run into my woodlot. I tacked a note to the tree basically saying they were on my property without permission, and they could either remove the stand asap, or I would cut the chain and take it. I even left my phone number. Came back a couple days later and it was gone.

One time years ago I ran into a guy and his son on my property in gun deer season. I identified myself as the landowner, and asked him to leave. He said "it's not posted", and I responded, it doesn't have to be...I own the property, and you don't have my permission to hunt here...you're trespassing. The guy got a bit pissed, and he and his kid sulked away.

It's too bad we have to deal with this issue, but it's part of the game.


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## bc21 (Dec 15, 2010)

Nuff Daddy said:


> Another good way to get back at his would be to dump a bag of corn in the water and call it in. Kind of a low blow, but the guy has it coming.


Such a dick move, but I love it. Thinking outside the box.


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## waxico (Jan 21, 2008)

Fight dick with dick.

Unfortunately in this coarsening society it's coming to this.


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## sjk984 (Jan 4, 2010)

I would have said sorry my spreads so bad but your welcome to mix in your dekes to improve it

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## wildcoy73 (Mar 2, 2004)

Just make sure when leaving a note it is your land. Had this issue a few years back guy left a note on my stand, telling me it was on private land and had to be removed. So I wrote him one back and said if you remove it the sheriff will be called. And yes I know its on private property. Its my buddies and left both of our numbers. 6 months latter the guy that left the note gave us sole permission to his land. For he does not hunt. 

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## jehler (Jul 18, 2011)

waxico said:


> Ha! The decoys!
> 
> Went to my opening day spot and there were 4 dozen brand new G&Hs with no one there. I told my guys to grab any they could as we rowed back out as an A hole tax. Frankly it was cheaper than the decoys overnight ticket he would have gotten.
> 
> ...


that's douchebag stealing decoys, says a lot about your character, karma will catch up with you


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## Alldone88 (Nov 13, 2009)

It was definitely 100% public land.
If I wasn't so worried about missing first shooting light, and if I didn't have a friend with me who was clearly looking to get as far from these guys as possible, I would have stayed around and called the RAP line. I knew we were in the right to be hunting there, and that he would be violating some laws by shooting over us, but it just wasn't worth the risk. He could have pointed a gun at us to just scare us off, and it probably would have been loaded, and I would have had an accidental, yet still lethal, face full of steel. (probably lead in his case)

Like I said, the most frustrating part was how much he seemed to enjoy that we couldn't see his blind, and that we setup in front of it. I will be up there again this season since it is close to the in-laws house, and I will cruise by the blind and see if it is marked with a reflector or something for hunters to see. Who knows, maybe he reads M-S? If it's not, maybe I'll take some of the above recommended actions.

I think the idea of the Go-Pro is a good one. Thinking back, I should have pulled out the phone and started recording him. Probably was too dark to see him, but you could have still heard him on video making threats and lying about the regulations that he seemed to know so well, and was repeatedly spewing out, yet were 98% ********. He might have left us alone if I just started recording right away.


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## DuckDynasty (Oct 5, 2012)

I'm with Smoke, burn it down, you can't just "claim a spot",what about the guys that spend the money on nice boats and boat blinds that are hunting legally.


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## younggun7 (Nov 25, 2005)

How does the whole decoy thing work? I read the above post and its not clicking for me. 

Long story short, guy leaves his decoys out overnight so he can show up 5 mins before hours. Ive told him several times in the past he has to be there to hold the spot. Did it on opener so we picked it up set it aside for him. He huffed and puffed and down winded us by about 50 yds. As soon as we packed up he went and threw them back out were we were. Short of taking the decoys or sinking them what can be done to make him understand.


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## John Singer (Aug 20, 2004)

younggun7 said:


> How does the whole decoy thing work? I read the above post and its not clicking for me.
> 
> Long story short, guy leaves his decoys out overnight so he can show up 5 mins before hours. Ive told him several times in the past he has to be there to hold the spot. Did it on opener so we picked it up set it aside for him. He huffed and puffed and down winded us by about 50 yds. As soon as we packed up he went and threw them back out were we were. Short of taking the decoys or sinking them what can be done to make him understand.


From the waterfowl digest: "You may not leave decoys set out between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. in waters of the Great Lakes and connecting 
waters, and lakes wholly enclosed by publicly owned lands."

I would think that decoys left out on public property outside of the hours of 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. to be public property.

I would think that such decoys are best painted with fluorescent orange spray paint. I suspect that the owner would get the hint.


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## jehler (Jul 18, 2011)

I have gotten to a spot early, set up and then realized i left my shell bag in the truck, you guys think me leaving my blocks set up while i'm gone to get my stuff warrants theft and vandalism? I'm definitely not against confrontation or moving someones blocks that is not there but I don't understand your argument that makes it ok to be a criminal. Very poor character, its a shame


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## younggun7 (Nov 25, 2005)

John Singer said:


> lakes wholly enclosed by publicly owned lands."


I read that from the book myself. (maybe I'm just having a blonde moment) the lake is not entirely state land. It says in the book lakes wholly enclosed by publicly owned lands??


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## younggun7 (Nov 25, 2005)

jehler said:


> I have gotten to a spot early, set up and then realized i left my shell bag in the truck, you guys think me leaving my blocks set up while i'm gone to get my stuff warrants theft and vandalism? I'm definitely not against confrontation or moving someones blocks that is not there but I don't understand your argument that makes it ok to be a criminal. Very poor character, its a shame


Different situation. If you have read my post I said it has happened on several occasions. (More than once). We left the access with no one else there and still waited a decent amount of time in case of this situation. Again with the reading the whole post part. I said I wasn't taking that route. No need for the bad juju.


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## jehler (Jul 18, 2011)

younggun7 said:


> Different situation. If you have read my post I said it has happened on several occasions. (More than once). We left the access with no one else there and still waited a decent amount of time in case of this situation. Again with the reading the whole post part. I said I wasn't taking that route. No need for the bad juju.


that wasn't aimed at you my man

Your situation sucked, but you did the right thing for the most part, when the guy was a prick with you were it me i would probably had some pretty heated words with him


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## Tron322 (Oct 29, 2011)

jehler said:


> that's douchebag stealing decoys, says a lot about your character, karma will catch up with you


They were abandoned decoys, everyone in this state knows you can't leave them out overnight so the original owner must have wanted to get rid of all of them.


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## Tron322 (Oct 29, 2011)

To the OP you owe it to all of us to at least contact your local CO and let him or her know that a possible homicide might happen in one of the marshes they patrol.

Just call the RAP Hotline tommarow, let them know what going on and you would like the CO in your area call you, sometimes it takes a while so I usually try back again.

Let them know that this guy is unstable and actually threatened to shoot in your direction, one misjudgement on his fault and a firefight can start real quick. It is possible he has playing that sherriff card for so long that that sherriff he knows is long retired and dead of old age, some guys can Bull**** real well.

Personally I can tell you I would have stayed put, and if one pellet hit me from him I usually have around 100 to 150 rounds with me, and one of would not have left the marsh that morning, (of course I would have made this abundantly clear and up to this point what I have spoken, especially while reading it out of the hunting regs, has calmed a squashed many situations)

Got to do it for the sleep-deprived, un caffeinated cold and wet guys like me that will not move, I have called my local CO's way too much, but for nothing this serious.


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## limige (Sep 2, 2005)

You guys that suggest burning it shame on you. Risk setting fire to a whole marsh or woodlot? I have no idea how people have found this to be acceptable.

As for your situation I would contact a CO and suggest he setup there on next years opener. Could be tough trying to catch them in there again.

Either way why let him continue to harass other hunters and keep them away from a good spot.

Myself I wouldve called it in right then. If you setup next to him or continue to aggitate him he very well could shoot you, never know what kind of people they are, if you shoot him then your looking at jail time. Best to diffuse the situation and report it asap.

If the COs do nothing I would do some of the suggested methods of aggregation, lol


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## charcoal300zxtt (Sep 8, 2011)

Timber said:


> Simply turn him in. *Two wrongs don't make it right*. *You where nicer than i would have been*.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


So your saying he should let the DNR handle it, but you would of knocked the dude out? :lol::lol::lol::lol:


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## charcoal300zxtt (Sep 8, 2011)

limige said:


> *You guys that suggest burning it shame on you.* Risk setting fire to a whole marsh or woodlot? I have no idea how people have found this to be acceptable.
> 
> As for your situation I would contact a CO and suggest he setup there on next years opener. Could be tough trying to catch them in there again.
> 
> ...



LMFAO everybody is trying to tell this guy to do the right thing, then stating if it was me i would of jumped into his boat and sunk it! Poor guy probably doesn't know if he should go back there and run it over with an air boat or hunt somewhere else. :lol: For the record i agree with letting the CO handle it first.


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## Say Yah To Da U.P. Eh (Jul 5, 2012)

Heres what you do, post us all directions and we will all meet you there next year for opening day. Now its him vs about 10-20 of us depending on our dedication. I Promise I will help you out, and he will not hunt that spot next year!!! But honestly call this in tomorrow this dick needs whats coming to him.


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## lab1 (Aug 31, 2004)

I wonder how the ducks would like a couple cans of Flo orange paint on the blind? This guy is an ass. He should of had some marking on the blind. He deserves to be called in, or dealt with in some manner. You did the right thing by moving on, no need to challenge a man with a gun.


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## Swamp Boss (Mar 14, 2003)

This is an outstanding post! I noticed a blind like you describe has recently popped up in a popular hunting area and investigated it this summer. Someone had already dropped a deuce in there as a protest. I and several others will be observing the owners behavior this year to determine the next steps, if any.

Blinds on public waters area magnets for problems and this thread seems to prove that out. I have the RAP line preset on my phone, but based on this original thread starter , may record any interactions for review with local law enforcement.


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## just ducky (Aug 23, 2002)

Well on the other side of the "burn it down" sentiment, there is a well known guy who frequents this site (although I haven't seen him posting lately) who had his stake blind on the bay burned for no apparent reason. He assumed that he had placed it in someone's personal spot, and they took offense to that. But he had no warning...no indication what he may have done to upset them...nothing. So in the case pointed out by the OP, obviously this guy is an A-hole, and burning it down may...I say may...be justified. But let's don't go all Charles Bronson on every situation and just automatically reach for the Bic lighters.


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## Timber (Jan 1, 2009)

charcoal300zxtt said:


> So your saying he should let the DNR handle it, but you would of knocked the dude out? :lol::lol::lol::lol:


You show me where in my statement i suggested physical violence. That assumption is all you. I would never resort to physical violence over a hunting spot, or verbal i have way to much to loose. If anybody needs to learn to read between the lines it is obviously you.

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## Rajah (Oct 25, 2010)

I think what I've gotten most out of this thread is who NOT to piss off... from taking a dump in someone's blind/spot, to burning a blind, to stealing some decoys. :yikes:


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## greenheadsmacker (Aug 14, 2008)

Well the first thing I would do is throw a Molotov cocktail in the blind with him in it. Then if he made it out alive I'd cut him down with my AK-47. Then I'd hunt down his family...
I can't believe what I am reading here. I get that the guy is an a-hole. I get that he is breaking the law. On what planet is it ever OK to break the law in retaliation? Apparently a lot of you don't see any need to get the CO's involved, after all why bother them to enforce the law? I mean it's not like that's what we pay them for, right?. Besides, this is the ONLY good hunting spot in the state so it's worth hurting someone or getting hurt ourselves not to mention possibly destroying the marsh and anything or anyone surrounding it. I mean, hell, he's breaking the law so we need to teach him a lesson by breaking the law ourselves. 
Sorry to say but this has turned in "The Idiot Thread" JMO


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## William H Bonney (Jan 14, 2003)

Tron322 said:


> LOL, I never even thought of that, But I am really surprised no one else did until now.


That was my first thought as soon as I saw this thread...:lol:


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## iced one (Jan 19, 2011)

Timber said:


> You show me where in my statement i suggested physical violence. That assumption is all you. I would never resort to physical violence over a hunting spot, or verbal i have way to much to loose. If anybody needs to learn to read between the lines it is obviously you.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


Cool it down there, tiger.

He was alluding to the fact that you said that "Two wrongs don't make a right." Then you followed that statement by saying, "You were a lot nice than I would've been."


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## Shiawassee_Kid (Nov 28, 2000)

read all 5 pages of this thread...ugh.

OP. i'll bet money if that blind has been there 30 years, the owner of it knows what hes doing...he also knows hes on private or a private pie of the lake. 

its funny when everyone jumps to conclusions. the original poster has admitted hes on his 3rd year of fowling. I know its easy to assume this was public...but i'll bet if you dig into the nitty gritty, that guy has land on that lake and has rights to the blind.


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## Duck-Hunter (Mar 31, 2005)

Believe it or not blinds on inland public lakes are NOT first come first served as long as the owner has marked the blind legally and is in a area were they are permitted. The blind IS the owners blind. So technically they can "kick you out", even though 9/10 it rarely works. Be carefully with the whole "I'll get em with hunter harassment"...you might be the one walking away with the ticket. 

Dealt with this plenty of times, threads like this mislead the newer guys and they all think they can go blind hoping. 

For the OP it sucks you ran into a crazy old guy but it happens. He must've had it hidden well if you didn't see it. Some people are crazy and a lot of people have tough guy syndrome in the dark. This is exactly why I won't camp out on a spot anymore. You could be there 24hr in advance and at the last minute some jackass will downwind you or set up right on top of you. I haven't figured out if some waterfowlers are jealous or just stupid. They see someone shoot birds in a spot and gotta get over there at all cost instead of scouting a different spot or moving it down the line. 


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## charcoal300zxtt (Sep 8, 2011)

Timber said:


> You show me where in my statement i suggested physical violence. That assumption is all you. I would never resort to physical violence over a hunting spot, or verbal i have way to much to loose. If anybody needs to learn to read between the lines it is obviously you.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app



I know what you meant Timber, It was simply a bad attempt at humor on my part.


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## jehler (Jul 18, 2011)

charcoal300zxtt said:


> I know what you meant Timber, It was simply a bad attempt at humor on my part.


better than no attempt at all! I laughed


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## chemo13 (May 10, 2006)

Don't take the law in your own hands. If you think he's in violation call it in. It's not that complicated.


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## Timber (Jan 1, 2009)

charcoal300zxtt said:


> I know what you meant Timber, It was simply a bad attempt at humor on my part.


Thanks for clarifying, no harm no fouls right.

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## Timber (Jan 1, 2009)

jehler said:


> better than no attempt at all! I laughed


Your a clown.

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## jehler (Jul 18, 2011)

Timber said:


> Your a clown.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


Ouch...
Listen buddy, just because a guy has a trunk full of midgets doesn't mean he's a clown.


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