Nope
Wouldn't it be nice
- Thread starter RUGER
- Start date
UpperTully
Well-Known Member
I get that but can you explain how pushing for season long blinds on WMA's, they haven't been, is fair for everyone? Especially when everyone has equal opportunity to hunt any spot of a WMA every day of the season?
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UpperTully
Well-Known Member
Seems to be getting worse every year.
MickThompson
Well-Known Member
Agreed. I had a some decent hunts over here when I first moved to the Cookeville area but it's been pretty terrible since then. I still hunt their ghosts at least a couple times each season.
WilcoKen
Well-Known Member
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I will answer your question with a question. How is it not fair? Folks that want to hunt outside a season long blind are welcome to do that. I would not be opposed to that at all. So long as they are at safe distances. With 16,000 applicants across the draw, I think adding more blinds in more WMAs across the entire state would be a good thing.
MickThompson
Well-Known Member
I'll raise your question to a question with a question- why should anyone have exclusive use of a spot on public land for the entire season? If anything it leads to the humongous decoy spread "arms race"
UpperTully
Well-Known Member
I do not think its fair for a public land spot to be locked down to one individual or group for a entire season. So I can't comment to it being fair. It eliminates fair opportunity for other hunters. It enables large decoy spreads which are difficult to compete with as Mick stated
We don't designate certain zones for a hunter to deer or turkey hunt for a entire season. I feel the same should courtesy be applied to the duck hunter.
Season long blinds have created a sense of entitlement among many duck hunters.
If it were up to me, I say ditch the entire system and eliminate all blinds. Make it fair for all, first come first serve.
MickThompson
Well-Known Member
My hero
WilcoKen
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I truly respect your viewpoint. You will get your wish. It began yesterday. The traditionalist will have to adapt and I'm ok with that. I don't know why I really care because I'm doing a private pit near Dyersburg. But a pit is not the same to me as nice duck blind. A compromise I guess.
TN Whitetail Freak
Well-Known Member
Some of those wmas are excellent waterfowl hunting and are currently hunted every year. No need to ask the state to meddle more into a free and open public waterfowl hunting area.
UpperTully
Well-Known Member
It was never my wish to begin with. I didn't really care there were WMAs with season long blinds. Even though I didn't agree with a season long blind, I spoke against the changes to the Commission because it was poorly thought out and I knew it would throw the statewide dynamics off severely, just as it has.
However, just because a lot of season long blind holders lost out and are in the same shoes many others have walked for so long. I will speak against further changes such as the petition because many duck hunters are simply in their feelings. Nothing needs to be done to any of the WMA's listed on that petition. They're just fine the way they are.
MickThompson
Well-Known Member
Tradition is relative. I'd say there's a much older, richer tradition of hunting ducks where they are over hand crafted decoys while hiding in natural cover or small wooden boats than racing 18-20' aluminum barges to forts in the woods with a hundred dozen plastic decoys from China. I've done both. Neither is right or wrong, just different.
The tradition that was lost is that of the gentleman-hunter. When that tradition dies, wildlife agencies have to resort to a reservation system of some sort to prevent conflict among people that put their pride above sport and are willing to abandon all decency for 2 coots and a ringneck or to simply make sure the next guy down the line has a miserable time. They are a minuscule minority but there's no limit to what they'll do to thump their chest.
Personally I'd prefer a free for all, first-come system
WilcoKen
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Well said. I am going to start a different thread on this topic. It will divert my depression from not getting drawn.
SKFOOTER
Well-Known Member
It's been allowed to grow up in 20 foot trees and absolutely overrun with beaver and ditches. TWRA has let Grays Creek go to hell!!
UpperTully
Well-Known Member
I saw that back during turkey season. I took the boys by there looking for a bird on the juv hunt. We didn't make it past the creek bridge. Beavers have made huge dam in the middle of the gravel road and there was so much water I couldn't get any where.
Knowing how Brandon and Tony are at maintaining WR, I was surprised to see how brown up all the fields have come.
Might be a good plce to kill a deer I reckon
Hatchie is for the most part a lost flyway for waterfowl. When I was a boy, Hatchie provided some of the best waterfowling anywhere in the state. During the 60s, 70s it was unbelievable. Many mornings sitting in a stand waiting for daylite, all you could hear was mallards chattering in the air, on the water. Sitting on the slews all throughout the bottom. I have a friend who still leases the Armor field, just above the NWR, at one time a thousand ducks a year was common. Now, on a good year, maybe a hundred. I had a club for 25 years just across the river from armour, had some wonderful days in the bottom. Now, the only ones who kill on a regular basis, and even then, can be slow are the few clubs across the river from the refuge. When horns bluff, whites lake, lake Lauderdale, gooch, hop in, bean switch where all created on the forked deer, obion basins, and then flooded fields created all up and down these rivers, seems Hatchie was slowly lost. Ducks feed on acorns years ago, no so much now here in west Tn. For whatever reason, Hatchie didn't get the attention the other basins did in west Tn. Didn't have near the leases, fields created on it. The last big flight index for Hatchie was 1999. then we had 4 or 5 years of low water, river didn't get out. Seems ducks just lost flyway. I honestly don't know if it will come back. Not sure there is anything that can be done to improve waterfowling now on the Hatchie. Even closer toward the Mississippi, not doing anything like years ago. Seems we are seeing a slow change even in these other basins. Just kinda sad.
I think the lack of things being changed on the Hatchie have as much to do with it being designated as a Scenic River, and as such it has never been channelized, impounded, or modified by man in a significant way. It's allowed to do what it does, and get out when it floods. It can still be good, when everything else around is frozen and it still has open water due to having current, but those days are few and far between of late.
taylor j
Active Member
Probably as much or more corruption doing it the old way as a computer draw. A third party runs the computer draw if I'm not mistaken.
How much corruption was there at the previous draw? Just people whining because they didn't get a blind. At least you could see everything previously. As people were drawn you could write down names and how many sign ons. You could tell who knew what they were doing and who didn't, so you knew places that would more than likely be open to hunt at times. Now everything is hidden so whoever is in charge can do what they want (McDonald's monopoly). How much easier is it going to be, to fake a card printed on computer paper as apposed to the card stock formally used? Now whoever is the biggest bully will hop the best spots that nobody from out of town or state will hunt much because they will not even give a list of names on who drew what.
ABSOLUTELY
