I agree. I've been checked twice in 6 years at lacassine

Never ever in my life been checked in lacassine. Been checked once in Sabine since Rita.

I take that back I got checked 2 years ago in teal season. Guess I forgot cuz I was almost dead.

Great debate going on here..I have to admit I grew up hunting I Hathaway and on the basin there is a big difference in hunting then and now. I remember growing up hunting the farm land around Hathaway and you and go just about anywhere you wanted if you knew a few people. Now days there is only a few farmers in the area that still do what they did in mid 90's. W I know you can back my up on this because you are from that area. You could go to just about any farm from the Hetzles to the hienans to the watsons and pick the ducks you wanted. Now it's pretty muc who has the biggest pocket books and wants to work the hardest. I'll agree with topdawg and say that if you want to work you will still kill your birds and that's mallards included. A lot has changed since then and it don't matter if you have meat stick or whatever on your barrel you will get in what you put out. We can all bicker and moan and grown about things but it's all our opinion, I believe the will always do what they believe is right for the sport. All we can do is put our 2 sense in.

Yall would really want to hunt a blind someone else built on public land? And have a lottery? That is ridiculous, if I'm on public land I want to go wherever I want and I know I can kill them. You really want to show up one morning for the possibility of having to go back home? Sure there are definitely more morons out there than there are good hunters, but its just how it is going to be. You can still kill them even with all of the negative stuff going on, and if you don't want to deal with it don't go. Spend the money on a lease or travel to another state. A limit on shells would be great, but there is no way that will ever happen.

Have you ever hunted lacassine? For the most part it's small ponds. There are some bigger ponds, but more small than big. I wouldn't mind hunting a blind someone else built, you can always add cover once you get there. And yes, I would go with the chance of not bein drawn, that would cut out a lot of people even showing up. If you don't get drawn, go hunt the bayou

Stay off my bayou :pissed: :smokin:

Used to hunt Lacassine all the time before I started hunting in Lake Arthur. I agree it is terrible, but we always worked a little harder and got away from as many people as we could. Sometimes would wait for many of the people to leave before we started killing, but never had a bad hunt.

I'm sure this past year was extra bad though with the drought and shortage of water in there, but next year you should be able to hunt the whole thing.

I want to be clear......I know we are blessed here.
I have traveled a little in my day and have hunted from Canada to Louisiana and much in between. Our "bad" days are days that many would consider a season.

I appreciate the new guys getting into our sport.
What I get bothered over are those that got in because we "had longer days and more liberal bag limits".

Hell, I will push pole an hour to find a hole that I can call and decoy birds to.
Don't need to kill a bird. I am proud of what we are teaching our small group of young men to appreciate and understand.

I want the thinning of the days to thin the dazed.

Tired of being told how dumb I am for appreciating the little water and slow boats.
I wished all birds had to be plucked and taken in whole and not breasted.
I wished all mud motors were just to get the little boats past the big water
I wished spinners were for the youth hunt only
I wished 2 3/4 was all you were allowed unless hunting geese
I wished a Haydel's DR 85 was all you were allowed to have on ducks and Chien Gaille was all you needed for specks.
I wished a dozen decoys was all you could use for the day

I wish, I wish, I wish........

AND I wished all young hunters had to spend three seasons in the blind without a gun to get a permit to have one.

We have lost the artistic side of our hunting traditions. In not just duck but in many game species.

Numbers of birds have nothing to do with how I feel.

There is romantic side of hunting that we are confused about these days.
It's not the numbers, or the guns, or the boats, or the decoys, or the lease, or the calls......it's about the gentlemanship of sharing a blind together.

Period
end of story

yea I agree it takes work to kill ducks out there but it's possible. Now that I'm older and have more things going on than school and part time job, I just don't have the time to scout for new ponds so I just don't go anymore. This past season was the worst due to overgrown marsh leading to half the ponds but double the yahoos. A pond I hunted for 4 years with no one ever going to got gangbanged this year.

I'm 23 years old and I pirogue to my blind every morning. I'd rather call a bird in for someone else than shoot it myself. But just because a lot of people aren't like that doesn't mean we have to change anything. Yeah, with all the modern technology duck hunting might not be like it used to be, but we shouldn't have to suffer anything because some people are "ruining the sport". I'm always going to hunt how I hunt, and I can care less how everyone else does it. I'm not going to let them effect what I do, even if I don't like it.

I appreciate the comments my man.......but rest damn assured it's affecting you, regardless if you like or know it.

We need more guys like you.
Never once did I say "ruining" the sport.
But.......(I hate but's too) the sport is changing. And to something I feel by grandchildren will not get to appreciate the way I have.

Things look so damn different when you are a grandpaw

Agreed... I enjoy the whole duck hunting experience. Dont get me wrong I love killing birds, but to me there is nothing more fun than working a group of birds closer and closer and trying to see if you can get em to make that "one more pass" There is nothing like sitting in the blind, whether it is a pit blind in a rice field or a pirouge pulled in some marsh grass, watching the sun rise and enjoying the company of friends and family.

BTW breasting ducks gets under my skin too... Everybody in N. LA does it. I'm not sure if they never plucked ducks up there or if they just got lazy

I'm not for lottery hunts on our own property. Because the refuges do belong to the people and we all know how "lotteries" in Louisiana work. Someones brother in law always gets the good blind. I would like to see them open up more area to hunt. I'm all for the shell limit but I like you know it will never ever happen. These last few year we've had to hunt really unconventional areas but that's where the ducks go due to all the pressure.

Everybody has a wish list?
 

Duck hunting is Louisiana will never return to its quality of the past. Ill call it "short stopping". Everybody knows the northerner's are getting in on the hunting. I think you should only be able to use normal agriculture practices when applied to hunting. Thats what federal law states in the rules. So that would mean you cant do things above "normal practice to lure game to your property. Flooding corn, milo or anthing else besides rice is not normal agriculture practices. Its baiting plain and simple. This is not a cure all for us in the Gulf region but at least it puts us on a level field. You guys thinking that 30 day season will lower the price of leases, well all I think it will do is allow for more corporate huning buying up all the leases for cheap and creating safe zones that they can move into when the birds group on the leases. We cant wait on weather to bring ducks down any longer, late season hunting aint working no more. I like the 3 zones simply for if they ever give us 30 days you will be able to move around, hunt different places and still get more the 30 days of hunting opportunties. No more private owned blinds on public places, no decoys left over nite on public places, more public access on the WMA and refuges. Ducks dont need to rest,they are for killin remember?:rotfl:

Great post, I would never ever wish for a lottery on public land.

:) I wish too, excellent point especially the one I highlighted. Our 'bad' seasons would be banner seasons for many people up the flyway

there is no better self gratification for me than to kill a limit of specks any day of the week.. whether its my 2 by myself or your limit of 12 with 5 of your best buds... your right, that is what it is all about.. and I realize that you cant kill a limit everyday.. but year after year it seems that throughout southwest louisiana, the migration of ducks and geese are just not making it all the way down here in the numbers that we are used to seeing, PERIOD