You western folks thought public land hunting was bad....

[bowhuntercoop]

Reason number 8024 why I would never duck hunt or want to experience that haha. How is that fun to shoot a horrible tasting bird? Lol

 

[Farmer9770]

15 years ago it was awesome, now? You couldn’t pay me to do that crap. I’d say it’s same as western hunting social media has ruined it.

 

[flathead#2]

NOPE.
I'll sleep late and jump shoot woodies instead.

 

[jwatts]

It’s not just hunting. The local county campground /lake has a reservation day here. They take reservations on a first come first serve basis. Dad got there at 3 am for a 8:00 office open and was 26th in line. First guy in line was 36 hours early according to the manager. I don’t care how much I like camping or a certain spot is not wasting a day and a half to get it.

Funny you mention that. A local state park did the same thing in the 80s and 90s. I remember getting in line before daylight with my family to wait on the office to open so we could reserve cabins for family vacation.

 

[Burnsie]

I've never shot a duck in my life.

 

[Btaylor]

Many such cases for public duck spots in Colorado. But I want to know from an Arkansas guy, was it this nuts to hun the timber 5-10-15 years ago? What changed?

Depending on where you were hunting, it was not far from that back in the early 90's. It has always been bad here in certain areas and esp if we had good numbers of ducks.

 

[Wheels]

And the ditches are full of ducks they dumped after getting their trophy photos.

 

[Ozarkansas]

This video makes me glad I live in the squirrel half of the state instead of the duck half. Nobody is ever racing me to a hickory ridge

 

[Weldor]

Crazy, we hunted lake st. clair in the 70's it was good. Can't imagine it now. Grew up on a 43 acre wooded pond, geese , ducks right off the dock. Ah the old days.

 

[MNGrouser]

Interesting. I've never been much of a duck hunter. My brother and I jump-shot potholes when we were in high school. But that was mostly because it was an opportunity to hunt something. At that age we really didn't care what.

My dad tells stories about when he was in high school (mid 70's now) in northern Indiana. There was some reserve/refuge system where he and my grandfather would get up at ridiculous hours and go wait in line for a lottery of some sort to win the chance to hunt a blind for the day. Always way more hunters than hunting spots. I know that competition wasn't influenced by social media, but I concede the point that influencers have made just about everything worse since.

 

[Legend]

This video makes me glad I live in the squirrel half of the state instead of the duck half. Nobody is ever racing me to a hickory ridge

Yet

 

[Poser]

When I lived in Memphis, I tried duck hunting out in the public land swamps of West TN and it was stupid with pressure. Then I figured out I could hunt the MS river and tributaries from downtown Memphis and there was nobody around.

My advice? Urban waterfowl hunting is where its at.

 

[dtrkyman]

Last time I was in Arkansas was at least 10 years ago, total chit show. We actually had two boats and kept one empty so one guy could get to the hole first.

Set up for an hour and some jack wagon still comes motoring into the same hole, gets pissed and goes 150 yards to set up anyway!

First and last hunt in Arkansas for me!

Show up at 4am, get in line in a little bay and a guy that launched well after you trying to cut you off anyway, there was a ditch you ran for the first mile one boat wide!

I know they changed a bunch of regulation down there as far as non resident access, don't remember the details?

 

[displacedtexan]

This video makes me glad I live in the squirrel half of the state instead of the duck half. Nobody is ever racing me to a hickory ridge

I like that.

I told someone earlier today that I was in the rice field part of Arkansas, not the pretty part.

 

[Sooner]

A lot of the NWRs in Mississippi are the same way. Gates or ramps open at 4am and it's a mad rush. WMAs don't have that rule, so people just get there really early. We rolled up on one this past Saturday at 430am. Multiple groups already had decoys out in a flooded field and were rotating between sitting there to hold their spot and sleeping in their truck on the levee. The obscure timber hole we planned to hunt was already full too, so we had a .75mi hike in to an bayou. No sooner than we broke ice and set the decoys, 2 more groups walked in on us from the other direction a full hour before legal shooting light.

I won't complain though. Those kids are freaking dedicated to sleep on a levee in 20 degree temps for a handful of birds that may or may not show. 2 weeks ago we took my 15yo son into a hole,set decoys at 3am, and slept in the woods til daylight to give him a taste of the whole experience.

Oh, the memories, I used to have a PlayStation in my truck, and we'd get to the NWR gate the night before and play college football all night. I'm pushing 40 now so I get to the ramp an hour before on the side of the lake with no pressure and enjoy my day lol

 

[Alpine4x4]

It’s not just hunting. The local county campground /lake has a reservation day here. They take reservations on a first come first serve basis. Dad got there at 3 am for a 8:00 office open and was 26th in line. First guy in line was 36 hours early according to the manager. I don’t care how much I like camping or a certain spot is not wasting a day and a half to get it.

Yeah try getting into a state park anywhere in WA and OR. Its crazy how fast they fill up now. All came about after Covid.

Depending on where you were hunting, it was not far from that back in the early 90's. It has always been bad here in certain areas and esp if we had good numbers of ducks.

Yup, E WA was always terrible for hunter numbers, but usually only opening day. We would skip it and go after the season break. I never understood why so many people hunted ducks only on one day then disappeared.

And the ditches are full of ducks they dumped after getting their trophy photos.

And that's the sad part. Seen it a lot. Absolute disgrace.