Unspoken rules

[randywallace]

Thou shalt not speak ill of any dog belonging to the person that invited you to hunt. They can laugh or cuss at them, but it is best for the guest to keep his yapper shut.

[The Waterfowler]

Some very good points made by most, except for the America's Got Talent drop-outs. I feel this is quite serious as I know plenty of instances where things have been strained due to guest hunters at clubs. I have no problems with telling a member not to ask one back for several reasons already mentioned. I've been on both ends of the equation and have bitten my tounge when I was a guest in order to maintain respect and harmony. It's just a temporary time anyway at a camp or duck hole, so make the best of it and enjoy the fact that you're not at work! The biggest sin is for someone to show up with his buddy, brother-in-law, etc. and expect that he was invited also. It's a bad as going back to a duck hole that someone else showed you, public or not. RESPECT, RESPECT, RESPECT, see most of everyone's rule #1. I hunt private land for a reason. Expensive? Yes, but we reap the benefits. I'm proud of the fact that most of our members live in harmony during the brief 60 days. Some that didn't aren't there anymore.

In not necessary order of importance, here are some that have been kicked around and beat up at our LLDC camp. As a guest keep in mind that its:
1. Our camp, blind, pit, etc. our rules, don't try to change them.
2. We've been doing it this way for years and you're not going to change them just to suit you.
3. Leave your dog at home or in the truck, I don't care how many ribbons he has unless he is invited to the pit don't expect to hunt him.
4. Leave your duck call also if you don't know how and when to blow it and don't get your feelings hurt if asked to put it up.
5. Pitch in and help with the dishes, bird picking, etc.
6. If you are coming to get drunk and obnoxious stay home.
7. Your child, if invited, better be respectful of his elders and the fact that he has a LOADED GUN in his or her hand. No lee-way here.
8. Never, ever shoot a cripple, or any duck for that matter, in my decoys. They cost money and my dog is there for a reason. The dog handlers are responsible for cripples and shouldn't have to worry about a neophyte pulling a trigger while his dog is chasing a cripple.
9. Let the pitboss call the shots, this isn't the OK Corral. You'll get plenty of opportunities.
10. If you kill a banded duck you'll get it, I'll see to that.
11. Don't show up empty handed. We aren't a distributor so any beer, Captain Morgan or soft drinks are welcome.
12.I'm old and forgetful, sometimes grumpy, live with it!

[LawDawg]

number 1 rule I take very seriously - It should always be about the hunt, not the kill.

I would much rather have a day with people that respect and enjoy the hunt as much as I do, and not shoot a bird, than have a hunt where people are fighting over how many each person killed.

It's a sport, not a competition.

[swamprooter]

Waterfowler wrote:
"3. Leave your dog at home or in the truck, I don't care how many ribbons he has unless he is invited tro the pit don't expect to hunt him"


AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate hunting with an unrulely dog with a hunter with low dog standards.......


Only thing i can add is :

Always stop by the landowners house when conveinent for him before ,during and after the season just to say hello. Most of them like to hear your Short stories and meet your friends you hunt with. I always tell my club members we are paying INVITED guests.

[Hambone]

Corollary to The Waterfowler's Rule #8 which deals with his very shallow rice fields: When you are hunting with me in the cypress brake, I will shoot the cripples, unless I trust you and ask for help. Ducks can get away quickly in relatively deep water and thick cover, and a stopper shot is sometimes required. I will make that determination and will decide when to send the retriever. Like The Waterfowler, I don't want you to shoot up the decoys and damn sure don't want a shot dog.

[randywallace]

Some very good points made by most, except for the America's Got Talent drop-outs. I feel this is quite serious as I know plenty of instances where things have been strained due to guest hunters at clubs. I have no problems with telling a member not to ask one back for several reasons already mentioned. I've been on both ends of the equation and have bitten my tounge when I was a guest in order to maintain respect and harmony. It's just a temporary time anyway at a camp or duck hole, so make the best of it and enjoy the fact that you're not at work! The biggest sin is for someone to show up with his buddy, brother-in-law, etc. and expect that he was invited also. It's a bad as going back to a duck hole that someone else showed you, public or not. RESPECT, RESPECT, RESPECT, see most of everyone's rule #1. I hunt private land for a reason. Expensive? Yes, but we reap the benefits. I'm proud of the fact that most of our members live in harmony during the brief 60 days. Some that didn't aren't there anymore.

In not necessary order of importance, here are some that have been kicked around and beat up at our LLDC camp. As a guest keep in mind that its:
1. Our camp, blind, pit, etc. our rules, don't try to change them.
2. We've been doing it this way for years and you're not going to change them just to suit you.
3. Leave your dog at home or in the truck, I don't care how many ribbons he has unless he is invited to the pit don't expect to hunt him.
4. Leave your duck call also if you don't know how and when to blow it and don't get your feelings hurt if asked to put it up.
5. Pitch in and help with the dishes, bird picking, etc.
6. If you are coming to get drunk and obnoxious stay home.
7. Your child, if invited, better be respectful of his elders and the fact that he has a LOADED GUN in his or her hand. No lee-way here.
8. Never, ever shoot a cripple, or any duck for that matter, in my decoys. They cost money and my dog is there for a reason. The dog handlers are responsible for cripples and shouldn't have to worry about a neophyte pulling a trigger while his dog is chasing a cripple.
9. Let the pitboss call the shots, this isn't the OK Corral. You'll get plenty of opportunities.
10. If you kill a banded duck you'll get it, I'll see to that.
11. Don't show up empty handed. We aren't a distributor so any beer, Captain Morgan or soft drinks are welcome.
12.I'm old and forgetful, sometimes grumpy, live with it!

Sage advice as always. Rule 8 reminds me of the "if you shoot my dog, i will shoot you" rule.

[brake man]

Hambone, I could not agree more about shooting cripples ASAP in a cypress brake. I don't have a dog so those with me and I get to play retriever unless a guest has brought his dog. It is amazing how quickly a duck can dive and swim away among cypress trees and buck brush. No telling how many ducks we have lost over the years, especially when we all thought the duck was dead only to find it gone when we made it to its last position. Unless someone has a retriever, our standing rule is for everyone to help shoot cripples and to only stop shooting them when the duck's head is flat on the water. I always make sure to have some old Faststeel shells on hand to use as cripple killers.

Pat, I enjoyed talking to you a couple of weeks ago and look forward to talking more as the season approaches. Great camp rules, by the way.

[Scully]

Be on time and ready to go- if I say I will pick you up at 3:30, dont meet me at the door in your underwear smelling of beer. If you need breakfast, coffee, license, or shells- get it before I am supposed to pick you up. If we have a succesful trip- dont post on the internet that me and Bubba smacked them at Cornhole WMA in XYZ county. Never hunt or fish with anyone that works at an outdoors store or in the outdors media- the temptation to talk is too great.

[The Waterfowler]

Be on time and ready to go- if I say I will pick you up at 3:30, dont meet me at the door in your underwear smelling of beer. If you need breakfast, coffee, license, or shells- get it before I am supposed to pick you up. If we have a succesful trip- dont post on the internet that me and Bubba smacked them at Cornhole WMA in XYZ county. Never hunt or fish with anyone that works at an outdoors store or in the outdors media- the temptation to talk is too great.

Good advice. I used to hunt the rivers a lot and even though it was public it burned me to go to a spot I had found and see a guy I had taken there set-up with his brother-in-law and a couple of friends. The bridges got burned quickly. And, I'd rather be an hour early than 5 minutes late. Be ready like you said or I'll leave you standing at the door, just ask my sons.

[StraightUp]

Great stuff here. I'd just add--

If you are a guest, don't feel like you have to teach the women and children ALL of the cuss words you know. Kids pick that up pretty easy w/o your help.

[Hambone]

Brake Man, buy a retriever, or like us, get two! I could slog through that thigh-deep mud when I was twenty and the limit was three. Now that I am much older and the limit is six, no way! But you and I are in perfect agreement on how to get the job done, otherwise.

[brake man]

Hambone, my wife and three children have been begging me to get a dog, but I am just not up for the whole "puppy thing." I don't think I can handle having a fourth "child" right now, and my kids (4, 6, and don't really want to have to deal with a puppy either. Watching my friends hunt with their dogs is a lot of fun and makes the hunting a whole lot easier so maybe I will have to break down and get a dog before too long. What I would really love to find is a 1 or 2 year old trained and hunted dog that someone needs to get rid of because of a move or something. Maybe some day.....

[The Waterfowler]

Buy a started dog or even a finished one. A good trainer can put you where you want to be and you will know that it can mark, is sound of hips and eyes and is trainable. That is something you never know when buying a puppy. It cost as much to feed a good one as it does a bad one!

Straightup, good point. There's a time and place for everything.

[LawDawg]

unspoken rule # 128: Don't floorboard a shell. If you can't hit what you are aiming at with two shots, you suck.

[Anatidae]

For Public Land Hunting
Rule #1 - "Don't ask, dont' tell"
Rule #2 - If somebody else seems consistently more successful than you are - they're probably baiting
Rule #3 - If you hear an unbelieveable amount of shooting for the number of ducks you're seeing yourself, chances are those fellas don't know that comorants are not ducks
Rule #4 - Wait 'til about 10:30 to start scouting after your morning's hunt
Rule #5 - Shining your Q-beam in other hunters' eyes is the universal greeting among waterfowlers......it means, "Hey fellas, we're duck hunting, too......Happy Hunting!" The brighter the light and the longer you leave it on your subject, the more sincere the greeting.
Rule #6 - Get to your spot and be set-up before shooting time.......not just-now leaving the landing.
Rule #7 - Don't get mad....get 'even' (the timing of the retaliation is more critical than the severity)

Seriously - just be considerate of your fellow hunters.....regardless of how big a 'jerk' some of them (us) appear to be.