TEmbry

Ok yesterday i went to reelfoot on a duck hunting trip and it was an experience. there were probably 40 floating blinds on the part i hunted and all of them had atleast 5 spinning wing decoys. on eblind had 15 mojo decoys out front with two of those vortexes from cabelas. the numbers of all the decoys amazed me as well because every blind had atleast 500 decoys and one big blind had close to 1000. anyway to the hunt. we get there and when we go to set out the spinners, we figure out the poles are the wrong size so no motion setup for us. we noticed the blind 100 yards away had 5, but didnt htink a thing about it. we sat up and waited for shooting hours noticing SEVERAL shots sound off before legal hours. once the ducks started flying we called in one and i shot it on the second shot. looked to be a good day since that was 5 minutes after legal hours. turns out that was the ONLY duck of the day. we saw no shortage of ducks tho, probably 1000+ and actually called in 50 plus birds that circled several times only to go land 100 yards away in the spinning wing setup of the other blind. They ended up killing 20-25 ducks that my friend called in, but the ducks veered off to those decoys.

moral of the story, USE ELECTRONIC DECOYS WHERE LEGAL. we had excellent decoys and formation, EXCELLENT caller, just no motion. this cost us 20+ ducks. The trip was a blast though. amazing the numbers of ducks there as well as hunters. i cant wait till my 3-4 day trip down there this december.

SwampCollie

Why didn't you approach the guys who set up 100 yards from you? Thats rediculous, dangerous, and flat out rude!

SwampTHING

Reelfoot lake has stilt(permanent) blinds almost completely surrounding it,, most of them are about 100 yards or so apart.

I dont understand how you think your buddy called those birds in,, everything seemed too want to go into the neighbouring spread,, they had something you didnt.. Not theyre fault, they had the better set for the day.

Ive been there and done that,, put 2 spinners out and absolutely hammer birds when no one else on the water can get them close. Guys get real ticked off and quick if birds want the robo and none of them have them. Sorry but ive got them in my arsenal, and ill use them especially if no one else in the area is using them.

fantail

Glad to see you enjoyed your reelfoot experience. The spinning wing decoys seem to be extremely popular in west TN as compared to where I live. I haven't made it there yet. Been pretty close but have never even seen the lake. I'm more interested in fishin it that huntin but I'll take either if I get the chance.

TEmbry

yea these blinds are left out year round and the locations are predetermined. they had the same right to be there as we did.

im not saying it was their fault we didnt kill ducks. it was our fault we didnt have the rightstakesto set up the spinning wing decoys. I know he called some of these ducks in because they approached from a direction where they couldnt even see the decoys of the other blind until they were coming in to us.and then they circled our blind 2-3 times before veering off and landing at theirs. i could be wrong bc im a rookie waterfowler but i just figured this was do to him calling them in, and the motion decoys drawing them like magnets. i think i may get one or two for my personal spread next year. i just dont wanna see them banned right after i buy one.

im happy for them because im sure they had a blast killing all those ducks. this was my first trip there ever so i was there for the experience alone, not killing ducks. ill leave the killing part for this december when i return for 3-4 days.[8D]

fantail, speakin of fidhin, im headin down there this spring for crappie. he says they flat out slay them for 2- 3 weeks then it slows down. i may even bring my bow setup and try bowfishin while there. seems to be a great lake for all fishing becasue of all the cover and shallow depths.

SwampCollie

Wow I had no clue that hunting Reelfoot was like that. Is this a TN Game Dept law, or what? Why so close together? I mean we have blind laws in eastern VA, but ours are 500 yards in every direction, and encroaching that is a class 2 misdemenor. Of course, people do it all the time. Which often brings out fowl language from the blind owners (read: me).

Those who can do, those who can't encroach.

Sounds like a place you can really get into birds though (Reelfoot). Numbers and location.

So these blind stakes....you have to set yours up before the season...or are they privately held? Is it a state lottery or a morning of drawing...or first come first serve?

fantail

I can't speak for the reelfoot blinds but on our local lake there is around 40 blind sites which are issued by a drawing held on the first saturday in August. The person that gets drawn for a site has the responsibility to build a new or repair an existing blind and this blind is theirs for the year. However there is an exception to the rule, if the person that the blind site is issued to isn't in the blind before legal shooting light then the blind is open to whomever finds it. So let's say that I find a blind with nobody in it and I get in it and nobody shows up before shooting light then that blind is mine for the day and nobody can make me leave legally. Also if you're not in a registered blind then you don't hunt. I think reelfoot is similar to this and when swamp rooster gets back he can tell us how it is.

We also have very close blind sites and some are less than 100 yards. I like it that way as it keeps the ducks from feeding just out of range and since you have to be in a blind all you can do is watch them if they do.

TEmbry

ok im not 100% sure so maybe a reelfoot local can help me out, but hte way i understand it is this. some blinds are by draw, and some are privately held. these privately held blinds are only private for the life of the member that it is registered to, once this person dies, it enters the lottery like every other blind.

i know that my buddy has his blind (under his younger cousins name) until his cousin dies which unless a freak accident happens, will be a long time.

like i said, im not for sure if this is right or not, just the way i understood what he was telling me. most blinds were farther apart, but there locations were predetermined and the blinds are left year round. they actually float on styrofoam and big 55 gallon plastic barrels, instead of being on stilts.

fantail

I think you're exactly right. But I'm no expert on it.