Pistol Pete 101

last week i went hunting with a buddy of mine in college and we went to his spot on the mississippi and where he has his dekes all set up. He said that a blind boat has been downwind of them everyday and that they just kinda move off to the side and who ever calls the best will get the shot. well this night they were in the same place. after we shot about 5 ducks they moved thier boat right infront of us. about 90 yards infront of us. that got us really fired up. they took most of the ducks that night. they shot some ducks that got passed them and shoot towards us. my buddy felt some BBs that night too. well when the shootin hours was over we went inside. that blind boat waited til the very last bit of day light to come in the ramp. and they acted like nothing happened. my buddy came back to school from the weekend and told me that the dekes were all shot up. they were all ruined. and he knew it was them becuase that next night there was only two trucks at the ramp and one was this one boats and the other was his good friend. he said that if we see them agian they are going to get either a pounding or something. he is really pissed cus last time i check bass pro shops, dekes are not as cheap as bubble gum. what do u guys think we should do?

Carpmaster

Should have moved or called the DNR (game warden) for harassment at the time this was going on.

NY Yote

Pete...

That does stink that those guys ruined your hunt and your friends decoys. Some people dont have the common sense to move when they see someone else hunting a spot. From what you said I take it that your friend leaves his decoys out over night??..on a public spot this is not a good idea and could be why you he has problems with people taking his spot. Either way there is not much you can do now since it will be hard to prove that these guys shot your dekes. I would pick up your dekes and try a new spot up the river a little bit and try to be a little more flexible on your hunting spot(which stinks!) when there are people around. Besides that I would leave those guys alone and just go on your own way or next time just go up to them and explain what the problem is and try to solve it without anyone getting hurt.....

NY Yote

sponge031

That sucks man...

Reminds me of this one time we were river hunting geese. We ran our boat up onto a lil cattail island, set up and everything normal. There were a couple thousand geese sitting a half mile away. for the first half hour of shooting, we had a couple pairs come and try to land in our decoys but we waxed them before they could. Then nothing. The flock got quiet and it was a bluebird morning. we figured they were waiting till they were good and hungry before they got off the water, about 830 we see this boat coming down the river with iowa decals (nothin against iowegains, just had a couple bad experiences and binos), normal becasue many people are still walleye fishing this time of year. They turn dead into the geese and this *ahem* person stands up on the front with a shot gun when the geese start flying (the boat is still going full boar) and unloads into the flock, killing nothing but ruining more than just our morning. We say screw it and get back to the dock, there is a gfp guy there taking surveys but he was just a college student and not an actual officer so he said he couldnt do anything about it. talk about frustrating. we thanked the goose gods for the 6 we had and went home to lick our wounds.

drgildy

Here in our state it is illegal to leave decoys overnight on public waters except on the Missouri river. A few years back I went out to a spot I had scouted for the opener. Got to the spot 1 1/2 hrs before shooting time and was greeted by a spread of decoys. So we took a lesser spot and watched as at shooting time a group of nonresident hunters tooled in and tried to hunt. If it were to happen to me today I would have picked their decoys up and neatly deposited them on the shore. A public shooting area is not just for one person or party. Having said that I also think that what happened to you ie having them shoot up your decoys was deplorable and think you should look for these bums and teach them a lesson with an a$$ wuppin.