# Ethics of Duck Blinds



## Mstpaul48 (Dec 15, 2014)

So I have recently been hunting an area of galveston and stumbled upon the blind. The blind has been there for years except someone must have put in a lot of work into maintaining recently. Whoever set it up added two locks to it so my question is that if its public land is it wrong to mess with the locks or should i just continue to hunt in other spots around it?


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## S-3 ranch (May 26, 2004)

Ha ha ha , it's on public land hunt it and keep a cool head on every jake leg saying that it is their own 
But did you help in any way to brush it up and maintaining? If not ? Well ! You know


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## Mr. Saltwater (Oct 5, 2012)

If you put a lot of work into maintaining it, how would you feel if you found someone hunting it??

Sometimes just because you can legally do something doesn't mean that you should.


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

Help keep it up, help keep it brushed, help keep it clean.

If builder shows up invite him to join you. If going to be Hunting for days and days then yall work something out to share the area or work together to keep the birds moving. If someone is an arse dont say another word and call the warden for sportsman harassment immediately.

If you just feel terrible about getting in it, stand and hunt right next to it as they make great cover.

Somebody built a blind in all of my favorite hunt areas. I don't feel the need to build another one. All the good spots somebody will put a blind there. Please don't build any more.


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## "The Marshall" (Jan 12, 2005)

sgrem said:


> Help keep it up, help keep it brushed, help keep it clean.
> 
> If builder shows up invite him to join you. If going to be Hunting for days and days then yall work something out to share the area or work together to keep the birds moving. If someone is an arse dont say another word and call the warden for sportsman harassment immediately.
> 
> ...


x2


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## GunDog (Jun 6, 2006)

sgrem said:


> Help keep it up, help keep it brushed, help keep it clean.
> 
> If builder shows up invite him to join you. If going to be Hunting for days and days then yall work something out to share the area or work together to keep the birds moving. If someone is an arse dont say another word and call the warden for sportsman harassment immediately.
> 
> ...


x3


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## [email protected] (May 24, 2004)

The ethics of duck blinds on public land/water is probably too convoluted to cover to everybody's satisfaction. But there are alternatives.

I personally would not want to find somebody in a blind I built, nor would I want to suffer the embarrassment of explaining why I was in another hunter's blind. Assuming the blind is in a productive spot and the builder is not hunting it, there is nothing wrong with throwing up a brush blind nearby around a couple of milk crate or bucket seats and hunting there. Should the owner (or any alleging to be) shows up, it will be his duty as a sportsman to move along and not interrupt your hunt. How you handle the situation and how far you want to push it is up to you.

SGrem makes a great point...we have enough blinds on our bays already...hunt portable, layout style or in a brush blind, and the whole problem is solved.


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## Mstpaul48 (Dec 15, 2014)

The issue is that the blind has been there forever but was only recently rebrushed and locked. So while I would've been willing to help with that I wasn't able to.


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## boltmaster (Aug 16, 2011)

I pretty much only take a bucket seat to squat in a brush patch on the bank edge around st joe island or the spoil banks in redfish bay or copano now but have blind hunted a fair amount too. I generally don't like to poach on a blind that some one has spent a major effort to fix up, brush and repair or left chairs and other personal items in. If we find a blind in a decent area that seems unused we will brush it and fix it up to hunt it but I really find hunting from the bank a lot more fun and successful. We always pick up our shells and any trash.

I definitely agree that we don't need to build any more blinds in the public waters and where practical we need to remove the unusable broken down old wrecks that are all over the place. If we agree to stop adding new ones then this path does lead to the premises that we will all need to find a way to share and co maintain them in a spirit of good sportsmanship with each other. This will be a difficult thing to work out I am sure but in the end There is plenty of room for us all IMO


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

Simple.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

TH


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## Rack Ranch (May 25, 2004)

I had someone take my blind over this year. As a matter of fact, I had a permanent blind built and brushed in another spot about 30 yards away because we had a big group for teal opener. They took the brush from that blind, added to my other blind, and put decoys out the Thursday before opening of regular duck. Well, found out it was a guide so I took two bottles of starter fluid out there and burned it down...:hairout:

I have hunted this spot for 14 years.



Trouthunter said:


> Simple.
> 
> Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
> 
> TH


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## boltmaster (Aug 16, 2011)

Rack Ranch said:


> I had someone take my blind over this year. As a matter of fact, I had a permanent blind built and brushed in another spot about 30 yards away because we had a big group for teal opener. They took the brush from that blind, added to my other blind, and put decoys out the Thursday before opening of regular duck. Well, found out it was a guide so I took two bottles of starter fluid out there and burned it down...:hairout:
> 
> I have hunted this spot for 14 years.


Well that showed em.....:headknock

A question however would be is that even be legal to do?
I mean starting a fire on public waterways.


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## Jamie (Aug 2, 2011)

RR...good for you

I've used a sledgehammer a couple times in my 40 years of duck hunting....they got the message


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## TA_Fab (Aug 20, 2016)

It's always nice when someone comes and puts a big ole blind on that spot you've hunted out of a layout for years. I wouldn't sit in someone's blind those things flair birds pretty good anyways. Better off in a layout 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Rack Ranch (May 25, 2004)

Wasn't concerned with legalities BM, just the reckoning.



boltmaster said:


> Well that showed em.....:headknock
> 
> A question however would be is that even be legal to do?
> I mean starting a fire on public waterways.


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## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

Build a bigger blind right in front of it so it blocks off the view, don't forget your locks...

You blind guys are nuts, too much drama. Gimme some mangroves or a tuft of grass and I'll huddle in and kill more ducks anyway.



Rack Ranch said:


> I had someone take my blind over this year. As a matter of fact, I had a permanent blind built and brushed in another spot about 30 yards away because we had a big group for teal opener. They took the brush from that blind, added to my other blind, and put decoys out the Thursday before opening of regular duck. Well, found out it was a guide so I took two bottles of starter fluid out there and burned it down...:hairout:
> 
> I have hunted this spot for 14 years.


lmao you burned your own blind?


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## reel thing (Jul 1, 2010)

I remember building a blind in the late 60's in Christmas bay. myneighbor had a large blind about 300 yards from us. we went out to brush the blind one weekend before hunting season opened and it wasn't there. went to my neighbors blind since he was there and asked him where our blind was? there was a new blind close to where our blind was. asked Ted where our blind was and he said someone had been over there and pointed to some debris floating down the bay which was our blind after it was taken apart. we went over to the new blind and blasted it all apart with our shotguns. What would you have done?


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## S-3 ranch (May 26, 2004)

reel thing said:


> I remember building a blind in the late 60's in Christmas bay. myneighbor had a large blind about 300 yards from us. we went out to brush the blind one weekend before hunting season opened and it wasn't there. went to my neighbors blind since he was there and asked him where our blind was? there was a new blind close to where our blind was. asked Ted where our blind was and he said someone had been over there and pointed to some debris floating down the bay which was our blind after it was taken apart. we went over to the new blind and blasted it all apart with our shotguns. What would you have done?


Same thing!!! I have been on both sides of a blind fire , it's a lot of work building one only to find some jack , has messed with it :cheers:


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## sheldonasvoboda (Apr 23, 2015)

wont be long and there will be blind licensing like in other states, maybe


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## [email protected] (May 24, 2004)

What troubles me more than having the state issue licenses for building blinds on public land/water is the potential loss of access and hunting privilege when GWs and other officials finally throw in the towel on sorting through complaints from numbskulls that cannot behave and hunt responsibly. That would be very sad!


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## Empty Pockets CC (Feb 18, 2009)

Easy, just post your phone number in the blind you built and ask that someone call you/text you if they're planning on hunting it.


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## daddyeaux (Nov 18, 2007)

I love this thread...........

RR that was a classic move!! LMAO...........


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## Flapp'n Shad (Sep 29, 2015)

Don't be an arse,just move on and hunt else where.Simple.
I would leave it alone.Would you want someone hunting in the blind you spent hours on?


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

Flapp'n Shad said:


> Don't be an arse,just move on and hunt else where.Simple.
> I would leave it alone.Would you want someone hunting in the blind you spent hours on?


Would you want someone to spend hours and money to build a blind in a spot you have bank hunted for 20 years and now can't hunt there unless you get in the blind?

It's a circular argument. Please don't build anymore.

Please also don't build a blind in the same area as the three other blind skeletons you never removed....you just keep putting up another blind without removing the hull wreckers of old blind pilings.


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## netboy (Dec 12, 2006)

Well here's my take on this. 

If you build a blind, you do not have exclusive rights to the spot.

Take for example.. a certain hunting operation around Aransas Pass that has at least 50 permanent blinds built on the prime spot on every pond in the Lighthouse Lakes, South Bay and Brown and Roots flats and run airboat taxi trips service to those blinds. 

Does that give them exclusive rights to all those spots?

I think not.


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## Copano/Aransas (Dec 18, 2011)

There's more than enough duck blinds to go around, so we definitely don't need anymore built in the bays like sgrem and a few others said. I'm one of the guys that likes to bank hunt, behind natural brush cover or a portable easy to transport and put up camo netting mounted on some pipe. Also please pick up your spent shotgun shell hulls, it doesn't take more than a few minutes to pick them up after your done hunting. We try to leave the places we hunt cleaner than we found them.


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## Aquafowler (Aug 9, 2016)

I like RR's idea. Burn them all down!


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## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

Flapp'n Shad said:


> Don't be an arse,just move on and hunt else where.Simple.
> I would leave it alone.Would you want someone hunting in the blind you spent hours on?


Don't spend hours building permanent structures on public property.


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

Copano/Arkansas is right on about your hills. It is globally internationally illegal to drop any plastic in the water way. Police your hulls. I have caught two different redfish with spent hulls in their stomach. Dont throw your used soft plastics either.


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## Rack Ranch (May 25, 2004)

These are the Ol'Boys that were smelling smoke...



netboy said:


> Well here's my take on this.
> 
> If you build a blind, you do not have exclusive rights to the spot.
> 
> ...


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## daddyeaux (Nov 18, 2007)

Sounds like you need a lot more lighter fluid.......


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## Timemachine (Nov 25, 2008)

I have heard rumors for a couple years that TP&W is considering a ban on the building of blinds on public waterways. Can't happen soon enough as far as I'm concerned.


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## jjtroutkiller (Jan 28, 2005)

Timemachine said:


> I have heard rumors for a couple years that TP&W is considering a ban on the building of blinds on public waterways. Can't happen soon enough as far as I'm concerned.


It's been way too long in coming.


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## jjtroutkiller (Jan 28, 2005)

I try to ignore these kind of threads because at our age you are not changing anyone's opinion. To those that support the blinds you know **** well the only reason you built it was to try and stake claim to a popular public hunting area with a couple hundred dollars of lumber. 

The two area's along the coast that I have hunted that usually leads to a confrontation more often than not is Jack's Pocket and Aransas Pass, I grew up hunting these areas and there is no way I would expose my kids to the **** that goes on before shooting time on a Saturday morning.

Myself I will not hunt out of your blind but will setup right next to it if that's where I am wanting to hunt, pull up and give me a bunch of **** about hunting there and you won't have to worry about that blind anymore. It just starts the day off crappy for both parties when you have to go through this little bluff session before shooting time.

We can only hope TPWD bans these blinds on public waters just like permanent stands are not allowed on public lands for deer hunting.


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## netboy (Dec 12, 2006)

daddyeaux said:


> Sounds like you need a lot more lighter fluid.......


Problem is many of the blinds are concrete pit blinds.


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## Flapp'n Shad (Sep 29, 2015)

justletmein said:


> Don't spend hours building permanent structures on public property.


I don't build *****...don't even bird hunt i was just saying move on and leave it alone let the other knuckle heads fight over it.Supposed to enjoy the outdoors not make it a work place.


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## Timemachine (Nov 25, 2008)

jjtroutkiller said:


> I try to ignore these kind of threads because at our age you are not changing anyone's opinion. To those that support the blinds you know **** well the only reason you built it was to try and stake claim to a popular public hunting area with a couple hundred dollars of lumber.
> 
> The two area's along the coast that I have hunted that usually leads to a confrontation more often than not is Jack's Pocket and Aransas Pass, I grew up hunting these areas and there is no way I would expose my kids to the **** that goes on before shooting time on a Saturday morning.
> 
> ...


Best post on this whole thread!


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## Jamie (Aug 2, 2011)

Day hunt dove hunters have to be the worst as far as not having any clue about hunting etiquette 

You get there early, park your truck away from the spot you want to hunt, walk over and hide.

And right when the birds start to fly, here come some Yahoos in a white pickup, park 50 yards from you, set up their mojo doves 10 yards from their truck and sit on their tailgate drinking beer...hunting

And a guys yells at me "hey, man you're raining shot down on us"

And I yell back...."that means you're too close "


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## LandLocked (Apr 28, 2005)

Timemachine said:


> I have heard rumors for a couple years that TP&W is considering a ban on the building of blinds on public waterways. Can't happen soon enough as far as I'm concerned.


Best thing that could happen.


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## Mstpaul48 (Dec 15, 2014)

So what's the verdict?? Do I cut the locks, hunt next to it in a brush blind, or burn the SOB down?


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## Mr. Saltwater (Oct 5, 2012)

Mstpaul48 said:


> So what's the verdict?? Do I cut the locks, hunt next to it in a brush blind, or burn the SOB down?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Get a layout boat to hunt from.


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## reel thing (Jul 1, 2010)

one of the places I use to duck hunt was Justin Hurst wild life area in Freeport.you had to either carry a portableblind there or use natural cover there. That use to be a real good area to hunt. Bad thing was you had to get there real early like 1:00 am in the morning and you still might be 20th in line.


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## justletmein (Feb 11, 2006)

Mstpaul48 said:


> So what's the verdict?? Do I cut the locks, hunt next to it in a brush blind, or burn the SOB down?


Disassemble and move to the other side of the cove, with locks in tact. Then hunt your spot with a layout blind.



reel thing said:


> one of the places I use to duck hunt was Justin Hurst wild life area in Freeport.you had to either carry a portableblind there or use natural cover there. That use to be a real good area to hunt. Bad thing was you had to get there real early like 1:00 am in the morning and you still might be 20th in line.


When I was younger and a little more mad at the birds I hunted a lot of walk-in WMA's. You'd usually find me sleeping in my truck at the gate around 10pm the night before.


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