Duck Hunting Out of a Boat - need advice/schooling

[fabsroman]

I've been ok just shooting paper and run N gun, but a friend from the 90's is coming back to Maryland and is looking for a duck hunting buddy. Says he has a boat, is all I know. It's why you saw me the the hunting safety course thread you started from sometime 2-3 months ago and here, too. Maybe see you among the decoys...

That will be awesome if you start waterfowling. If you have not shot at flying targets, shooting some clays in preparation would probably be a good thing. Get some really warm hunting clothes too. First time I went waterfowling in the marsh, I was in young, in law school, and poor. Didn't even have waders. Didn't even have a waterproof waterfowling jacket. It was November, we got poured on, but I had a great time. Realized after the first shot with my Browning pump, I could not hit anything to save my life. Resulted in me switching to an o/u for a year and then getting my SBE my third year of law school.

I think waterfowling and dove hunting are the two types of hunting I enjoy the most. Granted, if my kids get excited about some other type of hunting (e.g., big game), my excitement will increase with theirs.

 

[gtodave]

I'll agree with you that the thought of hunting from a boat is somewhat daunting. Where to hunt. How to get there. How to set the decoys up. How to set the boat up before even putting it in the water. Plenty more questions where those came from.

Duck hunting in MD is a pretty daunting thing to learn...there's SO MANY little rules and laws you need to follow, and that's just to stay legal. Add on actually trying to kill birds, and things get that much more difficult.

That said, my recommendation is the same as it's always been: "Ain't nothin' to it but to do it". Make sure you're legal, and get out and hunt. You'll figure out the rest.

i have a 14' jon I hunt out of. It's too small for medium or big water, but I've been able to hunt everywhere from the upper Potomac to the upper Chesapeake to the Isle of Wight bay. You just have to pay REAL close attention to the winds, where you're putting in, and where you're headed. A 20'er will be a lot more forgiving, but it's still not an open-water boat.

Don't worry too much about decoy spreads or the right spots. Just get a boat, get a few decoys, pick a spot to hunt (often the most complicated) and go out there. After a couple years of that, you'll start to figure stuff out.

 

[Antarctica]

Man - I'm in the same boat, except I finally have one. Picked up a 24 foot seaark this summer for fishing, hunting, crabbing, bowfishing, towing my 5 and 6 year olds in a tube, and general poking around the bay.

I have never understood how to waterfowl hunt rivers in Maryland from a boat with the whole red-shoring thing. Say I want to hunt the Patuxent. Just want to run up it, and maybe put some deke's out on some lines and flat along, or anchor. I don't thing I can do it based on the standoff distance from any red-shored property. Is that correct? When I was in college, we used to duck hunt the monocracy by floating it in a canoe, but either we were illegal, or it wasn't the same back then.

Is it easier than I think?

 

[gtodave]

Man - I'm in the same boat, except I finally have one. Picked up a 24 foot seaark this summer for fishing, hunting, crabbing, bowfishing, towing my 5 and 6 year olds in a tube, and general poking around the bay.

I have never understood how to waterfowl hunt rivers in Maryland from a boat with the whole red-shoring thing. Say I want to hunt the Patuxent. Just want to run up it, and maybe put some deke's out on some lines and flat along, or anchor. I don't thing I can do it based on the standoff distance from any red-shored property. Is that correct? When I was in college, we used to duck hunt the monocracy by floating it in a canoe, but either we were illegal, or it wasn't the same back then.

Is it easier than I think?

The Monocacy and the Upper Potomac are the only rivers in MD that you can do that IIRC. It's open public "land", but really, you have to be in the water unless you own the shoreline. The lower Potomac and other rivers have the lease blind spots and/or public blind spots, so no "free access" in those areas.

 

[Antarctica]

The Monocacy and the Upper Potomac are the only rivers in MD that you can do that IIRC. It's open public "land", but really, you have to be in the water unless you own the shoreline. The lower Potomac and other rivers have the lease blind spots and/or public blind spots, so no "free access" in those areas.

What makes them different from the Patuxent?

 

[Antarctica]

What makes them different from the Patuxent?

I should phrase that better - I don't see the Potomac or Monocacy called out specifically any different than the Patuxent or Patapsco. As far as I can tell the red shoring precludes hunting them unless the shores are wide enough that there is space between the standoff distances.

I'm probably misstating the above, but in general, it seems like all of the offshore blind licensing keeps any of these rivers from being hunted except where they are wide near the mouth...

 

[gtodave]

What makes them different from the Patuxent?

MD DNR rules.

https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/hunt_trap/OffshoreHuntingGuide.aspx

Hunting while Standing on the Natural Bottom
This method of hunting was formerly termed "body-booting". Hunting while standing in water on the natural bottom is legal at a licensed blind site (see above) or in specified waters of the state. The specified waters of the state where hunting by this method is allowed are the Sea Duck Zone, the Offshore Waterfowl Hunting Zone (often referred to as the gunning rig zone) and the nontidal waters of the Potomac River. Rules for hunting while standing on the natural bottom are the same as hunting from an anchored boat.
Hunting from a Boat that is Drifting or being Sculled
Hunting waterfowl from a boat that is drifting or being sculled (or paddled) was formerly termed "sneakboating". Hunting from a boat that is drifting or being sculled is legal only in specified waters of the state. The specified waters of the state where hunting by this method is allowed are the Sea Duck Zone, the Offshore Waterfowl Hunting Zone (often referred to as the gunning rig zone) and the nontidal waters of the Potomac River, Conococheague Creek and the Monocacy River.

 

[fabsroman]

I should phrase that better - I don't see the Potomac or Monocacy called out specifically any different than the Patuxent or Patapsco. As far as I can tell the red shoring precludes hunting them unless the shores are wide enough that there is space between the standoff distances.

I'm probably misstating the above, but in general, it seems like all of the offshore blind licensing keeps any of these rivers from being hunted except where they are wide near the mouth...

That is pretty much the gist of it. It is the blind sites that make it tough to hunt by boat. Almost have to go out to the eastern shore in the marshes to hunt by boat. Think I am going to try it in the upper Potomac and/or the Monocacy and see how it goes. Probably going to be another year though before I get into this. Maybe even two. Once the youngest starts kindergarten I will have more time to mess around with the duck hunting part of this. Want the boat for the OBX and some fishing next spring/summer though and I don't want to be smacking myself on the head a year or two after buying the boat and figuring out I need something else for duck hunting.

Usually, the landowner on the shore has first rights to lease the blind sites. A lot of them lease it just to keep hunters away from their house. Had one buddy with a really nice offshore blind on the West River. He knew the property owners and they would always lease the site for him to block out others. Then, one year they forgot to lease it and it went to the general public for a lottery. He had 20+ friends come down to Anne Arundel County to register for the lottery in the hope that somebody would get picked early and pick the blind site for him. He ended up getting lucky.

Think I am just going to go with the 20' boat and see if I can make it work for duck hunting. Would probably use it more for fishing and crabbing anyway.

I need to win the lottery and buy a farm bordering on a waterfowl refuge, like Blackwater.

 

[fabsroman]

MD DNR rules.

https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/hunt_trap/OffshoreHuntingGuide.aspx

I am going to have to hire an attorney to make sense of all that nonsense. Good grief.

Guess I will buy a boat and then when the time comes, try to figure that trash out. Wish I had bought the 100 acres of farmland that bordered the Monocacy. $450k sounds like a bargain right now, until I think about the cost of the divorce that is. Finally have the green light though to start looking at farms.

 

[gtodave]

That is pretty much the gist of it. It is the blind sites that make it tough to hunt by boat. Almost have to go out to the eastern shore in the marshes to hunt by boat. Think I am going to try it in the upper Potomac and/or the Monocacy and see how it goes.

Not on a 20' boat you aren't

I had to walk my 14' boat over some sections of the Monocacy. A 20'er would be a non-starter.

The Potomac you will be fine. Just watch out after big rain events. Even if the water comes back down, most times it will leave 6" of the slickest mud you've ever seen on the ramps, and it's damn hard to get out of that pulling a boat.

Here's a page that EVERY person who wants to visit the upper Potomac needs to have bookmarked: https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=lwx&gage=PORM2

There's one for the Monocacy too. https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?gage=fdkm2&wfo=lwx

 

[gtodave]

I am going to have to hire an attorney to make sense of all that nonsense. Good grief.

like I said....

Duck hunting in MD is a pretty daunting thing to learn..

it ain't no joke! And that doesn't even get in to the WMA or National Park rules and regs. Some places you literally have one set of rules inside of another. Others you can have two blind sites next to each other with different rules/requirements.

 

[Mack C-85]

"I need to win the lottery and buy a farm bordering on a waterfowl refuge, like Blackwater."

In the vicinity of, definitely not "bordering"!!!

We leased a farm that shared a property line with Blackwater. Biggest P.I.A. I have ever hunted. No access what so ever, wounded bird goes down on thier side of the line.....too bad. USFWS Agents constantly watching and always around. No thanks!!!

BTW - The birds know what those white rectangles (signs) posted every ten feet are and they know if you stay on the side without the scribble on them you're safe. Hard to compete with thousands of live birds to get them to come to your spread.

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[gtodave]

"I need to win the lottery and buy a farm bordering on a waterfowl refuge, like Blackwater."

In the vicinity of, definitely not "bordering"!!!

We leased a farm that shared a property line with Blackwater. Biggest P.I.A. I have ever hunted. No access what so ever, wounded bird goes down on thier side of the line.....too bad. USFWS Agents constantly watching and always around. No thanks!!!

BTW - The birds know what those white rectangles (signs) posted every ten feet are and they know if you stay on the side without the scribble on them you're safe. Hard to compete with thousands of live birds to get them to come to your spread.

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Why couldn't you retrieve your dead birds? There's nothing in the law disallowing that.

 

[fabsroman]

"I need to win the lottery and buy a farm bordering on a waterfowl refuge, like Blackwater."

In the vicinity of, definitely not "bordering"!!!

We leased a farm that shared a property line with Blackwater. Biggest P.I.A. I have ever hunted. No access what so ever, wounded bird goes down on thier side of the line.....too bad. USFWS Agents constantly watching and always around. No thanks!!!

BTW - The birds know what those white rectangles (signs) posted every ten feet are and they know if you stay on the side without the scribble on them you're safe. Hard to compete with thousands of live birds to get them to come to your spread.

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Yeah, you are right about competing with the other birds. I'll worry about the farm location once I win the lottery. lol

Seriously looking at places in Carroll County though. Would like to keep the driving down to a minimum. Based upon the way the rules are now, I would be looking west of Route 31, but those rules change with the wind, possibly more frequently.

 

[fabsroman]

Why couldn't you retrieve your dead birds? There's nothing in the law disallowing that.

Was going to say trespassing laws might prohibit it, but a google search seems to show that it is legal to retrieve downed waterfowl on a wildlife refuge with an unloaded gun on the person, or no gun at all.

Still, I have had to deal with geese piled up across the street from where I was hunting and it was painful to try and get the ones coming in to decoy to me.

 

[outrider58]

Wear your swimmies...

 

[rseymorejr]

Was going to say trespassing laws might prohibit it, but a google search seems to show that it is legal to retrieve downed waterfowl on a wildlife refuge with an unloaded gun on the person, or no gun at all.

Still, I have had to deal with geese piled up across the street from where I was hunting and it was painful to try and get the ones coming in to decoy to me.

It's amazing to watch geese fly 1000 yards over your blind and once they cross the road they drop down to make their final approach to somebody else's pond!

 

[Mack C-85]

Why couldn't you retrieve your dead birds? There's nothing in the law disallowing that.

Start with trespassing and carrying a firearm on a Federal Wildlife Preserve. A fact the USFWS agents would make very clear when they "visited" you in your blind. Which happened very frequently and usually at the most inopportune times. There was a reason this lease was available and at a fairly reasonable price for the times. We didn't renew the lease.

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[Mack C-85]

Was going to say trespassing laws might prohibit it, but a google search seems to show that it is legal to retrieve downed waterfowl on a wildlife refuge with an unloaded gun on the person, or no gun at all.



Still, I have had to deal with geese piled up across the street from where I was hunting and it was painful to try and get the ones coming in to decoy to me.

The laws may have changed since then, but it was made extremely clear back then. Yes, the Agents were a..holes!!

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[gtodave]

Start with trespassing and carrying a firearm on a Federal Wildlife Preserve. A fact the USFWS agents would make very clear when they "visited" you in your blind. Which happened very frequently and usually at the most inopportune times. There was a reason this lease was available and at a fairly reasonable price for the times. We didn't renew the lease.

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It isn't trespass. You are retrieving your property. Technically you are supposed to call to notify them first, and yeah, you can't take your gun there (so cripples are gone).