The good, and the not so good
Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2014 10:58 pmSo, this morning I hauled my Aquapod marsh boat up to the Klamath River to hunt some ducks. There's a spot I knew about that is always full of birds this time of the year, so I figured that would be a good place to set up. Got there plenty early, got set up and had ducks landing in the decoys before shoot time. I had decided not to shoot buffies today since the spot usually held a lot of wigeon and mallards. Right off I had a pair of teal land 10 feet from the boat, which I had wedged in by a log and was using it as my blind. They swam right past the boat at about 15 feet, and never had a clue I was there.After that a mallard came in and I killed her. Before long a group of redheads started making their way down the river toward the decoys, feeding as they went. When they got close enough I killed a pair of them.
At that point the sun was just starting to peak over the hills and light up the far side of the river. I saw a couple birds and put the glasses on them. One of them was a nice European wigeon! I figured if I waited long enough he would make his way down stream and get close enough for me to shoot. That one would definitely be going on the wall. I layed still in that boat for 40 minutes while that rotten bird would swim down a few yards, then swim back up...swim down a few yards, then swim back up. At one point while I was waiting and hoping I had 6-8 wigeon in the river within 10 yards of me, and a hen mallard landed within 5 feet of me. The Euro never showed any signs of wanting to swim down. The mallard swam out in front of me toward the decoys, so I shot her, figuring maybe the Euro would fly down and give me a shot. Nope, he went straight up river. Oh well.
At that point I moved my little boat about 20 yards upriver and loded it in under a tree branch to get a little closer to where the birds seemed to be wanting to go. Pretty soon a wigeon locked up and came in, and I killed it.
And that friends, is where things got ugly. A truck and a car pulled up in the turn out across the river. The drivers got out and the guy in the car came up and started talking to the guy from the truck. He was telling him about hunting there and how to access the spot from the other side of the river. The guy from the car was the land owner I gathered. At that point the guy from the car stared yelling about hunters, walked to the edge of the river, looked at me and called me a stupid mother ****** and a dumb ******* hunter. Well that was interesting, I'd done nothing wrong. Nothing on that side of the river was posted, and it has never been closed to access. Then the car dude proceeded to scream that if I had gone in the river where he was I had crossed his land, and if that was my car down in the pullout he had my license plate number. He told me his horses were scared. I guess the guys he was going permission to hunt must have been planning on using silent guns? Then he and the truck dude had a laugh and drove away. He came back later and put up some no trespassing signs. However, what he never did at any point was to tell me to leave.
That's an important point.
Now, I don't know about you, but when I first see someone, and they "introduce" themselves by screaming and cussing at me, it really ticks me off. At that point I tend to become obstinate. Well, I decided that car dude hadn't told me to leave, and I sure wasn't going to cave in to a lunatic, so I just kept hunting. Wasn't long before I killed another wigeon, and here he came on his quad. He puffed up and asked if I hadn't believed him? Believing him or not wasn't really the point. I let him rant a bit and then introduced myself and explained that I didn't intend to be his enemy. I got him calmed down and he started explaining that he'd been running off folks who were shooting ducks they couldn't retrieve and doing some other not so good things. I asked about the guys he was talking to, and he said they were friends of his son. Still not sure why it's OK for them to scare the poor horses, but not anyone else? Upon further talking to him, he said he was planning on closing off the entire area...including the drift boat take out under the Klamathon Bridge. We eventually shook hands and parted ways.
Now, let's get back to his wanting to close the access under the bridge. This guy (from his conversation) has only lived here for 4 years. Folks have been taking drift boats out of the river under the bridge for MANY years. This guy is traveling a very, very dangerous road. If he closes off that river access it's going to cause a war. In this neck of the woods people have been burned out or died for less reason than that. I seriously don't think he has any idea how bad things could get for him. I would not want to be in his shoes.
On the way home I had a long conversation with a local warden. He said I was not the first one to call with a complaint about this individual. He said it's on his list to visit the landowner and go over the portion of the fish and game code relating to hunter harassment. Not a good situation at all no matter what side of the fence you're on.
From today:
At that point the sun was just starting to peak over the hills and light up the far side of the river. I saw a couple birds and put the glasses on them. One of them was a nice European wigeon! I figured if I waited long enough he would make his way down stream and get close enough for me to shoot. That one would definitely be going on the wall. I layed still in that boat for 40 minutes while that rotten bird would swim down a few yards, then swim back up...swim down a few yards, then swim back up. At one point while I was waiting and hoping I had 6-8 wigeon in the river within 10 yards of me, and a hen mallard landed within 5 feet of me. The Euro never showed any signs of wanting to swim down. The mallard swam out in front of me toward the decoys, so I shot her, figuring maybe the Euro would fly down and give me a shot. Nope, he went straight up river. Oh well.
At that point I moved my little boat about 20 yards upriver and loded it in under a tree branch to get a little closer to where the birds seemed to be wanting to go. Pretty soon a wigeon locked up and came in, and I killed it.
And that friends, is where things got ugly. A truck and a car pulled up in the turn out across the river. The drivers got out and the guy in the car came up and started talking to the guy from the truck. He was telling him about hunting there and how to access the spot from the other side of the river. The guy from the car was the land owner I gathered. At that point the guy from the car stared yelling about hunters, walked to the edge of the river, looked at me and called me a stupid mother ****** and a dumb ******* hunter. Well that was interesting, I'd done nothing wrong. Nothing on that side of the river was posted, and it has never been closed to access. Then the car dude proceeded to scream that if I had gone in the river where he was I had crossed his land, and if that was my car down in the pullout he had my license plate number. He told me his horses were scared. I guess the guys he was going permission to hunt must have been planning on using silent guns? Then he and the truck dude had a laugh and drove away. He came back later and put up some no trespassing signs. However, what he never did at any point was to tell me to leave.
That's an important point.
Now, I don't know about you, but when I first see someone, and they "introduce" themselves by screaming and cussing at me, it really ticks me off. At that point I tend to become obstinate. Well, I decided that car dude hadn't told me to leave, and I sure wasn't going to cave in to a lunatic, so I just kept hunting. Wasn't long before I killed another wigeon, and here he came on his quad. He puffed up and asked if I hadn't believed him? Believing him or not wasn't really the point. I let him rant a bit and then introduced myself and explained that I didn't intend to be his enemy. I got him calmed down and he started explaining that he'd been running off folks who were shooting ducks they couldn't retrieve and doing some other not so good things. I asked about the guys he was talking to, and he said they were friends of his son. Still not sure why it's OK for them to scare the poor horses, but not anyone else? Upon further talking to him, he said he was planning on closing off the entire area...including the drift boat take out under the Klamathon Bridge. We eventually shook hands and parted ways.
Now, let's get back to his wanting to close the access under the bridge. This guy (from his conversation) has only lived here for 4 years. Folks have been taking drift boats out of the river under the bridge for MANY years. This guy is traveling a very, very dangerous road. If he closes off that river access it's going to cause a war. In this neck of the woods people have been burned out or died for less reason than that. I seriously don't think he has any idea how bad things could get for him. I would not want to be in his shoes.
On the way home I had a long conversation with a local warden. He said I was not the first one to call with a complaint about this individual. He said it's on his list to visit the landowner and go over the portion of the fish and game code relating to hunter harassment. Not a good situation at all no matter what side of the fence you're on.
From today:
