How Early On Opening Day

[french_lake_kid]

I'm assuming you could go 2 your spot the night B4 if you wanted 2, 9am is leagal, so what time can you put your dekes out? Right away so ppl know where you are, or wait so that you dont have ducks all over you when you cant even shoot em yet?

[Scott M]

You can't put out the decoys until an hour before shooting hours, so on opening day it's pretty easy: 8 a.m.

If you want to let people know where you are, the best thing is a nice headlamp or flashlight. Just a friendly little bit of light when you hear someone approaching has been my M.O. I think its courteous to both show someone that light and to recognize it and mosey on over to another spot- leaving enough room between the two parties.

[norwall]

back when there were lots of hunter and duck hunting was good in MN we would go out at 3am or earler to get the spot we wanted.now can go at 7or8 and get the same spot

[icecold]

I agree with Norwall there isnt as many hunters as there was in the 80 and 90s ,so getting to your spot isnt as high pressured as it used to be, but you will still have your jerks and people that dont have a clue set up to close to your spread,

[notforhiregooseguide]

What would norwall know? he said he lived in albert lea and knows the lakes like the back of his hand for 31 years. and yet he quizzes people about how to fish the lakes or hunt around albert lea!!! whats the dealieO

[norwall]

Well heres the dealeo newbie,much like ur self i'm a self proclaimed guide 2 but thats where we differ my friend,, unlike, urself I Am 4 HIRE !!

[notforhiregooseguide]

I have lurked on here for a year and have seen some of the posts you make!! you are not the most fav on this site are you?

[morefishplease]

you will still have your jerk-baits and people that dont have a clue

Sounds like this guy "lurking around"

[eyepatrol]

Getting back to FLK's post, what da_chise said is spot on. It's exactly what I've done for the 25 years I've hunted.

And on opener, I prefer to get the dekes out at 8:00a.m. Get them out there right away and just tuck back in the weeds and wait until 9:00am (or when the entire area opens up which often times, is a little before 9:00). I'd rather have them out right away and maybe have some ducks either coming in at 9:00 or already in at 9:00 than to be putting them out just before 9:00 when all the birds can see you.

[Roosterslayer05]

If your hunting a managment area you might not be able to enter the parking lot legally untill 5 am, otherwise your tresspassing. If this is the case you will see signs, if its not go out whenever you want.

[ddsbyday]

It is concidered poaching if you kill ducks before the season starts at 9 AM. Just because everone else is speeding is not an excuse if you get pulled over. I have been out when people start shooting 15-20 minutes early. The ducks are shot off the lake before the season starts. I tell my boys we are here to hunt. We are going to play by the rules.

[eyepatrol]

Who's to say if my watch is off by 2 minutes or the DNR guy's is, or anyone else's for that matter? This is why I said a LITTLE before 9:00am, not WAY before 9:00am. In the days of shooting at noon, we just waited for the noon whistle to blow in town. Those days are gone and now we have to go by our own watches. Mine is set according to The Weather Channel's time, and that's good enough for me.

Lets not try and over-exaggerate the situation and context of what I wrote. You're trying to display me as a poacher....which couldn't be further from the truth.

[Bryce]

There is no LITTLE in the rule. I'm sure you mean 9:00 straight up on your watch set to The Weather Channel. Right? No problem with that as you are trying to obide.

I've hunted with guys whose watches were faster than mine in the morning but amazingly, slower in the afternoon. Pitiful.

[Sartell Angler]

If you don't trust the accuracy of your Rolex, just use your cell phone. I reported some poachers shooting after hours last year and helped the CO make the charges stick by completing an affidavit...usually a CO would have to witness it firsthand and record the time but my word that I had read the time off of my cell phone was enough to compel the county attorney to bring charges.

[Scott M]

I asked a C.O. about the shooting hours deal. He said there is some wiggle room up to like 10 minutes before they write tickets. It's just too easy to beat those tickets in court because we don't have any sort of universal time everybody can go off of.

Personally, my group is usually the last to shoot on opening day. We wait until the official military time hits 0900 (Cells phones and GPS units are getting this corrected time from satellites). My advice is take the high road. Use some ethics. I've seen a lot of shooting erupt and birds get whipped up and swing right through that I've passed on. It's just not worth that little bit of a cheat, IMO.

On another topic, another pet peeve of mine is guys that come out and sleep in their boat the night before. I know most of you don't experience this, but on some heavily pressured public waters guys do this. Remember that WMAs do not allow overnight stays. I remember going out to a spot at about 4-5 in the morning, blinding up and waiting for my buddies to join me. My bud shows up and right as we were going to throw the decoys out, some guy's teenage kid wakes up and turns on his half dead flash light that was about as dim as a lightning bug and mumbles something about already having the spot. He had slept through us paddling around, flashing our 2 million candlewatt light looking for a spot. We took the high road and left, even though the other good spots were mostly taken by that time and I'm not gonna lie, I was a little more than annoyed.

[ddsbyday]

I was not displaying you as a poacher at all. Just stating that if you shoot waterfowl before the season legally starts even if everyone else is shooting you will get a ticket. Best to do your best to error on the later time. No offence intended.

[eyepatrol]

I simply don't want people to get the wrong impression that we're out there banging away at 8:55am or something. Hunting the lake we do, there isn't much of any shooting for a good 30 - 60 minutes after the season opens. The lake I hunt has a few woodies that nest on it, otherwise we have to wait until ducks come off the sloughs, potholes, ditches and other nearby swamps before we get any action.

The funny thing about where we hunt....when we set out decoys, the ducks are around. But that's because guys on the sloughs are going out and setting out their dekes too. Then at around 8:30am, it gets real quiet because the ducks head back to where they came. Get all pumped up only to be "let down". We fall for it every year.

Like everyone else, we wait until our watches say it's time to shoot, not when others open up some 10 minutes early...and on some sloughs I've heard them open 20 minutes early! Like others, we've had ducks in our dekes on some mornings at 5 minutes before shooting time, or geese flying right over our heads, etc. We choose to wait in order to be on the safe side.

However, I simply can't guarantee that my watch is balls-on with the DNR's. Should be pretty darn close though.

[dan z]

yup I use the cell phone clock and my second look will be on my citizen watch with eco-drive.