Hello,

 

Does having guys fishing from boats negatively effect your hunting ?  

 

Last week when I was fishing (225 acre lake, NJ Wildlife Preserve) none of the hunters were able to get a shot off, and I was wondering if they were cursing the guys fishing for keeping the birds away.

 

I can say that during the non hunting season though, the lake is full of Canadian geese and all sorts of duck type birds regardless of the amount of boats..

 

To be honest, I forgot it was hunting season and didn't even realize until after about 4 hours fishing that the hunters were there because of their camo. I'll be fishing at a lake not in the wildlife preserve this weekend.

 

Thanks

It's a public body of water, you have just as much right to it as they do, don't worry about if you're scaring birds off or not. I duck hunt and it's just part of life. I'd much rather deal with people in a boat fishing than other hunters trying to setup over our spread like happens so often on public water around here. 

 

I have more than one assist from scaring birds out of open water, down creeks, or out of coves to hunters while fishing.

This really depends on the location and the birds.  Many times they will land if you are 100+ yds away from the guys hunting.  Especially if they are local birds.  The hunters typically care more then the birds.  Personally I would stay about 200+ yds away from them just due to shot fall out.

Good points guys, I thank you for your input.

One reason the ducks aren't there as thick as they will be later in the season is that it's still early. When it gets colder the migration will pick up. And, if you're ever fishing on a body of water I'm duck hunting, do me a favor and ride through where they ducks landed so maybe a few will be pushed into my spread! (Just kidding, that's illegal.)