Roanoke Rapids Lake waterfowl hunti ng bill- HB 80
- Thread starter CRC
- Start date
Greenhorn
Six Pointer
I bet that guide that took over there is not happy.
grim reaper
Ten Pointer
I bet that guide that took over there is the reason for it
DRS
Old Mossy Horns
Yelp! Same as on Harris Lake.
CountryRN
Twelve Pointer
This is gonna be a game changer for a few people.
JONOV
Old Mossy Horns
Its about time. Frankly I wouldn't mind seeing that law go in place for the whole state, though it may create its own set of problems (ever see the video of the tin boat gongshow in Arkansas?)
Sounds like that guy has basically privatized a public lake for years, before he was in RR he was at Harris.
Sounds like that guy has basically privatized a public lake for years, before he was in RR he was at Harris.
.35Rem
Eight Pointer
So what exactly does this guy do that results in something like this?
JONOV
Old Mossy Horns
Runs a guide service and leaves his many dozens of decoys out there often sleeping in his boat.
Many dozens? I heard it was around 2000 decoys! I would like to hear from forum members who saw it with their own eyes and estimated the number.
Wanchese
Twelve Pointer
Maybe that many total for all of his blinds. Probably less though.
shurshot
Ten Pointer
500 Herters and 8 hunters shoulder to shoulder were the norm for him at Harris. Camp out at his blind and had someone meet you at the bridge to water taxie you to his domain. Slaughtered the ringers all the while pissing everyone else off. Was a slob though, left the place a mess.
CountryRN
Twelve Pointer
I live 5 minutes from the ramp. There were 3 blind sights this year with approx 1500 to 2000 decoys out total. He also changed up this year with a blind in another location tr hat wasn't used but blocked up a hunting spot. He rents a house overlooking the back of the lake where the majority of the hunting is done so to watch over his blinds.
In years past he has had trouble with people painting the decoys orange or drilling holes in the pontoons of his blinds or theft. So he does spend random nights on the water and does drive around out there at night to keep watch on his gear.
This law will be an interesting one if it passes.
Buxndiverdux
Old Mossy Horns
The proposed law...
"it shall be unlawful to place or leave unoccupied any equipment or vessels that may be used for the purpose of taking migratory waterfowl, including, but not limited to, mobile or temporary blinds, layout boats, and decoys, prior to 4:00 A.M. each day. All such equipment and unoccupied vessels must be removed by two hours after sunset each day unless they remain on a portion of the shoreline or attached to a dock as authorized by the owner of the shoreline or dock."
My personal opinion...
Public water should be public water. I've seen his operation at work on Harris and Gaston. I have no problem with what he does if he did it on private property, but to occupy public water for the entirety of the season is being a pig.
"it shall be unlawful to place or leave unoccupied any equipment or vessels that may be used for the purpose of taking migratory waterfowl, including, but not limited to, mobile or temporary blinds, layout boats, and decoys, prior to 4:00 A.M. each day. All such equipment and unoccupied vessels must be removed by two hours after sunset each day unless they remain on a portion of the shoreline or attached to a dock as authorized by the owner of the shoreline or dock."
My personal opinion...
Public water should be public water. I've seen his operation at work on Harris and Gaston. I have no problem with what he does if he did it on private property, but to occupy public water for the entirety of the season is being a pig.
Dead Eye-NC
Eight Pointer
Skimmer will put u on Bull Cans! I heard limits for abt every hunter last weeks in Jan. I hunted up there with a friend many years ago. Prolly 500 dekes out. We didnt kill much. Shot out. But he is good at what he does and seems like a nice guy
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.35Rem
Eight Pointer
Thx. way more than I imagined. I just don’t think that way. Guess laws multiply when folks do things most folks with common sense and common courtesy wouldn’t even think of.
So the question is--if this proposed law passes where will Darrell McCaully cause another complex situation next? When he left a message at Harris What exactly did he leave? Can he be fined for littering?
DRS
Old Mossy Horns
Being from Nashville, NC and having friends in Fuquay-Varina, I hunted Harris and the Old Lake (Roanoke Rapids Lake) before and during the days of Darrell. Later on some friends and I hunted Roanoke Rapids Lake, then Darrell came. I haven't hunted in quite a few years for different reasons, but the last couple years all we could kill at the Old Lake were canvasbacks, at one time it was a good lake to hunt for a variety of birds. Darrell, would put out several hundred decoys. We could still draw some birds in though with our couple hundred dekes. Darrell seemed to be nice enough, what really pissed most of us off is when he had articles ran in the NC Sportsman to boost his business, then the lake did fill up.
darkthirty
Old Mossy Horns
Skimmer will put u on Bull Cans! I heard limits for abt every hunter last weeks in Jan. I hunted up there with a friend many years ago. Prolly 500 dekes out. We didnt kill much. Shot out. But he is good at what he does and seems like a nice guy
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Wait what??? If you’re in that group, it appears we may have a mutual friend.
Wanchese
Twelve Pointer
That law won't get rid of him.
Buxndiverdux
Old Mossy Horns
I don’t think they want to get rid of him. It’s his public water too. Just want to eliminate him perpetually hogging spots by keeping his equipment set out all season long. He can still hunt, just has to pick up his stuff just like everyone else. And it gives other people a chance to hunt those spots.
JD1107
Guest
It’s forsure going to make him work a lot more. As far as it allowing others to hunt those spots I’m sure he’ll figure something out to keep that from happening. Should be fun to see how it plays out.
Dead Eye-NC
Eight Pointer
Im not in pic. that pic came from a FOF. ive never killed a can
grim reaper
Ten Pointer
Killed my 1st can at RR over 20 years ago. The first few years we hunted there we had the lake to ourselves some days...got too crowded, havent seen it in 15 years
Gmac
Button Buck
He has several pontoon boat blinds scattered around the lake. he uses boats as blinds because theyre registered vessels. This makes it illegal to board and occupy his blinds because theyre registered vessels making them private property. He may have as many as 500 decoys at each blind site. This will pretty much shut him down
Makes you wonder how long it will be before duck hunting around the piedmont reservoirs becomes a draw-only kind of deal, like some of the public lands at the coast? Back in the day, we seldom ran into others duck hunting (before Jordan, Falls, or Harris existed). These days, even though there's more water, there's a LOT more hunters. Satellite maps make keeping an out of the way spot secret these days too.
Jim
Jim
bryguy
Old Mossy Horns
or do what Wilson county has done to its 2 municipal water sources.......assigned blind locations and then have draws every so often for the location. plus it is only open to county residents.
JD1107
Guest
That would be terrible!
bryguy
Old Mossy Horns
Lets just say there was a lot of local politics involved in that whole fiasco............the whole public duck hunting thing in NC has gotten so ridiculous that i have given up on it.........
shurshot
Ten Pointer
I’m not a doom and gloom guy but I’ve seeen the handwriting on the wall for a looooong time. It’s all coming down to “managed” hunts on these popular lakes, gamelands, shores and marshes that are controlled by NCWRC. I’ve said it many times before that if you have a passion for waterfwowling you need to either buy a place, lease a place, or join a hunting club that will allow you to hunt ducks. That mostly goes for the puddle duck hunting in that the rivers and sounds are still very accessible for divers and sea ducks. Most wont be able to outright buy a good duck property but there are some cost share programs ought there. Another avenue is to form a little group with your best hunting buddies and pool your resources to secure a place, whether to own or to lease. It’s still very expensive regardless but it’s only going to get worse. Ha, I remember when you could lease a goose field in Hyde or Washington county for $1.50/acre. If you knew what you were doing, you also could have some good duck shooting from it too. Oh the good ole days ....
Downeast
Twelve Pointer
I have my own place and we lease a small tract but we also go on one or two trips each season out of state. A new place every year. It's my "vacation" and it's a lot of fun. So far we have hit Louisiana, Tennessee, Maryland, and Maine. Kansas is on our list for this season. Hunting local public waters is a sham, as are the game lands. I still put in for a few game land hunts that are within an hour (30-45 minutes) from my residence. To travel any further to hunt game lands is just plain stupid. We've discussed hunting RR with "Skimmer" on occasion but haven't done so. It sounds like way to much drama for us.