Friday morning I headed out just before sunrise on Leech only to find a couple goose hunters set up at my favorite bass spot. Out of respect I started about 200 yards from them and where I wanted to start, but I want to get feedback on what the protocol is on a situation like this.
Did I affect their hunting being 200+ yards away?
Would you have left the area completely?
(btw I ended up landing 8 large mouth between 2.5 and 4 lbs)
Been there, I will usually leave them alone completely. Had one uncomfortable situation a few years back, I don’t care to re-live. It is tough sometimes with some of the remote areas I fish in the late season. Was out one year on a small reservoir in Oconto co., and couldn’t fish a single spot I wanted to. The next weekend I was launching my rig at 3am, beat them to the spot that morning got some smiles that morning, and made a few friends.
Not sure what the right distance for etiquette much less safety are?
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Friday morning I headed out just before sunrise on Leech only to find a couple goose hunters set up at my favorite bass spot.
Hopefully you meant Saturday morning. Otherwise I would have called T.I.P.
Just make sure your gun is bigger than theirs 
I would leave them completely. Look at it this way. They are only there a portion of the morning. This makes you get out and find a new spot and might be for the best
personally I would have left the spot completely, I hunt and fish and in either situation having someone get what I consider too close is just annoying, it’s the personal bubble thing. As a waterfowler I spend time scouting, setting up and making sure the little things are right, having you about 200 yards away not only potentially flared any birds working, you probably caused those guys to not have such a memorable trip. I’m glad you caught fish and no one got hurt, but please give them room to enjoy their day also. just my .02
For what it is worth…this is right out of the regulations. A CO could go either way. If it is right at sun-up or when the birds are moving it might be safe to stay completly away from them.
There’s that, yes… but it’s based on intent.
If you move up on them with the intent to disrupt their hunt, you’re in violation of the regulation.
However, just moving in with the intent to fish… that’s another story. But, while technically allowed, it’s bad form.
Bass tournaments have a rule that you cannot fish within xxft of another tournament boat that’s anchored… while it’s technically allowed to move up within spitting distance of another boat that’s not anchored, you’d be a real a-hole to do so.
I do both regularly…I’d leave the area completly.
If they were good goose hunters you wouldn’t know they were there, right?
thanks for your thoughts. Hopefully, it doesn’t happen again, but if it does, I’ll know what to do.
(And it was Saturday morning)
id fish right next to them if i was catching 4 pounders..
Every time I check in and see this topic, I laugh…
‘…poor guy, brought a bass rod to a gunfight…’ 
guess I always figured not be be pressing MY luck with dudes holding guns…
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Every time I check in and see this topic, I laugh…
‘…poor guy, brought a bass rod to a gunfight…’
guess I always figured not be be pressing MY luck with dudes holding guns…
I assume you’re kidding. I wouldn’t bother a guy hunting if I could help it but if a hunter pulled up and threatened with a gun he be a fool. It’d put you in the same rank as that chi vang character from WI. Tough guy.
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Every time I check in and see this topic, I laugh…
‘…poor guy, brought a bass rod to a gunfight…’
guess I always figured not be be pressing MY luck with dudes holding guns…
I assume you’re kidding. I wouldn’t bother a guy hunting if I could help it but if a hunter pulled up and threatened with a gun he be a fool. It’d put you in the same rank as that chi vang character from WI. Tough guy.
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Every time I check in and see this topic, I laugh…
‘…poor guy, brought a bass rod to a gunfight…’
guess I always figured not be be pressing MY luck with dudes holding guns…
I assume you’re kidding. I wouldn’t bother a guy hunting if I could help it but if a hunter pulled up and threatened with a gun he be a fool. It’d put you in the same rank as that chi vang character from WI. Tough guy.
yes…I’m kidding…I wouldn’t expect hunters to be that aggressive…on the other hand, as a boater/angler, I’d give them a wide berth…
Still don’t enjoy the sound birdshot makes going through the air…if I can hear that I’m too close…
Reason I ‘laugh’ is that common sense, never mind courtesy, should dictate staying away from those folks EVEN if the fishing’s good.
Seems kind of like fishing in a thunderstorm…it’s all fun and games until someone gets fried…
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id fish right next to them if i was catching 4 pounders..
then you would see my dog swimming in front of you……
Vang was from Minnesota. For the record.
I’ve been a part of one run in with waterfowlers in a similar situation. Steve DeZurik and I were fishing late season smallies on the Upper Miss and we started right at sunup on a sandbar downstream from a little backwater opening. We started downriver from the backwaters and fished our way along the shore until we got to the opening… and spotted the decoys in the water. We never did see the blind or the hunters but we assumed that with decoys on the water… hunters were nearby. So we got the heck out of there.
At the end of the day we had a nice little love note on the truck from the hunters letting us know how much they appreciated us acting “like we owned the water, etc.” We also got the “damn fishing guides” and “the internet is the devil” speech. 
Hey, we tried. I know both Steve and I still shake our heads over that one. For the record… when we know there’s hunting going on we give a wide berth no matter how good the fishing is. But camo… works. Sometimes too well.
A little late for adding to this, but anyways…Oldrat and I were out looking for some late fall smallies. As I navigated a few backwaters through mostly refuge areas, we passed a few hunters legally set up. We got the finger, and a few shouts of profanity…and other just simply waved. We hit the gas and got out of the area in a reasonable time and tried not to wash them out with my wake. Bottom line was we kicked 100s and 100s of ducks/geese up as we made our way around. I’m sure the guys that were so ticked off didn’t realize it was us putting so many birds up in the air. We had a good laugh from it as we rounded a point and a 100 or so ducks flew up. Moments later, the shotguns were blazing. So, it can work both ways. We respected there space and moved away as quickly as possible. In the process, provided a lot of shooting for them. We also had a guy pull up and start setting up right in front of us. 30 second chat, and we fished while he set up. When he was done, we moved on. Plenty of water to fish and we all need to get along. Not one of us is “Entitled” to a given spot, we just need to use our best judgement and respect others as we would want our own activities respected.
BTW James, lucky you just had your love letter. Easily could have sliced a tire or two….
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I’ve been a part of one run in with waterfowlers in a similar situation. Steve DeZurik and I were fishing late season smallies on the Upper Miss and we started right at sunup on a sandbar downstream from a little backwater opening. We started downriver from the backwaters and fished our way along the shore until we got to the opening… and spotted the decoys in the water. We never did see the blind or the hunters but we assumed that with decoys on the water… hunters were nearby. So we got the heck out of there.
At the end of the day we had a nice little love note on the truck from the hunters letting us know how much they appreciated us acting “like we owned the water, etc.” We also got the “damn fishing guides” and “the internet is the devil” speech.
Hey, we tried. I know both Steve and I still shake our heads over that one. For the record… when we know there’s hunting going on we give a wide berth no matter how good the fishing is. But camo… works. Sometimes too well.
I had a similar thing happen to me. I was working an island at the break of dawn. The island is loaded with tall trees, so you can’t see more than a few yards into it. I came around a point to go into a cove, and right in front of me are all the decoys. All of a sudden the 2 guys hunting jump up and start hollering at me and threatening to come out and kick my a**, along with letting me know they would be waiting for me at the boat ramp. I did not say a single word to them, turned my boat around, and went to my next spot. Having been a gun safety instructor, I happen to have the local CO’s phone number, so I gave him a call just to let him know of the threats sent my way. I don’t know what happened after that.
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