Tuckahoe Impoundments Draw Hunts?

[Bubblehead]

Anyone draw a blind for the season? Both my brother and I put in but didn’t draw. Was just curious what everyone’s experience has been if you drew and blind and got to hunt

[mazzgolf]

I got one.

A buddy of mine also drew a blind, too.

We didn't get a blind for this early season - we'll be hunting it later in the winter.

[Swamprat]

I drew one for a date in January.  Never been down there.  Will have to scout it prior.  

[chenrossi]

Didn’t draw, hoping to hunt it on a weekday when there’s an open blind available. 

[Cj1187]

Me and one other person i know put in. Neither drew any dates

[9CAS1]

I know guys who won a spot this past Monday. Unfortunately  they said not a single bird flew and no shots heard on the marsh that day 

[Denny]

I want no part of that.  It sets a bad precedence for our state. That's just my opinion.    My thoughts, take them for what they are, are this state has plenty of wma's and public land.  First come first serve should be our way.  I never want to be told where or when I can hunt  at a particular spot during the season.. That is a big  part of the fun in waterfowling.   For those  tuckahoe spots really only 2 blind site areas are worth a damn. Rest suck in my opinion and you don't know what one you get untill the morning of.  I would not be surprised if on opening day, day after,  and opener of second split those 2 primo areas somehow the guys who set this whole draw somehow got "lucky," in getting those blinds for the first shoot.     On top of that I have no idea to what extent  they built or concealed the blinds.  They could be great or they could be big obnoxious boxes that stand out like sore thumbs.  I dunno.  I want to do my concealing .  Get up by early. Get my plan a.  Have a plan b and c just incase. And go from there.  Again  that's my thoughts.  Take them for what they are.   

[Batsto]

1 hour ago, Denny said:

I want no part of that.  It sets a bad precedence for our state. That's just my opinion.    My thoughts, take them for what they are, are this state has plenty of wma's and public land.  First come first serve should be our way.  I never want to be told where or when I can hunt  at a particular spot during the season.. That is a big  part of the fun in waterfowling.   For those  tuckahoe spots really only 2 blind site areas are worth a damn. Rest suck in my opinion and you don't know what one you get untill the morning of.  I would not be surprised if on opening day, day after,  and opener of second split those 2 primo areas somehow the guys who set this whole draw somehow got "lucky," in getting those blinds for the first shoot.     On top of that I have no idea to what extent  they built or concealed the blinds.  They could be great or they could be big obnoxious boxes that stand out like sore thumbs.  I dunno.  I want to do my concealing .  Get up by early. Get my plan a.  Have a plan b and c just incase. And go from there.  Again  that's my thoughts.  Take them for what they are.   

I agree and the whole thing sucks!

Edited October 28, 2021 by Batsto

[Codaboy]

I put in. But did not get drawn

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[Batsto]

32 minutes ago, Codaboy said:

I put in. But did not get drawn

Sent from my motorola one 5G ace using Tapatalk
 

You get denied as we pay taxes to support natural areas that were designed for hunters and other outdoors enthusiasts. 

[tuny]

I pulled a date in early December I'll reserve my opinions of the situation until I see how it goes.

[chenrossi]

14 hours ago, Denny said:

I want no part of that.  It sets a bad precedence for our state. That's just my opinion.    My thoughts, take them for what they are, are this state has plenty of wma's and public land.  First come first serve should be our way.  I never want to be told where or when I can hunt  at a particular spot during the season.. That is a big  part of the fun in waterfowling.   For those  tuckahoe spots really only 2 blind site areas are worth a damn. Rest suck in my opinion and you don't know what one you get untill the morning of.  I would not be surprised if on opening day, day after,  and opener of second split those 2 primo areas somehow the guys who set this whole draw somehow got "lucky," in getting those blinds for the first shoot.     On top of that I have no idea to what extent  they built or concealed the blinds.  They could be great or they could be big obnoxious boxes that stand out like sore thumbs.  I dunno.  I want to do my concealing .  Get up by early. Get my plan a.  Have a plan b and c just incase. And go from there.  Again  that's my thoughts.  Take them for what they are.   

It said on the application too you are not required to hunt from the blind itself, you have some flexibility to hunt within proximity to the blind should you choose to want to hunt out of your own stuff and conceal on your own. So there's some level of that freedom without the risk of someone setting up right on top of you. Just FWIW.

[Jim_]

I'm thinking that part of the rationale for this program is hunter recruitment?

Though, I hunted Coastal for decades and never thought we needed more hunters. lol.

I'm interested in hearing firsthand info from the hunters, too.

[mazzgolf]

30 minutes ago, Jim_ said:

I'm thinking that part of the rationale for this program is hunter recruitment?

I think part of the rationale is (I don't know this for a fact, but it makes sense to me...)

(1) limit the days the birds are hunted in those impoundments (the south impoundments will only be hunted 3 days out of the week now)

(2) limit how many hunters hunt during those 3 days.

Both will reduce the hunting pressure those birds see with the theoretical result being better hunting as you get later and later into the season as compared to previous years when birds would get pressured out of the impoundments after getting hunted 6 days a week by who knows how many hunters.

Remember that the DFW requires participants that get awarded a blind and hunt to fill out a survey after their hunt. Since this is the first year, I assume they want the data from these surveys so they can know what worked and what didn't -- if it were me, I would want to know how the hunting is (good/bad) not only between the 6 different blind locations during any particular day, but between the different days as the season goes along. It would be interesting to see if the hunting is good in late December/January and how it compares with October/November (the date I was awarded was late December... I'm looking forward to seeing for myself how it is).

I don't know what the survey asks, but hopefully one of the questions it asks is not just how many birds were harvested, but how many birds were SEEN (within shooting distance) -- for those people that don't shoot very good (why you lookin' at me?)  

[Batsto]

Did the state make a deal with Ducks Unlimited for permanent Blinds and special permits? The state didn’t flip the entire bill for impoundment improvements. Costs were shared.  I could be mistaken. 

Edited October 28, 2021 by Batsto