Nothing personal Meterman, so don't take it that way. Just kinda voicing my opinion on the topic.

We kinda need a lil more details to give a true response. So many different rules & policies in place on different locations. Where I hunt, we don't have the drag races. Instead, we get in line at a check in station. Whatever you are in line is your # for the day. When you check in, you get a sticker with your # on it & you place your sticker on an aerial photo of the property on the spot you're hunting that day. You can't get closer than 200 yds (which is really still too damn close) to another party. Each day you start from scratch, & there are no permanent blinds allowed.

Now, from what I understand about Wallisville, you pay money to enter a drawing for a blind, which you have to pay for / build & tear down after the season. You're required to have a copy of your permit attached to the blind so another public hunter doesn't try to hunt it & you have this kind of problem in the 1st place. Public hunting is also allowed from a boat or temp blind on the project, but I don't know if there's any restrictions on proximity.

Now, if the situation Coe brought to us took place at Wallisville, we need to know if there was a blind in the 1st spot he went to (where someone already had set up). If no blind, then he should've moved on (which he did). If there was a blind & he had permission to use it (if it wasn't his), then he should've had the had the guys move or share it with him.
Ok, for the 2nd spot. He didn't have permission to use the garage blind, so he shouldn't have even set up near it, just in case the owner showed up to hunt it (which they did). If I were them, I'd have been pissed off at him.

naw cd not taking it personal thats what makes this forum good but thats why i hunt open lakes also
palastine is the only one i know of that has a permit , the others u find a blind and fixit up its first come first serve .

In Louisiana you can only build blinds out of natural vegetation on public land. So I guess the term "blind" might be a stretch compared to TX public blinds. These are really just piles of brush and shrubs. You can build one wherever you want (no permits or tags). My problem is people that build them think that they now own that public pond and they can wake up later than me because I didn't build one. But I don't need to build one because I have one on my boat and I like to stay mobile.

I just don't get how people can disagree with first come, first serve. It is really the only fair way to do it and it's the law on Louisiana WMA's. But I shouldn't be surprised because there are a lot of people out there that think rules do not apply to them.

im willing to bet the guy westend is talking about wasnt in wallisville. Ive hunted wallisville all my life and have yet to see a garage blind in the project. They have to be removed after every season and that would be alot of work to tear it down after 3 months.

If it was south of the projects its a different story. The land is privately owned so you're supposed to be a land owner to build on land, but if you build in the water it is public and so is the blind you build. In this area there are no special rules other than state laws. So it is truly first come first serve.

I actually built a garage blind out there and have yet to find someone in my blind or have someone come by to see if it was open while i was there. Now saying that im not sure how i would react to the situation if it happened. I dont hunt in or near anyones blinds and wish that was everyones attitude. That being said if someone beat me to the blind i would probably ask to hunt with them and their response would dictate my reaction. If it actually became a reoccuring issue, i have thought about this at length, I would saw the legs just enough to hold the blind up and i would never hunt it again. I would hunt the same area from a layout boat.

I like our system.

1 - If you are lucky enough to have a bush blind (governed by the Game Commission, awarded by lottery if one becomes available), it is yours to maintain and hunt as long as you renew it from year to year. You can let it go at any time for public lottery. It is your designated blind and nobody can hunt it without your permission. Most people keep blinds their entire life, some have been in families for probably a hundred years.

2 - We have several WMA's, but it isn't free for all hunting like ya'll have. Twice a week, there are draws performed at 5:00 am. You can apply for areas on specific dates ahead of seaon, then redeem your wins by showing up and signing in for that day. If you drew no number, you can be on "standby" and pick a blind that is leftover after the draw, provided there are spots left. They are either float blind stakes or bush blinds, and you MUST stick to the stake or blind, no hunting where you want.

3 - There are several float blind areas, they are 500 yards long, and it is first come first serve. Two parties can hunt these areas, provided they are hunting at opposite ends of the area, putting them 500 yards apart, or 1 party can hunt somewhere in the middle and have the whole 500 yard stretch tied up.


It is illegal here to hunt within 500 yards of somebody else, and 300 yards from a residence, period. If you are caught building a blind anywhere you want, your a$$ is gra$$, it's messing with the wetlands.

There are also areas marked as "Rest Areas". It is illegal to enter these areas certain times of the year, from October to March I think. This insures safe areas for waterfowl during the duck season, you can't ride or even walk in these areas.

We don't have enough money or game wardens to pull that off.

all the rules are different. in tn on some of the public areas there is a drawing every year. you draw a blind and its yours for the year, as long as you are in it by like 30 min. prior to sunrise. if you are late and some one gets there first you are s.o.l. for the day. anyone can go into the bottoms and wait until that 30 min. mark and get into any empty blind. almost all of them will be fully loaded with supplys and all the decoys will be out. there is a respect for someones stuff, i wouldnt eat there food or use there propaine but i will hunt from the blind. alot of time if they show up late and the numbers are right all will hunt together. but you could turn them away from there blind and there is nothiing they could do.