I idled right past 10 yards away and messed up some duck hunters. If the are in a narrow pocket and hidden well they have no leg to stand on

Yep! And if we don’t know they are there, they obviously aren’t shooting anything anyways and we didn’t really mess up their hunting.

I put the rods in the closet and am duck hunting every weekend this time of year.

I totally understand if you HAVE to idle/run in the vicinity of my setup (to stay in a channel, avoid something in the water, etc.. But when you have an entire lake or creek to go AROUND me, and you still choose to come right by my spead, that's when I'm not happy.

From my experience, most all fisherman/boats I've run across are respectful of space. There was one time though I setup at a walk in area... There's a group of like 6 wade fisherman that show up 20 mins after shooting light, and decide to fish LITERALLY no more than 25yds from my spread. They very clearly knew I was there, as there is only way to walk to get where I was. After a single cupped in and they heard a 12 gauge go off, then they moved away.

I've yet to have a bad experience with boat fisherman though. They always seem to keep their distance and don't affect our hunt, which I respect greatly

You'd be suprised the velocity that some #2 steel shot from a 3" shell holds at that distance. I wouldn't say it's deadly to humans at passed that distance, but you for DANG sure don't wanna be in front of it. I've been peppered as a duck hunter on public land due to people setting up close to me without them knowing I was there (and vise versa). When you hear the BB's soaring over your head, you don't wanna be there no more LOL

If you are hiding in brush like this, expect to be annoyed by fisherman.

One of the most annoying times of year to fish.

I duck hunt and fish, so like was said above...I just try to respect hunter's space if I come up on a set, just as I would if I came up on a spot and another fisherman was close to an area I wanted to fish.
Problem is, there are some guys on the water that don't and give us both as duck hunters AND fisherman a bad rep.....you either have common sense and some class....or you don't.

This is why this time of year, I carry a 12ga in my rod locker....LOL

I don't want to go to the WOS............

I saw duck hunters on Granbury Sunday. I was surprised. Did not know they allowed duck hunting that close to the city. They were coming in from their hunt.

I believe that's a draw deal for a limited number of permits. They used to live up at corp office there to try and get one.

500 yards is a good start. Even that might be too close and flare ducks. What do you suggest they use to “mark” their location? Concealment, stillness and quiet are extremely important when duck hunting. A large group of ducks that don’t fly off or scatter when you approach in a boat are actually decoys.

As has been said, hunters have a legal right to be there, the same as you, and if they’re there first, they should be respected, just like if you came upon another bass boat fishing an area you wanted to fish. A lot of hunters pick up by 10 am or so anyway.

Well said and I agree.

This is exactly right. Some of the worst about crowding duck hunters are other duck hunters. People with no etiquette, guys who get up late and show up a half hour before legal shooting time to find someone else where they wanted to hunt and decide they’re just gonna setup 60-150 yards down the shoreline, ruining everyone’s morning, etc.

I know it’s frustrating as a fisherman to try and determine if there are hunters in the area and how close is too close (I bass fish a lot more than I duck hunt; hunting season is only 2.5 months long). Other duck hunters don’t even get it right a lot of times. But hunters have a right to hunt lakes that allow it, and there isn’t a law determining distance from hunters (which would be impossible to enforce anyway, as many duck hunters can’t tell the difference between 40, 60 and 80 yards). But it’s an etiquette thing, which anglers deal with amongst ourselves all the time. And there are a lot of jerks that duck hunt, just like there are a lot of jerks who bass fish.

500 yards seems about right...thats the same distance I expect other fishermen give me on the water when I'm fishing.

How did he even hear them be upset when he was 500' away? That's a good clip away. That is the length of 1 3/4 football fields.