what distance does your boat need to be from duck hunters

Hello All,
during a recent tournament we had a member idle by duck hunters at lake palastine. was ball park 500ft away from them and was just idle to a shallow creek. Hunters were upset. Just curious if there is a law for boaters when in this situation. Also yes not to get in the way and possibly get shot.

Regular birdshot...prolly 60 yards and it should just bounce off the boat without leaving any damage...

No there is no law if the boater just moves past them. If the boats is constantly interfering with the hunt then yes that's against the law. But they did stake out on a public body of water. They can't expect people to not go near them if they are not dead nuts in the back of a pocket or creek.

You should give them the respect that you would like .
They are usually gone by 10 .

I fish and hunt. Duck hunters get possessive of the area they set up in big time and are mad at any other hunter or fisherman that might mess up their opportunity to kill ducks. Rightfully so, by the time the ducks get to Texas they have been called at and shot at a bunch and are easily spooked. Best to stay as far away as possible if they were there first, magnum duck loads will travel a ways.

On public waters such as Palestine. Whatever the tournament rules are about distance between boats, especially since an entry fee was paid. Last time I fished the duck blinds, on the Red River, they held fish... so the hunters may just be sitting in the best fishing area.

They’re not using regular birdshot, if they’re staying legal. They would have to be shooting steel shot and for big ducks, most guys use 2-4 shot size. Also, 60 yards is close enough to knock down a duck (although not generally advised to take shots that far). I wouldn’t want to take a chance and be “peppered” by any shotgun shot at 60 yards.

There is more to it than just being at a safe distance, most of it is about respect.

You can be 100 yards away and not be in harms way, but you WILL disrupt their hunt and cause birds to flare before they get into range.

If I am aware someone is duck hunting on public waters, I will give them at least 200-300 yards. I've had all spring and summer to fish, I'm not gonna intentionally mess up their hunt.

I fight with the duck hunters on FB all the time. They will shoot at you down here, while they are up in the brush hiding and the fisherman has no clue where they are. I asked them “what they felt was far enough away”. I had a clown tell me “I needed to stay 500 YARDS away, not ft, but yards. I told the guy that’s over 1/4 of a mile and he’s a moron. If I see them, I’ll give them 100-150 yards, but if they have nothing marking their location, that’s on them.

It’s not a distance thing… it’s where you are in relation to how their birds are flying in. Had some fire a few warning shots, had others signal me with a mirror. If I see duck hunters I give them the area, the whole area. As mentioned before they usually bug out mid morning anyway. If you wanna have some fun go the THF in the duck section and ask what time they get done… made that mistake once. Lmao!

Hee-hee... was just being silly... first I wouldn't mess with someones hunt because I used to hunt when i was young, but I have been "peppered" a few times when i was young, pushing rabbits through the briers and grouse hunting with my cousins, nothing intentional mind you and nothing that went through our clothing, shooting 7.5 shot, but no I wouldn't be so silly to want to get within 60yds of bismuth or tungsten loads...

As a rule I make sure and stay out of range of #4 shot. A lot of times they are hard to see unless they have those dumb mojo ducks.

I quit hunting years ago, i refuse to pay someone to hunt, and public land is a non-starter for me, so I don't know the "public" laws/regs...
interesting... just did a quick search for reg's on what the duck hunters have to abide by, and using Palestine it's up to the lake authority to issue lake regs and of course state/federal laws apply, but this is all I could find to answer the OP's question...

HUNTING
The only hunting allowed on Authority property and the surface of the Lake is duck hunting. Authorized duck hunting shall be in accordance with current Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) statutes and regulations, as well as applicable federal regulations. No hunting is allowed in the cleared areas of Lake Palestine (south of the State Highway 155 bridge(s)) on land owned by the Authority, or from the water. There shall be no hunting within 1000 feet of the shoreline, 1000 feet of other duck blinds or other hunters, and within 2000 feet of a residence or other habitable structure.
DUCK BLINDS
Duck blinds may only be erected at sites approved by the Authority. Floating duck blinds are prohibited. A permit is required for each duck blind, and is issued for one (1) year. An application for the construction of a duck blind shall be filed with the Authority, and the annual fee for the same shall be paid prior to issuing the permit. The Permittee’s tag shall be permanently attached to each respective duck blind in an easily visible location somewhere on the structure. Duck blinds must be located a minimum of 1000 feet from the shoreline, a minimum of 1000 feet from any other duck blind, and a minimum of 2000 feet from a residence, a park, boatramp, marina, or other public or commercial structure.
Non-permitted duck blinds erected on Lake Palestine will be destroyed by the Authority.
FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES
Rifles, shotguns, pistols, firearms and explosives of any kind are prohibited on the waters of Lake Palestine and on Authority property except as permitted by the Texas Concealed Weapons Law, and except for shotguns during duck hunting season (as allowed by these regulations). This provision however shall not apply to law enforcement officers of the State of Texas or peace officers of the Authority.

Depends if you ask the fisherman or the duck hunter lol. My bud doesnt fish much but he is a duck hunter and he swears its illegal to be anywhere near them. He gets pretty upset just talking about it. I just go by the rule of what i would like if i was the one hunting. They have a season and we can fish year around so i dont mind moving to give them space

got peppered hard on sooner lake in Okieland, then the game warden peppered their wallets.

power generating lake, was on my way to the dam in a tournament and no decoys in sight. dam goose hunters fired 3 rounds when I slowed to graph a point real quick. you could not see them from the water till they stood up, hunting laydowns behind a log.

gw happened to be at our tournament hanging out, he did check 3 or 4 pre launch but cool guy. busted all 3 for harassing a fisherman, no damage done or it would have been jail.

if I know they are hunting an area I can avoid it, hide yourself so we can't tell you are there and you lose the right to complain imo.

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.

Like anything else in today's world its about common sense, respect and a little bit of thought. I can recall getting the absolute carp scared out of me on Monticello many years ago. One of those still foggy mornings on a Tuesday. Run back to Smith Creek....get about half back in there and thought we heard some guys talking faintly then boom boom boom boom. The low cloud deck made those shots seem like they were 10' from us despite being what had to be 200 yards. We simply moved back towards the RR bridge and fished it until they came by us 3 hours later after having what sounded like a good morning hunt. They were laughing as they idled by because they said they heard the expansive cuss words come out of our mouths on those shots. They said they couldn't see us when they fired but clearly knew someone had come in once they heard our responses.

If I know they are there I stay out of the area, I have blindly stumbled into a hunter's set up before and felt like a complete moron. We get all year they get a few weeks or a month.

500 yards on lake Amistad might be possible, it’s not possible on this lake. Hell, the duck hunters aren’t even 500 yards apart.

Even at 100 yards how would someone know if it’s a spread or if it’s coots/commorants?


Serious question, since I have never duck hunted. As these ducks flying from spot to spot, flying to the water from nest, flying from the water to land? Like what’s a duck doing in morning when they are being shot?

Depends. You typically have a mix of everything.

Ducks that fed all night long and are just looking to loaf around during the day.

You have some ducks that loafed all night and are looking to feed first thing in the morning.

Then you have ducks that were either loafing or feeding that were flushed by other hunters and boaters.


Typically ducks are usually traveling from roosting/loafing areas to feeding areas or vice versa or they have been flushed.

I try to avoid duck hunters. Problem is when you are dressed like Rambo up in the woods, it's near impossible for me to see you early in the morning until I am literally right on top of you. My way around that this time of year is I try to stay out of the back waters and stay more main lake early in the day. That has worked well until this year. I guess the low water has pushed the hunters more main lake this year. I have seen duck hunters in main lake areas I have never seen them in before. All I can say is I try to avoid hunters but it's not always possible. I'm happy to stay out of the back waters early in the day. I'm happy to move when I see you, but I'm not going to stay at the house for you. That's my best offer.

As an avid duck hunter and bass fisherman, I have no issues at all when guys go be me if I am duck hunting. It is one thing if you set up 100 yards away and started fishing and had a bright bass boat with bright jerseys on fishing. If you are just idling on by and getting a good distance away, then no issues at all. Even if I had a group of birds working and this happened, it is what it is on public. Cant expect to get every group in anyways. Many times the dog alone makes you miss groups or flares birds because they are out in the decoys swimming around when retrieving a bird. So a bass boat going by doesnt hurt my feelings one bit and wouldnt even upset me.

In all honesty.... depending on conditions, traffic fisherman can actually keep birds moving around and decoying better. I prefer some traffic on big bodies of water when hunting fowl because it keeps up and moving instead of finding comfort outside of my decoys. Dont think anything was done wrong. I have seen birds land 100-200 yards away from bright bright objects as long as they are still. Like I said, the only thing that would make me upset is if you were pitching jigs and throwing lures around close enough that I could see it all happening from the blind. Give them enough space to work birds without flaring them, and all should be swell.

So, you like Duck Meat?

To hell with dem duk hunters,mist i kniw are deer hunting rejects🤣

Are permits required for blinds in most places? If so, it would not too difficult for the GPS coordinates to be included with the permit, then the lake authorities issuing the permits could upload the coordinates to one of the online mapping services or apps like navionics. I would have no problem giving hunters a very wide birth if I knew where they are especially after having one shoot a warning shot a few feet away on Lake Whitney a few years ago from a blind that was impossible to see.

500 yards ain’t enough. Especially if they aim their shot guns like they cast crank baits.

Depends on the lake and the governing body for that lake.

Ok, second question. If these ducks live on the lakes that they are being shot at, aren’t they used to seeing bass boats? I know these things down here will be right up with you (within a long cast), before finally moving.

meh it has to be cooked right, but I sure aint duckin down nowhere for some duck meat. old joke move on lol

I understand your thinking but its not correct. Ducks and geese are migratory, they stop at lakes as the migration happens. Go to this lake in the summer and you wont see near the amount of ducks you would now. They are all up north. So no they are not used to bass boats. Maybe on the lake in the summer time they stay at but this lake will be new to them. Migrating birds are skiddish naturally because every where they fly to is new and they arent accustomed to that area for some time. By the time they make it to Texas, who knows how many times they've been shot at as well, so add to the severity of skiddishness now.

Again, I think if a bass boat was 500 yards away, my set up was good, my hide was right, I still think I could shoot ducks and get them to decoy. If duck hunters are in the right spot and have set up correctly, those ducks will come in and decoy. Been at it for a lot of years and I have killed ducks with trucks parked a few hundred yards away. I have also seen conditions cause birds to flare off of power lines that have been there for years and years. The argument goes both ways, dont flip jigs around their decoys and give them a respectable distance and they should respect that it is public grounds as well.

I have hunted around a lot of fisherman in my days, never had a bad experience. Just comes with the territory of public grounds. Usually a decent conversation and some reasoning between both parties turns into a pretty positive outcome. Yelling and screaming has never got anywhere. Lure vs shotgun though.... if I had a crankbait in my hand, I might find somewhere else to fish if they are that angry lol.

I hate hunting out of blinds. I prefer layout blinds that I bring with me on the boat. Lower concealment, looks more natural. Good thought but not always the case. Shoot at enough birds, enough times out of a permanent blind, and I bet you have a nice wood box after enough time. Hope it never comes to designated hunting spots on lakes. Birds move around, would hate if conditions werent right and I couldnt get to where the ducks were because there was designated blinds on the lake that I could only hunt.

i think fisherman need to respect duck hunters, but duck hunters need to realize they are hunting sometimes in very public fishing holes. I have been amazed where some duck hunters setup. Had a few experiences with duck hunters, i have also pulled up on duck hunters before I realized what was going on.

When the coots are swimming away from the grass, u know duck hunters are out.

In 2019, when I first moved here...I was idling down a creek on Ray Bob not realizing anyone was in there with me. Duck hunters were so well blended in they could have jumped out and taken my lunch money. Once I hit where I wanted to fish, I heard pssst pssst pssst, after thinking I lost my mind, I realized I idled up to a rock bank that had a blind in the brush. I slowly backed out and moved along. No harm no fowl. (pun intended)

That very same day, I was on the lookout for them, did my best to fish main lake, but it wasn't happening. So I decided to try another arm / area, idling in scanning the bank to make sure I didn't disrupt anyone / anything. Out of the blue, came a 12g pop and the water near me peppered with pellets. I looked around for ducks, nothing. Then I thought are they shooting at me? I looked around for the azzhat that would be so damned brash to fire at someone. Never did see anyone / anything, so I turned around and proceeded out of the pocket. I fished the mouth for an hour or so waiting to see if I could see who would come out, then decided if they were OK with shooting at me, why would I want to confront them???

I do my damndest to share the water with anyone who has the right to be there. But shooting at / towards someone is not acceptable. Now I avoid duck opening day like the plague.

What's cool, this past Saturday was duck opening day and the THSBA had their last tournament of the year on Ray Bob. The duck hunters and fisherman were all talking and wishing each other luck. At first cast, which as also first light, we had a true shotgun start. With the 30-40 blasts we heard, it sounded as though many duck hunters were getting birds first thing in the morning.

Let common sense prevail.
If you see the hunters or their decoys, cut a wide berth around them.
If you encounter them in a narrow cove, turn around and leave.
Plenty of water for all!

200 yards. Unless you just don't see'm on the shore as you pass, and you hope they see you. Other words DUCK. Literally.

Out of shotgun range

Makes too much sense, right? The idea of "depends on the flight path," etc., etc. is a little ridiculous.

500 yards? Lol so they could basically take over a lake to where no one could fish

so I had to chuckle... was just watching the latest Ken Smith Fishing video...see about 44 seconds in, made me think of this thread... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAjji_3x400

With the low water at most lakes in Texas very few coves are even 500 yards wide at the mouth. Guess we will all have to fish in the middle of the lake till February !

If we keep having weather like this weekend, the duck hunters can have the lakes!

Just got back from a hunt this morning...

Absolutely miseable and dumb honestly. The cold and wind, I'll hunt that all day long. Add that constant rain we got on the coast this morning, I'm done. I picked up in about 45 mins lol. The rain was worse than what was forcasted for sure

Oh yeah, motor died in the middle of the ICW at about 4:45 this morning. Immediately paddled to the nearest bank before getting mowed over by a barge. Super super dark this morning, very little to absolutely no ambient light from anything. Very lucky my buddy and I could paddle that boat out of the way. Horrible idea to attempt a hunt this morning in a 16ft flat bottom with a mud motor and a "small craft advisory" by the NWS all morning.