SICK AND TIRED

I HAVE BEEN HUNTING THE BAPTISTE COLLETTE AREA FOR OVER 15 YEARS NOW AND I WAS WONDERING IF I WAS THE ONLY ONE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE AIR BOATS. EVERY OPENING WEEKEND THEY ARE DROPPING THEIR BUDDIES OFF AND RUNNING ALL OVER THE MARSH FROM DAYLIGHT TIL. I HAVE CURRENT PLAQUEMINES PARISH MAPS OF WHAT IS PUBLIC & WHAT IS PRIVATE. I WAS TOLD THEIR IS AN ORDINANCE IN PLAQUEMINES PARISH THAT PROHIBITS AIR BOATS ON ANY LAND THATS NOT OWNED OR LEASED, I CONFIRMED THIS WITH THE WLF & PLAQUEMINES POLICE. HOPEFULLY THEY WILL GET THEM THIS YEAR, I HAVE TALKED WITH BOTH LAST SEASON AND TODAY AND SAID THEY WILL BE IN THE AREA & I WILL BE IN CONTACT WITH WLF AS SOON AS I SEE THEM RUNNING THE DUCKS. ITS THE SAME TWO GROUPS YEAR AFTER YEAR.

Yup. Them things can be quite annoying.

I too hunt that area and have run into that problem. It's probably with the same group of people that I see out there. My family has private land in southwest pass to and we see people down there running on our land. The problem is we can never catch them.

You might get some help this year....At $3.25 a gallon & going up it gets mighty expensive to run them airboats.

if they're on your land, some wooden posts driven about 6 feet into the ground and sticking up about 6' above the ground at 50' intervals with some 1/4 inch cable strung between them in strategic areas may discourage the airboats on your land.

didnt say anything then, because i just hunt open marsh at baptiste colliet but during teal season we were set up on a point in a large lake we were tucked in good appprox 50ft just on the other side of a roso patch was a well head a air boat pulled up we couldnt see him for the roso but needless to say we shined and shined to make sure he new we were 30ft away

he stopped for about 5min at the well head i figured, odd hour but must be a oil field worker checking the platform.

he finnally pulled off and came around our point he was loaded down with 8 hunters he passed 35yds from us we shined him he shined us and he went on his way

at daylight birds would turn towards us and flare tried everything to figure out what the deal was

finnally pulled out and tied to the well head was a big shiney alm. boat with about 20 ft of rope it wasnt 15 ft from us we just couldnt see it for the roso

well it ticked me off but thats hunting public land we just picked up and moved

cameras of the violators....

Superduck next time untie the boat.People have no consideration.

I hate that stuff! I hunt Pearl River and it is full of idiots like that! If they hunt to close to me, I just shoot when a bird is headed for them. Never had them leave a boat next to me but if that happend I'd surley pull the engine apart and leave a nice note!

Louisiana Bowfishing, use to be run by Jimmy Mitchell before he passed. Had a run in with them in '05.

Yep, Now that Jimmy is gone his 3 son's took over the business and they are worst than their father was so if everyone doesn't get together to put a stop to this. This will happen for years to come the Plaquemines Parish Marine Police Department needs to be notified along with the Wildlife and Fisheries because someone eventually will get hurt real bad from this nonsense with the way that these Mitchell boys are operating with their Airboat Charter business. (No Respect for the Land Owners). And Marreroduckman is correct on the ordinance in Plaquemines Parish concering air-boats....

Yep, I had problems with the same group. One time me and a friend was anchored right off of the lights by a rig in the main pass 69 block when they pulled up passed in between the lights and where we were casting. They let off a few people on the rig and anchored right there. Needless to say we were pissed off. They had some women fishing off the rig and they acutally even tangled our lines by casting in the same place we were casting.

you know i thought about it untieing the boat,even thought about going over and confrounting the dudes, but what would it really help anyone that is that inconsidrate,ant gonna lsiten anyway,might have got me or my daughter hurt might have ended up me haveing to hurt them. all over a duck hunt, i had a great youth hunt saturday

might not of happened if i had lost it,there have allways been jerks and all ways will be jerks, i have found its just better to move on because its ussally, just once or twice a season you have to deal with meat heads and that most hunters and fishermen are pretty decent folk

that works for me,i am sure its not for everybody

stan thomas

I talked to a private land owner during the teal season, and he told me that he was going to have LDWF agents and Plaquemines parish sheriff department out there riding around looking for these A$$ holes and for people violating on his land. I saw all of them out there the next day and saw no sign of the airboats. Sunday, the following day, the airboats were back and the officers were gone. There are two different groups running guide services in Baptiste. They used to be on my families private land in SW Pass but due to a lack of ducks they have moved it to baptiste. Back in the day we ran into them hunting in a hole we wanted to hunt and 3 of us paddled in told them they had 5 minutes to leave and my dad was untieing there boat. They got out and picked up thier decoys and asked us if they could get thier ducks too. This question was followed immediately by my dad SCREAMING "ONE MINUTE" from about 150 yards away by thier boat. Needless to say they left without any ducks. Not sure if my dad wouldve untied the boat or not but it sure as hell worked. They will have all the good land barren of ducks in Baptiste if LDWF doesnt do something.

You mean to tell me you can't run an airboat on PUBLIC LAND??Why is that? IT's PUBLIC LAND. Nobody "owns" anything on public land. Who are you to tell me what I can or can't do on Public Land?? You don't OWN anything

Whats next? We can't build blinds on public property?

You CAN run airboats on public land but you CAN'T drop hunters off and go run ducks up for the hunters you just dropped off. This is what these guys are doing in Baptiste, and they are ruining every good hole on the public land. The worst part about it is that it is unnecessary. There are plenty enough ducks down the river to shoot a couple of limits. It just takes a little scouting and maybe hunting till 9. Running the ducks only makes them not want to come back.