The Infamous Jerald Horst
In January of this year, LSM wrote an article about a man named Jerald Horst. To sum it up, this man basically duck hunted the Wax Lake Outlet all season long and told of the methods he used to intercept rafting ducks. Little did anyone know what Jerald Horst would do to a fellow duck hunter on the morning of November 18, 2007. Around 11:00 a.m. on an overcast and windy morning on the flats of the Wax Delta, me and two hunting buddies decided to call it quits with a 15 duck stringer. We were hunting a friend's blind that morning for a little change of pace. The morning before, we hunted a blind that we built and brushed with wax myrtle and was clearly visible just 1000 yards away. To someone unfamiliar with building a blind in the flats, it is a task that requires a few days work to accomplish. First, one must cut natural materials such as willow trees for driving poles and wax myrtle for brush. Then, you have to drive the 15 miles with the load of materials. If one boat is used, it takes three trips to complete a blind suitable to hunt from. A few hours spent on location and you're ready to hunt. For our sake, all this was done prior to opening day. Furthermore, we've hunted this exact spot for the past 4 years and have yet to have any problems. Until now.
As we prepared to depart and pick up our decoy spread, we noticed something strange happening at the blind that we built. It appeared someone in a boat was next to the blind and piles of wax myrtle began drifting away from the blind with the outgoing tide. Without hesitation, we dropped everything and high tailed it toward the scene of mayhem unfolding. By the time we arrived, all damage was done and a man in a small bateau outfitted with a go-devil and a fast-grass pop-up blind had already fled the scene. Vectoring toward his small craft, we suddenly became infused with anger; livid yet dumbfounded at the sight of our hard work completely demolished right before our eyes. Upon stopping the individual, we quickly inquired with many choice words why he committed such a terrible act to a fellow hunter. This individual, now known as Jerald Horst, responded with the utmost idiocy, jealousy, and envy I have ever seen in a human being. His problems with our blind were as follows: 1) We were positioned too close to him (remember he hunts out of a portable pop-up blind) 2) People that hunted that blind all week pulled birds away from him with better calling skills (remember he hunts out of a portable pop-up blind) 3) Birds working his spread were flaring when shots were fired from the other blind (remember he hunts out of a portable pop-up blind) 4) The law was on his side.
Rules indicate one cannot stake claim to a particular spot on any part of a WMA. In addition, there is no rule or law that says you cannot tear down someone else’s blind. He had number 4 right. The law is on his side and there is nothing that can be done. In fact, after our 15 minute altercation with Jerald Horst, a wildlife and fisheries agent stopped us on our way back to the blind we were hunting. He said he could not write a ticket but was going to have a chat with ole Mr. Horst. The results of that are not known. What is known is that Jerald Horst is a worthless individual capable of ruining at least one weekend of hunting for me and two other hunting buddies and at least one weekend of hard work it took to build the blind in the first place.
In January of this year, LSM wrote an article about a man named Jerald Horst. To sum it up, this man basically duck hunted the Wax Lake Outlet all season long and told of the methods he used to intercept rafting ducks. Little did anyone know what Jerald Horst would do to a fellow duck hunter on the morning of November 18, 2007. Around 11:00 a.m. on an overcast and windy morning on the flats of the Wax Delta, me and two hunting buddies decided to call it quits with a 15 duck stringer. We were hunting a friend's blind that morning for a little change of pace. The morning before, we hunted a blind that we built and brushed with wax myrtle and was clearly visible just 1000 yards away. To someone unfamiliar with building a blind in the flats, it is a task that requires a few days work to accomplish. First, one must cut natural materials such as willow trees for driving poles and wax myrtle for brush. Then, you have to drive the 15 miles with the load of materials. If one boat is used, it takes three trips to complete a blind suitable to hunt from. A few hours spent on location and you're ready to hunt. For our sake, all this was done prior to opening day. Furthermore, we've hunted this exact spot for the past 4 years and have yet to have any problems. Until now.
As we prepared to depart and pick up our decoy spread, we noticed something strange happening at the blind that we built. It appeared someone in a boat was next to the blind and piles of wax myrtle began drifting away from the blind with the outgoing tide. Without hesitation, we dropped everything and high tailed it toward the scene of mayhem unfolding. By the time we arrived, all damage was done and a man in a small bateau outfitted with a go-devil and a fast-grass pop-up blind had already fled the scene. Vectoring toward his small craft, we suddenly became infused with anger; livid yet dumbfounded at the sight of our hard work completely demolished right before our eyes. Upon stopping the individual, we quickly inquired with many choice words why he committed such a terrible act to a fellow hunter. This individual, now known as Jerald Horst, responded with the utmost idiocy, jealousy, and envy I have ever seen in a human being. His problems with our blind were as follows: 1) We were positioned too close to him (remember he hunts out of a portable pop-up blind) 2) People that hunted that blind all week pulled birds away from him with better calling skills (remember he hunts out of a portable pop-up blind) 3) Birds working his spread were flaring when shots were fired from the other blind (remember he hunts out of a portable pop-up blind) 4) The law was on his side.
Rules indicate one cannot stake claim to a particular spot on any part of a WMA. In addition, there is no rule or law that says you cannot tear down someone else’s blind. He had number 4 right. The law is on his side and there is nothing that can be done. In fact, after our 15 minute altercation with Jerald Horst, a wildlife and fisheries agent stopped us on our way back to the blind we were hunting. He said he could not write a ticket but was going to have a chat with ole Mr. Horst. The results of that are not known. What is known is that Jerald Horst is a worthless individual capable of ruining at least one weekend of hunting for me and two other hunting buddies and at least one weekend of hard work it took to build the blind in the first place.
