Howdy, damnit! And no, that ain’t an Aggie shout-out; I’m
p¡ssed, and y’all will be as well after readin’ this-here entry! Seems there’s a bit of a range war goin’ on
'round Uncertain, Texas; namely, in the Caddo Lake Wildlife Management Area. Any of
y’all duck hunt? I do. And ever since doin’ the camo wrap on my boat
last spring, I’ve been chompin’ at the bit waitin’ for duck season. But back in late August, I
read an article by Conor Harrison in the LoneStar Outdoor News that sent a chill down my spine. Today, Daylina Miller reported in the The Marshall NewsMessenger a follow-up to the dilemma.
It seems that the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department has decided that no one should have a duck blind
in the Caddo Lake WMA!
Really? The locals basically got blindsided! Here are several generations of responsible, license-holdin’ duck hunters who have
had blinds on Caddo Lake for almost two centuries, and the friggin' rug done got pulled-out
from under ‘em! Now, in TPWD’s
defense, their wildlife biologist cataloged 130 some-odd blinds in the WMA, 45
of which were dilapidated. TPWD’s
argument is that these blinds have created a navigational hazard. Hey, I’m cool with that; get rid of ‘em. But why
take away the other blinds that are maintained? Those folks shouldn’t get punished. I make every effort to follow every letter of
the law, but in my opinion … this is an injustice to these resident waterfowl hunters,
and boundaries are bein’ overstepped. What fresh Hell, y'all?
I’ve witnessed firsthand some of those
blinds bein’ maintained. Out-of (duck) season,
I have fished around several of those Caddo Lake blinds, and I’m here to tell ya,
there ain’t a lick of trash in the immediate vicinity of most of ‘em. And I've noticed a few of the folks who maintain those
blinds also treat areas around their blinds to keep the invasive giant salvinia
in check. There was even a suggestion at
Tuesday’s meetin’ to register existing blinds, and use the registration fees
towards the eradication of the giant salvinia.
So why in the Hell does the TPWD
wanna punish folks who are environmentally friendly and whose sport pays for conservation? Remember, the money spent on waterfowlin’
pays for things like them “friggin’ weevils” as well! Somethin’ just ain’t quite right here; it seems
to me like someone has clouded vision, a deaf ear and has done overstepped
their bounds. Hmmm, sounds more like someone’s bitin’ the hands that feed ‘em!
This was T.C. back in '03. I used to duck hunt Christmas Bay in Brazoria County, and had maintained a blind out there for a few years. At the time, you could not construct any new permanent structure in the bay; however, the stipulation was that we could maintain existin’ blinds unless they were destroyed by a hurricane. Because blinds were on public land, they were first come, first served for any hunter and were public domain. You were not allowed to lock a blind. If someone was huntin' in it, tough luck ... we'd simply hunt the marsh. A storm finally wiped it out, pilings and all, so we moved on. Next, we had a boat blind that we re-built, with permission from the landowner of the Spindletop Bass Club in Jefferson County, where I was a member. Because it was private property, no one could hunt our blind without askin'. A very unwelcomed Hurricane Ike took care of that blind, as well as the rest of our lease in September of ‘08. Now, as far as Caddo Lake goes, I wasn’t plannin’ on goin’ up there and free-grazin’ some local’s honey-hole! Not my style; but with the help of a couple of locals, I was gonna find a place that wasn’t goin’ to mess-up someone’s hunt and use my boat as a blind. Well Hell, after March of 2015 … it sounds like everyone might be in the same friggin’ boat!
What p¡sses me off more than anything is that “the powers that be” at TPWD just up and decided that this is the way it was goin’ to be. Period. No vote, no nothin’ … they just blindsided the locals. Now, there's two sides to every story, but this version was the majority of what I'd heard. But hey, y’all … this does not need to be the end of this-here story. I know there’s got to be a buncha dang lawyers as well as lawmakers who duck hunt. The Caddo Lake locals are bein’ treated like city-folk gettin’ bullied by a friggin’ home owner’s association. And when HOA’s overstep their bounds, a good lawyer can usually keep ‘em in check. Country folks laugh at the thought of an HOA, and live where they live ‘cause they love the land, water & nature. Urban sprawl won’t ever take it, and the locals like it that way. Bet them duck-huntin’ lawyers & lawmakers know that most responsible outdoorsmen (and women) vote.
I generally respect game wardens and appreciate what-all they do, and let them do their jobs. And those hard workin’ wardens who are out in the field will still get that same respect from me. Period. But this directive came from higher up the food chain, and I think they just bit into somethin’ that bites back. Responsible outdoorsmen have a voice … and y’all are fixin’ to friggin’ hear it. We just need to dig-in deeper than an East Texas tick and hold on. Let’s be civil and put our heads together and come up with a plan that benefits all parties involved. But to force-feed us horsesh¡t and tell us it’s just grits & syrup just ain’t goin’ down so well. If y’all are feelin’ blindsided and wanna help out, gimme a shout. Please forward the link to this entry to any duck hunter you know. I'm not sellin' anything, I'm just tryin' to get the word out! If you think I’m wrong for expressin’ my point of view … bite me. Seriously, if you feel I’m off base (or off balance) please shoot me a comment or rebuttal and I’ll be more than happy to print your side of the story here. I know that TPWD reads this-here blog … and I truly appreciate their readership as well. More to come …
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