Mud Motors- new poll

[Highstrung]

4th, you people that shoot like shit.

[Phone Man]

Not speaking for the whole state as I mainly stay around santee, but i'd say 80% of MM owners around here bought them to get away from the rubberheads. I know a few that are retarded. Myself and No Fly Zone watched a dude in a longtail jump up about 150 bluewings we'd been watching for a week one teal season. However he could have done it with an outboard or paddled a canoe through them with an airhorn and done the same thing. Its a combination of all things to keep birds here. You just have too many people now. I remember hunting in college certain places on santee and never seeing a soul all day. Now those same places will have campers on it for two days. The days of going hunting at 4am are over on santee. You want a good spot, you sleep in the boat and then at 6am someone still sets up 100yds away. We are grownups now, the days of going over and talking shit threatening to beat someones ass is over. Is a duck worth an assault charge and losing your job. What about the people camping for two weeks before the season with lanterns strewn everywhere holding holes. Wonder if that has any effect on the resting waterfowl.

Talk to old timers. This crap has been waxing and waning for decades. We just happen to be in the timeframe where duckhunting is the in thing to do. The serious ones will stick it out and the others will burn out and give it up. Of the friends I started duck hunting with, over 3/4 have quit, maybe more.

[coot nasty]

Im telling yall we need to make it where you can't shoot woodies in this state. Now you can shoot 3! I think that would cut half of them out.

[B. Burgess]

I'm with coot

Double B`s Buoy

[BOGSTER]

Talk to old timers. This crap has been waxing and waning for decades.

The old timers had enough sense to see what extremely loud boats, capable of accessing 6 inches of vegetated water did to waterfowl on the lakes so they used that good sense to take action.

Poll some low state Florida residents about airboats and duck hunting on Lake Okeechobee and surrounding areas......come back and tell me how they feel about them.

Mudmotors scare ducks out of areas that were once protected public zones.

Mudmotors destruct beneficial vegetation and fragile habitat at an alarming rate. Call the LA fish and game department and ask them why hunters are requesting large portions of WMAs to be Limited Access Areas (no motor zones)

[willyworm]

Y'all should be ashamed for even thinking that. Y'all get to keep your mud motors, but I can't shoot a woodie? I might as well stop hunting. I don't have the time to scout much, so woodies are a mainstay for me. If I kill a teal, or a gadwall, or perhaps even a pintail even better, but I can generally count on killing a few woodies.

[duckman88]

Bogster,

The problem is that there is now an industry for mud motors in our state. If you start talking about a ban of MMs then there is the possibility of putting people out of business. As is the case time and time again, any industry will be more important than a wildlife species (unless were talking about owl hippies). Right or wrong, that's just how it goes. Waterfowl hunting is as popular as ever in our area of the country regardless of the migratory species populations. IMO about the only thing that can be done is to educate. There needs to more education required to hunt in general in our state and better ethics need to be instilled at the youngest age possible. MMs aren't the problem its the people driving them. Mud motors don't scare ducks, people do.

[duckman88]

And I will pose this question:

If you support a ban of MMs do you also support a ban of guns?

Because the same logic is used by the people trying to ban guns. The instruments are not the problem!!!!!! The people using them are!!!!!

If we want to fix something that is where we need to start.


Oh and I do not own a MM. Had one for 1 duck season and sold it. Was it fun to drive across an area with 1 inch of water on it? Yes. Did it help me kill more ducks? No.

[KCM]

Bog - usually I do not question some of your theories here on the site but saying there are 30 trailers at the landing and 23 being mud motors....well I will say I question your scientific data and call BS. Bass boats fill the parking lot more than any other outdoors people at this particular area all year every weekend.

You can talk all about the lakes like you some form of duck biologists because it is your back yard. When you start talking about the Cooper....well it is my back yard. I am on the river 5-6 days a week during duck season and about 2 during the rest of the year.

I see stupid shit all the time but most can be corrected by enforcing the laws already on the books with wardens being properly funded to carry out their job duties. Some are from mud motors, some outboards, some non-duck hunters and some by just dumb asses. The new fad on the river is jump shooting through rafts of coots with lay out boats being hauled to ricefields in big 18ft or larger boats with 6 hunters. Do we ban them? Because they paddle from one side to the other never letting the ducks rest?

Enforce the laws we have now is how I feel. But of course it easy just to check a boat for mud motor verses having to actually go out onto the water and see what is actually happening.

[sprigdog]

Lets see if I have this correct:

Airboats were banned because of rallying and possible noise.
Some want mud motors banned because of rallying and spreading invasives.
Ban skybusting and spinners just because...
Ban carp because they eat duck food.
Ban anything with a motor, just because??

I believe some may have a personal agenda for banning mud motors.
I cant imagine banning them, that just silly, even as much as I dislike them. Thats only because of noise. I hate Harley's and trucks with exhaust mods, and even diesel trucks idling outside my house at 5am.

For a populous that despises any govt intervention, there sure are alot of folks who want to give up their rights.

[B. Burgess]

either way, there is irresponsible Mud Motor users and responsible mud motor users, It's the same with guns, trucks, four-wheelers, etc.
Call the law on the irresponsible and let the responsible people go on about there business.

[sftull]

I think banning mud motors is not the answer. Not to mention, I just bought a brand new GT rig, so I would be highly pissed if this were to happen. If we take "Ban the mud motors" mentality, then we are no better than the left wing, anti-gun activists that want to ban guns. Its not the equipment, its the users.

[BOGSTER]

Of course it's the users.

But, again we cannot change the fact that people are dim witted and irresponsible.
However we can limit their ability to destruct habitat, harass waterfowl, and just generally act thoughtlessly on the water.

By the grace of God there are only two ways to ride wide open through very shallow vegetated flats where ducks seek protection.
By our father's common sense, one of them was outlawed during duck season 30 years ago.
Now our generation faces the other means of disturbance, and I hope we make the right choice for the resource and for waterfowling as a whole.

I'm sure if they were to be banned, it wouldn't be long before folks were trying to blast through flats in camo hover crafts.

[duckman88]

I just don't feel that outlawing MMs would change anything. I will say too that there is a big difference IMO between a 35HP MM and a 454 with a propeller connected to it.

[dukhuntr]

And I will pose this question:

If you support a ban of MMs do you also support a ban of guns?

Because the same logic is used by the people trying to ban guns. The instruments are not the problem!!!!!! The people using them are!!!!!

If we want to fix something that is where we need to start.


Oh and I do not own a MM. Had one for 1 duck season and sold it. Was it fun to drive across an area with 1 inch of water on it? Yes. Did it help me kill more ducks? No.

Pretty much sums up how I feel right there! I own a MM most on here know that, that being said I never even hooked it up last duck season! I hate dealing with the stupid people on public water. I have a short fuse and it just ain't worth my ass getting in trouble. I'll take my little boat and paddle to find me a spot no one else can, same reason I go the MM in the first place. So I can get a way from the idiots in outboards and not have to worry about my motor tearing up.


Banning MM because you don't like what a few idiots can/could do is the same as banning guns(AR/AK's) because of the actions of a few, STUPID. I don't like something so lets take away someone eleses right to have no, that left wing mind set has got the country where it is today.

Just keep beating!

[dukhuntr]

Operators are the issue. Remember the old DNR slogin, RESPECT? That's what is missing today.

[BOGSTER]

The thing that mudmotor enthusiasts cannot seem to grasp is the fact that as of now mudmotors are the only way for someone to ride wide open thru shallow flats that are heavily vegetated. And it is done every single day starting 2 weeks before the season opens until the last day of the season on both lakes.

Outboards cannot ride through thick primrose, water lily, CFH, etc. it's just not possible. I know it's possible with a mudmotor with great ease.....I've done it.

I had one.

These once protected areas that kept ducks on public grounds throughout the season are no longer the refuges they once were.

There are now highway trails cut strait to the most remote portions and it has affected the ducks drastically, and if you disagree, those of us that know the lakes and how ducks use them can only come to the conclusion that you simply don't know anything about the situation out there.
It's not rocket science.

I'm a reasonable person, and I think anyone that knows me will openly state that. I'm not a crazy mudmotor hater, I am however a serious advocate for the betterment of public hunting, and I'm telling you they are harming our situation.

[duckman88]

I would agree bog that MMs certainly do not help the situation on public water but, I do not think there in lies the problem. Our wintering waterfowl issues go way beyond mud motors and banning them isn't going to bring more ducks or keep more ducks in SC.

The biggest issue is that South Carolina simply does not have the ducks that it once did. That in my opinion is not going to change and is only going to get worse for us on the east coast.

Between the loss of the rice culture and urban sprawl(loss of grass included in that), our once sporting duck numbers are no more. Sure you will have good days when the weather gets right or if the stars align but the consistency is gone. I'm sure one or two people will pipe up and say "man I kill.... or I know a guy that kills..... or I kill limits almost every time I go" and I don' doubt that they do. But, That's one or two people on a site with lets just say 1,000 "duck hunters" 1/15 of the members.

I am not an impoundment owner or hunter, have never gotten to hunt one. But, they are one of the main reasons ducks venture to SC and I will say that anyone who thinks that corn ponds are the problem doesn't see the big picture. The reason we have ANY large movements of migratory waterfowl through SC are because of those impoundments. So, while you nor I may get to hunt them, I guarantee that there would be noticeable differences in the birds we all see now if impoundments didn't exist.

[BigBrother]

In regards to the Santee Cooper lakes you are incorrect. No mud motors on the lakes from October 1st-March 1st would drastically lower disturbance to waterfowl in the countless secluded portions of both lakes.
There are oodles of coves, flats, and sloughs that are very shallow and heavily vegetated. Areas that are all but impassible by outboards, without getting out and walking a boat in. These areas are great public water refuges for birds like wood ducks, teal, wild mallards, and the occasional black ducks. These areas used to hold ducks ON the lakes and were accessible by foot or small boat. Now they have 4ft ditches cut through them and can easily be blasted through by mud motors.

Fisherman don't fish these areas because they don't hold fish during the winter. They just don't. juvenile bream and the occasional jackfish. Desirable species go deep and on the lakes during the winter.

Restrict all boat traffic on the largest reservoirs in the state? You for real?

Marion and Moultrie are not the center of the waterfowling universe. Neither are lakes. I have more blown hunts by fishermen than I do mudmotors, and I have had my share of birds blown out by mudmotors.

Dabblers in coves arent the only only ducks in season.

Banning MM's in general is as silly as no Sunday hunting.

I dont own a mudmotor. I have a big boat, and I kick out a smaller boat when the water gets too skinny for the big one.


Point is, banning mud motors to treat the symptoms of dumbassery, is as short sighted as banning high capacity magazines to stop gun violence.

You treat a symptom, but never think about a cure.

[Furman]

I agree! It blows my mind that someone who must be halfway serious about his duck hunting (in order to spend several thousand dollars on a motor to chase ducks) wouldn't have enough sense to not scare off the very ducks he is trying to shoot. Ive seen it happen plenty in the short time I have been hunting the areas being discussed- preseason and during the season. I have an outboard and can, and do, access some of these spots at the wee hours of the morning. However, if I am scouting and/or coming to and from a hunt I always try to avoid these areas.
MM basically let SOME people express their true colors- they make it easier for people to do stupid things. Any rational duck hunter knows that scaring up ducks negatively impacts the local population- I think anyone would agree with that. I think though that some people are just plain lazy, two examples that I have regularly noted where I hunt is:
1) Scouting ducks by scaring them up rather than looking with binoculars from a distance
2) Taking the most direct route back to the boat landing instead of easily avoiding ducky areas and adding 5 minutes to your trip
Not against MM necessarilly but hate to see the way some people use them- although I know theyre are plenty that use them responsibly.

No expert just my 2 cents

The thing that mudmotor enthusiasts cannot seem to grasp is the fact that as of now mudmotors are the only way for someone to ride wide open thru shallow flats that are heavily vegetated. And it is done every single day starting 2 weeks before the season opens until the last day of the season on both lakes.

Outboards cannot ride through thick primrose, water lily, CFH, etc. it's just not possible. I know it's possible with a mudmotor with great ease.....I've done it.

I had one.

These once protected areas that kept ducks on public grounds throughout the season are no longer the refuges they once were.

There are now highway trails cut strait to the most remote portions and it has affected the ducks drastically, and if you disagree, those of us that know the lakes and how ducks use them can only come to the conclusion that you simply don't know anything about the situation out there.
It's not rocket science.

I'm a reasonable person, and I think anyone that knows me will openly state that. I'm not a crazy mudmotor hater, I am however a serious advocate for the betterment of public hunting, and I'm telling you they are harming our situation.