# Todays hunt



## muledeer#1 (Dec 2, 2008)

We finally decided to go out swan hunting today! There where tons of birds flying around and of course they work good when i'm not in the layout, But i did manage to roll a gray bird over the decoys. I was happier dumping a good drake can than the swan though.


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## king eider (Aug 20, 2009)

nice!

which of the 5 layout spreads were you??


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## muledeer#1 (Dec 2, 2008)

the smallest one, we only have five swan decoys.


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## Gee LeDouche (Sep 21, 2007)

You guys were one of the many groups of guys out there in the middle the farmington today ey? when I was driving back from Tarpin, I'd never seen so many layout boats...


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## lucky goose (Sep 29, 2008)

i'm glad to see someone has the skills to pay the bills, i took 3 of my kids out and we didn't see anything. Good shooting hopefully i can get out before the end of swan season and dump my own congrats again!


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## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

nice shoot, and widgeon!! can't wait to see what that rest pond looks like 5 years from now with all the layouts..I hope it doesn't get too crazy.


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## diverfreak (May 11, 2008)

utahgolf said:


> nice shoot, and widgeon!! can't wait to see what that rest pond looks like 5 years from now with all the layouts..I hope it doesn't get too crazy.


No offense, but doesnt anyone think you can shoot ducks out of a layout some where besides unit 1 at FB? :roll: 
Chad, Ruthless, Muledeer#1 had a great time up North Friday! There were a few layouts out there but when your 1/4 mile apart thats better than having a spread every 50Yards on the shoreline! 
Muledeer#1 that was an awesome can, you deserved it!

DiverFreak


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## deadicated1 (Mar 17, 2008)

+1 diverfreak!!! i have a few ideas that are way out of the box from where all you up north guys put them boats out!!! cool hunt muledeer. ill try to go get my swaner this week sometime


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## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

diverfreak,, 
I know lots of areas layouts would work and I'm sure a lot of you guys chase them other places and I know you hunt a lot of different areas with yours..But we all know FB is close to the city and unit 1 always seems to have quite a few layouts always out there, and they are so easily visible to people passing by and then they see the pics on here,, so that is why I think that rest pond will have a lot of layouts in about 5 years,,I don't think that is a far fetched assessment..It doesn't effect me either way cause I'm not a layout hunter, I was just saying its going to be interesting to see what that unit 1 looks like in a few years as far as layouts go.. just making a curious assessment thats all.


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## Phil Sanders (Nov 25, 2009)

i Have some great spots for lay out boats. I am useing the ones I have been building and we are getting a lot of birds out of them. I hoping to have this boats for sale in the next week or two. These t are killer boats


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## Artoxx (Nov 12, 2008)

We went to farmington a couple of weeks ago, and there were so many layouts out there that I am surprised they weren't shooting each other. At least 10-15+.

There were a couple that set up just barely far enough north from the east dike to avoid getting peppered, and one was just barely outside the 200 yard zone of the entry road/dike, REALLY screwed up the hunting for the dike too, you would think that with that much water out there, they could give the guys without the money to buy a boat,( much less a boat AND a layout) a break on some space. I know that DF and his buddies hunt way over by the rest area. Doesn't interfere with the dike and gives them a lot more action. As near as I can tell.

Had a talk with one of the tender drivers, and he seemed to feel like since he was financially able to do it, he was entitled to do it. Made a point of telling me his job and acting a bit elitist. 

If you are going to hunt that close to the dike, you might as well hunt ON the dike. I don't think the guy in the layout got more than three or four shots, and I saw no ducks fall by the time I left.

Seems pretty silly to me. I got nothing against the layouts as such, but ANYONE who sets up so close to another hunter or group that he screws them out of their fair hunt, really tears my tartan. On or OFF shore.


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## king eider (Aug 20, 2009)

it will be interesting to see what the saturation point is on layout hunting. the state has many different places to put out a spread. it will be interesting to see how this aspect of hunting progress's. it will probably join the ranks of getting huge and abused as that is the utah mentality at times. but you cant find fault with anyone getting into it and also any trying to start a business in this cruel world. the good news with layout hunting is the more people who go to hunt open water the less their is in the bullrush. so it spreads them around a bit.

btw artoxx, most of us waterfowlers are not rich elitist type. we just have a passion for ducks and find a way to make it happen. 

maybe having a bad experience on the dike at FB will help dike hunters realize that their are tons of better places to hunt than that infamous dike at FB. but than again i guess some dike hunters are upset because they now have someone to compete with. makes sense now...


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## Artoxx (Nov 12, 2008)

Either you are not familiar with my work, or you have forgotten what I have said many times.
I am a BIG fan of Diver Freak and his boats. I cannot afford to own one myself and certainly don't have a boat to run tender if I did, so I am not able to partake. Doesn't mean I don't want anyone else to enjoy them or DF to make a freaking TON of money building them. I hope he gets RICH doing it, I love a success story.
I am certainly not against guys going out and having a good time in the best style they can afford, be it out on the water or standing on the land, be it a dike or out in the marsh.
I am FULLY aware that most of the guys out there are not elitist types, I always get the impression that DF is a lot more humble than you would expect someone that successful to be. Even if it is only an act, it is a **** good act and has me fooled completely. :wink: He has invited me, in general terms, to come out and enjoy a day in his boats, but so far I have not encountered him when I was in a position to take advantage of the offer, so...

MY problem is with guys who set up with either NO consideration for others OR deliberately set up to hog all of a good thing so that people who are already there get screwed out of enjoying their day.
I admit I am a lazy bastiche more often than not, and that is why I hunt the dike. Not because I am unaware that there are birds out in the marsh that I could get a chance at if I go out where they are. 
Your competition comment is simply wrong. Competition is when two people or groups have a relatively equal chance to participate in an activity, and one wins. Sitting yourself in a boat 250 yards ahead of your "competition" so that he has NO chance at participating with or against you is FOUL play, not competition. I don't mind competition, I mind CHEATERS, and for my money, guys who go out and set up in a position to intercept birds headed for another guy KNOWING that they are screwing him out of HIS fun, are cheaters and need to be banned. 
That applies to the creeps who wait until I or others have our spot picked, our decoys out, and everything ready to go, and then they go and set up 100 yards away on the flight path to intercept birds that are coming in to MY spread, thus not having to even own a deke to get the advantages. Especially since if they were to come over to where I was and ask if they could join me, I would say yes. I have never said no yet. Unfortunately, I have had the creep style of approach at least 10 times more than the ask and join style.

Maybe I look at the past through rose colored glasses, but it seems like there are a lot more scumbag types out there trying to find a way to scam others out of what they have worked for than there used to be. Sadly this applies even to hunting. 
Sure the dike at FB is a battleground, and you are going to have competition from others most every time you go there, but to have a guy with 10 square miles of available water set up so he can shoot birds he KNOWS are heading for YOU, is just rude and inconsiderate. He could just as easily have set up 2-300 yards further out, and not interfered with the dike at all, but chose not to do that.
Anyone who knows enough about FB to hunt there, KNOWS the birds pass the east dike regularly which is why it is so popular. If birds did not cross there, no one would hunt there.

I am TRULY irritated by crowders with no manners, and I let it be known when those D-bags crowd ME just exactly how I feel about it. Ask anyone who has hunted with me during those occasions. I am not a pleasant person to crowd.
On the other hand, As I said, I can't think of ONE time when I have told someone no, if they politely ASK if they can set up within that same radius. I am not a hog, I just want a little consideration. I don't care whether your location is reached by shanks mare, or hyper drive, show a little respect for the guys who beat you there and either bugger off or at least go and talk with them about what THEY are comfortable with, as first come SHOULD be first served, even if that person was so desperate to get that spot that they camped on it all night long. They obviously wanted it more than you did or YOU would have been first.

Maybe you are not so likely to be able to clear your spot with a guy on the dike if you are in a boat, but you should know that with all that water available, there is NO reason to set up that close to the dike. Even with 10-15 layouts out there there was a hell of a lot of water available that they could have used without wrecking anyone elses day.
But they chose to do it the other way.


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## Billcollector (Oct 31, 2007)

Artoxx-

I personally invite you to come hunt with me in my boat blind, out in the marsh, or in my layout. 

In fact this invitation is open to anyone who hunts the dike systems more often than not. 

I just don't understand why every other thread is about how someone got screwed by someone else because they were crowded. 

Dike hunters obviously are not that lazy or else they wouldn't be hiking for miles with all their gear on their backs. I'm sure you guys are just as passionate about waterfowl as I am, and I just couldn't see myself spending all of the time, effort, and money to go to the same unproductive, overcrowded, war zone every time, and then get upset that they have the same experience, time after time. 

anyone who wants to try something different, just shoot me a pm


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