# Blind Restrictions?



## JuniorPre 360 (Feb 22, 2012)

I was looking at a few pics of clubs and other people hunting here in Utah and noticed this. Some hunters here have burried a big crate or box in the ground and use it as a blind. Are there restrictions on this at all? I looked over the guidebook and only found info on a sinkbox in water.


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## Donttreadonme (Sep 11, 2007)

The blinds you are seeing are called pit blinds. They are perfectly legal and very effective hiding places. I wish I could get one land owner to let me build one on his pond.


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## manzquad (Feb 10, 2010)

What is the difference between a sink box and a pit blind?


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## JuniorPre 360 (Feb 22, 2012)

manzquad said:


> What is the difference between a sink box and a pit blind?


A sink box is something that you submerge in water but the top of it is pretty even with the water's surface. Pretty much a blind under water in a way.

Well, all my years I thought pit blinds were illegal. I'll be putting one in Corinne this weekend.


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## bennyboy72 (Nov 4, 2011)

Yep we have been shooting out of pit blinds for years in Corinne.


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## Markthehunter88 (Nov 5, 2010)

im guessing this is all on private land?


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

Markthehunter88 said:


> im guessing this is all on private land?


You can refer to page 13 in the guidebook for rules on building blinds on public land.

If I'm interpreting it correctly, it looks like it's legal to build a permanent blind on the Turpin unit. Has anyone ever done that? It would be interesting to see people fight over it.


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## rjefre (Sep 8, 2007)

I've always been told that we can't build permanent blinds on the WMA's. We also can't leave decoys out overnight on a WMA. Maybe I've been wrong all these years.
R


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## shaun larsen (Aug 5, 2011)

Clarq said:


> Markthehunter88 said:
> 
> 
> > im guessing this is all on private land?
> ...


There is a wood one someone built in the turpin unit already...


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

shaun larsen said:


> Clarq said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's illegal, of course. You may not bring materials into our WMAs to build a blind. As mentioned above, you may not leave your decoys out overnight, either.


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## gander311 (Dec 23, 2008)

Pit blinds are commonly used and legal. You can even use a "pit blind" in water, as long as it is on the floor/bed of the body of water. These are also commonly used in areas like Chesapeake Bay, or coastal areas. I have also seen concrete blinds out in the middle of the water at the Ambassador Club.I have heard of guys using them out on the GSL as well. I have heard them called "curtain blinds" because they sometimes have a waterproof curtain around the top to raise and lower as the tide changes, etc. 
A sink box allows the hunter to hide below the water line as well, but the difference is that they are floating blinds, not attached to the floor. I have seen pics of sink blinds from the market gunning days, and they even had to use lead or iron decoys, sitting on planks/decking extending from the sides of the sink box, to help weigh it down into the water. 
I am by no means an expert on any of this, and could be wrong, but that is my understanding from things I have read over the years.


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

paddler213 said:


> shaun larsen said:
> 
> 
> > Clarq said:
> ...


So you're saying that because of this rule, right?



> Waterfowl blinds may not be left unattended overnight unless they're constructed
> entirely of non-woody, vegetative materials that naturally occur where the blind is
> located.


(page 13 of the 2012 guidebook)

But also on page 13:



> The restrictions above do not apply to the
> following WMA areas:
> •	Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management
> Area-west and north of Unit 1, *Turpin Unit*
> and Crystal Unit.


To me, it looks like it's legal to build a permanent blind on the Turpin unit, or the Crystal unit for that matter. Am I wrong?


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

Yes, you are incorrect. That passage refers to the areas outside the dikes. Farmington Bay WMA boundaries include areas outside the diked impoundments. You may not build permanent blinds out of woody, non-natural occuring materials inside the dikes.


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

I get it now. Maybe that should be clarified in the future.


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

And while we're at it, doesn't the area west and north of the crystal unit include the Doug Miller unit? Maybe I can build a permanent blind there. -Ov-


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

Clarq said:


> And while we're at it, doesn't the area west and north of the crystal unit include the Doug Miller unit? Maybe I can build a permanent blind there. -Ov-


I think the regulations need to be updated, as the Miller unit is still pretty new. According to the Guidebook, there does not appear to be a restriction against building blinds on the Miller Unit. I believe it's still illegal, at least in the spirit of the law, if not the letter. You might ask Rich Hansen.


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## manzquad (Feb 10, 2010)

I've always thought it to be illegal to build one on Turpin, but the guidebook does reads as if it is LEGAL.


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## hunter_orange13 (Oct 11, 2008)

So wouldn't a layout blind and a neotub set in the water be considered a sink box? Or a layout boat that's slowly filling with water and sinking?


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## rjefre (Sep 8, 2007)

On page 13 of the guidbook, the use of commas makes it appear as if the Turpin Unit is exempt, but it really says that the area north and west of the Turpin is exempt. They apparently forgot that they built the DM unit west of the Turpin and North of the Crystal.

Layouts float above water level (not a lot though), so they are legal.
R


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## gander311 (Dec 23, 2008)

hunter_orange13 said:


> So wouldn't a layout blind and a neotub set in the water be considered a sink box? Or a layout boat that's slowly filling with water and sinking?


A layout blind and a neotub is resting on the bottom, not floating, and that makes it different from a sink box. Along those same lines, yes, I would say that a sinking layout boat would however be a sink box, once it passes that fine line of concealing more than half the hunters body beneath the surface of the water. But if your layout is sinking that bad, the legality of hunting from it would probably be the least of your worries! :shock:


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## shaun larsen (Aug 5, 2011)

paddler213 said:


> shaun larsen said:
> 
> 
> > Clarq said:
> ...


no chit! :roll: didnt say it wasnt illegal, all i said was there already is one. just because theres a law against it, doesnt mean everyone will obey it. kinda like speed limits. some choose to obey them, others see them more of a suggestion rather than a rule.

as far as the decoys being set out goes, define "over night". people do that every year opening weekend. dont see too many people being written up over that!


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

This is what the guidebook says:

*•	Any person may use any unoccupied, permanent waterfowl blind. Waterfowl blinds 
on state lands are open on a first-come, 
first-served basis to everyone, not just to 
the person who built the blind.
•	You cannot leave waterfowl blinds or decoys 
unattended overnight to reserve a spot. 
*
So, if you leave decoys out overnight and unattended, another hunter can set up on your decoys and hunt over them if he gets there first. I suppose if somebody wants to sleep out overnight on the Friday night before the opener, nobody will stop you. People camped out for the iphone 5, and it's got bugs, too.


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

To reinforce what Gander said (not that he needs it  ), we find Federal and State regulations that apply to waterfowl hunting include illegal hunting methods that say you cannot hunt waterfowl from a sink box which is defined as a raft or any type of low floating device having a depression which affords a hunter a means of concealing himself below the surface of the water.

On the other hand, we find that any device attached to the bottom surface of a water body and not floating (pit blind or coffin) is legal in most, if not all, states in the USA. While layout boats are in fact floating devices, they are designed such that when a hunter is laying down in one there body is above the water line and are therefore legal under Federal and most State Laws.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

paddler213 said:


> I suppose if somebody wants to sleep out overnight on the Friday night before the opener, nobody will stop you. People camped out for the iphone 5, and it's got bugs, too.


That's funny!  
I know people get excited to get out on the opener, but to me it's not worth the hassle dealing with the masses. It doesn't really matter if you shoot 7 ducks in the morning or 7 ducks in the afternoon, you are only allowed 7. I will take the opening day afternoon hunt over the morning circus. Oh, it is much safer too! 
As far as blinds are concerned, it's whoever gets there first.


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