Thread: Duck itch!
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Old 09-10-2011, 12:36 PM   #15
MikeF-NH
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It is not illegal to take waterfowl on the water. Many feel it is unethical but there is definitely no rule stating you must wait for the bird to take flight.

It is also legal to take waterfowl on any water body in NH unless you are within 300 feet of a house. That said, every waterfowler I know would not want to upset any homeowner by launching a salvo of 3" mag 12 shots at first light because it's legal to shoot 350 feet from said home. That is the problem with Winni. It's shorelines are well populated. Sure you can find legal spots all over the lake but with more secluded ponds and rivers everywhere, there is no need to force confrontation with an increasingly liberal population of shoreline residents.

If you have a stretch of shoreline on your property that is legal to hunt and would not disturb your neighbors, you certainly could visit any number of NH hunting websites and get to know ethical hunters that you could invite to hunt your land. That said, the nature of waterfowl is that they are migratory meaning once one group is harvested, the next group moves in. Resident birds however would be nicely removed with a few hunts.

Alternatively, you can make your shoreline unattractive for waterfowl:
-get a coyote decoy and set him up on your beach
-get a dock owl statue and nail it to your dock
-tie a string to stakes along your beach at the shoreline with surveyors tape every few feet about 1 foot off the ground.
-get a dog (a retriever) and station him on your beach. He'll have the Life of Riley keeping birds off your property.
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