FWC check guy at STA?

[The Terminator]

Does anybody know if Billy will be working the check stations again this year? It has been great with him there. Always stayed the night and brought plenty of fire wood. Looking forword to my many nights out at the STA 5.

[novaalex]

The FWC has gone out and replaced the gatekeeper with girls from Hooters. They will be having wet t-shirt contests and riding around in ATV's bringing drinks

[SSPhone]

Dam Alex cant you keep a secret. :D

[matthersjr]

guess I won't be staying at the KOA in Clewiston.......... :) :booty:

[novaalex]

I would have a temporary change of address from Nov-Jan. My new address would be 1 Blumberg Road Penthouse 1. Honey Ive got to go it is a matter of national security. I have a past that you don't know about, I'll explain when I get back. It would give me 3 months to make up an excuse or plan my burial. But I would have a **** of a time.

[Randy Clark]

that would ake the fire side charts really interesting

[Ducknut]

Billy, Told me yesterday that he will be sta 5 and 3/4 and there will be a new guy at sta 1. Billy said he is a good guy, but a strict book guy. We need as trash can at sta 1, because the place already looks like a dump. Jeff :rolleyes: :icon_salu

[SSPhone]

Ducknut
Is the trash (looks like a dump) left by hunters or construction?

[jtlillia]

Yeah They Can't Blame Us We Have Not Hunted There Since Jan.

[Ducknut]

The trash was not left by hunters but you know who will be blamed!!! I also know that I removed several hundred pounds of trash from STA 1 last year.I had to pick much of it off the ground even though the can was not full. Many others also worked hard keeping the place clean. It is made easier with a trash can. :) :smileinbo :smileinbo :smileinbo

[DuckManDan]

When I talked to Billy he said they we will be out there all night at 3/4 and 5. According to Billy the new guy probably wont even show up at 1 till 5 am, then let those in with permits and then go to the people on stand by. I don't know about the rest of yall but 3/4 was quite a disappointment....The whole time I saw only 2 - 3 small groups on teal. I think next Saturday might just be a waste of time. Who knows...I will be surprised if I even see a teal.

[The Terminator]

Billy is a good guy but had to go right by the book at the end of last season because someone complained he was letting everybody in. I hope he can show some flexibility, since some hunters at the end of the season who waited since 9PM didn't get to hunt until 12:00 noon the next day. One person complaining really ruined it at the end of last season.

I haven't been out to the STA 3/4 yet. Do you think that will be the poorest of the STA's?

[ironeyes]

I disagree. While it is unfortunate that there are rules restricting access; THERE ARE RULES RESTRICTING ACCESS! Any "flexibility" reflects poorly on the vast majority of duck hunters who do follow the regulations and are then shown as "VIOLATORS" because someone let more people than specifically allowed. As long as the rules are in place they should be adhered to.
There are groups out there that use stuff like that as propaganda against consumptive users like hunters.

[duckmanJR]

Imagine this scenario.... The day of a hunt a group of high level SFWMD employees show up. Instead of 50 hunters out there there are 80..... What might the repercussions be??
There are reasons why there are rules in place..... If we do not abide by them a "goldmine" of ducks could be once again CLOSED.

[novaalex]

The STA's are duck magnets because of their vegetation and because they are only hunted once a week. Any of you who have hunted them know that a certain amount of people line up to walk in. Normally it is not more than 20 or so pairs. On rare ocassions I have seen those numbers swell above 30 pairs( once or twice). Do you think this number would go up or down if the number of permits were increased? The area can easily accomodate the extra amount of hunters and this would eliminate some of the walk in. THE RULES ARE THE RULES AND THEY ARE THERE FOR A REASON. THE NUMBERS ARE INCORRECT AND THEY SHOULD BE CHANGED TO ACCOMODATE THE DEMAND.

[D Duck]

The numbers were obviously set in place with some reasoning behind them. Maybe safety? Overcrowding certain areas would potentially occur and we all know how this effects not only the hunting but the hunters.

[Converted]

I believe the STA's could certainly accomodate more than the 25 pairs. We pressed SFWMD and FWC to double that number to 50 pairs. They objected citing "parking restrictions" and opted for 25 morning and 25 afternoon pairs. I agree that the resource could easily handle more pressure.

[novaalex]

STA5 and 1W are roughly 5000-6000 acres a piece and STA 3/4 is 16,000 acres. At a minimum each hunter has 200-640 acres to hunt on. If you doubled the hunters each hunter would have 100-320 acres to hunt in more than enough in my opinion.

[ironeyes]

Alex, nearly everyone would agree that the areas could support more hunters at any specific time. BUT THAT IS AGAINST THE CURRENT RULES!!!!!!!! It is not the gatekeeper's job to right the wrongs that the establishment has set forth. If he does it he should be reprimanded. Until the regulations which govern the areas are amended the numbers should be adhered to. This is the purpose of the organization to which we belong. It is not our best interest to support the flagrant violation of area specific regulations.

[novaalex]

anything about the gatekeeper righting the wrongs. You need to retract that because that is not what I said. What I said is that the rules are incorrect and they should be changed to accomodate the demand.

[duckmanJR]

I agree that there might be room for more... the problem is that the area is unregulated and if they increase the # of permitees... what if the amount of water or cover changes.....A potentially dangerous overcrowding could result.
I do not think that a gatekeper should have ANY flexibility.... That is for biologists and land management people to decide.

[Converted]

How many total permits are there for Goodwin/Broadmoore? How many acres?

[ironeyes]

I will retract nothing. I simply replied to Terminator's post.

"Billy is a good guy but had to go right by the book at the end of last season because someone complained he was letting everybody in. I hope he can show some flexibility, since some hunters at the end of the season who waited since 9PM didn't get to hunt until 12:00 noon the next day. One person complaining really ruined it at the end of last season."

He made a reference to "Flexibility" of the rules which I am undeniably against. When I replied to you I was including the original cause of my posting as it seemed that you supported these violations. I did not mean to infer you had "said" anything of the sort.

As I said I agree they should allow more permitted people per hunt but I disagree with the aforementioned "flexibility".

[ironeyes]

David, There are around 60 acres per permit (up to 4 hunters) on Goodwin and around 100 acres per permit (again up to 4 hunters) on Broadmoore.
All total there are roughly 6,000 acres and a maximum of 120 persons on the property. Yes it is more than the STA's, but it is also area specific. You have to pick your little slice of heaven and stay there; unlike the STA's where you go where you please.

[godvlman]

here we go again stating that the "gatekeeper" is not doing his job or is doing some type of wrong doing!!

It is to my understanding that the problem that occured last year with the complaint happened on a day at STA 1 when the original "gatekeeper" had to leave and the fill in could not handle the job. She was overwhelmed with what was going on!!!

I dont think it states anywhere in the PURPOSES & GOALS that we are the "gatekeepers" boss or we tell the gatekeeper how to do his/her job. I also dont believe that it states anywhere in the PURPOSES / GOALS that we pull the "gatekeeper" aside and tell him that we are watching everymove he makes!!!

On allowing more people into the STA's that is something that needs to be negotiated next year as an organization which is in our PURPOSES / GOALS. But let me tell you that us as an organization doesnt have anywere near the pull that the "gatekeeper" has!!! Who is 100% on our side for what we believe in as an organization.

[jtlillia]

As Long As The People Being Allowed In To The Sta's Are On Stand By And Replace Hunters Coming Out There Should Be No Problem. Our Goal As A Group Is To Increase Hunting Oppurtunities For The Average Hunter. I See No Problem With Stand By Hunters. As Long As We (the Hunters) Behave Our Selves We Should Have No Problems

Joe

[N. Cook]

From the very beginning UW-F has lobbied for more pairs of hunters. When only STA 5 was open we worked hard for 40 pairs in the third year of the "test hunts". There was a flat NO from the district. We were able to get afternoon hunts as their use of "not enough parking spaces" could not stand up to our logic of 25 in the am and 25 could park in the same places in the pm.....(ain't it fun when you out manuver them!!!) We also wanted afternoon hunts to scatter the birds out of the STAs.....two birds with one stone!!!

This, combined with adding STAs has moved total hunting opportunities from 500 to 3000 a year....plus replacements. Replacements are a potential problem as the system needs to be put into the regulations or it could be ended on a whim of any one of a number of people.

There remains a hard core group in SFWMD who do not want anyone, especially hunters, on the STAs. Every step towards more hunting will be incremental and any excuse these people get, trash, conduct, etc, ect....will be used against us.

We are fighting hard now for next year to have STA 2 in the program....with the area around it part of the Small Game Hunting Area designation used to make hunting legal on the STAs. This adjacent area would be open for dove hunting. We will continue to press for more than 25 pairs as well.