Hunters storm out of conservation board meeting

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

MONTROSE - A move by the Lee County Conservation Board to extend permanent duck blinds for one more year to give area duck hunters a chance to adjust to new rules was met with hostility Monday evening.

About 50 hunters attended a special meeting Monday night at the Lee County Conservation Board building in Montrose to hear the changes to the proposed regulations.

Board member Sandra Fullhart-Snyer told those in attendance that there wouldn't be a time for public comment at the meeting. The board held a meeting on Tuesday where duck hunters had a chance to talk about a rule change that would prevent permanent duck blinds on LCCB property after 2018, with some hunters being able to keep the permanent blinds until 2018 and some not, depending on whether they had been abiding by the rules.

The district said hunters who have been following the program guidelines will be allowed to keep their permanent blinds under the 2016 agreement regulations through the 2018 waterfowl seasons. However, those that weren't playing by the rules will have boat-in only privileges on district property. At Monday's meeting, the board extended the permanent blinds for all spots through 2018, but after that season no permanent blinds will be allowed.

"You guys have gotten a year's notice so you can't say we didn't give you enough time," Fullhart-Snyer told the room. "We're basically just doing this so you know. You can't come in here next year and say you didn't know."

The board then made a motion to extend the permanent blind program for one year and then result back to LCCB rules, which prompted all those in attendance to get up and walk out.

On the way Jeff Junkins stopped and criticized the board.

"I was raised right here and my grandpa is flipping over in his freakin' grave right now listening to this ...., " said Jeff Junkins of Montrose.

The motion passed 3-1 with board member Mark Holland voting against the move.

After the meeting Junkins said he should apologize for his outburst, but didn't apologize for his opposition.

"The passion of it is I was raised here," he said. "My grandpa and grandma lived right there in that house. The change is they want to do away with permanent duck blinds. I'm 55 and I've hunted ever since I can remember. My grandpa took me down right there on the bank and he taught me. Couple years ago the conservation started drawing spots for a blind and I backed away from it. Now I've got a 5-year old grandson who wants to start hunting. I don't care if I ever shoot another duck. I've shot plenty, but now I have to bring him out here in a john boat rocking in these winds on that river. No way." Junkins said.

Junkins said the issue was one of tradition and didn't know what he was going to tell his grandson.

"I've lived here my whole life and you could go out there anytime and you could count mallards with nests. That's conservation. What are we talking about?," Junkins said. "Those blinds have hatched out more ducks than any of these plastic houses they got out there. It gets me all tore up because I can see my grandpa. He hunted his whole life. It goes real deep. I don't know what I'm gonna tell my grandson. I'm not going to do that with him in a boat."

William Stotlar, Fort Madison said he too thought boat-in only blinds were too dangerous.

"I'm not taking my kids no way. They just ruined tradition dating back to 1937. They didn't even listen to us."

Stotler said boat-ins have to be anchored and then unanchored if you get a duck.

"You get 25 mph hour wind and 6-foot curls...if you're lucky enough to get a duck you have to unanchor and go get it and then other people are shooting...you're gonna get peppered...someone's gonna get hurt or killed."

Robert Stotlar said he thought the board had a different motive.

"I think they want to make it into a refuge where there's no hunting, that's what I think," he said.

Don Hunold, a member of the Lee County Board of Supervisors who is a liaison on the board, said he understands the tradition, but said this land was purchased back in 2012 and no one approached them about the concerns.

"I've set here three years listening to this and we've had issues with hunters throughout. And it's not just one person...it's several. And if you look at the other 98 counties we're doing what everyone else is doing. I think when they heard at the last meeting that we owned the waters those hunters didn't have a chance. So we listened and then gave them another year. I think that's pretty fair."

LCCB Director Nathan Unsworth points to a map of LCCB owned property at a meeting Monday night. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

duck hunters, Lee County Conservation Board, Montrose, Pen City Current, permanent blinds

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