Let me tell you the reader a little about us. We are seasoned duck hunters and have hunted numerous states on both private and public land. We have run leases, been members of leases and travel extensively in the US and Canada to hunt ducks and geese. Fair chase hunting migratory birds brings empty skies on some days and that is just duck hunting. We have been very successful over the years with persistence and patience. We have a combined hunting total of 45 years in MS among our group and have made many friends and contacts. Not once has a landowner allowed us to hunt that we were not welcomed back on our next trip. We have worked hard to keep to our word and live by whatever is asked of us by the landowner or leasor and follow all game rules.

Things went bad from the very beginning with this lease, but we tried to keep an open mind as the season progressed. First, the holes were said to be within 15-45 minutes of the house we lease. In reality, the closest hole was 45 minutes with the majority being 1:15 from our base. The lack of birds was not a concern at first, as there were not a lot of birds in the area. On first inspection of the field we were assigned, the warning bells were going off. The blind that we were told would be there consisted of two stakes with some field fence between them and some thin fennel brush, not even harvested from the same field . No back drop, no overhead cover, just a flat panel of brush. This may work for dove, but any experienced duck hunter knows ducks are unlikely to work with such sparse cover. It was a small flooded millet field next to multiple catfish ponds. Perfect for pass shooting a few spoonies or divers I guess, but worthless for working Mallard, Pintail or Gadwall. We did pass shoot a few that day. Little did we know, that would be by far the best day of the season. We did not see anything other than Shovelers, Bills and Ruddys.

We soon found out that the guide that was assigning our spots was also hunting the very same holes as us. Each day when he asked how we did and we told him our tail of few birds seen, he would tell us how many he had killed and it was more than us, many more, every single day of the season (usually it was us blanked and his group with a dozen or more). Many times we hunted right near where he was and heard his group firing all morning and our group scarcely pulling the trigger. At first, we thought it was just bad luck, but it soon became apparent what was happening and who was not getting the short straw. We could not get a hole assigned until late in the day each day, but if he was scouting the holes in the afternoon, this would be good news. The only day we scouted for ourselves, we asked for a hole at 12:45 and was told it had been assigned 45 minutes earlier. This was odd as we had never gotten a hole until 4-5 hours later in the day. The guide offered us a hole near there that we had just scouted and not a bird was seen. When we told him there were no birds there, he said, Some were killed there a week and half ago. When we insisted on a different hole, he assigned us one that had been holding small flocks of mallards. Not only did we not see any mallards, but we did not fire the gun. The only birds we saw were high fliers not remotely interested in the field. Season duck hunters know that the key to success is to check the holes in the evening prior to be sure there will be birds there the next day and the guide had not looked at the hole in over a week. He was quick to let us have the spot though. I wonder how he did that day? We were expressly told the guides would be scouting the birds and would know which were holding ducks. The vast majority of the spots we were given were bare banked catfish ponds with shoddy blinds and few birds. Directly across the road of many of them were huge, unhunted catfish ponds which would draw the ducks to them as no one hunted them. We killed one Mallard the entire season. I limited 7 out of 9 days in Canada this year, I can shoot just fine. The last week we hunted, there were lots of birds in the area and we killed birds in other locations (public land), but not on any lease hole we were assigned. When we signed up we were told there would be 20 some groups hunting 40 some holes and that as more holes became available, more groups would be allowed. Simple math suggests that half the holes would be rested each day. In reality, 50 groups were hunting 60 holes, a far different ratio. A discussion of our concerns with one of the owners brought a few apologies, but we are out the money and more importantly a wasted season. If your idea of fun hunting is pass shooting Spoonies and divers on overpressured catfish ponds with poor quality blinds, this is the lease for you. Unless you are buddies with or hunt with one of the guides be prepared for lots of inaction, it sure seemed that all the smiling pictures posted on the web were from kids their age, often times hunting with the guides. Many of the pictures we saw posted showed backgrounds from places we were never assigned to hunt. I think the guides were holding the good spots for themselves and their pals, while throwing darts at a list for everyone else. I am sure that you can read reports of satisfied people, but I would bet they are friends with the guides or owners and got the prime spots, each and every day. We did not want the prime spot every time, but just the law of averages says we should have had a couple of decent hunts all season - we did not. While the concept seemed good, the reality was sorely disappointing and we wanted other real duck hunters to have their eyes wide open if they were considering this arrangement. Get a private lease which you have control over and then take your chances with the migration. I know we will do that again as we have in the past (and been quite successful). We killed many more birds of public land - so if private is out of your budget, save your money and do your homework and scout the public land. MS is second to none in well managed public land with very helpful managers. Last year's single 80 acre bean field we leased yielded more than triple the number of birds killed for our group in the same area with a similar migration count as this year.