# Butler Island Quota Hunt



## Hamby13 (Dec 12, 2014)

Hey guys, I got drawn and am headed down on the 5th weekend to Butler bringing my dad and cousin and I'm hoping for a good hunt. Just wondering if anyone has already been down there this year or in the past, and how you did. Any suggestions will be appreciated. This will be my first time.


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## steelshotslayer (Dec 12, 2014)

It all varies man last year the weekend before this they had only killed somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 birds.  We shot a limit the very next weekend with several blinds only managing to shoot 2 or 3.  Here a thread from last year.  

http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=784459&highlight=


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## across the river (Dec 12, 2014)

Hamby13 said:


> Hey guys, I got drawn and am headed down on the 5th weekend to Butler bringing my dad and cousin and I'm hoping for a good hunt. Just wondering if anyone has already been down there this year or in the past, and how you did. Any suggestions will be appreciated. This will be my first time.



There will be roughly 30 blinds (spots).  If there are any birds there they will all be sitting on 2 or 3 of them.  hey draw for them, and if you get one of those spots you will likely do pretty well.   If you get any of the other 27 or 28 spots, you will watch people around you shoot at birds in the stratosphere, and then watch the guys beside you blow hail calls at the birds that just got shot at. So, to sum it up, you have a roughly 10% chance of having a good hunt, a 90% chance of having a bad hunt, and a 100% chance of watching people sky bust all morning.


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## GSURugger (Dec 12, 2014)

across the river said:


> There will be roughly 30 blinds (spots).  If there are any birds there they will all be sitting on 2 or 3 of them.  hey draw for them, and if you get one of those spots you will likely do pretty well.   If you get any of the other 27 or 28 spots, you will watch people around you shoot at birds in the stratosphere, and then watch the guys beside you blow hail calls at the birds that just got shot at. So, to sum it up, you have a roughly 10% chance of having a good hunt, a 90% chance of having a bad hunt, and a 100% chance of watching people sky bust all morning.




110% accurate.


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## Hamby13 (Dec 13, 2014)

We hunted some public water in south ga last week and I got my fair share of that mess. I wish they would encourage people to not do that. Do they draw a select number per hole? Also the lady on the phone said I can bring 2 buddies that correct?


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## across the river (Dec 13, 2014)

Hamby13 said:


> We hunted some public water in south ga last week and I got my fair share of that mess. I wish they would encourage people to not do that. Do they draw a select number per hole? Also the lady on the phone said I can bring 2 buddies that correct?



It is a old rice plantain, so a blind is essentially a or rice field, that is probably roughly 10 -20 acres.   If you get drawn for a certain "blind" you typically have to cross a little ditch (they provide the boat) and then you can wade around wherever you want in that field to set up, hide, hunt, etc..  There isn't a pit blind to sit in or anything.  You can take two other people.  There will be other group in the fields around you.  They aren't sitting right on top of you, but there are enough people hunting that it winds up being essentially a sky busting dove shoot, unless you have to get one of the three blinds the birds have been using that they will fly into initially.


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## Potlicker60 (Dec 13, 2014)

Yes, you can bring two people with you. It's always a fun hunt for me. I think you will enjoy it and you may get lucky and get a good hole.


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## Hamby13 (Dec 13, 2014)

Thanks guys y'all have been a big help! Hopefully we'll bust em


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## MuXi115 (Dec 13, 2014)

I hunted the 2nd weekend and we had a very good morning. Blind 21. We shot ringnecks, GWT, bluebills, woodies and mallards. Others shot buffles, canvasbacks and gadwalls. 

Also, you may read that the water will be 12-24" deep. It was more like 36-40" so plan accordingly. Good luck & have fun!


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## Uptonongood (Dec 14, 2014)

They used to keep a tally of birds taken by blind number.  If they don't do that now, get there early and ask the tech/biologist which are traditionally the hottest blinds.  And some blinds are definitely better week after week than others.


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## across the river (Dec 14, 2014)

Uptonongood said:


> They used to keep a tally of birds taken by blind number.  If they don't do that now, get there early and ask the tech/biologist which are traditionally the hottest blinds.  And some blinds are definitely better week after week than others.



They will generally tell you what blinds the birds have been sitting in on all week, but you don't get to pick which one you want.   They draw spots out of a bucket.


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## andyparm (Dec 14, 2014)

across the river said:


> They will generally tell you what blinds the birds have been sitting in on all week, but you don't get to pick which one you want.   They draw spots out of a bucket.



Correct. 

We need weather to push more birds in really bad. As it stands, the Darien area is suffering from a severe lack of ducks. 

Even if there's bad reports, Butler is probably worth trying. You can get one of those 3 or 4 blinds that are always good and end up shooting some birds. If you're used to shooting nothing but woodys then it's definitely worth it. May end up knocking another bird off your list...


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## Uptonongood (Dec 14, 2014)

across the river said:


> They will generally tell you what blinds the birds have been sitting in on all week, but you don't get to pick which one you want.   They draw spots out of a bucket.



That I also recall. Thanks for the reminder, this thread is also reminding me why I haven't hunted ducks on a management or other public area in 25 years.  I'm betting less than 5% of people who claim to be duck hunters are duck "hunters". Most are duck "shoot-at'ers" aka "sky busters".


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