Blind Draws: They Have to Go

Ryan Barnes for SPLIT REED

Being an avid big game hunter in the state of Utah, my hopes of chasing trophy class animals hinge on my hunter ID number being chosen in the state’s drawing system. Entangled in bonus points, and units, and all other sorts of trash that we don’t need to get into. However, it would be a complete disaster if waterfowl hunters had to wait in line, or submit their info to try to be drawn for the chance to hunt ducks. Utah has that much going for them. They reward the ambitious. If you get up early and get to your spot, you’re going to be hunting there. They can’t guarantee some other joker isn’t going to set up right on top of you, but they can guarantee that you’ll have at least some chance to hunt.

That isn’t the case in all states. Tennessee, Arkansas, California, and multiple others dictate who-hunts-where on their public land by having their hunters apply for a drawing to see which blind they’re selected for. In theory, this sounds like a good idea. Get up early, go to the game station (or wherever they hold the drawing), get your blind drawn, and be on your way. Except it isn’t working like that. There have been horror stories in Arkansas of hunters waking up early, driving hours to get to the blind draw, only to realize that the blinds for the day had already been drawn and that they had better show up earlier tomorrow. In other states, where a hunter ID is submitted at noon the day before your hunt, hunters figured out that if they submitted every hunter ID from each hunter in their group, the better their odds were of drawing a quality blind. In turn, this led to less and less blind availability.

Other “blind draws” tried in some states were actually a time slot given to you as to when you could launch your boat. Hunter “X” maybe drew time slot 5:45, giving him some prime real-estate, while hunter “Y” drew 6:15, giving him only a limited amount of time to get to a decent spot before shooting light. There was only one instance I’ve read of this being tried on a particular bird refuge, and it didn’t last long. However, the idea is still there. Blind draws aren’t it.

I have yet to meet someone who hunts in a state where blind draws are held, that actually agrees with the system. Let’s take a hypothetical hunting scenario, which unfortunately is based on something that happens quite frequently. You and your two buddies decide to go hunting at a popular lake. A blind draw is required, so you enter your hunter ID the day before and, at the end of the workday is assigned blind #301. It’s going to be a Friday, so you expect some people, but not the usual Saturday hoards. You wake up, head out, check-in at the station, and launch out to your blind. You pass blind #009 which had a bunch of ducks flying off it. A promising sight, but you sure wish you had drawn #009 instead of #301. As you get to your blind, you realize all the ducks were on the other end of the lake. The guys who drew the blinds over there were shooting birds all day long, while you sat around wishing you could just hunt wherever you wanted.

Another scenario I’ve heard of is hunters putting in for blind draws, then selling their blinds for a high premium after their limit was shot. This instance happened on the West Coast where hunters were issued a poker chip showing their blind number and could swap it with others without the game wardens knowing. All the hunters had to do was make sure they swapped it with another hunter. So the hunters who drew the premium blind would go out, shoot their birds, then come back and sell their poker chip for a high dollar figure to someone waiting to exchange their lackluster blind with them. In turn, the second group of hunters would do the same thing. Leaving other blinds vacant, while the “hot” blind got shot to hell.

The idea of a blind draw gives hunters all sorts of incentives to try and get the best blind, no matter what it may take. While hunters that can stray out on public ground without a blind draw can hunt wherever they find birds and aren’t restricted to a certain blind.

While there are some good intentions with blind draws, it has seemed to go awry in every way. Hunters complain that it robs them of being able to truly scout and hunt where they want to in certain areas when their fate comes down to being decided by a draw. Others have complaints that the draw is too scattered, or too disorganized, leaving them wondering if they’ve drawn a blind or not.

My assertion is this- Get rid of the blind draws, and let the hunting sort itself out organically. You may think, “Yeah right! That never happens.” True, it could be a bit of a circus in certain areas for a time, but it seems to always balance out. The areas that are high traffic for hunters, will eventually die down due to the fact that people will want to avoid the mess and disperse out to other areas. Eventually, the hunting will even itself out, and the hunters will balance themselves between other areas.

To the hunters that have to deal with blind draws, I’m sorry. To those that don’t, don’t do anything that would make your local fish and game offices think they need to institute one. Save yourself time, hassle, and trouble. For the states that have blind draws, or the local areas that run one, give it the boot! Your hunters are cheating the system (if you don’t already know that), and you’re making the hunting process more difficult than it needs to be. Save yourself the trouble, and let the hunters do their thing. Believe it or not, it will work out in the long run.