We hunted in one of three of Chuck Buckley’s blinds Martin has inherited from him.
Private blinds? Yet Lake Catahoula is considered a public lake (at least for the time being). How can that be?
“It’s the law of the land,” Grayson Close explained. “The blinds have been there since the 1920s. Other hunters around recognize ‘ownership.’ The blinds in Catahoula Lake are owned — if not in law, in fact. They have been in families for decades. The spots can be inherited or even sold. This goes back to before the lake was a refuge. People built blinds and hunted.
“When the area was made a refuge or whatever it is now, they inherited a system that had been in place long before memory. Chuck inherited his rights from (his wife) Ruth’s uncle, Sid Pearce.”
Reaction to “trespassing” in blinds run the gamut.
“Hunting in someone else’s blind may or may not be confrontational,” Close said. “Some may run people out; others may move to a different blind.”
Martin helps explain.
“It’s not that we are saying that a piece of ground is ours: It’s that we spent our time and money building the blind,” his father Martin explained.
Grayson goes on.
“No one likes a free-loader, he said. “Ciceroing is the art of hunting someone else’s blind without their permission.”
“Is that accepted?” I asked innocently.
Grayson throws a withering glance at me.
“Not at all!” he said.