Question about hunting guidelines

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

diverbob

Contributor
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
595
Reaction score
9
Location
Imperial MO
# of dives
500 - 999
I am not a hunter, but when I was diving down in Destin, I was paired up with a guy who was hunting. He was the only guy on the boat that was hunting. I had no dive buddy, so they just paired up people. Is this normal practice on a charter? I wanted to swim around checking out the wrecks, not making sure I am staying behind him so I dont get in the way of a shot. Also, there was a lot of baraccuda around the wreck, and when he finally shot something,(turned out to be undersized anyway) that made me a little worried too. I've heard most baraccuda accidents are caused by them just trying to get at someones catch. One last thing, there was 3 bull sharks spotted in the area too, and I saw one of them. Is there a time when you just dont shoot for safety reasons?
 
diverbob:
I am not a hunter, but when I was diving down in Destin, I was paired up with a guy who was hunting. He was the only guy on the boat that was hunting. I had no dive buddy, so they just paired up people. Is this normal practice on a charter? I wanted to swim around checking out the wrecks, not making sure I am staying behind him so I dont get in the way of a shot. Also, there was a lot of baraccuda around the wreck, and when he finally shot something,(turned out to be undersized anyway) that made me a little worried too. I've heard most baraccuda accidents are caused by them just trying to get at someones catch. One last thing, there was 3 bull sharks spotted in the area too, and I saw one of them. Is there a time when you just dont shoot for safety reasons?

Speaking specifically of the Destin area:

1. Is this normal practice on a charter?
Not really. Sounds like you got bit on a "Hobson's choice" deal. OTOH you may have had an opportunity to learn something new, not the least of which is that it's hard to judge fish size u/w. Beginners will take a few shorts before they finally realize they need to bring a "ruler" down with them to help judge fish size. It also takes a few dives for them to get the lesson driven in that "catch and release" spearfishing works even more poorly than hook and line "catch and release. Overall the fish mortality due to that diver's fishing will come down to a zero bycatch. Hook and line roughly 25% of those fish "released" won't make it to the bottom again, much less survive to the next morning.

2. Baraccuda are best considered as a 6 month old doberman puppy. All teeth and curiosity, no attitude. They are also fast enough to eat whatever they want. In halfway decent vis a 'cuda is an non-threat. Most 'cuda hits are actually hand strikes on surface fishermen wearing rings or watches and washing their hands over the side instead of in a bucket of water on deck. Bull sharks are another matter, but smoked bull is good eating. I would not take one on an "open" charter unless it offered me no other choice. The bigger problem with bulls is that in several areas the "resident" bulls have been trained to come to the sound of a JBL speargun firing, without a fish even being hit, by foolish divers willing to "give them the fish" so they can make a quick exit.

3. Is there a time when you just dont shoot for safety reasons?
Absolutely. A dive on an isolated wreck with 3 bulls resident and in view would be one of them, with a possible kill shot taken on a pelagic just as ascent begins. No kill shot presented on a pelagic known to be well over the legal size limit at the very end of the dive means bringing up the bone.

A resident reef fish is too likely to try and hole up if just wounded, placing you between the tax collector and the fish you are trying to get out of a hole when you are low on air. This is a bad place to be.

FT
 
Just curious, but who did you charter through?
 
I know you saw sharks and especially in Destin. But a bull shark is different. For people that don't dive with sharks very often they commonly mistake reef or "wreck" sharks for Bull sharks when they are not.

I get very excited as do others when I drift into some or even many sharks while hunting on the east coast. But just like hunting and shot placement, you learn to slow down and recognize your enviroment and look for the tell tale signs so you can understand the threats against you. A bull shark will not hesitate to challenge you if you have fish. A reef or other shark is more like a barking dog chasing you down the street. You only need to turn and act aggresive towards them to back them down.

A tell tale sign for the bull shark is to look at their spine from the main dorsal fin back towards the tail and see if it has a pronouced sharp ridge back. Granted in the excitement of seeing a shark come that close to you, this is the last thing on your mind. But so is not looking at your airsupply,, and ignoring either one of the above could get you killed.
 

Back
Top Bottom