re: Catahoula Lake could become off limits to duck hunters

I don’t go on guided trips for the production. I go for the amenities and hang out time. HinevBrake has good hunting and great other shite when not hunting.

I respect folks that take my money and do everything in their power to make my visit the best they can.

If you go to HB everything they can control will be well done

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Who knows who owns what?

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Best question in this thread.



Look for a writ application within 30 days. This is the type of controversy that our supremes look at.

I think it boils down to what the primary payment is actually for. The finding of the inverse condemnation is what's troubling though. If the payment was just for the damages suffered due to flooding, I guess they could still be the owners. The trial court should have been more clear on that.

Can you imagine the cluster during a criminal trespass trial?

How do neighbors out there know where their line is considering the fact that it's based upon a meandering river?

I know one of these guys really well. Ironically, he works for one of the firms defending the state. I'll talk to him this week.

Really not sure. Early season would terrible for everyone not right on little river. I've driven across the lake right before teal season in some years. If the gates at the diversion were left open, I'm guessing some parts would never be wet without the Red and Black backing up big time.

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If I own land behind the levee along the miss river, I own the river?!??

Motherfricking tug boat mafia owes me some rent.

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I think the point is that you would own royaltues of the oil under the river "on your property

Thsee people better be careful. If they "win", theyll be responaible for all activities, financial liabilities, legal issues, etc...that go with ownership

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Greed may have destroyed Catahoula for good.

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I don’t agree with that. Catahoula Lake has wintered waterfowl for as long as ducks and geese have migrated. Before the control structure was put in ducks used it, and they’ll use it after it’s gone.

Every permanent blind on the lake should be burnt to the ground. The good ole boy bullshite that goes on out there is the reason decent honest hunters don’t utilize the lake since it’s been public property, part of the Catahoula NWR.

You have to buy the same permit to hunt it as you do to hunt places like Dempsey, Long, and Rhinehart lakes, which have a 10hp motor restriction, no permanent blinds, and no hunting after noon. If catahoula lake would have been handled the same way it would be a paradise for waterfowl and hunters who don’t mind putting in a little work.

Permanent blinds, no motor restrictions and the destruction that surface drives cause, joyriding and jumping resting birds, and the “ownership” mentality that people out there have, have been the factors that have brought about the decline we’ve seen out there over the past 10-15 years.

All that aside, nobody is going to post up at the mouth of old river and stop people from going out there hunting when the water comes up.

This should not have any effect on Saline-Larto. The weir at the diversion canal will still be there.

Agree with every word.

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North Dakota?

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Only thing worth going to North Dakota for is goose hunting.

The Jena Times did a pretty full length story on the Catahoula situation for anyone that feels like reading it.

LINK

Just a few highlights:

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In his written judgment in 2016, Judge Boddie found that the State unlawfully expropriated the riverbanks and owed the landowner plaintiffs over 30,000 acres of flooded land and nearly $38-million in damages, as well as over $4.5-million in unpaid oil and gas royalties. While the Third Circuit did affirm the trial court’s decision concerning the owners of the land/lake, they also vacated part of the decision concerning compensation and issued new financial orders changing whether they would be paid by the State or the common fund that will be received from the damages and unpaid oil and gas royalties.

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With the Third Circuit’s decision two weeks ago, the only alternative for the state would be to appeal the case to the Louisiana Supreme Court. When contacted by this newspaper last week, a spokesman for La. Attorney General Jeff Landy said the AG office is reviewing the decision and weighing options in the best interest of our State. If the ruling is appealed to the Supreme Court, the current stay that was issued during the appeal process may be extended - meaning it would stay public until the Supreme Court rules.

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As stated in the ruling, most of the land now considered Catahoula Lake would become private land again, reverting back to the landowners surrounding the lake. The only public water would be that area listed as the original Little River that flows from the Southwest part of the lake area to the Northeast area of the lake area into French Fork in a meandering path through the current body of water

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Some think that once the lake reverts to private land officially after all court avenues have been exhausted, the issue of people duck hunting on waters above private land would be a trespassing issue to be dealt with by the sheriff’s departments of respective parishes.

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Another unknown factor is what the state will do concerning the water level on the lake. With barge traffic still heavy on the Ouachita, many feel the level will continue to be controlled keeping the water high enough to maintain the barge traffic, but again, all of this is speculation at the present time. So, the unknown factor is exactly how much water will remain on the Catahoula Basin when the legal issues are finally settled.

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