Well, today was supposed to be the first day to apply for the quota hunts on Duette Preserve in Manatee County. This is a county-owned preserve and they run the hunt. As usual, Manatee County can't do things when they should, and their website is down. I found a copy of the brochure for the 2011-2012 season, but to get an application you're supposed to go online or get one from the check station, which is only manned on Saturdays. I called the number on the brochure, which is to the check station's answering machine. The message gave me another number to call, and I got hold of someone who took my name and address and promised to send me an application.
I may just run out there tomorrow and try to get an app and look around a bit. I've been wanting to get in on this hunt for the last couple of years and kept missing the draw because Manatee County doesn't advertise it or put much energy into making sure things are available when they say.
If you're interested in the hunt, here's a link to the brochure I saved to Google Docs (takes a while to load):
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1imo3tvGOkB0ekhooW0-dRjFRX3Nckdv7fOdwiCnE5buAr9ndgHXh_6ldLXCi&hl=en_US
The website where you're supposed to get the application is www.mymanatee.org/naturalresources
If the website stays down, call 941-745-3723 and ask them to send you one. You have until July 25th to get it in for the drawing.
Hunters drawn have a mandatory orientation meeting on Sat., August 6th, 9a-1p.
If I can I'll post a copy of the application here when I get one.
hmmm is there any other county run hunts? i never knew about this place i only hunt whats on the fwc web site but if there more places like this i wanna expand my hunting opportunity's
I wouldn't be surprised if other counties had land they used for such things. But if it's like Manatee County, you won't see it promoted anywhere. You just have to ask and do the research.
I took a drive over to Duette yesterday, getting there about 15 minutes before the ranger left. Got a map of the place and an application for the hunts, which I'll scan and post here as soon as I can get my scanner working!
The preserve is 24,000 acres, and encompasses the major headwaters of the Manatee River. There's acres of planted pines in various stages of growth, hardwoods along the creeks and rivers, oak hammocks out in the middle of what I call "palmetto prairies", or wide open spaces filled with palmettos and an occasional pine. Other areas have palmettos mixed with scrub oaks and such that look so thick you'd have a hard time driving a tank through it. Lots of areas have had controlled burns and are full of new growth and browse. I drove around in my truck for about 4 hours, got out a couple times to check some spots, walking maybe 2 or 3 miles total (which I felt today!). Barely covered the southern 1/3 of the place. Saw several does, almost always with twins, and a couple of groups of what looked like young bucks. Saw lots of hog rooting, and one small sow with a couple of piglets down near a river. Saw a lot of quail, too! Found where animals/people had been crossing the East Fork of the Manatee for years. Had the remains of an old wooden bridge. Walked along the bank upstream for a bit, then got in the river, about ankle to knee deep, and walked up stream a couple hundred yards. Hogs have been all down along that river, looks like they've been eating a lot of mushrooms lately judging by some evidence left behind!
I've got to find one of my cameras or just break down and buy a new one, but I plan to go back out in a couple of weeks and see the rest of the roads and northern sections. I'll then get some pics of the place.
Some of the roads you better have 4x4, and they are marked as such. Could be due to wet conditions or sugar sand. I drove down one of them and had to engage 4HI because of the sand for about 1/2 mile. Got into firmer stuff and went to shift it back into 2wd, and suddenly my shift lever just flops back and forth, not engaging. Luckily it shifted back to 2wd before it came loose, but then I had no way to get back to 4wd if needed, and I'd need to go back the way I came in. Luckily going back I knew the road a bit and stayed in my previous tracks, going fast as I dared and letting inertia carry me through a couple of spots of heavy sand. From what I've found about it, there's a grommet on the linkage that comes loose and it's not a tough fix, so i'll take care of that in the next week or so.
By the way, the ranger told me that for the last few years, none of the hunts have come close to filling up, so he said you're almost guaranteed to get any hunt you apply for. Each hunt allows 100 people. So even with a full quota of hunters it averages out to 240 acres each.
Is it for Manatee county residents only, or do Non county residents pay a higher fee? I can't remember
