Were any of y'all ever members? What happened? Looked to be a lively place at one time, not so much anymore. I guess it could be due to the fact that duck hunting isn't necessarily Alabama's strong suit.

Arrogance

I was (still am) but rarely ever visit the site anymore. It's about dead

Was about as good as aldeer at one time. Duck Dynasty....that is what happened. That and the duck hunting has SUCKED for quite some time.

Mostly douchebags who thought anybody who asked a question was trying to steal their secret spot and the rest were young kids who thought because they could by all of the drake gear and a nice boat they were the next duck dynasty and probably were trying to steal spots.

Boy I tell ya duck dynasty has done a lot for duck hunting hasn't it.

I met some really nice guys over there but that was long ago. One of the guys helped me kill my first Drake Can and it was a nice one.

I haven't been on there in some time.

I used to visit there about as regular as aldeer. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I see the same thing happening to several other duck hunting forums. Ducksouth used to be a great MS forum and now they have about 1 new topic per week. The refuge used to be an awesome nationwide forum. It got bought out by some online retailer and it has gone to crap.

A lot of the busting chops was for fun, most were really good friends. That soon changed and so did the site.

Man I hate to hear all that, I'd love for it to get back up and going minus the duck dynasty kids. Oh well.

Funny you mention it, I actually got on there earlier for the first time in a year or so. Was going to list an echo I've got on here. Place was so dead I didn't bother.

IMO the duck dynasty Kazoo blowers killed it. Definitely more hunters on the water, just not on there.

Anyways, if anyone wants an echo breaker for cheap, pm me

Too many egos and wanna be expert dog trainers that only half read smartwork..

Sounds like a fun place to troll...

Same thing happened to gon and duckhuntingchat. I was on a private forum with about 200 members that all were pretty close knit, and that even went the wayside because most of us quit hunting when the dynasty boys flowed in.

Water dog is where it's at, so they did right

IF I could figure out a way to do so, I would. I could never control the topic of conversation, nor did I have any desire to do so. I enjoyed the site, and it is still active, but I do not spend much time trying to make changes to it.

I was on it for quite some time. Haven't posted anything in a while. Got on it a few weeks ago and it was a ghost town. Like two post in the last several months.

I met a lot of great guys probably 15-20 that enjoyed dog training and helped me tremendously. Most of em have become good friends who I regularly talk to, or did train with and hunt test with before life got so busy. The only thing that got aggravating about the site was if you posted a successful hunt, you were immediately accused of being illegal in some way or hunting someone else's "spot" on public land. Heavens forbid someone give out a little bit of insight, then all the name calling would start. Definately filled up with a lot of billy bad asses in the later days when the site fell apart.

I used to really enjoy The Refuge and ALDucks.
It's a shame it went down like it did. We've had to nip it in the bud around here a few times over the years.

Can't add much more than has already been said, but I met 2 of my best hunting buddies through that site. It just went in the tank quick with all the kids & know-it-alls to where the people that really contributed just left. I've made 1 post on there in the last 3-4 years and it was to try to sell something. Zero interest. That place ain't even a dumpster fire. Just half a pile of wind blown ashes.

While we're on the subject of the duck dynasty hunters, have any of y'all seen a decrease in the "my parents have money so I've got a nice boat & all the new drake gear so that makes me a duck hunter" guys around your area in the last year or two?