Malicious destruction of property while harassing three duck hunters was recorded on video in a bizarre scene the day after Christmas.

The incident on public property in Plaquemines Parish resulted in an arrest and backlash from outdoorsmen outraged by the actions of a 32-year-old Buras man, Brendan Nolan. It also rekindled debate on the age-old discussion about hunting in permanent duck blinds built on public property.

State Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division agents charged Nolan for harassment of a person lawfully hunting, simple assault, criminal damage to property and illegal discharge of a firearm after they received a complaint from three duck hunters on public property near Venice.

The duck hunters, reportedly two age 18, one age 19, watched in disbelief as the events unfold. The video shot by one of them can be seen at www.facebook.com/840774317/videos/pcb.10159465226004318/888527405186459.

The surface drive boat motors left to right into the spread of decoys 15-20 yards from the duck blind. The driver releases the tiller handle with the mud motor still running and walks to the front of the boat as it glides into the spread of duck decoys.

One of the teens in the duck blind is heard saying, incredulously, “Are you serious right now?”

The suspect goes back to grab the tiller handle, then gooses the mud motor to cut a tight donut in the decoys. He stands up again as the boat idles to complete the circle, takes out a pistol and, with his back to the duck blind, in a target shooter’s stance with both hands on the firearm, unloads eight shots into the duck decoys.

The man returns to drive the boat away with the pistol in his right hand but before he does he turns and fires one last round at a duck decoy between the boat and duck blind. Then the boat roars away.

It all happened in 36 seconds.

According to a prepared statement from LDWF, Sgt. Villere Reggio, Corp. Thomas Forehand and Agent Shea Schexnaydre with the Enforcement Division and Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Chad Lafrance responded to the complaint by the duck hunters and searched for Nolan in and around Venice. Nolan, a fishing and hunting guide, according to reports, was found, arrested and booked into the Plaquemines Parish Detention Center.

Apparently, according to social media reports, the suspect built the duck blind. The teens had scouted the area and got there first.

Harassment of persons lawfully hunting carries up to a $350 fine and revocation of the permit or license under which the violation occurred for the period it was issued and barring issuance of another permit or license for that same period. Also, any person adversely affected by a violation of the law is entitled to recover actual damages, including expenditures of the affected person for license and permit fees, travel, guides, special equipment and supplies, to the extent such expenses were rendered futile by the actions of the violator.

Criminal damage of property can result in a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. Simple assault brings up to a $250 fine and 90 days in jail.

More charges may be filed as the investigation unfolds. Agents seized a pistol in connection with the violations, according to the news release.

The duck hunting community has every right to be disgusted, appalled.

There have been incidents similar to this elsewhere in the state, including the Teche Area, and across the country. Fortunately, they are few and far between. Unfortunately, regardless their frequency, they are dark and ugly moments for the outdoors sports we cherish.

Remember the reports over the years of duck blinds being burned on Lake Dauterive-Fausse Pointe? They were built on the water, which is public property, and after tempers flared for some reason or another so did the duck blinds.

The Venice incident could have turned deadly. A bullet from the suspect’s pistol could have hit a duck hunter or one or more duck hunters could have fired fearing imminent danger.

As someone said on one of five pages of a popular message board, it was a recipe for disaster. Or for a true tragedy that happened early last year in Tennessee.

According to a chilling Outdoor Life story published in April 2021 and written by Natalie Krebs, two duck hunters who shared a public-draw duck blind on Reelfoot Lake in northwest Tennessee were shot and killed Jan. 25, 2021. The suspect, the target of a massive manhunt, later was found dead in the lake.

Zack Grooms, 25, and Chance Black, 26, took the Monday morning off from their respective jobs to go duck hunting with Jeff Crabtree, a bearded outdoorsman and veteran duck hunter at age 58.

They took Grooms’ boat and hunted despite a violent thunderstorm. Lightning flashed so close once before legal shooting hours they all hit the floor of the duck blind. The rain fell as steadily as the ducks they shot from Blind 58, one of 75 permanent ducks blinds available to the public there in 2020-21.

For some reason, a jo-boat showed up in the rain around mid-morning. It was the same craft Crabtree saw go into Blind 164 earlier that day.

The driver, David Vowell, 70, got out and talked to one of the younger waterfowlers. It was dark and noisy because of the storm.

Crabtree soon heard a shotgun blast at the other end of the duck. Grooms was mortally wounded in the chest. Then Vowell appeared with an autoloader shotgun and lost a struggle with Crabtree, who gave the visitor the benefit of doubt that the gun accidentally fired.

Crabtree disarmed him and threw the intruder to the floor. He and Black pulled their buddy’s body from the water between his boat and the far wall of brushed-in wire.

Crabtree grabbed the older man and threw him in the boat. All three motored away to get help but on the way Vowell got his hands on a Remington 870 in the boat that the three duck hunters used to finish off crippled ducks.

Black was unable to hear Crabtree’s warning in the storm and was shot in the lower half of his rib cage on the left side. Crabtree was able to grab the shotgun, use its buttstock to bash the shooter in the back of the head and roll him overboard.

Black died on the boat ride. 911 and others were called.

Vowell was wanted on two counts of first-degree murder. The nephew of a duck hunter looking for loose decoys found the suspect’s body five days after the shootings.

There was a dispute that escalated into a vocal confrontation on the water a month earlier between duck hunters from Blind 58 and Blind 164. Apparently it was settled and, as Krebs wrote, they were cordial if not friendly. Law enforcement officials theorized the shootings were the result of a dementia episode.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.