I have an 18 foot starcaft that i will be using for bay hunting this year, we will be hunting 4 guys out of it, there is no benches, it is completely wide open right now, i will be using a tiller motor on it as well, i would like to know opinions on what blind to put on? we will mostly be hunting along side the marsh with occassional trips to the middle of the bay for broadbills and cans? what color should i paint the boat and what type of blind should i use? i want to build a wooden type blind with a roof and grass it, but will that work in the middle of the bay?will also be used for seaducking this year.what do you guys think?
Big water Boat Blinds?????
- Thread starter Jay H
- Start date
Charlie S and Titan
Well-known member
Divers are dumb and could care less if your starcraft is any color. Paint it whatever you like, preferably something not shiny or will be covered by your blind. guys hunt divers out of white gelcoat whalers, parkers and carolina skiffs though... The paint is more for the humans.
I think mine may be getting a coat of FME open water grey this summer, but that is more for me, not the ducks. They don't seem to care as much as we people do.
I wouldn't do a wooden blind unless it was very lightweight. I did that once on a mod-v and it was very heavy. it lasted two trips before I tore it off.
I like folding blinds personally. The mud buddy quick flip works well on my blue and silver boat. I've had all flavors of divers fly right into gunning range if I do my part and don't set up in the wrong spot.
Charlie
I think mine may be getting a coat of FME open water grey this summer, but that is more for me, not the ducks. They don't seem to care as much as we people do.
I wouldn't do a wooden blind unless it was very lightweight. I did that once on a mod-v and it was very heavy. it lasted two trips before I tore it off.
I like folding blinds personally. The mud buddy quick flip works well on my blue and silver boat. I've had all flavors of divers fly right into gunning range if I do my part and don't set up in the wrong spot.
Charlie
I'd agree that many seaducks are dumb (and even then many of them are pretty "smart", especially in areas of high hunter concentration), but I've always disagreed with the notion that all DIVERS are dumb. Many inland divers are just as wary (and sometimes moreso) than the smartest mallards.
Sure there are some days that divers plow into the decoys with reckless abandon (and mallards can do just the same on the "right" days), but I've experienced just as many, if not more, days that divers are tough to get into the decoys. Cans and GE's can be especially smart, but even Bluebills and Redheads can have a higher IQ than I think many people give them credit for.
It may not always be necessary or even matter, but there's no doubt in my mind that the better you and your boat are concealed or at least "blend in", the more success you'll have on a regular basis with divers.
Sure there are some days that divers plow into the decoys with reckless abandon (and mallards can do just the same on the "right" days), but I've experienced just as many, if not more, days that divers are tough to get into the decoys. Cans and GE's can be especially smart, but even Bluebills and Redheads can have a higher IQ than I think many people give them credit for.
It may not always be necessary or even matter, but there's no doubt in my mind that the better you and your boat are concealed or at least "blend in", the more success you'll have on a regular basis with divers.
Gene Jr.
Well-known member
Jay,
I hunt your area with a TDB 14 and a starcraft 16' center console. When I hunt open water I try to keep my profile as low as possible. I will drop the blind on the TDB if they seem shy and have my windshield able to fold down on the starcraft. I have a large piece of camo netting I roll out over the starcraft and let hang in the water. Depends how hard they are being hunted. This year when the big rafts were in I couldn't seem to do anything right. When it's typical birds and hunter populations, not a bunch of crazy bird chasers, they work right to the boat. I've considered using "fisherman" camo one of these times! Set my blocks and then anchor up and put out the striper rigs and keep the shotgun handy. They don't seem to mind fisherman much.
Gene
I hunt your area with a TDB 14 and a starcraft 16' center console. When I hunt open water I try to keep my profile as low as possible. I will drop the blind on the TDB if they seem shy and have my windshield able to fold down on the starcraft. I have a large piece of camo netting I roll out over the starcraft and let hang in the water. Depends how hard they are being hunted. This year when the big rafts were in I couldn't seem to do anything right. When it's typical birds and hunter populations, not a bunch of crazy bird chasers, they work right to the boat. I've considered using "fisherman" camo one of these times! Set my blocks and then anchor up and put out the striper rigs and keep the shotgun handy. They don't seem to mind fisherman much.
Gene
Charlie S and Titan
Well-known member
Bret,
Saying divers are as smart as the smartest park duck isn't really saying much. LOL
At least compare them to a "smart" puddle duck like a black duck, will ya?
I don't know, you've been doing it longer than me, and my sample size is pretty small, but what I've seen of "inland" divers (and sea ducks) is that they are not as wary of boats as the "smart" puddle ducks.
Butterballs, sawbills, whistlers, cans, broadbills all seem to decoy fine to a longline set with my big silver boat.
Try that with a black duck and unless you are socked in with fog or snow, fergeddaboutit around here...
Charlie
Saying divers are as smart as the smartest park duck isn't really saying much. LOL
At least compare them to a "smart" puddle duck like a black duck, will ya?
I don't know, you've been doing it longer than me, and my sample size is pretty small, but what I've seen of "inland" divers (and sea ducks) is that they are not as wary of boats as the "smart" puddle ducks.
Butterballs, sawbills, whistlers, cans, broadbills all seem to decoy fine to a longline set with my big silver boat.
Try that with a black duck and unless you are socked in with fog or snow, fergeddaboutit around here...
Charlie
Charlie S and Titan
Well-known member
PS. We might just get the dumb divers up here too. They seem to decoy fine into huge boxy cedar covered stilt blinds too. Seems to me they do that up and down the east coast. Dumb yankee divers I guess...
Charlie,
I'd agree that hunter concentration has a lot to do with duck "smarts", and there are areas where all ducks are "dumber" or "smarter" based on how much "educatin'" they get.
There's a reason most of today's waterfowling videos are filmed in Canada. It's a lot easier to get the birds up close and personal for good filming in Canada on a consistent basis than in the lower U.S. My experience in Canada in NoDak also bear this out; birds are pretty "dumb" until they get shot at.
My guess would be that Vermont does not have a lot of guys that really go after divers exclusively. Sure they'll prolly shoot a ringnect over a mallard or blackduck spread if things are slow, but not a lot of guys committed to chasing divers like along the Mississippi River or coastal NJ.
For sure mallards and other puddlers get most of the attention here in the midwest, but there are plenty of diver chasers here to keep the birds from getting too dumb.
I'd agree that hunter concentration has a lot to do with duck "smarts", and there are areas where all ducks are "dumber" or "smarter" based on how much "educatin'" they get.
There's a reason most of today's waterfowling videos are filmed in Canada. It's a lot easier to get the birds up close and personal for good filming in Canada on a consistent basis than in the lower U.S. My experience in Canada in NoDak also bear this out; birds are pretty "dumb" until they get shot at.
My guess would be that Vermont does not have a lot of guys that really go after divers exclusively. Sure they'll prolly shoot a ringnect over a mallard or blackduck spread if things are slow, but not a lot of guys committed to chasing divers like along the Mississippi River or coastal NJ.
For sure mallards and other puddlers get most of the attention here in the midwest, but there are plenty of diver chasers here to keep the birds from getting too dumb.
Gene Jr.
Well-known member
Jay,
I'd go with fastgrass to the waterline and keep your profile as low as possible. It will be the most versatile way to go. You may want to build low (1') blind sides on the boat to help hide hunter movement. Sorry, I don't have any pics of my starcraft in hunting dress but I'll add one anyway.
Gene
I'd go with fastgrass to the waterline and keep your profile as low as possible. It will be the most versatile way to go. You may want to build low (1') blind sides on the boat to help hide hunter movement. Sorry, I don't have any pics of my starcraft in hunting dress but I'll add one anyway.
Gene
Dave Shady Larsen
Well-known member
I gun from a 19.5' 60" lowe Rough neck with a metal blind I built for it. Hunt the open, hunt the edges we even
sometimes when the REAL DUCKS arent here yet kill some puddlers from the barge. Its low profile and its had
lets see........ 2 year old blind over 250 birds taken from it. 2 - 3 guys. I dont have many friends willing
to spend time in a boat with me
Follow the link to photos from frame up - http://www.cattailproducts.com/iconsstorage.htm
sometimes when the REAL DUCKS arent here yet kill some puddlers from the barge. Its low profile and its had
lets see........ 2 year old blind over 250 birds taken from it. 2 - 3 guys. I dont have many friends willing
to spend time in a boat with me
Follow the link to photos from frame up - http://www.cattailproducts.com/iconsstorage.htm
i'll second you charlie and that mallard was the dumbest duck i have ever seen, she even watched us put out the decoys set up load my gun and shoot at her before she decided something was wrong. maybe the ducks we get arent hunted as much here as other places but ive seen all kinds of ducks commit to rigs in front of blinds that are obvious blinds. the big cedar stilt blinds shoot just as many blacks as do the grassed or cedared boat blinds in the middle of nowhere lake champlain.
as far as duck IQ i think its more of a matter of whether that duck knows whats its doing and where it wants to go. if it dosent want to stop to visit its just not going to. it also has to deal with whos leading the flock. if the flock leader is a bird that has never been shot at it may just lead that group into the firing range.
i always wanted to design a cloth blind that is painted to look like a rock island with cedar on top. here on champlain this type of blind would be deadly as there are tons of small islands that are boat and house size that are just rock outcropings with a few cedars trees on them.
eddie
as far as duck IQ i think its more of a matter of whether that duck knows whats its doing and where it wants to go. if it dosent want to stop to visit its just not going to. it also has to deal with whos leading the flock. if the flock leader is a bird that has never been shot at it may just lead that group into the firing range.
i always wanted to design a cloth blind that is painted to look like a rock island with cedar on top. here on champlain this type of blind would be deadly as there are tons of small islands that are boat and house size that are just rock outcropings with a few cedars trees on them.
eddie
BamaBill
Active member
After years of reading stuff like this over and over, I'm coming to the conclusion that Northern ducks must be dumb. Any duck that makes it to where I'm at has had an education, or it's dead already. It doesn't matter whether it's a puddler or a diver, either. I've seen cans and ringers circle repeatedly at 120yards high like mallards, checking out a spread before committing. It's also why layouts are not as effective in some areas down here...because they've been there and done that already and not much will fly at under 100yards high or look straight down into a spot before putting their feet in it. I will say that it seems more of a spatial association with land or certain shapes....as the very same birds can seem dumb when hunted in a way they haven't seen much. Our park ducks never leave the parks to get shot at.
I definately need to come north and shoot some un-educated/un-pressured ducks sometime.
I definately need to come north and shoot some un-educated/un-pressured ducks sometime.
Lee Harker
Well-known member
Ducks only show up at my place after they have been scared to death everywhere else. Jay, make a blind with fastgrass and try it out, you may have to switch to something like burlap or canvas on the open water. Pay attention to what everyone else is using in your area and do something else if you hear them complaining about how "smart" the birds are. If the divers are flying high, make a cover so they aren't looking down inside your boat at you looking up at them.
Charlie S and Titan
Well-known member
Ed,
There was one for sale down on rt 7 in Ferrisburg, just like that a couple of years ago. It was a big pontoon boat, with greyish camoflage shaped to look like a giant rock - looked like maybe a chicken wire and paper mache type deal. It even had a seagull decoy and fake bird crap on it. I bet it worked like a charm - just like you suggested!
Charlie
There was one for sale down on rt 7 in Ferrisburg, just like that a couple of years ago. It was a big pontoon boat, with greyish camoflage shaped to look like a giant rock - looked like maybe a chicken wire and paper mache type deal. It even had a seagull decoy and fake bird crap on it. I bet it worked like a charm - just like you suggested!
Charlie
Charlie S and Titan
Well-known member
Jay,
I like to put my fastgrass sheets on a green deer fence backing (zip tied). You can roll it up for transport and storage, then if you hunt someplace that it fits, clip it on with a couple of black plastic spring clips. I just leave it home if I am going after divers.
An 18' boat is not easy to hide effectively, in my opinion. just too big and too obvious for consistent success on puddlers. I am much better off hunting out of my kayak (or if I had a bbsb) in the marshes.
Charlie
I like to put my fastgrass sheets on a green deer fence backing (zip tied). You can roll it up for transport and storage, then if you hunt someplace that it fits, clip it on with a couple of black plastic spring clips. I just leave it home if I am going after divers.
An 18' boat is not easy to hide effectively, in my opinion. just too big and too obvious for consistent success on puddlers. I am much better off hunting out of my kayak (or if I had a bbsb) in the marshes.
Charlie
harry whitley
Well-known member
I agree with you Bill.
Time the birds get to Virginia and North Carolina the dummies have been killed off. I'll agree that sea ducks ain't the brightest bulbs on the tree and perhaps bluebills aren't the brain surgeons of the duck world, but Redheds and Ringnecks can be real picky about a spread. Even King Can isn't as easy as some would have you believe. Never have thought Mallards and Woodies coming into flooded timber were real difficult to fool. Black Ducks and Pintails are the creme de la creme for being crafty IMHO.
My favorite duck is the one that's in range.
Best,
Harry
Time the birds get to Virginia and North Carolina the dummies have been killed off. I'll agree that sea ducks ain't the brightest bulbs on the tree and perhaps bluebills aren't the brain surgeons of the duck world, but Redheds and Ringnecks can be real picky about a spread. Even King Can isn't as easy as some would have you believe. Never have thought Mallards and Woodies coming into flooded timber were real difficult to fool. Black Ducks and Pintails are the creme de la creme for being crafty IMHO.
My favorite duck is the one that's in range.
Best,
Harry
Mike Mitchell
Active member
Jay H,
If you are going to use the boat for hunting along the edge of the marsh mostly I would paint the boat a color to blend in with the marsh. I do similar hunting here and painted my boat with parkers marsh grass duck boat paint. That color also works fine for sea ducks and open water and blends in well enough near the rocks too. The grey color is the best for open water situations but I think it sticks out near the marshes.
If you are going to use the boat for hunting along the edge of the marsh mostly I would paint the boat a color to blend in with the marsh. I do similar hunting here and painted my boat with parkers marsh grass duck boat paint. That color also works fine for sea ducks and open water and blends in well enough near the rocks too. The grey color is the best for open water situations but I think it sticks out near the marshes.