Body booting - Looking for building pattern

Chuck,

I always put way too much thought in. In fact, that's my MO: Copious amounts of over-engineering paired with the perfect proportion of zero artistic talent.

Funny you mention the angle of the gun...that was the one thing I couldn't get past when building these. I spent more time angsting over that than any other part of the design, and unfortunately, i had to accept the fact that I couldn't get around it. I visited the Jobes' in Havre de Grace to see their design (and got Capt. Harry to 'OK" my v-board design before completing the set as well), and I realized that everyone who bodyboots gets swept by a gun barrel at least once a hunt. We make sure every guy who goes out with us gets hammered to keep that to a minimum and be contientious about which way their stick-up is pointing. I still don't like it...

I have 30 V-board frames, and have another 6 to finish, but I can't fit any more in the boat...I'm already overloaded as it is. I keep explaining to the wife that I need another boat to carry it all, but she must have a hearing problem. Arms are 34-36" depending on the material I had (scrap scavenger from the days of old).

Frank
 
Chuck, assuming you angle the muzzle up for safety, and a duck or goose sees the muzzle protruding out from behind that one silhouette, AND that duck or goose has not already flared at noticing the large man standing behind the silhouette....SHOOT!

Just my $.02

Mike
 
Chuck,

If you insist on hiding the gun barrel behind the silhouette, try a "calling" or "drinking" pose with the neck at about a 45 degree angle toward the sky.

One final thought. I've seen photos of the Jobes family doing this, and the DU episode with the Jobes'. One of those guys was wearing a bright red dry suit. If he can hide effectively, I think the answer to virtually any question on this subject is: "You're overthinking it." He should have just stood there in the open and pretended to be a channel marker.

Mike
 
The biggest thing we find with booting is keeping the profile as low to the water as possible. In fact, a lot of the guys who do it won't use waders, but invest in the dry suits (like you saw Huntley in on that episode of DU TV) because you can't get low enough to the water in waders. I regularly take at least one splash over the waders at some point in the morning while trying to keep low enough (but it's only cold for a few minutes).

I guess it's just the cumulative effect coming into play. The problem with putting the muzzle up is that the stock goes down...and it's just one more thing pushing you up away from the water (or getting wet).

I do like the idea of going as a channel marker though....I could put one of those Devo hats on top for good measure.
View attachment devo.jpg
 
Frank,

Nice looking silos. Did you make them as large as the standing silo or a little smaller? I think I'm going to do mine slightly smaller to split the difference between the floaters and the sheet of plywood I hide behind.

I plan on making a few sets for next year. The water is so low here this year this is the only way to get out away from the beach we seem to have from low water. The dozen floaters will have to suffice for the rest of the season. I think we are going to give them another shot this weekend.
 
Silos on the v-board frames are definitely smaller than the stick-ups to hide behind...maybe 28" tip to stern (I think I got 8 out of a sheet of plywood). With the stick-ups, the height seems to be the biggest thing...high enough to get behind, but low enough to not stand out. Width doesn's seem to be as much of an issue (you'll notice that my stick-ups are rather squatty for a goose).

We do try to scale things in the spread: Taller v-boards/y-boards....or "frames" as they call them around here...go around the stick-ups. Lower silos go farther away...then we create pockets with full-body floaters on the perimiter to make landing areas. And then the ducks...

It's alot of decoys, so I try to keep things smaller. I've never booted with less than 100 dekes, and generally run 125 (ducks and geese)...and I'm one of the smallest spreads out there. As I stated earier, I just ran out of boat...
 
In college some guys I hunted with were doing their own style of body booting. They put pipe insulation on super mag goose shells to make floaters. They would wear waders and stand in the super mag shells hunkered over beside the giant floaters. It worked for killing geese.

In WI we used to duck hunt for divers by just standing in our decoys out in the lake. Stump hunting as some guys called it.
 
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