Duck boat for a bean field.

Ed Askew

Ed Askew

Well-known member
Just got back from Arkansas. Hunted soybean fields this weekend. Untold millions of geese and just a few ducks. I've never hunted geese before as we never get a shot at them in the South Louisiana marsh. This Arkansas farm thing is essentially a whole other sport from the kind of duck hunting I was reared on. What they've got out there is a blind up on a levee, and too numerous to count geese that want to land where the water meets the dry ground up in the field. I guess the field is tilted so that the deep water is towards the levee, and where the geese want to land is where the water is a few millimeters in depth, 150 yards away from the blind or more, and they want to be in the center of that field on that line. I have a layout blind, but to tote that thing along with a bunch of goose decoys through all that muck; don't see it happening. But a little layout boat maybe would be just the thing. I have two Karas, but they're too big. Anybody hunt fields like this in boats? I know the thing to do is hunt a pitblind but that's not an option. What kind of boat would be best? Commercially built would be best not sure I have time to build another one myself right now.

Ed.
 
Ed,

We hunt some places like that in ArkansasMissouri and I have been hunting out of a Bevertail Final Attack. I use it as often as I can on our lease in Mississippi too. From small flooded millet fields to some flooded timber that we have I love it. I use a small trolling motor when the water is deep enough but I want to buy the folding doors and cover for it. It's 8 ft long and I think close to 48" wide, very stable and I have stood up and used a push pole. Send me a PM if you want some more info on it.

Neil
 
This fall water levels were very low in the nothern Illinois Mississippi river backwaters. At times, using a boat blind was almost impossible because you could not hide it anywhere near the shoreline......no cover....too shallow......or just large mud flats.

Toward the end of the season I began using a Predator. I could park my boat away from the spot I wanted to hunt and load it with decoys, ammo, my gun and a dog hide then float everything along the shoreline and drag it to where I wanted to setup It is similar to a coffin blind......but more like a stable sled desined as a layout and very user friendly.

I modified a Power Hunter layout blind which fits it like a glove. The setup was comfortable, dry and effective plus transporting it in my boat was easy. I'd just pull it off the front deck and walk/tow it to the spot. The decoys were unloaded right off it and then I'd place it up where the best cover was......on dry land, in mud or even 5-6 inches of water.

I'm sure it will be quite handy when the snow arrives in the goose field, too.

edit: The Predator is made by the same company as the boat mentioned by Neil.
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Is the water too deep for a layout blind with a neotub? The neotubs were designed to keep a hunter dry in a goose layout blind in up to eight inches of water. I know you said the birds wanted to be "in millimeters" of water so this might work for you.
 
From someone that lives in Arkansas and has shot these fields since I was a youth..... We have always used duck coffins or the shallow draft marsh boats like these:


http://www.carstensindustries.com/images/textimage.jpg


http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/nebland/articles/images/woodies_boat.jpg



You could use a Kara as well without the motor and there are times that you can keep the motor on. Get some military camo netting and tie AT Killerweed onto it. Cover the boat leaving a shoting hole. Throw some of the leftover stubble onto it and your good.
 
Ed,
I would look at one of these if you arnt going to build a Robber version of your KARA.

http://www.mallardmarine.net/about.htm

I am guessing the Kara is too long for transport to ARK or into the spot?

That is the only reason I am not thinking MoMarsh. I like the fatboy a lot but still own my KARA.
 
Guess it depends on how you want to use it - I'm not clear from your post.

If you want to have something to throw gear in, paddle in, and sit in while hunting, there are many options adn you'll get lots of suggestions.

If you want something that you can throw gear in and just pull to the hunting spot (and not sit in), we use the sleds you can buy around here for putting ice fishing gear in. Nice big tubs with a tow rope. They float, and are failry stable in calm water. Don't know if I would tow one of these things in rough water.

We also use small kayaks for this purpose and use this if the water is deeper so we can hold onto the sides of the kayak as we wade into the spot we want to hunt.

What are your needs:

1. Car "topable" or "trailerable"
2. Paddle around
3. Sit in while hunting or just throw gear into it to tow to a hutning spot
4. Lightweight or doesn't matter
5. Carry more than one person, or just carry a dog, etc...


Lots of options.

Mark W
 
and consider a coffin blind. If there is that much skinny water and if you can walk or run a 4 wheeler to it, I think a boat would be too much to hide with what you are describing. I have one of these coffin blinds and they are deadly to hunt out of. You are definitely handy, and it wouldn't take you long to build one. The only change I would make is widen the dimensions around the shoulders.

http://www.njwa.org/Old/gunningboxplans.htm

Best,
Steve
 
Thanks to all for the replies. I guess I omitted a couple of factors from the puzzle here: I need to get it from Hattiesburg to Arkansas, a 5 hr drive, without a trailer, as I pull my travel trailer up there and can't pull another trailer behind it, so I was thinking of something I could fit in the back of the truck, or, on some kind of stand like a Kayak (just gave myself an idea there) on the back of the camper. I don't have a four wheeler because I don't have a way to get it back and forth for the reasons above. So it will have to be light enough for me to get it back there with a little cart, about a half mile. It needs to be something I can pushpole or paddle from the levee up to near where the water meets the ground because wading all that way with a bunch of dekes would be tough. I think several of those solutions might work though. My Kara is too big to get up there. If I could bring it up there and leave it I'd be in business.

Ed.
 
Bob B posted photos of a Sanford Gunning Box that he built a while back. I keep thinking about building something like that for hunting flooded fields. I would have to build it strong enough that it could act as a sled and then watertight to float it as a laydown blind. I think something like that could work for you.
 
Ed,
what about a sled something like those that Ira sells? You can throw your layout blind and decoys into it and it floats (they are something like 8' x 3' x 10" deep. Then, you can wade and simply tow all your gear in the sled. You can set the layout blind up inside the sled in that skinny water and keep dry.

Scott
 
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