Land lease or boat?

[Logan77]

Hey guys I've heard of very mixed opinions on this topic so I'm hoping for some input for next season. Is it better to pay to get leased land or to invest in a good duck boat? I'm located in King county, so there's obviously not a whole lot of public land to hunt on. Is anyone aware of any land available to lease? Should I look North to skagit county (I hear there's both a lot of public land as well as private)?
Thanks for any responses,
Logan

[orangeradish]

I'm happy to share my boat/public/lease experiences from this season with you.  It's not cut and dry.  If you manage to find a lease that is both reasonably priced and reasonably close to the X, that might be the move.  I was invited to a well run club for a few days and it was by far the best hunting I had all year. I got a boat prior to the season starting, and snuck into some out of the way spots with pretty good success. I also had guys come right in on top of me with their boats. Buying a boat didn't buy me 100% solitude 100% of the time. It is fun to hunt from though.  If you haven't had the chance to hunt from one, you may want to try and beg a ride from someone to see if it's your cup of tea.

I hope this helps.
Jason

[ghosthunter]

More freedom with the boat.
A buddy leased land for several years only to loose it to a higher bidder.

The boat gives you a lot more options and when you hang up your waders the last time you will still be able to sell the boat. 

[h2ofowlr]

Leases are nice, but you may not be shooting it until birds show up, rain fills it up or water is pumped in.  That can change on location.  The best lease is when you are the sole leasee!  Boat allows you to find the birds.  Some areas allow a lot more freedom with a boat.  Some areas if you only hunt local you are still stuck doing the combat hunting with other boaters.  If in lakes or above the dams your not fighting the tidal conditions.

[eastsidemallard74]

If you have property access that is proven and loaded year after year. I would say do it, but if it's not buy the boat. So many options with a boat. Or just buy an inexpensive boat and lease the land. Problem solved!!!

[Snowgoose1]

With a boat you can adjust to where the birds are.  Yes, sometimes you do run into people, but you can move around and find a place to hunt most of the time.  The other good reason for boat ownership especially getting a big enough duck boat is fishing in our lakes, going crabbing and whacking silvers.  We also lease too and when the birds are not around the lease we go use the boat.  It really helps in eastern Washington having a boat.

[Tealer]

Both.


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[Colin]

If I had the cash I'd go with a boat. I'm also in king and never ever hunt south of arlington. If I had a boat I'd probably be doing after work trips at Spencer. Seems to me if you invest in a lease you really have to know how it hunts in all conditions or you're wasting your money. If it's a food plot that would be different or maybe cut corn, not for silage, or taters.

Seems like a boat opens a ton of new grounds you just can't reach on foot.

[AWS]

There is so much public land along the lakes and rivers of WA that I couldn't imagine leasing land unless your mainly a goose hunter and even then unless you hunt ALOT(and that has it's drawbacks as you don't want to beat the lease to death) it would make a lot more sense to just book a few guided hunts during the season.

If just waterfowl with an occasional goose of chance I' really look at a boat.  Everyone has a 16 ft that needs a trailer and a ramp to launch, since I bought my Marshrat(set up with a motor and oarlocks) I rarely take the big boat anymore and can get to places others can't.  Hunting with a friend I still have my bigger(14' w/15hp motor) Pics in a min

Motor shown is too big for the boat, it now wears a outboard made from a weedeater, just as fast 1/4 the weight.



With the weedeater, it will slide into the camper all the way with the motor off and stored alongside the boat, close the doors and I can still use the bunk and table.



My big boat but still small enough to get into some shallow water areas.

[WSU]

One nice thing about private land is the convenience.  I have a couple pieces of private property I can hunt within 10 to 15 minutes of my house.  I'd bet at least half my hunting gets done before work.  I can get a few hours of hunting in and only be an hour or two late for the office.  The time added by taking a boat and driving farther would preclude a lot of those hunts.