My going cheap, duck rig!

[syoungs]

I'm gonna take hunting waterfowl a little more seriously this year, kept letting life get in the way the last 2 years. I needed some sort of vessel to get around a bit easier at times, and something light enough to take off the beaten path to a couple areas I know of.

Enter, "the puddler", my new to me, 17' Coleman canoe, with it's trusty transport, my cheap commuter!

 I Found the canoe on Craigslist for 80$, gonna add a middle seat or kneeling pad, probably camo it a bit or get a camo net big enough to hide it, And use it for solo trips as a poor man's sneak boat, and transport for me, the dog, and a small spread. Probably build a set of stabilizers for it, and a trolling motor mount as well. I don't want to go crazy with it, this is really a trial to see how I'll like little boat hunting.

Should be a bit cheaper then tugging the jet boat around, with a v10 Ford too, lol.

Show me some ideas for small craft!!

[cbond3318]

80$ Canoe!?!? That's a steal! Should be fun.

[Special T]

Good purchase. I hunted out of a canoe for a couple of years on Skagit bay/delta.

Good hunting requires wind. Paddling solo with a dog and a small bag of decoys is hard with even a mild breeze if not in completely protected water. I used a kyak paddle and it seemed to help.

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[syoungs]

I'm really thinking that this will only get used lightly, and I'm hoping my little troller will push it around some when I'm solo.

I also thought of tossing it in the big boat, or towing it behind,to use as tender just to chase cripples or whatnot.

For 80$, if I use it one time during duck seasons I'll be thrilled lol,gonna really love it for early morning trout fishing when I'm camping, the family likes to sleep in, this is perfect tfor me to hit the water for an hour or 2, without taking and launching the big boat. Plus, it was only 80$ lol

[Special T]

Oh I didn't say it was a bad purchase! I guess I'm saying that a relatively heavy plastic canoe has limitations. Small shallow water is where it will excell, and a cheap portable form of transportation is awesome. It was always nice  having a boat when hunting the flats so that I could hunt late as the tide rose and not worry about the ditches.

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[Dan-o]

Nice.
i think you'll be really good to go with some camo paint and a trolling motor.

[constructeur]

Good purchase. I hunted out of a canoe for a couple of years on Skagit bay/delta.

Good hunting requires wind. Paddling solo with a dog and a small bag of decoys is hard with even a mild breeze if not in completely protected water. I used a kyak paddle and it seemed to help.

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All great advice.

I suggest building the stabilizers. Mine made my canoe stable enough to stand and shoot from.

[syoungs]

Yeah some stabilizers are on the menu for sure!

[asmith]

Man am I hoping to take my waterfowling more serious this year as well.  I hope it works out that way. 

Great purchase, should come in handy a time or two for ya.  And definitely better than launching a big boat, plus you can get into small water now.