Anyone hunt waterfowl from a boat?

[CHSD]

I just got a 1982 lund and I am wondering if I could hunt waterfowl from it, or if I am crazy for even considering it. We've got a lake that always gets a ton of snow geese on it, wondering if it would be dumb to paint some old decoys and try going for them on the lake.

 

[KurtR]

I just got a 1982 lund and I am wondering if I could hunt waterfowl from it, or if I am crazy for even considering it. We've got a lake that always gets a ton of snow geese on it, wondering if it would be dumb to paint some old decoys and try going for them on the lake.

You could but I bet you won’t have to many friends shooting the roost.

 

[AntelopeEater]

I tried bow hunting some ducks from my kayak last season, I actually managed to hit a couple with an arrow, but failed to down either.

This season I plan to get some ducks from the kayak with a 22" barreled shotgun.

You should definitely try.

 

[t_carlson]

You could but I bet you won’t have to many friends shooting the roost.

Do your snows stick around long enough for that to mess anything up?

Here in Central MT, ours are pretty much here today, gone tomorrow. I sure as heck wouldn't worry about roost busting them.

 

[KurtR]

Do your snows stick around long enough for that to mess anything up?

Here in Central MT, ours are pretty much here today, gone tomorrow. I sure as heck wouldn't worry about roost busting them.

Yep we hunt them for weeks if not a month or more

 

[Razorback4]

I just got a 1982 lund and I am wondering if I could hunt waterfowl from it, or if I am crazy for even considering it. We've got a lake that always gets a ton of snow geese on it, wondering if it would be dumb to paint some old decoys and try going for them on the lake.

Not sure where you're located, I'm from eastern AR and have hunted snows quite a bit. I've only done it in rice or bean fields, but we pretty much have to use spreads of 500+ fullbodies/socks to get any action. Seems like it'd be a tough go of transporting decoys by boat if that's the case.

 

[CHSD]

You could but I bet you won’t have to many friends shooting the roost.

This is a fair point.

 

[spur60]

Paint it, build a blind, hunt it. Don't think you'll fare well on snows unless you're going to fill your boat with floaters, but snow floaters definitely help pull ducks from a distance. Plus as mentioned, if the birds stage there year after year, there are probably guys that enjoy field hunting or pass shooting those birds.

 

[Rich M]

Is that the year or model no? John, V hull, ???

I wouldn't worry as much about what others think - if you can get out there and get some birds, go have fun.

Are there any points or places the birds routinely fly over? Be a good place for a couple doz decoys and a blind up against the shore.

Otherwise, you'll want a lower profile set-up where the birds will be looking "away" from the blind. Set the decoys to one side so the geese don't stare at the blind on their way in.

 

[2ski]

Just know that you can't be "under way" when shooting. You have to be completely stopped from any propulsion from the motor.

 

[DG1010]

I say send it!

 

[Macintosh]

How big a boat? I dont know much about snows, and lund makes boats from small jons up to 20+’ big water monsters, so without more info hard to say how “at home” that boat would be…but around here a large % of the waterfowl hunters use 14-18’ boats both to access shoreline hunting, as well as to hunt out of. Many use the folding blinds on their boats, but many just nose into the reeds or drag it up in shore 50 or 100 yards away. Tons of 16-18’ lund ssv, laker and alaskans rattle-canned brown and full of decoys running around these parts.

Edit: this boat is the same as a lot of lunds, just with a folding blind. It gets pulled up to the edge of the cattails and blends in pretty well, in this case the shore is public but inaccessible except by water, but its often set up at the cattail edge well away from shore.

 

[Kurts86]

We hunt ducks mostly out of layout boats, like Four Rivers Refuge Runners and have for 3 decades. They are purpose built to hide but they are 1 boat per person with no ability to function in choppy open water because they sit 12” above water.

Jon boats don’t really hide well unless you have vertical cover like a tree line or a steep river/lake bank. If I was hunting from a jon boat I would use it as transportation and hunt from an a frame, momarsh invisilay or chair.

 

[spur60]

We hunt ducks mostly out of layout boats, like Four Rivers Refuge Runners and have for 3 decades. They are purpose built to hide but they are 1 boat per person with no ability to function in choppy open water because they sit 12” above water.

Jon boats don’t really hide well unless you have vertical cover like a tree line or a steep river/lake bank. If I was hunting from a jon boat I would use it as transportation and hunt from an a frame, momarsh invisilay or chair.

A jon boat or v-hull with a blind on it is an ideal setup here in the Dakotas. We have tons of large sloughs and lakes with cattails or tall grass shorelines or cutbanks to pull up against.

 

[Fowl Play]

I have a beavertail boat blind for my 18ft Mod V jon boat. Added a bunch of raffia grass to it and I can conceal my whole boat in a minute.