whats your thoughts on duck boats

[beardedBrazos]

I have a friend who is about to buy a 21 foot flat bottom duck boat with the bench running long ways down the middle and the boat blind and all. the whole nine yards. he says it will be the savior this year and we are gonna kill so many ducks outta his boat. I personally believe that concealment is the most overlooked and underrated part of duck hunting and have my doubts. who here has experience they can speak from? speak, please.

[BadLander]

True experience! If he's hunting in texas everyone totally concealed around you is going to be killing ducks! His boat is going to look like a box no matter how camoed up he gets it! Only good hunt I have out of a boat is actually building a blind 50 to 60 yards off the bank that the ducks were youst to seeing, then pulling my boat into the middle of it! And blending in as best as possible! But after birds pass all the states to get to the coast! You wanna look as close to a tree as you can get!

[Lungbustr]

It all depends. We kill right around a thousand ducks a year between a 16' and a 18' boat with boat blinds. When we need to, we hunt both boats butted up end to end. The real question is how good of spots will you be able to access with this rig? Also how good does the blind blend in to its surroundings.

I wouldn't say concealment is near as important as location. If you don't have a good location your wasting your time doing anything else. Also concealment can be very easy, finding a really good location not so much.

[Matt B.]

I'm not a fan of hunting outa boats, id rather use it to get me somewhere then hop out and stand in the water next to anything I could find. Every time I hunt Somerville there is a boat that comes and hunts the same cove with a big fancy blind on it. It sticks out like a sore thumb! Personally I would tell him to drop me off somewhere else on the lake cause I wouldn't hunt out of it. Thats just my opinion though!

[beardedBrazos]

It all depends. We kill right around a thousand ducks a year between a 16' and a 18' boat with boat blinds. When we need to, we hunt both boats butted up end to end. The real question is how good of spots will you be able to access with this rig? Also how good does the blind blend in to its surroundings.
I wouldn't say concealment is near as important as location. If you don't have a good location your wasting your time doing anything else. Also concealment can be very easy, finding a really good location not so much.

I think this might be the key. do you have more than one blind so you can match the natural cover?

[Lungbustr]

I think this might be the key. do you have more than one blind so you can match the natural cover?

We are down on the coast. I have an Avery quickset, with some type of leafy cut marsh grass pattern. But that doest matter, you cant even tell what it is because its covered in so much raffia you can't tell what it even looked like originally. The raffia is dyed different colored to match the marsh grass we typically hunt up against. The grass is only 4ft tall or less on the bank, so its best to keep the blind as low profile as possible and right up against the bank. Blends right in no silhouette, if we ddidn't have decoys out, you would pass right by not knowing we were there. Its darker than cane, and more multicolored, but if you used the grass mats you would stick out here.

You just have to use whatever works for the areas you hunt. Just one boat blind, I don't see any need for any.more TThat's the whole thing, we are mobile to move where the ducks are. A lot of guys carry some extra materials and kinda dress their blind up to match their surroundings. I haven't had the need.

[LeanMachine]

I personally do not care for hunting out of a boat at all. I want to be standing in the water, but that's just me. In my experience, most texas water does not have enough cover in the water to hide a boat well..

[Lungbustr]

I personally do not care for hunting out of a boat at all. I want to be standing in the water, but that's just me. In my experience, most texas water does not have enough cover in the water to hide a boat well..

I like having a nice level, surefooted place to shoot from. I grew up shootin ducks standing in knee deep mud in a cane break. You don't shoot as good and there aren't any spots that are convenient to put your stuff. It may be different hunting freshwater lakes but coastal marshes and swamps are pretty rough to hunt that way. There are plenty places here you cannot hunt on foot. You will sink up to your waist. I still get out of the boat and hunt when I need to though If its legal to do so.

But like you said if you can't hide the boat well, ditch it. Don't let it screw up your hunting.

[beardedBrazos]

I need t make it down there sometime to hunt a "coastal marsh". ive heard so much about them. maybe this year, who knows.