Hi I am from Calif and wonder If I can get some help from you duck hunters who use Airboats. Out here we do no have the lush vegetation to hide the airboat and wonder do you have any ideas for a boat blind to shoot ducks out of if you cannot hide the boat in the vegetation and have to use the boat as a blind . On the Colorado River there are some tules but not like you guys have in the South .
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Ideas for a boat blind
- Thread starter SoCal
- Start date
lil_armond
Well-known member
That is gonna be tough even with the camo netting from the surplus; can you not park the boat and walk away from it and set up? Just curious, I have never heard of any one hunting from an air boat we normally park it and walk to where we want to set up.
plumcrazy
Well-known member
just gos to show ya i aint no quacker 
i usualy shoot em off the boat about flying speed 
ok im just kidding but i often wondered why yall all hide in the bushes when that seemed to be the eazy way to shoot ducks i guess its hard to get them labs to sail off at them speeds
i usualy shoot em off the boat about flying speed ok im just kidding but i often wondered why yall all hide in the bushes when that seemed to be the eazy way to shoot ducks i guess its hard to get them labs to sail off at them speeds 
buckshotbob
Well-known member
Crazy Plum! Leave them Southern Cal boys alone. :lol: From what I seen it don't look like that boat of yours can stay still long enough to shoot a duck. Wide open every time I see ya. :cya:
PS I will let you know when I get back down there if I need someone to run my boat. Just not sure if you can handle that 540 Lycoming
PS I will let you know when I get back down there if I need someone to run my boat. Just not sure if you can handle that 540 Lycoming
Ripcord nylon (maybe ripstock) is waterproof, comes in camo can be found in wallyworld or fabric store, will have to sew yourself but not too many$. Profile and shine are your enemys here. Colors too. Use vegetation to augment your setup. You can order palm fronds from FLA!
buckshotbob
Well-known member
just bought my boat from an old duck hunter. He had it set up to where the camo leaf like netting covered the whole boat from cage to rake. He use to hunt with (believe it or not) camo bar stools next to the boat. Contact Tom Schmidts from Schmidts Aviation out of Lauderdale, Fl. they were buddies. Tom is a great guy and will give you A1 advice.
Thanks for your reply one problem is that you cannot walk on some places the mud is too dangerous a little bit of water but 3' of mud . I hunt some times by myself and cannot walk to a blind because of the mud is very dandgerous and will swallow you up is way someplaces I have to stay in the boat . Naturaly this is where the Ducks want to be sometime . There are some boats with mud motors they have boat blinds and low profiles but I can get further in with the Airboat where the ducks are not disturbed.
I have been trying to come up with an idea of a camo bimini top for an airboat. One you could store down and set up when you get to your hunting area. I am sure someone who builds tops could do it. Might be a little expensive to get the first one just right. You could also add some of the "grass" blinds you see in the hunting magazines. With all that said, I sold a boat to a friend that was all black. He would just pull up in the sawgrass and hunt right out of the boat, no cover at all. I believe if you hold still they will come. At my age and weight, not having to crawl in and out of the boat is looking better and better.
Thanks so far for your suggestions .I am still trying to put it together I found some Military Surplus Equipmment Camo for the cage that will reach to cover the seat next something in the bow to conceal me on the sides that will be high enough . You are right muddy duck movement is my biggest enemy but I have to break up my silouette to appear natural the cage is so high .
RJ
Well-known member
I have hunted out of my airboat for a number of years. On a 13' A/
C Airgator. The boats I have hunted on have been 12' and 13' footers.
I had a 2"dia. by 2" high piece of pipe on top of my cage( originally put there as a socket for a safety pipe for standing on the cage platform). It worked great for covering the boat with Army camo. I used the pipe as a place to hook the 2 camo nets (one net for each side of the boat). I used 2 dowel poles 8' long and put them down in the soft mud tight against the bow and angled the top of the pole away from the boat slightly and to the depth I needed so the poles would be high enough to hide the hunters when sitting on the deck. Two people would sit on the deck and one person could sit in the rear driver seat and would be well camoed. I also would only space the poles 2 to 3 feet apart so as to hide from the ducks flying directly over you. I covered the rudders and cage first then stretched the camo from the cage to the front of the boat and hooked the camo on the top of the dowel poles. The Military Camo was, 2 pieces, approximately 20' long and 8' high. I also used 5 or 6 pieces of the 8' long lightweight camo to fill in the army camo on the sides and top where needed.
I carried all the camo in one decoy bag. It only took about 5 minutes to set the boat up. I worked great especially if you had some vegetation to help break your outline.
It sure was lot lot easier then building 4 or 5 duckblinds and maintaining them.
This is the boat I duck hunted on the most.
C Airgator. The boats I have hunted on have been 12' and 13' footers.
I had a 2"dia. by 2" high piece of pipe on top of my cage( originally put there as a socket for a safety pipe for standing on the cage platform). It worked great for covering the boat with Army camo. I used the pipe as a place to hook the 2 camo nets (one net for each side of the boat). I used 2 dowel poles 8' long and put them down in the soft mud tight against the bow and angled the top of the pole away from the boat slightly and to the depth I needed so the poles would be high enough to hide the hunters when sitting on the deck. Two people would sit on the deck and one person could sit in the rear driver seat and would be well camoed. I also would only space the poles 2 to 3 feet apart so as to hide from the ducks flying directly over you. I covered the rudders and cage first then stretched the camo from the cage to the front of the boat and hooked the camo on the top of the dowel poles. The Military Camo was, 2 pieces, approximately 20' long and 8' high. I also used 5 or 6 pieces of the 8' long lightweight camo to fill in the army camo on the sides and top where needed.
I carried all the camo in one decoy bag. It only took about 5 minutes to set the boat up. I worked great especially if you had some vegetation to help break your outline.
It sure was lot lot easier then building 4 or 5 duckblinds and maintaining them.
This is the boat I duck hunted on the most.