Pirogues
I've been fanatical about duck hunting since as far back as I can remember. I started duck hunting somewhere around the age of 14. My parents lived about 100yds from the Cooper River in South Carolina which afforded me the opportunity to go just about when ever I wanted too. I kept a small "v" hull jon boat in the water at the end of our neighborhood and would paddle out to shoot ringnecks from the rafts of thousands that would spend their days loafing in the flooded areas off the sides of the main river channel. It was always a bonus when we got to shoot something other than a ringneck which is why I eventually took the forum name "Ring King" when Southernduckhunter.com came about due to the number of the little divers I killed during my early years.
Fast forward to present time and I've now shot ducks in many states.
South Carolina
North Carolina
Georgia
Florida
Alabama
Mississippi
Louisiana
Texas
California
Washington
Alaska
All the above states have seen me sitting in a blind somewhere watching the skies for the next group of ducks or geese to possibly work into my spread. I've owned all sorts of boats that I thought would be perfect to chase feathered fowl. From my first 1452 PolarKraft with a 1989 Johnson 30hp on it to a 1750 Gator Trax mud boat with a 35hp MudBuddy HyperSport and even used a 27' Almar aluminum enclosed cabin offshore boat with a 200hp Yamaha. They've all killed ducks over the years. There have been about 9 different duck boats that have filled a spot in my driveway over the years and none of them have been "THE DUCKBOAT" to fill all situations.
However, back in 1998, I hunted in Louisiana for the first time and saw some of the cajuns down around Houma and Morgan City getting around the marsh in their pirogues. They used them strictly for transportation to and from the blinds or to pick up downed birds after the hunt. These watercraft are light weight, easy to manuever, can travel on nothing more than wet grass and mud, and can haul a pretty substantial load. Immediately knew that this was something I "needed"! This would forever change my life and especially the way I hunted. It was my first introduction into the world of "kayaking". I purchased a pirogue later that year and even built a couple in the front yard.
I hunted from pirogues from then on. My larger boats, or tenders, became strictly for making long runs from the launch to the hunting grounds. I would stack the pirogues on top of the tender or in specially made racks for the run and then I would use the pirogues to get around the hunting areas. I have even used them with great success to hunt out of similar to layout hunting in open water. The shallow water ability and low profile of the pirogue became invaluable to me as a hunter and in my opinion greatly contributed to the amount of birds that I was able to take compared to traditional blind setups that tend to stand out like a sore thumb in the duck marsh. With even just a small amount of local vegetation the pirogue and hunter can disappear from the prying eyes of waterfowl and virtually become one with the surroundings.
I've used the pirogues all over the country and even in Alaska to take puddlers, divers, sea ducks and geese. So far I've collected 29 of the 32 huntable species of ducks in North America without a guide on DIY hunts and you can bet the majority of them were killed with the help of a pirogue.
Now I find myself stationed in Petaluma, California and I'm looking forward to getting one more bird checked off that list. The cinnimon teal will be my obsession for the next four duck seasons as I try and get one step closer to completing my goal of having taken all 32 species ducks on my own.
Here are a few pics from over the years that kind of document the success Ive experienced using pirogues.
The early days.
A little excessive but everybody likes duck porn!! LOL
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by sut
Bookmarks