hillbilly archer

I hunt some swampy type areas and a few are quite large (15,000+ acres). These are public land areas and getting away from all the other hunters can be difficult.You can walk but many places it seems I'm always bumping deer and making too much noise. Im thinking of using a small inflatable rubber boat to paddle down these small 10-20 foot wide canals. Should be stealthy and quiet, but how far would be to far to paddle one of these? Im talking about going from 1 to 4 miles. I seen one where you could even put a small motor on it, I guess a trolling motor.

My main concern is manuever-ability and durability. Some of these places are grown up bad along the banks. I really can't use a jon boat, too noisy with a motor. A few places I could paddle in on a rubber boat and literally walk 30 yards to a perfect setup, but any other way to access it would be risky busting deer.

Any suggestions or opinions?

Thanks.

hillbilly archer

Also, it might be more work paddling a small rubber boat 2 or 3 miles than walking it, thats another thing I'm wondering about. Don't want to work up a big sweat doing that. Id be packing my gear in it, climber or hang on with climbing sticks, bow, and daypack.

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outdooraholic

can you not use a trolling motor, and canoe. thats pretty quiet, and durable.

mathews outback

ive used a boat to cross a creek but never a rubber raft,i say try it

hillbilly archer

I guess I could try a small canoe. I'd have to put it on the rack on top of my blazer though. I dont know how that would work. Im afraid a stick might jab a hole in a rubber boat although some are made pretty thick.

As far as bumping the deer, there is alot of deer there but there are only 3 walk in access point and almost 20,000 acres. Every one always walks in, I think I could get to some better hunting if I could get way back WITHOUT sweating and bumping deer.

bigtim6656

get a trolling motor with two batterys one for the way there one for the way back or jsut get a small quite ga motor get closethen switch and troll the last mile or paddle

bhensley

How about one of these small 2 man plastic boats with a trolling motor. They are pretty stout little boats too. I had one when I was a kid to go fishing in. If you don't have to go far from the truck to the water it would be great, and you would be able to throw your deer in it and run it back to the truck. Saves dragging time also. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/horizontal-pod.jsp?id=0018488&navCount=3&parentId=cat 21340&masterpathid=&navAction=push&cmC at=MainCatcat21276-cat21340_TGP&parentType=index&indexId=cat2 1340&rid=
Brandon

ericstacy

I used to hunt Louisiana WMA's and brought a Pirogue (Cajun Canoe)to getin the back secluded places.
I had to break ice paddling back there some times. But it was a great way to sneek in behind the other hunters and let them drive the deer to me. Only thing I can warn you about is to make sure a freind (ON the HUNT) knows where you are in case you have a problem. You don't want to freeze on some public WMA bank because no one knows to even look for you should there be a problem. Don't be brave, Be Careful!!!!!

Greg / MO

I've done a LOT of paddling in small jon boats down small creeks in my lifetime; frogging was how I was introduced to the outdoors by my father, and I was always the guy in the back paddling... If you can paddle downstream to your honey hole, I'd say you could almost do it effortlessly and without a hint of noise.

It should work to a "T"... Keep us updated.