. Please tell me what yall think about this. 
Corkkid
Salt water kayak duck hunting?
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ThePopinCorkKid
- Posts: 318
- Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 9:34 pm
- Location: Houston and Corpus Christi
Salt water kayak duck hunting?
What do yall know about salt water kayak duck hunting? I love Hunting and I love kayak fishing so why not do both? I have many questions about this. Such as gun storage, ammunition storage, decoy storage, camouflage. How do you keep your gun and shells away from the corrosive salt water? I also think it would be awesome to do a blast and cast from kayaks . Please tell me what yall think about this.
Corkkid
. Please tell me what yall think about this. Corkkid
Re: Salt water kayak duck hunting?
10' camo-painted kayak.
Small marine cooler behind me with a little ice, water, breakfast, lip grip, stringer, and a tackle tray that fits snug in there. Sometimes I'll put an anchor behind that, sometimes not. Oh, and I'm paddling in the early AM so I have a 360 light that is mounted on top of a PVC stick that fits right in the rocket launcher mounted on the cooler. In MY case the light is powered by a 12V battery like folks use for deer feeders. Probably I should get a light with rechargeable batteries that go inside, but I use my deer feeder battery for my flounder gigging setup. It's what I have and I'm cheap, but really that's the one thing in my setup that I should change.
Two rods in the flush-mount rod holders.
Backpack between my knees that has duck calls, Off, camo netting, shotgun shells, stuff to clean the shotgun, etc. I keep the shells and TP in a big Ziploc-type bag.
Off to the side of the backpack I keep the shotgun in a floating gun case. It's not absolutely waterproof, but I haven't dunked it yet. 12 or fewer Texas-rigged decoys go up by my feet, or I might tow them behind me if I'm not paddling real far.
SO, I get to my duck spot and unload. Set out dekes. Bunch everything else together onshore and cover it with my camo netting, then walk to my shooting spot with my backpack (that's not usually very far and more often than not it's just a few yards away). When hunt's over I'll leave my hunting stuff on shore and fish. When fishing's over I'll gather up my hunting stuff and head in.
Not much chance of someone finding my hunting gear when I fish, but I stay close enough to keep an eye on it. I don't have a retriever so when hunting I'll stay pretty close to the yak so I can use it to collect birds. I set it up so it's quick to use it for retrieves and then conceal it again and get back in position to hunt.
My shotgun is an 870 Express, or sometimes a Wingmaster. The Express is a rust magnet, and I've even seen it start to turn orange in my hands while sitting in the marsh, without even touching the water. Just the moist salt air does it. I spray painted it camo and that has REALLY helped to keep the rust away. After hunting I will wipe it down good and put it back in the case. When I get home I'll take it back out and clean the internal parts better. I would not take a more expensive shotgun out in the marsh.
Catching fish after a duck hunt is an absolute blast!
Small marine cooler behind me with a little ice, water, breakfast, lip grip, stringer, and a tackle tray that fits snug in there. Sometimes I'll put an anchor behind that, sometimes not. Oh, and I'm paddling in the early AM so I have a 360 light that is mounted on top of a PVC stick that fits right in the rocket launcher mounted on the cooler. In MY case the light is powered by a 12V battery like folks use for deer feeders. Probably I should get a light with rechargeable batteries that go inside, but I use my deer feeder battery for my flounder gigging setup. It's what I have and I'm cheap, but really that's the one thing in my setup that I should change.
Two rods in the flush-mount rod holders.
Backpack between my knees that has duck calls, Off, camo netting, shotgun shells, stuff to clean the shotgun, etc. I keep the shells and TP in a big Ziploc-type bag.
Off to the side of the backpack I keep the shotgun in a floating gun case. It's not absolutely waterproof, but I haven't dunked it yet. 12 or fewer Texas-rigged decoys go up by my feet, or I might tow them behind me if I'm not paddling real far.
SO, I get to my duck spot and unload. Set out dekes. Bunch everything else together onshore and cover it with my camo netting, then walk to my shooting spot with my backpack (that's not usually very far and more often than not it's just a few yards away). When hunt's over I'll leave my hunting stuff on shore and fish. When fishing's over I'll gather up my hunting stuff and head in.
Not much chance of someone finding my hunting gear when I fish, but I stay close enough to keep an eye on it. I don't have a retriever so when hunting I'll stay pretty close to the yak so I can use it to collect birds. I set it up so it's quick to use it for retrieves and then conceal it again and get back in position to hunt.
My shotgun is an 870 Express, or sometimes a Wingmaster. The Express is a rust magnet, and I've even seen it start to turn orange in my hands while sitting in the marsh, without even touching the water. Just the moist salt air does it. I spray painted it camo and that has REALLY helped to keep the rust away. After hunting I will wipe it down good and put it back in the case. When I get home I'll take it back out and clean the internal parts better. I would not take a more expensive shotgun out in the marsh.
Catching fish after a duck hunt is an absolute blast!
Re: Salt water kayak duck hunting?
Your gun and shells are going to rust. There is nothing you can do about it. A high quality, camo dipped gun will rust much slower but it's still going to get rust on it even if you spray it down with water and some type of oil/rust preventative product. You can keep your shells divided up between small plastic bags so you are exposing less of them to the environment at any one time. Ive been shooting rusty shells out of my SBE for a long time and it spits them all out.
Be careful hunting during a norther, especially if you are going down a south shoreline.
Be careful hunting during a norther, especially if you are going down a south shoreline.
Re: Salt water kayak duck hunting?
Wind is a big factor to consider. When you're loading down like you do on a cast and blast the wind and tide have to be just right or you could be in for a real bear on the way back in.
Last edited by Spoonbill on Sat Oct 10, 2015 2:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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ThePopinCorkKid
- Posts: 318
- Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 9:34 pm
- Location: Houston and Corpus Christi
Re: Salt water kayak duck hunting?
why?isubarui wrote: Be careful hunting during a norther, especially if you are going down a south shoreline.
Re: Salt water kayak duck hunting?
Depending on your kayak and paddling ability, if a strong north wind comes in and you are loaded up with a couple wind catching decoy bags, you are going to be in for a rough ride as the waves build and break on the south shoreline (x2 late in the year when it's cold).ThePopinCorkKid wrote:why?isubarui wrote: Be careful hunting during a norther, especially if you are going down a south shoreline.
Long kayaks work better in these situations but are less stable with decoy bags.
Re: Salt water kayak duck hunting?
I think it's a great idea.
Gun storage. You could store the gun in a long piece of vacuum seal bag with one of the ends sealed and the other end folded over and clamped shut with bulldog clips. Then coat the gun inside and out with a heavy grease like Vaseline. Shells the same way. Store them in an old army ammo can for extra protection. The decoys will be the hard part. But you might could get by with less than a full load. I bet you could tow them in a burlap sack behind the boat. They float so they might tow easily.
Camo the kayak with some burlap from the craft store. Either setup and get your birds with chest waders or have a quick release and paddle to the bird.
Any way it sounds like a lot of fun. If you can stay warm and dry that is.
Gun storage. You could store the gun in a long piece of vacuum seal bag with one of the ends sealed and the other end folded over and clamped shut with bulldog clips. Then coat the gun inside and out with a heavy grease like Vaseline. Shells the same way. Store them in an old army ammo can for extra protection. The decoys will be the hard part. But you might could get by with less than a full load. I bet you could tow them in a burlap sack behind the boat. They float so they might tow easily.
Camo the kayak with some burlap from the craft store. Either setup and get your birds with chest waders or have a quick release and paddle to the bird.
Any way it sounds like a lot of fun. If you can stay warm and dry that is.
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pdt818
- TKF 5000 Club
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Salt water kayak duck hunting?
You should not going to rub your gun down with a heavy grease. That will attract every type of debris imaginable and potentially jam the action of the gun once enough has been accumulated. Just wipe your gun down with a light coating of gun lube (rem-oil is perfect) and you are fine. I thoroughly clean my gun after every trip, do the wipe down method and have never had any issues. Drake makes a great waterproof gun case I use that prevents anything from getting in, plus it floats in case it falls overboard. Don't paddle with your gun out of the case either. Leave it in until shooting time. I do a ton of saltwater kayak hunting each year. It's an absolute blast (no pun intended).