Float Tubes

[dmichaelm]

Anyone have experience using a Float Tube for duck hunting? I have been eying one online.

I have hunted ducks at our cabin near Cass Lake a couple times growing up. Mainly I have stalked creeks, or shore hunted on a pond.

Slowly I have been picking up new gear to give a serious try at them this fall. I don't have a dog, or a buddy with a dog. I don't have a boat with a blind. I have a nice set of decoys, good insulated waders and camo. And one thing I do have, that offers little to no mobility is a 17' old town canoe that I have no desire to shoot out of or lug to the lakes edge for retrieval.

My main thought for using the tube will be my ability to conceal myself in the existing vegetation, as well as retrieve my ducks.

We are not talking any sizable water here. A small open creek dammed up by beaver, and a very shallow (less than 10ft) 'lake'.

[dan z]

I wouldnt do it the water gets to cold to fast. and retreiving your birds would be tougher than you think JMO

[carpshooterdeluxe]

I use one a few times every fall. My brother in law uses it almost every hunt. They work great, but are cumbersome to haul overland. A method we found that worked great for a 1/4 mile hike to a slough we hunt is to stack the tube ontop of a decoy bag, all set into my otter sled, and then strap the whole works down to the sled. Make sure you buy a durable tube that will withstand being drug through brush. I have also used it to float a river section a few times, but I didn't feel comfortable navigating with it. I felt like I needed a paddle to control my path when moving through faster water. The woodies don't know what hit them though when you come around a bend in a tube though!

[BoxMN]

Haha! My bro nearly died in one when the cap loosen on him in middle of deep slough. Thankfully he made it back, but that was the last time we ever considered using it. He laid over the decoys which were thankfully in a bag, and his floating gun case, and made it back to shore. It was prolly the only time in his life he was ever really scared of anything, he said he had thoughts of his daugthers and wife not having him around. WE gave it to our cousin for fly fishing, but told him to be very careful and maybe even wear PFD.

Here is my advice, look for a used (or new if you can afford it) Carstens Puddler and it will work better, haul easier, conceal you better, and get you to more areas than a tube or a canoe can, and you can easily haul it yourself down a trail with your gun, lunch, 2 dozen dekes and not get tired. Good luck!

[water rat]

I have used them a few times In the past when the rivers are high and being legal with a blind boat Is a problem(due to natural cover) It worked just fine and Is very comfortable with 2 arm rest and being cradled In the seat.The one problem i had was when my neoprene waders seemed to have some stress on the stitching In the crotch area you would get a litte damp....

[Ufatz]

NEVER use a float tube without having a PFD ON while in the water. And be VERY careful using one in moving water of more than a foot depth. You can DIE very quickly in a tube if you don't use your head.

But they are marvelous little devices for fishing. And hunting too I guess....but the idea of sitting in one when it is cold and spitting snow while mallards fly has never occurred to me.

Ya gotta be nutz! Or in your 20's or less. LOL

[carpshooterdeluxe]

NEVER use a float tube without having a PFD ON while in the water. And be VERY careful using one in moving water of more than a foot depth. You can DIE very quickly in a tube if you don't use your head.

But they are marvelous little devices for fishing. And hunting too I guess....but the idea of sitting in one when it is cold and spitting snow while mallards fly has never occurred to me.

Ya gotta be nutz! Or in your 20's or less. LOL

Handy tool to have in the arsenal when hunting deeper hard to access areas w/o a dog to retrieve though. I've shot limits of ducks in places I never thought I could hunt before because of a tube. I forgot to mention previously that you need to bring a pair of flippers too to get the best/quickest maneuverability out of the tube.

[mpester]

BoxMN - I think your brother may have had some of the same thoughts when he stepped out of the puddler into the muck a year or two ago up to his neck at his secret Metro location.

I think I would use the canoe before I used a float tube. I hated all the years hunting out of the canoe but what I did to make it stable was to pound two long stakes into the bottom and then I took a bungee cord and attached the canoe to the stakes. It was not totally stable but it was stable enough to hunt out of. Usually I just found a place shallow enough to get out of the canoe to hunt. It limited my choices of where to hunt but it was much safer.

[Heartman]

I have hunted out of them before and it is a grand experience - neoprene waders are far more comfortable than canvas, let me tell you. Hunted in shallow water, loose bottom, and planted a canoe paddle in front of the tube I could use to turn myself around with...the recoil of my 1100 would push me back about a foot with each shot - after three shots, I was about three feet away from it. I had so much fun shooting bluebills right on the deck coming right at me! So cool!

But almost too much fun. After I hunted out of the float tube, had a conversation with the CO at an entirely different location and time, who said some CO's would look at this type of hunting as illegal, as it might constitute a sink-box, with the majority of my blind being underwater. Have never seen reference to any of this in the hunting synopsis, but I suppose some CO's might look differently at it than others. Now I'm too old to do it, so [PoorWordUsage]?

[Ufatz]

I have hunted out of them before and it is a grand experience - neoprene waders are far more comfortable than canvas, let me tell you. Hunted in shallow water, loose bottom, and planted a canoe paddle in front of the tube I could use to turn myself around with...the recoil of my 1100 would push me back about a foot with each shot - after three shots, I was about three feet away from it. I had so much fun shooting bluebills right on the deck coming right at me! So cool!

But almost too much fun. After I hunted out of the float tube, had a conversation with the CO at an entirely different location and time, who said some CO's would look at this type of hunting as illegal, as it might constitute a sink-box, with the majority of my blind being underwater. Have never seen reference to any of this in the hunting synopsis, but I suppose some CO's might look differently at it than others. Now I'm too old to do it, so [PoorWordUsage]?

Now THAT is interesting....the CO's observation regarding a sink box. Most guys today have never heard of a sink box but I can see, to a degree, his point. However, you are NOT sitting BELOW the surface of the water-you are sitting ON it. Same as a duck boat. IF the CO had cited you he would have lost his case....or somebody farther up the chain would have seen the weakness in the case and chose not to pursue it. Then somebody else would have had a little chat with the CO. Ha! But it DOES show you how people sometimes see things.

[dmichaelm]

Thanks for the feedback.

I've read some other places the tubes can be a bit unstable. To be honest I hadn't considered temp. I have 400g neoprene waders, so...

For those who have used flippers - fit them right over your wader boots? Its an extremely humorous picture in my mind. Fullgrown man in waders and jacket, shotgun in had, with a big pair of yellow flippers on over the rubber boots.

If I catch one on sale I might pick it up and add to the pile of gear. We'll see.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

Thanks for the feedback.

I've read some other places the tubes can be a bit unstable. To be honest I hadn't considered temp. I have 400g neoprene waders, so...

For those who have used flippers - fit them right over your wader boots? Its an extremely humorous picture in my mind. Fullgrown man in waders and jacket, shotgun in had, with a big pair of yellow flippers on over the rubber boots.

If I catch one on sale I might pick it up and add to the pile of gear.

We'll see.

The flippers we use fit right over wader boots.

[LOTWSvirgin]

If you buy a float tube dont not buy a U-boat type buy a round boat take the blater out that comes with it and throw it away and buy a rubber tube at any tire place.