Duck hunting from a Sit-in-kayak

[Kayser]

I plan on rigging my kayak to be able to duck hunt from it this fall, whether it's as a layout fixed with spud poles or just transport to somewhere I can hide on the bank.

Here is the kayak in question- future beach trophy 126, fishing kayak.

Does anyone have experience waterfowling from a kayak, specifically a sit-in? I've asked about hunting from this kayak in particular on other forums, but the community doesn't seem to want to be helpful in this regard.

[Kayak_Runner]

What specifically do you want to know?

My main items when I rig mine or help friends with theirs we hang burlap on the boat, place a set of gun mounts (HOBIE Gun Mounts) and a paddle leash (allows you to toss your paddle without fear of losing it. Don't wear waders if your deep or in a river, wear boots you can get out of quickly. 

[BilletHead]

  Kayser

Done it with the kayak last three years. Mostly during early teal season. Sit inside but with an open cockpit type. A native kayak. I think of you go back in the waterfowl posts I have posted some hunts with it. Always just use it for transportation to and from spots. Just park it and hide it. Sometimes right beside me and I can use it for laying my gear, gun etc. right at hand. I wear my chest waders and a life jacket if in deep water. It gets me to where some boats cannot go and away from walk in hunters. At my local private lakes and ponds I can drive to it goes with me for retrieves . A five accessory to the duck hunting arsenal,

BilletHead

[Moswimb8slinger]

I have the same Kayak (trophy 126), but never hunted out of it. But having spent 100's of hours in it, i would recommend something comfortable to sit on/in. I just upgraded mine with a Yak-Gear seat and it has much better back support. 

I would set up the rear hatch like a cooler. A sealed bag of ice or cool pack in the bottom of a large dry bag so that you dont have blood and water pooling in the bottom of the kayak.

The front hatch I would take the cover off completely. Take another dry bag to put your ammo, snack$ drinks, etc. and use the bungee straps to secure the bag.

For camo, burlap or a camo netting. Lay the netting over the kayak and cut a section for the seat area and cut a flap for the rear hatch for easier access.

Paddle leash is always a plus but I use a paddle clip mounted on the side to keep it out of the way when I'm casting. If the paddle handle is shiny, you may want to spiral wrap some camo tape on it.

[Kayser]

My current plan is to paddle, park, and hide. I have three paddle leashes available (gun, paddle, etc), and will be ordering parts for a bungee paddle-keeper to hold things on the side. The cased gun travels between  my legs just fine. I do need suggestions on what gun mount to use/where to mount it, though. 

Hiding- either black bungee nets or plastic hardware cloth/poultry netting with synthetic raffia clipped/tied on. Sand and paint the top first to reduce the amount of grass needed. 

Seat- a camo seat cushion makes a great back rest, I've traveled like that for 6+hours. Life jacket (always wear it) helps, too.

Hunting- either pack a chair and hide close by (use kayak as a bench?) , or use as a layout. For the layout, I was thinking 1.5" pvc (1.90" OD) in the 2" rod holders, rigged to have an anchor pole (bamboo or fiberglass) driven into the mud on each side. Anchor poles would ride in the paddle keeper. This would  keep  the kayak from rocking as I hunt or tipping as I shoot.

Do you guys see any glaring problems with this idea? I'm trying to keep it mobile as a 1-man rig, but still not kill myself. 

[BilletHead]

  Tweaking your rig/kayak is fun but you may not have to over think this process too much. Go minimal and just cover up your kayak. Here are a few pictures from past seasons. Had more but must of deleted them. I use a camo cover that just stuffs behind my seat. Guns on top of that in a case.  Mojo doves for teal season in small plastic ammo type cans. Poles for them built and in their places too. Decoys in a crate. A wet extendable duck seat to rest my rear. I cannot stand too long. There would be a different storage deal for your kayak pictured. Remember less is more when paddling. I have paddled mine a ways with my and the Mrs. stuff while she walked back a levee road to our destination during teal season. You don't need blind material hanging off the sides. The older you get the more you body breaks down. This equals learning to do it a bit easier. Believe me I know. As far as painting your rig. Can be done but most kayak hulls are hard to get paint to stick on. Some of these photos my kayak is not painted and in some it is. You can scratch it off easy. Now  you can see these are teal and they are not a very smart bird but I have went to the big open area duck parks for later big birds and done pretty well.  Let the big dogs blast off and head for the farthest points to hunt, paddle your little unit to a close spot where they have little access hide and get some birds,

BilletHead

[jdmidwest]

I have done it for years from a sit inside 12 foot Wilderness System Pamlico.  I buy a sheet of leafy camo from Wally World and cut a split out in center for the cockpit.  I poke the handles in front and back thru it and pull it the sides into the boat when paddling so it does not drag.  A few more pieces of burlap covers up the rest and me.  The shotgun sits in front of me and I usually carry a few doz decoys strapped to the back.

It does get kinda squirrely shooting from it, and you will miss a few ducks because of it.

[Kayser]

I do have a few spots in mind that are close to ramps and either too shallow to run a large boat in or too open to hide it.

JD- squirrely shooting from a pamlico? It's bigger and looks more stable than my kayak, so that doesn't inspire much confidence. That's why I wanted to put the anchor poles in, so that it would be more stable in the water and stay put when I was hunting (or pulling a jerk string, maybe). This is more than likely a late-season venture, so safety is my main concern.

I did find some bungee cargo-nets for the trunk of a car, so those should form a base really, really well to either tie on brush or just weave it in. The plan seems to be coming together, however slow it may be.

Thanks for the advice, it's much appreciated.

[jdmidwest]

Following birds shifts weight and you will rock if free floating in open water. Works best if you can push it up into weeds or muck to stabilize. I doubt if poles will help much. We use them to tie off to in wind. 

The pamlico is a 12 foot boat like yours but still has side to side rocking.   You can still kill birds but have to compensate for the extra movement. Second shot is worse. 

[Kayser]

Trophy 126 is a 10'6" yak, so not quite 12ft.

Some of the spots I would like to hunt are in buck brush, and the bank is too far back to set up in the mud without blocking the shot. With the soft muck in Illinois, this means staying in the yak to hunt and beefing up the roll resistance (if only to put my mind at ease). 

I'm not thinking of sticking a pole in the mud and tying off to it, but rather have a bracket to fix the pole to the yak. The bracket I'm thinking of would slide into the rod holder, and consist of a piece of 1.5" pvc with a 45 degree bend, and a T-connection on the end to slide the  pole through, then pin the pole in the bracket. Right handed shot swings furthest left, so I'm planning on keeping the pole in the right to resist going over backwards on shots to the left side.