Making life easier for gear-laden waterfowlers
Waterfowlers stand alone at the top of the heap when that pile is gauged by the mountain of equipment hunters use in pursuit of their avocation.
With the exception of simply jump-shooting ducks from stock tanks or creeks, the logistics of hunting ducks and geese demand collecting, transporting and using a staggering amount of equipment. No other hunting activity requires more.
Consider just the bare basics — a bulging bag of 20-30 duck decoys, shotgun, gunning bag holding a couple of boxes of shotshells, calls, duck straps and minimal other essentials. That’s heavy and unwieldy enough to have even the hardiest waderencased waterfowler struggling, stumbling and swearing while trying to navigate a few hundred yards of boot-sucking muck and mire of a coastal marsh, the obstacle course that is the rutted and ragged bottom of a flooded moist-soil wetland or some flooded timber hole booby-trapped with hidden drop-offs, submerged logs or other trip-inducing tricks. Doing it in the dark adds even more challenges.
Throw in all the other gear usually or often tied to waterfowling – boats and motors and all that go with that, four-wheel ATVs or the increasingly ubiquitous side-by-side all-terrain vehicles and the trailers to haul them, blinds (temporary, layout or permanent), retrievers and their accessories, battery-powered spinning-wing decoys, vacuum bottle of coffee, bottled water, snacks, the sadly omnipresent smartphone – and you’re talking a garage full of... stuff.
Garage space and bank account excepted, this is not a bad thing. All that gear – with the exception of the cursed smartphone — is more or less vital to the game.
Decoy sleds a godsend
Not that most waterfowlers need any more gear (although they almost universally are never satisfied they have enough), some items that aren’t necessarily crucial to pursuing ducks and geese certainly can make a morning afield easier, more productive and even safer. Here are a handful of them, culled from more than 50 seasons of chasing waterfowl from Hudson Bay to the Yucatan and just about every corner of Texas.
Decoy sleds are a godsend for waterfowlers. These lightweight, rectangular plastic sleds, which come in lengths ranging from as short as 4 feet to more than 6 feet in length, resemble miniature johnboats without the seats. And like johnboats, they can hold a tremendous amount of gear and float in very little water.
Decoy sleds, which began showing up about 20 years ago, have become an almost requisite piece of gear for many waterfowlers. They allow a hunter to transport a considerable amount of gear – decoys, cased shotguns, blind bags, temporary blinds, other accessories — over land and water without having to tote that gear on their shoulders or in their hands.
The loaded sled can be towed over land behind an ATV. But their real benefit comes when transporting gear over flooded terrain such as a marsh, bay flat, prairie wetland, flooded timber or other waters. And because they can hold more gear than any hunter could manage to carry alone, they give waterfowlers the ability to bring more gear with them and keep it (relatively) dry. They also extend the range of waterfowlers because it’s a whole lot easier to traverse a flooded area when not weighed down and put off balance by having to carry all that gear themselves.
Some decoys sleds are large enough that they can double as a shoreline or shallow-water layout blind if the hunter isn’t particular about comfort and can fashion some sort of camouflage cover.
Marsh stools helpful
For waterfowlers who hunt from temporary blinds or natural blinds such as burrowing into a thick mat of cordgrass or snugging close to the base of a tree in flooded timber, a seat can make a world of difference in comfort and success. Several models of commercially produced “marsh stools” are available today. Most are collapsible and have a small padded seat atop a square steel tube which has hinged metal “wings” near the base to prevent it from sinking too deep.
These marsh stools are great accessories when hunting where cover allows the hunter to be a couple of feet above ground level. In lower cover, such as cordgrass clumps in Texas coastal marsh or mangroves along the middle and lower Texas coast, a simple plastic crate modeled after the crates used to transport bottled milk, can be the perfect seat. It’s just high enough to get a hunter off the ground but low enough to remain hidden by surrounding cover. These plastic “milk crates,” which have a near endless number of uses other than as a hunting seat, are sold in many big-box stores and online. Get the most heavy-duty “commercial” model you can find; the lighter ones, made of thinner plastic, won’t stand up to the rigors of waterfowling use.
As a waterfowler whose history stretches back to the days of carbide lanterns and headlights, modern LED headlights are a welcomed and indispensable miracle. These lightweight headlights, powered by AA, AAA or rechargeable batteries throw a bright, far-reaching, dependable light crucial when navigating nighttime terrain, especially wetlands. The best ones have several settings, from piercing long-distance beam to a wide, muted light perfect for use when trying to find a call or other gear in the bottom of a blind bag in the darkness ahead of shooting time. Flashlights – especially new LED flashlights – are great. But for waterfowlers, a good LED headlight is as necessary a piece of gear as a shotgun.
For waterfowlers “of a certain age,” and even those who aren’t, some type of wading/walking staff makes traversing dark, muddy areas much easier and, frankly, safer. The staff serves as a “third leg,” allowing a hunter to keep balance and avoid stumbling or falling when slogging across flooded areas, and makes it easier to pull loose from deep, clinging mud.
A short wooden paddle makes a great wading staff. Plus, it floats if dropped, and I’ve used one for several years. But it has been replaced by an even better option — Mojo Outdoors makes a wading pole especially designed for waterfowlers. Mojo’s “The Knot” wading pole is a lightweight metal pole with a bulb-shaped plastic “knot” at the bottom that prevents it from burying into the mud.
The wading staff ’s length is adjustable from 42 to 60 inches. It is amazing how much easier it is to traverse flooded landscape using the support of the wading pole. Plus, when it comes time to pick up decoys, the pole, extended to its full 60-inch length, is great for reaching those decoys that you put in water just a little too deep to reach in your waders.
Worth the trouble
Gear that makes such things easier or less tiring or frustrating —whether it’s a pair of neoprene ankle gaiters that keep pants cuffs from riding up inside a pair of waders or a decoy sled that allowed a hunter to float an otherwise unmanageable amount of gear a long distance — are one of the reasons waterfowlers’ garages, closets and storage buildings often are bulging at the seams.
But as any duck or goose hunter will happily confirm, it’s worth the hassle.