Wes Littlefield 12.11.24
Kayaks have been used for leisure and transportation functions for hundreds of years, however few folks understand their important function in looking. If that’s you, don’t fear; you’ll quickly learn to deer hunt out of your kayak to carry house extra backstrap this season! I’ve been kayak deer trying to find a number of years now and kicked myself for not starting sooner. Nonetheless, I didn’t begin earlier in life as a result of I didn’t have a kayak that met all my looking wants. So, let’s start by studying how to decide on the right yak.
Buying a Looking Kayak
Most individuals hate kayaks as a result of they select the most cost effective one they’ll discover. It is a mistake, particularly for hunters. You don’t need to go loopy, however looking kayak will price you $800+ since you want a number of options that low-cost kayaks don’t have, corresponding to:
- Stability
- Portability
- Open Design
- Customizability
Understanding the soundness of a kayak is barely doable when you take a look at it on the water, so you are able to do a few various things to determine this out. The primary is to go to your native kayak store and ask in the event that they do demo days and try it out at that occasion. The opposite is to conduct thorough analysis to search out out what others say concerning the kayak’s stability through which you’re .
It doesn’t matter what kind of auto you drive, portability is a matter. I favor to trailer my looking kayak as a result of it’s heavy and a bit lengthy for a truck mattress. However if you happen to determine on a lighter, shorter yak, you may automobile high it in your SUV or toss it at the back of your truck.
A number of years in the past, most kayaks have been sit-inside kayaks, however in the present day, the sit-on-top kayaks have taken over, and that’s the design you want for a number of causes. Sit-on-top yaks are usually extra secure, which suggests they are usually safer and extra accessible to enter and exit, and hauling a deer throughout the lake is way easier with an open deck design.
Lastly, buying a really customizable kayak, like my Nucanoe Frontier 12, is nice as a result of you may change it to suit your wants as a substitute of attempting to make issues work and ending up pissed off as a result of the kayak wasn’t designed with hunters in thoughts.
Kayak Deer Looking Rigged Proper
One method to make your kayak deer looking extra pleasing is to rig your little plastic boat appropriately.
The wonderful thing about that is you determine what’s appropriate! Rigging your kayak is a private expertise, however listed here are a number of suggestions I’ve picked up over time.
- Preserve It Easy
- Much less Is Extra
- At all times Preserve Security In Thoughts
- Check It Out
- Don’t Be Afraid To Alter
My deer looking kayak setup is fairly easy. I’ve a few gun/bow mounts to safe my firearm or bow whereas touring throughout the water, a cushty seat, paddle, PFD, and typically, I like to make use of a kayak trolling motor.
I’ve additionally rigged LED lights on my kayak to see the place I’m going at nighttime and alert different boaters to my presence and course. My setup has modified over time as I’ve found what I like and don’t like and adjusted it accordingly.
How To Deer Hunt from a Kayak
In contrast to duck looking from a kayak, there’s actually just one approach to make use of a kayak for deer looking: getting from level A to level B. I like this as a result of it’s easy.
On my common kayak deer looking journey, I load my gear onto my Frontier 12, leaving loads of room for a deer to be positioned in entrance of me. Then, I paddle to the place I need to hunt. More often than not, I’m snug leaving my kayak on the shore, however if you happen to’re not, be happy to tug it into the woods and canopy it with some brush earlier than strolling to your favourite spot. It’s actually that easy to deer hunt from a kayak, however why would you undergo this further work?
Advantages of Utilizing a Kayak for Deer Looking
There are lots of advantages to kayak deer looking, and I’ve listed a number of of them beneath:
- Opens Up Extra Choices
- Shortens Your Stroll
- Extra Covert
- Simpler Transporting Your Harvested Deer
Whereas kayak deer looking, you may entry extra distant spots that others can’t or are unwilling to succeed in. This implies you hunt much less pressured deer and encounter fewer hunters. Kayaking additionally shortens your stroll. That is extraordinarily useful if you happen to’re looking hilly terrain, as you’ll expend much less power to succeed in your spot.
Kayaking can also be extra covert. You’re spreading much less of your scent by way of the woods. Paddling or utilizing a trolling motor is way quieter than crunching leaves whereas strolling or utilizing an outboard motor on a ship.
Lastly, it’s a lot simpler to haul your deer again to your automobile utilizing a kayak than dragging it again. I’ve drug my fair proportion of deer, and I’d a lot slightly load a useless deer on my kayak and paddle it to my automobile than drag it again. Save your self a big backache and use a kayak when you may.
Kayak Deer Looking Security Issues
For many of this text, I’ve made kayak deer looking sound prefer it’s all rainbows and unicorns as a result of it’s unimaginable, and a kayak is a useful software for hunters. Nonetheless, kayaking throughout looking season entails some threat, and additional precautions should be taken to make sure you return house to your loved ones and buddies.
- ALWAYS Put on Your PFD Whereas Kayaking
- Don’t Kayak When The Climate Is Harmful (Windy, Excessive Chilly, and so forth.)
- Waterproof Gear Is Most well-liked
I can’t stress sufficient how vital it’s to all the time put on your life jacket whereas kayaking. It’s such a easy factor to throw on and use, however many hunters fail to take action, and it prices them dearly. It doesn’t matter how good of a swimmer you might be; it’s exponentially tougher in chilly water when your looking garments weigh you down.
If the climate isn’t cooperating, don’t threat it. Stroll to your spot as a substitute, or hunt at a distinct location. 15+ MPH winds are when issues get harmful for kayaks on massive reservoirs (you will get away with windy circumstances when paddling in small creeks or rivers) and excessive chilly (you’ll need to determine what excessive chilly is for you).
Lastly, carrying waterproof gear is right. Getting moist within the chilly makes for a depressing and presumably harmful hunt. I additionally favor to make use of a water-proof backpack to maintain most of my gear in, as the whole lot will get moist in a kayak as a result of they’re so near the water.
Parting Pictures
Regardless of the dangers concerned with kayak deer looking, it opens up many extra looking alternatives and benefits. I strongly suggest utilizing a kayak for looking on public or personal land that borders creeks, rivers, or lakes! Is kayak deer looking price it to you? Let me know within the feedback!
