Spot and stalk from a canoe on a reservoir?

[Soonerlongbow]

So on our little prairie lake there’s several areas of the WMA/Corps land that look almost unhuntable because of the normal wind direction. Of of the wooded lots and creek bottoms are really most accessible via small paddle crafts like canoes. And while I’ve seen evidence of other guys using small boats to access the creeks, I haven’t seen much evidence of people using them to access the rolling prairies that the wind would be the wrong direction for where you would park your truck. Even for walk-in hunters the parking areas are often in the wrong spot.

My question is, has anyone ever tried to use their yak/canoe as a floating and mobile glassing platform? Use it to plan stalks or ambush points or such. Anyone ever have luck doing this? I know river hunters do it all the time, posting up at bends in the flow.

[Orion]

You're not very high in a canoe, and standing to get a better vantage isn't recommended.  However, can use the canoe to put yourself in at different spots from which you can glass. Terrain where I hunt isn't conducive to glassing from the water.  Almost always surrounded by higher banks or vegetation.  However, I have used my canoe to get to the "backside" of various hunting spots. 

[pavan]

Due to field tiling and in this year lots of rain, the prairie ponds have spread wide.  In South Dakota area like Lake Henry have turned into large in land seas.  Charley Bledsoe, Bear dealer from Sioux Falls, hunted there, we caught perch that were using one of his wood tree pallets, it was six feet under the surface.  Much of what use to be temporary wetlands are now large shallow lakes.  They can be difficult to hunt, open water surround by tall grassy vegetation growing in boot sucking mud.  A landing where one can get out of the canoe and not sink up one's knees is a rare find.   However, if you have a situation where you can creep along, have low breaks in the cover and firm shorelines, it is very possible to shoot from the canoe or use the canoe to get to the back sides of good hunting areas.  We have done that many times.  One place we run the up stream flow of the eddies and go about a mile upstream on a river in the early afternoon and then paddle out after dark with flashlights to spot the river snags.  A very nice method of transporting a deer that was shot a mile from the car.  We use to do a lot of waterfowl hunting with bows from canoes on the Iowa prairie shallows.  A wood arrow with a free hi-precision broadhead floats feather end up. 

[Soonerlongbow]

Good information. Hopefully I can revisit this in a few weeks with some pix of big silly grins.

[Trumpkin the Dwarf]

If you had a high end fishing kayak you probably could stand up in it. Just something to consider... but I like the idea of creeping along, bow across the gunnels, a quiver close at hand. If you can, go a couple weeks early and scout for areas of bank with tracks. Then creep up on them at dawn, silently as possible.

[Soonerlongbow]

If you had a high end fishing kayak you probably could stand up in it. Just something to consider... but I like the idea of creeping along, bow across the gunnels, a quiver close at hand. If you can, go a couple weeks early and scout for areas of bank with tracks. Then creep up on them at dawn, silently as possible.

That’s basically what I do in the creeks. Lots of hog wallows along the banks. It’s also how I squirrel hunt that area but not with my bow so I’ll leave that topic alone.

[Sam McMichael]

Canoes and kayaks can get you into some really tight places. Just make sure of your ability to handle these crafts to avoid a butt freezing dunking. If you are already skilled, you know what I mean. If you are not experienced, do some serious practice. As a younger guy, I used to run white water, and it took a while to get used to the instability of the craft. However, once you get used to it, you can to a lot of places. Just make sure your gear is well secured. I have never used it in a hunting scenario, though This could be an answer to your accessibility problem. Beach your boat securely and use a PFD. Trust me, it is not cool to see your canoe drifting away...

[acolobowhunter]

When in BC they flew us into a lake and landed on the water.  We hunted for 10 days for moose.  There was a canoe in camp, so we used it to cross the lake.  Actually saw a bull swimming across the lake, but couldn't catch up with him.  Paddled up into the inlet and had a cow standing in the water right in front of us.  We drifted to within 10 feet of her.  She probably thought we were a log.  Hoping a bull would be with her, we drifted for a while with no luck.  I couldn't believe how quiet we were in a canoe.  The only sound was the water dripping off the paddle.