{"id":13163,"date":"2016-01-01T13:52:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-01T17:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/?p=13163"},"modified":"2025-02-06T16:19:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T20:19:04","slug":"great-duck-hunting-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/01\/great-duck-hunting-boat\/","title":{"rendered":"Great duck hunting boat!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chris Henderson<\/h2>\n

This is the first duck hunting season we have used both the W500 and the W700 as duck hunting boats and they are doing great!
\nIt would be easy to put a blind on it (we have one all designed) but we mostly use the boats for transportation.
\nThe area we hunt is tidal mud flat.\u00a0 So the cover is minimal, actually non-existent.\u00a0\u00a0 We sit on beach chairs in the mud and pretend to be a log.\u00a0\u00a0 However, where the Wavewalk\u2019s shine is in getting us to the spot.
\nWe paddle for 1.5miles over water that runs from 6 inches to 20 feet, with lots of logs, mussel beds, and all sorts of things that are a constant danger to motorized boats.\u00a0 In addition once we get to the spot we will be on the move the whole day.\u00a0 For instance yesterday\u2019s tide went from 1.9 feet at 3 am to a 14.4 feet at 9:54 am and then back to 4.9 feet at 4:43 pm.\u00a0 We hunted from 5 am until about 4:00pm.\u00a0 So we saw and moved through most of that. We start on a mud flat, retreat to a log and end up back on the mud flat.\u00a0\u00a0 It is work intensive hunting!
\nThe Wavewalk makes it possible for a couple of reasons.
\nOne it handles the current and wind with great proficiency.\u00a0 Tidal current is a constant, one direction or the other.\u00a0 In addition, this is the mouth of the Nisqually river, so you have a lot of water coming from there.\u00a0 And it seems there is always a wind and often with accompanying waves.\u00a0 With the Wavewalk you are able to paddle through all of this and feel secure knowing that you can handle it.\u00a0 It is not just a convenience it is a safety issue.
\nWe are paddling in water that has a constant temperature year round of 54 degrees, but the air temperature yesterday started at 24 degrees raising to a balmy 36, and oh yeah we paddle to the spot in the dark.\u00a0 If you get in trouble you are on your own.
\nOften people ask me why not put a motor on it?\u00a0 For one simple reason; MUD!\u00a0 We move about 200 yards between low and high tides and then back again.\u00a0\u00a0 During that we are dragging our boats forward and backward with the tide.\u00a0 We drag them in mud that can actually be a danger if you get stuck. The Coast guard had to airlift rescue a duck hunter from this marsh already this year who was stuck in the mud.\u00a0 Dragging 60 or 80 lbs of boat through mud is a challenge, but if you added the weight of a motor it would become impractical.
\nThe second reason the Wavewalks are so perfect for this hunting is the sheer storage.\u00a0 In the W700 I am able to transport 36 decoys, camo blankets for the boat and hunters, shotgun, lawn chair, hunting bucket, thermos, and myself with ease.\u00a0 In fact there is so much room in W700\u2019s it hauls all of the decoys!<\/p>\n

Yesterday I was able to take a friend who had never hunted in this way and put him in a Wavewalk for the first time.\u00a0 He is a big fellow so I put him in the W700.\u00a0 With very little effort he was comfortably\u00a0 and efficiently paddling, and we had a great hunt.<\/p>\n

These boats are not just for fishing but they make great duck boats as well. So far this duck season the Wavewalks have gotten us 63 ducks, and we still have January to go!<\/p>\n

Loving the Wavewalk as a great duck boat!\u00a0 Enjoy a few pictures of the season!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"chucks
Wavewalk 700 (front) and Wavewalk 500 (back), guns, and ducks…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"decoys-floating\"<\/p>\n

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\"duck-decoys-floating\"<\/p>\n

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\"duck-decoys-viewed-from-the-beach\"<\/p>\n

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\"duck-hunters-shooting-from-the-beach\"<\/p>\n

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\"duck-hunter-standing-in-the-water\"<\/p>\n

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\"duck-hunters-with-camo-paint\"<\/p>\n

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\"duck-hunter-with-boats\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More fishing and duck hunting with Chris \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chris Henderson This is the first duck hunting season we have used both the W500 and the W700 as duck hunting boats and they are doing great! It would be easy to put a blind on it (we have one all designed) but we mostly use the boats for transportation. The area we hunt … Continue reading “Great duck hunting boat!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-category"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19644,"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13163\/revisions\/19644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wavewalk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}