Boating & Hunting - Be safe

[Big Fin]

This video is near and dear to my heart, so I am posting a link here. I had a great uncle drown while duck hunting from a canoe. It didn't have to happen, but it did. My family remembers that. The older generations made sure all of us younger kids were schooled heavily on boating and hunting from boats. I would say if there is one place where my overly cautious tendencies show, it would be while hunting from a boat.

That event impacted our family enough that a 2nd cousin started a business that builds canoe accessories, one of the most popular being outriggers for a canoe. His family has since sold the business and I don't know the new owners. But, if you hunt from a canoe or kayak, these outriggers are worth the price. It would take one hell of an intentional effort to tip over a canoe fitted with these outriggers - https://www.springcreek.com/shop/paddle-sports/stabilizer-float-packages/

Most of the boating accidents I know of in hunting season happen in the dark. If you don't have bright running lights, don't do it. I understand the desire to hunt the low light hours. Yet, I've been on rivers a couple times when search and rescue folks asked us to keep an eye out for missing hunters who wrecked in the dark.

I'm sure most of you already know this stuff. If you hunt from a boat, take a few extra precautions.

 

[Mallardsx2]

My dad and uncle flipped a canoe 30 years ago. They almost drowned and dad went out and bought a set of those very stabilizers.

They were Styrofoam when they first came out if I recall.

Same business I presume.

 

[WapitiBob]

Appreciate the video, partner says we're hunting from my boat in '24. I'm thinking of getting a cpl 12v lights in case a guy gets stuck out a bit later than they'd like.

 

[MT_elk]

Great info. Thanks for sharing.

 

[jt13]

What do you think of this one @Big Fin ? 7 people and 2 deer in a 16ft boat with an 15hp on the back. No life jackets to be seen, going down the river in December with the gunwhale just barely above water... the game warden at the boat ramp was less than pleased.

 

[Big Fin]

@jt13 That’s how people die and how first responders end up risking their lives over the stupidity of others. Lucky they made it without a tragedy.

 

[jt13]

@jt13 That’s how people die and how first responders end up risking their lives over the stupidity of others. Lucky they made it without a tragedy.

I'm pretty sure at least a few of them were kids, adds another element of stupidity

 

[FairWeather]

Not just an issue in hunting season. My wife and I float the McKenzie w/ a group of friends a few times each year, and every time I tell everyone to wear PFDs, and I’m always met by laughs from some in the group. They say the river is so calm, the rapids aren’t that big, it’s not dangerous, etc.

My wife said the same thing until I had to rescue her a few years back. Now she wears the pfd. This last summer we rescued one of our friends after they flipped off their inner tube and got caught on a log (also not wearing a pfd). I think that drove home the lesson, but not a fun way to learn it.

I’m very glad I was in the scouts as a kid and had water safety drilled into me on our canoeing trips. It’s come in handy.

 

[Hem]

In my younger years we used to routinely float the Lower Madison for waterfowl in December. Our go-to spots were a few miles upriver of take out. We always came out in the dark. Many times the river had serious shelf ice, ice floating downstream. It was scary...and pretty stupid in a small canoe loaded with decoys. Knocked the crap out of geese and mallards. Too chicken now.

 

[Big Sky Guy]

We had a friend come stay with us who did a fishing trip. When he left he gave us these outriggers as a thank you. I kinda brushed them off because in my mind it took away from the “pureness” of canoeing. Tore my ACL and menisci this summer a few weeks before we had our launch date on the Smith. I was pretty nervous that I should be canoeing down it unable to really do anything if the canoe flipped but not wanting to disappoint my wife we took the canoe out with the outriggers down the Missouri by our house just for a quick test. Needless to say they make a HUGE difference. Very well thought out design and easily adjustable to the point when you shore you can push them all the way in out of the way. While I won’t say it’s impossible to flip a canoe with these I will 100% attest to your statement that it would take a hell of an intentional effort to do so. We pulled into a cove once on our trip and when going back out into the current we misjudged the current and ended up sideways on some pretty gnarly rapids. The downstream side went down to the water level and a bit came in but the canoe never felt like it was going to flip, nor did it. Ended up getting smashed into the rock wall and the one outrigger got a little bent but still remained fully functional. I bet we had 10 people, outfitters included comment positively on them. I really don’t see an instance where I wouldn’t use them, maybe in really narrow stream but even then if you have them up against the boat they only add 8” or so to each side. Tell your 2nd cousin thanks for his ingenuity!

 

[Scott85]

When I was a young man we did a float trip with a bunch of people from work. It was like a 6 hour trip. There was a lot of beer going around. For some reason a husband and wife in a canoe decided to take a branch off the main channel. Well there was a tree across that branch. The canoe flipped and got jammed under the log with the wife trapped underneath. I have never been so scared in my life. It took just about everybody on that trip to get the canoe up and her free. It was a very somber trip after that.

 

[thusby]

Thanks for this @Big Fin. We lose a couple duck hunters every year here. Typical a result of no or ill-fitting life jackets. I think a lot of folks overestimate how long they will be able to tread water in their duck gear.
By the time you add the weight of blinds, decoys, ammo, hunters… I can only assume that most boats are overloaded or near.
I’m currently shopping for a new larger, more stable waterfowl boat as myself and crew get older.

 

[pointersandhooks]

This video is near and dear to my heart, so I am posting a link here. I had a great uncle drown while duck hunting from a canoe. It didn't have to happen, but it did. My family remembers that. The older generations made sure all of us younger kids were schooled heavily on boating and hunting from boats. I would say if there is one place where my overly cautious tendencies show, it would be while hunting from a boat.

That event impacted our family enough that a 2nd cousin started a business that builds canoe accessories, one of the most popular being outriggers for a canoe. His family has since sold the business and I don't know the new owners. But, if you hunt from a canoe or kayak, these outriggers are worth the price. It would take one hell of an intentional effort to tip over a canoe fitted with these outriggers - https://www.springcreek.com/shop/paddle-sports/stabilizer-float-packages/

Most of the boating accidents I know of in hunting season happen in the dark. If you don't have bright running lights, don't do it. I understand the desire to hunt the low light hours. Yet, I've been on rivers a couple times when search and rescue folks asked us to keep an eye out for missing hunters who wrecked in the dark.

I'm sure most of you already know this stuff. If you hunt from a boat, take a few extra precautions.

Very informative!