Anybody Duck/Goose hunt out of a tube?

[hattrk4me]

I do, and what a blast. Its a great new way to approach waterfowling.
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[DH_tubinjoe]

duck, duck, GOOSE!!![][laugh]



joe
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Float tubes have been used for waterfowl (and squirrel) hunting for almost as long as they have been used for fishing. Ever hear the term "cast and blast'? Some manufacturers even make camo covers.

The big challenge is in carrying all the gear you need...between fishing tackle and the gun and ammo. You definitely have to be creative to keep the gun dry and the rods out of the way while you are swinging on the passing birds.

I do hope you don't try to carry more than a hundred dekes out with you. It is easy to set them from a tube, but a son of a gun to load and unload them.

What you need to do is train some mallards to tow you around. Saves a lot of energy and serves as dekes at the same time.

By the way, where are you doing your cast and blast. Most folks I know that do that are in the potholes and flooded backwaters of the southern states.
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[FlyFishingMoose]

Cool idea , but I think your nuts. I'd pop one off and turn the tube over.
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Do you hunt with a shotgun or a howitzer?

People who haven't spent much time in a tube are surprised at how stable they are. It is almost impossible to flip one...but I'll bet you could do it if you really tried.

What you really gotta watch out for are the flocks that wait until you are reloading and then they swoop down and haul you out of your tube. Either that or they all count to three and give you a "whitewash" job.
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[hattrk4me]

I really don't fish out of my tube. I have the shadow grass camo on mine. The easiest way for me to carry all my gear, is load my bacpack with what I need, then clip my tube to the pack. Decoy bag and shotgun over my shoulders.

I hunt in West Central MN potholes with the tube.
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[fishfather]

[size 2]Like TD said unless your using a cannon you should be okay. I saw several pictures of people hunting off tubes in the early history one with an old looking shotgun that might of been black powder!![shocked][/size]
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Sounds like a plan. How are the birds flyin' up there so far this year? I've been up there a couple of times about this time of year and boy the weather can sure go from fall to winter fast.

I'll bet you are glad you don't hunt elephants. Carrying the decoys would kill ya.
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[hattrk4me]

here is what I've been chasing so far, Just geese. These were taken the last two weekends. Our limit is 2 per day, the first pic is a pic of 3 of 4 birds that were banded. Took 20 mins to shoot a two man limit.
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Nice pics. Those are some big birds. Look like the strain that used to come down the Pacific flyway when I lived in Sacramento. When those things hit the ground it registered on the seismometer in San Francisco. And, you didn't wanna get too close to a cripple. They could whack the stuff outta ya with a wing.

You're gonna hafta sharpen up your shooting skills though. Taking a whole twenty minutes outta your fishing time, for hunting, is pushing it.

Do you guys get any snow geese or whistler swans up there?
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