Meet the beast

[SMAbby]

Just rolled her into the driveway.
I see some cold days and dead ducks ahead!

[orhunter]

Looks great!!!

One question. What advantage does that motor have over a standard outboard? Looks really heavy duty.

[twistedoak]

shallower running
and no lower end gearbox to bust up.

they can be a bit twitchier to steer compared to an outboard but will go in almost no water

[LongHammer]

Duck Hunting is a poison once it is in your veins no amount of money will cure it. Now think of all the fully flocked decoys in bags you can fit in that boat! Your gonna need couple big buddy heaters in there to warm the dogs. I wonder if you will miss the (FUN) of stomping around in the muck and slop to get a chance to shoot at a single duck? Great looking boat that is a game changer for sure.

[SMAbby]

I'm looking at it and wondering how I can construct a dog compartment. It would be nice to be able to fit it with a hound heater or some kind of heating system for the dogs.

Ideas? And breed switching is not an option. I'll have the hubby shagging ducks before I switch breeds.

[Coveyrise64]

Nice rig.....you sure want to be careful on open water with one of the Jon boats though. Too many have learned that lesson the hard way.

cr

[SMAbby]

Nice rig.....you sure want to be careful on open water with one of the Jon boats though. Too many have learned that lesson the hard way.

cr

Thanks T, I have been running this river for a long time. Used to live on til 2008 floods took our home. Hubby and I had his and hers Jon boats. In Nov/Dec I would take the boat 430 am to my deerstand. Only thing changed on this is size and motor.
I am way to old to test the boundaries of this boat. She will probably Cruz nice and slow up and down the river and in the marshes.

[Constructeur]

I'm looking at it and wondering how I can construct a dog compartment. It would be nice to be able to fit it with a hound heater or some kind of heating system for the dogs.

Ideas?

Phil Kanke has some sweet youtube vids on his builds, for specifics you'll have to poke around yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq-wunWEBso


Something else to keep in mind would be some overhead cover on your back side. Often puddle ducks like to swing around, which means your hunting partner and dog will get busted once the ducks see them trying to visually follow.

We run little 1 man marsh boats that allow for a person, a dog, some gear, and are powered by small longtails. They've been a game changer for getting away from the crowds.

When it comes time to supplement your marsh grass keep an eye on sales. I've bought everywhere from Sierra Trading Post, Tanglefree direct, but my favorite has been Rogers Sporting Goods. Planning ahead for gear and decoys has always kept me from paying full price, yet I still end up spending

Have fun out there.

[blue04]

Planning ahead for gear and decoys has always kept me from paying full price

The best time to buy decoys is about a month after waterfowl season ends. Most online retailers put their left-over stock on pretty good discounts.

[SMAbby]

Thanks for the tips!

Yes, the boat didnt come with much top cover. I spent awhile adding a tarp on the inside to help retain heat, but looked at it after and realized it was shinny as hell.

Season isnt much longer. Marsh will freeze, ducks will hit river and it will be done. I will have to play with idead over the summer months. That includes teaching the dogs about boats and their place on them.
Looks like this guy added some sort of camo padding to the bow decking. I can only imagine it was for fido. I will add something coming off bow deck to help dog drain water and get warm.
I like projects.

[blue04]

Maybe modify a standard plastic crate of some sort? You could paint it camo or put a camo cover on it.

[Willie T]

SMabby, a sheet of burlap between the wind block and the fast grass will kill the shine from the tarp. You will like it on a cold windy day.
Willie

[JONOV]

RE: Keeping the dogs warm...

We've put a piece of carpet on the floor and used a propane buddy heater in the boat. The carpet is nice for your feet as well, since its much warmer than the cold metal floor. I don't know where you envision the dog staying while you hunt, but my challenge in any blind is that the dogs hate not seeing what's going on. They'll lay or stay where they can see out but if they're looking at the gunwale you have trouble. So maybe on the front casting deck put some carpet!

Out of the wind, off the cold metal, they'll do wonderful. Have fun!

Side question, how much variation is there in the KLM's coats? I volunteered at a NAVHDA test and was surprised to hear two different coat evaluations by the judges for the two munsterlanders. It always seemed like they were consistent across the board.

[SMAbby]

RE: Keeping the dogs warm...

We've put a piece of carpet on the floor and used a propane buddy heater in the boat. The carpet is nice for your feet as well, since its much warmer than the cold metal floor. I don't know where you envision the dog staying while you hunt, but my challenge in any blind is that the dogs hate not seeing what's going on. They'll lay or stay where they can see out but if they're looking at the gunwale you have trouble. So maybe on the front casting deck put some carpet!

Out of the wind, off the cold metal, they'll do wonderful. Have fun!

Side question, how much variation is there in the KLM's coats? I volunteered at a NAVHDA test and was surprised to hear two different coat evaluations by the judges for the two munsterlanders. It always seemed like they were consistent across the board.

I dont think the variation matters. Soft or harsh doesnt make a difference in my opinion. What does make a difference cant be changed. We have no under coat. Run your fingers backward through their coat and you will see this. The harsh might keep the water from the skin longer, but the body heat is still rolling out.
I would say this is the only downside I see to the breed. Normally, by the time they cant handle the cold any longer, neither can I. But now with the boat, we may have to adjust a few things.
I did put a rubber mat with holes in it on the deck and floor by the deck. The heater freaks me out......we have tails! I would have to throw the dog in the water to stay the class A fire!
All this will be a learning curve for us. All of this is new to us and the hounds.

[AverageGuy]

Your comment about the dog catching fire prompts me to share a story and photo.

Look closely and you will see my first GWP Hank poking his head out of the middle port on that boat blind. We hunted a coal fired power plant cooling lake that morning and it was 13 below zero F when we launched the boat. There was 1.5 inches of ice in the cove we setup in and we ran the big commercial jon boat around in circles in the dark for quite awhile breaking it up before we backed into some willows and started setting out decoys.

We called in a flock of giant late season Honkers which decoyed to the edge of decoy spread. My Brother and I were both shooting BPS 10 gauges and we killed two and had a third down and swimming away into the whitecaps. That boat blind was not setup properly for a dog to have a chance at a mark and Hank was going nuts to get out the back of the boat and get at something when the smoke cleared. I hustled him out the end of the boat and sent him into the decoy spread after lining him up in the direction of a goose floating at 50 yards on the outside of the decoy spread. He took off swimming in the direction sent, saw the dead goose and powered to it. Meanwhile my buddy who owned the boat asked me if we were going to need our our "Blow Up Boat" to retrieve the swimming away cripple. (The blowup boat was an inflatable Zodiac boat with 10 HP motor we towed behind the Jon boat for use in tending decoys and running down cripples). I responded "yes" as Hank swam to me with the first goose. I was standing in the water in my chest waders so Hank did not have to exit the water as I knew the air temperatures would be immediately brutal on him when he got out of the water. I took the first goose from him, gave him a hand signal towards the second dead goose and commanded back. Hank turned and swam through the decoys til he located the second dead goose also 50 yards out, grabbed it and headed back to me with it.

Meanwhile the swimming cripple had died and was floating dead about 150 yards out. I once again took the second dead goose from Hank while still in the water and sent him again. He swam out past the decoy spread to about 75 yards and started circling. I hit the whistle I had trained him on, he looked for the command and I gave him an upward hand signal and "Back" command. He took it, swam/turned around and started swimming out to sea. Pretty shortly you could see him plane out and pull hard as he spotted the floating goose.

So 500 yards of non-stop swimming/retrieving in ice water in 13 degree below zero air temps retrieving three 14-15 lb honkers.

The minute we got Hank out of the water and back into the boat his teeth were chattering and he was shivering a bunch. I toweled off his head, neck and hind quarters I could get to which were not otherwise covered by his vest. We both sat down inside the blind and I had a heater running in front of us. After a bit Hank got dry and laid down to take a nap.

I was looking out the porthole in front of me when Hank suddenly sat up, catching my eye with the movement. I looked down and the top of his head was a ball of flame!!! Apparently he had rolled over and gotten his frizzy hair top knot too close to the heater.

I yelled "Hanks on FIRE!!!" and immediately tamped the fire out with heavily gloved hand. The stench of burned dog hair filled the blind. Hank looked up at me like "Take it easy on the heavy petting there Boss".

Alls well that ends well. That Hank dog was special and to date I would rate him my best ever. Nothing stopped him except 16 years of living ...