Should You Be Hunting From A Sneak Boat?

By Jeff Cuvelier

Summary: For just shy of 20 years Jeff and I have owned various jon boats with and without blinds attached to hunt ducks. Either using these boats simply for transportation to get to a spot and then hunt from a make shift blind, or to hunt from the boat/blind itself we’ve enjoyed many good hunts.

It became apparent to Jeff and I that the two hunting methods that we were using each had their limitations. These limitations included:

Concealment limitations – i.e. the inability to effectively hunt in areas with little or no vegetation

Profile limitations – we were having less than desirable efficiency because of the profile of the blinds we were hunting from

Lack of true mobility with little effort to relocate and reset our spread

Inability to hunt extremely shallow water (even with a mud motor you can still only get so far)

The inability to consistently hunt the X because of some of the limitations listed above

So with those limitations in mind, four years ago we incorporated sneak boats into our hunting strategies (for both ducks and geese) and the results have been nothing less than outstanding.

Advantages Of Sneak Boats

Here’s a short list of some of the advantages that we’ve seen in using sneak/layout boats:

Greater mobility – we can hunt almost anywhere we choose regardless of the vegetation, water depth or competition in the area

Rapid set up time – it takes almost no time to set up or if needed, to take down, move to a new location and reset

The ability to hunt the X – now regardless of where the birds want to go, we can get there and hunt it effectively

A higher degree of efficiency – even where we could hunt from an aluminum boat blind or make shift blind, because there is virtually no profile our efficiency dramatically increased

An ability to “get away from the crowd” – the places you can hunt with these boats is almost limitless

Affordability – sneak boats cost far less than a 14' jon boat can be either paddled, push poled, or walk your boat to the spot so you don’t have to buy a motor

When Would We Recommend Sneak Boats

We would highly recommend that you consider adding a sneak/layout boat into your waterfowl hunting arsenal if:

You hunt in highly competitive areas and you need the ability to gain an advantage over the others that are hunting around you

You want/need greater mobility

You hunt or want to hunt areas with little or no cover to hide a conventional boat or make shift blind

You hunt in areas that hold the same birds for a long period of time which causes them to become stale and difficult to hunt

You want to increase your effectiveness and efficiency

You don’t want to spend or can’t afford a larger aluminum boat, motor and blind

You want to enjoy some of the most up close and personal duck hunting possible (ducks, and geese for that matter, have landed so close to our sneak boats that we could have actually touched them – that’s quite an experience and quite a sight)

So if you’re looking for a way to kill more ducks and geese in the future, consider adding a sneak/layout boat to your duck hunting toolbox.