Who accesses their grounds via Kayak?

DBCooper

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I picked up a new tract that I can access from the water. I've been watching the THP (The Hunting Public) guys, and it seems doable (I'd be running a similar hang-and-hunt setup).

Two issues.......

1. I've never even sat in a kayak of any kind. I'm guessing I'd want to go 10-11'. Big enough to have stability, yet small enough to handle by myself.

2. I haven't scouted the Dan River, yet. Can I traverse back UP this body?

Thanks.
 

ncscrubmaster

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I think it’s very doable. Now I don’t have experience on kayaking and hunting but do plenty of fishing out of one. I have a sit on kayak and it’s one of the cheaper ones. I could easily hold my hunting pack and a gun or bow. I move it by myself and haul it in my truck. I might would have to be careful trying to transport a dead deer though. Mine you sit down at water level but on the kayak. I rented one at the beach because we needed an extra. It was a sit on but up a lot higher than mine on a seat. It was very shaky and unstable. The guy ask how I liked it at the rental place and I told him he could have that thing. There is a lot of different kayaks and you may get 100 different opinions.
 

Aythya

Eight Pointer
Anything large that you would carry would have more room and you'd have a lower COG than in a yak.
 

ncscrubmaster

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Someone on here used a kayak to transport a big buck I thought. I remember a picture of it. This is it.
 

Attachments

  • 2E7AA8B7-8A48-420E-A3FC-A7C2FEA2DED2.jpeg
    2E7AA8B7-8A48-420E-A3FC-A7C2FEA2DED2.jpeg
    44.3 KB · Views: 94
Last edited:

DBCooper

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
If I shoot a buck (I'm not shooting a doe, down there), I can access the recovery from the land side. Accessing from the water is just less intrusion.
 

302cj

Old Mossy Horns
I have 3 of the cheaper kayaks. I have the sit on top kind. They are 10' long and even though they aren't $1000 kayaks they are very stable. Easy to maneuver in current and at 50lbs just pickup and drop in water. With gun me and hunting bag I'd be close to weight limit. I have been thinking about doing the same as you but I would tie up another kayak to pull behind me incase I killed anything. Last summer at buckhorn dam I bungee chorded all 3 of them together and pulled wife and daughter around fairly easy.
 

DBCooper

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I haven't scouted the Dan River in this location yet. Getting back UP river is a concern.
 

timekiller13

Old Mossy Horns
Get a canoe. Hauling a deer in a kayak, while doable, is not easy. Also, 10-11 ft kayak is too small. That will not track well.

Getting back up the river is always tricky. Depends on a lot of factors. Hug the shoreline when paddling back up. Just remember, it will take you at least double the amount of time to paddle back up river as it did going down.
 

Soilman

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I'd go with at least a 12 foot ( or larger) sit on top with a high weight capacity. You can "get there" with a sit in kayak, but getting back with a deer in one would be a whole 'nother ball game. The "sit on top" kayaks are generally more stable also. You might also want to be wary of using it after big upstream rains. Rivers often get swift enough after big rains to make paddling upstream difficult, if not impossible.
 

DBCooper

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I appreciate the responses.

Again, if I shoot a deer, I have land access to this area. I would not float a deer out.
 

thelivecanary

Eight Pointer
This is simple, paddle down with your gear and don't leave until you shoot your deer. Hopefully it's the first day, in the morning. Now you won't have to paddle upstream. Worst case scenario you spend three months in the woods...
 

appmtnhntr

Twelve Pointer
I appreciate the responses.

Again, if I shoot a deer, I have land access to this area. I would not float a deer out.
I have a Native FX12 hybrid that I got just for this.

Double duty as a river fishing/hunting rig.

Sit high. Good balance. 350# capacity against a 57# dry weight
 

Helium

Old Mossy Horns
Kayaking for deer can be done...I’ve took in climbing stand and gun via Kayak and even floated deer out behind it.

However, regardless of type of vessel used I would note several things :

1. Good lights for navigating in and out (it will be dark)

2. Prep and emergency kit in case of turning over.. water and temps will be cold. Possibly deadly cold if not prepared m.
 

Lou

Eight Pointer
1. Sure it can be done, I've been hunting from a solo canoe for over a decade. Call me old school, but I can't think of any advantage a kayak has over a canoe when it comes to hunting, and I've used both for a long time. My solo canoe is 14', my tandem is 16'. I usually kneel while paddling, which adds tremendously to canoe stability. You can easily paddle a tandem canoe by yourself, with better balance and tracking, if you sit on the front seat, facing the rear of the canoe. I've done this a bunch as well, when I've needed additional cargo capacity (duck decoys) and used the tandem boat alone.

2. Don't know the Dan River myself, so I can't help you with that. However, you can check the streamflow of a LOT of waterways in NC using this website: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nc/nwis/rt

I paddle a lot in the Neuse river system and find the data very helpful in planning my trips. Flows are presented in "cubic feet per second" which can be hard to visualize. What I've found helpful is to observe the current conditions on site, then look up the data and make a mental note of it for future reference. For example, the Neuse river below Falls Lake is normally a slow trickle around 200 cuft/sec. They're discharging it right now to drop the lake levels, and the current flow is about 2,500 cuft/sec! Quite a difference in conditions!! https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nc/nwis/uv?site_no=02087183

Good luck,
Lou
 

DBCooper

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I know little about kayaking and nothing about the Dan river. What about a trolling motor?

Great idea. I’d be less worried about sound on the return trip and wouldn’t need the trolling motor for the downstream trip.

You guys who have these - will they accept trolling motors?
 

ncsporksman

Button Buck
Consider an electric trolling motor for the trip back up, I use a canoe personally....paddling 1 mile up a slow river is a chore, then throw a buck on..good workout tho

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
Kayaking for deer can be done...I’ve took in climbing stand and gun via Kayak and even floated deer out behind it.

I was wondering about floating the deer behind. Is there a reason why most people put the deer inside the kayak/canoe instead of just floating the deer in the water?
 

Bailey Boat

Twelve Pointer
You can easily paddle a tandem canoe by yourself, with better balance and tracking, if you sit on the front seat, facing the rear of the canoe.

NOW you tell me!!! Where in hell were you in 1985 when I had to learn this the HARD way and had to swim almost a 1/4 mile in Feb in GA??

I was wondering about floating the deer behind. Is there a reason why most people put the deer inside the kayak/canoe instead of just floating the deer in the water?

I'm not sure freshly killed deer float......
 

CountryRN

Twelve Pointer
I have the Creekboat M98. It does well enough for me and I wouldn't have any problem dropping a deer in it to paddle with. They will hold a 55 lb thrust trolling motor if you wanted to put one on it. The company offers the boat with foot peddles for steering the trolling motor with if you wanted it.
Another option that you can consider is the Nucanoe frontier. At 10 ft long the thing is very stable and will carry 500 lb of weight. They are also rated for a 2.5 hp outboard. They carry a sporty price but sounds like it would fit your needs very well. Regardless of what you get, you are not going to want to paddle much of anything for a long distance against any current.
 
Top