Good canoes or small boats for hunting?

[JDinPA]

I have a Maxi poke boat and use it creeks, rivers, ponds, lakes. I can stand up it - it's stable.
I duck hunt and fish out it all the time.
It's awesome.

[Desert Rat]

I haven't hunted in a canoe in a while but I've fished out of a few.  I use to use a Gruman 17 ft Alum. but sold it to my brother.  That canoe was bullet (broadhead) proof but might be a bit noisy for bow hunting, especially in stealth mode.  I've been looking at a 16 ft square stearn, plastic laminated boat by Old Town.  Its their Predatoer SS150 model. Looks stable, should take a beating, and will support 950 lbs. Has oar gunwhales as well.  
Good luck in your search,
Brad

[Bill Kissner]

I went through the same question just last year. I ended up buying a Riverhawk. It is kind of a cross between a canoe and a boat. I feel I could not have made a better choice. It is stable enough stand up and bowfish from and will take up to a 25 hp motor. Made of fiberglass and is only 15 feet long. It is almost impossible to overturn.

[Doug R]

Bill your Riverhawk sounds like my cousins 16' Geehnoe. It the most stable thing I've ever seen and will take a 25hp motor also. Its slightly wider (not much) than a canoe but way more stable.

[Bill Kissner]

Doug R

You are correct. It is similar to the Gheenoe. I researched both and decided on the Riverhawk because it is 60 inches wide which is wider than the Gheenoe(I think). I have used it several times and am really happy with it. I am a pretty big lad(old man) and I can stand on the very edge of it with no problem. For its size it is the most stable boat I have ever been in....much more so than a john boat.

[Doug R]

Is the price of the Riverhawk close to the Gheenoe?. I've been thinking of getting one soon.

[waterone]

i've had a gheenoe for over 25 years now, used it to go fishing, move camping and duck hunt on rivers.  I've used it for bowfishing and it did fine.  It has been the best boat i have had the pleasure of using, and I've had a good bit of experience with boats.

Gheenoes are a quality design and come in various sizes - only problem with the larger ones is that you really can't car-top them.

Good things about the Gheenoe is that you can pole them, paddle them, row them, power then with and electric motor or a gasoline motor - I've done all with mine. I have heard of a gheenoe being rigged as a sailing craft.  

I guess the main weakness is the the gheenoe is not a rough water or white-water boat, it likes still waters and really nothing more than moderate currents.

[Hawken1911]

Last year I was looking for a small canoe for solo float-hunting.  I looked at many of the canoes already suggested, but ended up going with a 12' Old Town Pack canoe.  I love it.  Here's the manufacturer's description:

Pack:

Versatile and lightweight, the Pack is an ideal easy-paddling canoe for novices or experienced canoeists. A V-entry hull with keel makes the Pack easy to handle, and it's particularly well-suited for a double-bladed paddle. Tough and light, at 33 pounds, this 12' long and 32" wide canoe can easily be carried by one person on a portage or on and off a vehicle. Carrying capacity is 400 pounds. Pack has black vinyl gunwales, polyethylene decks with grab handles and a cane seat.  Color: green.

[Mark Fedrizzi]

If I had a choice (given the wright conditions) it would be out of a canoe EVERY time--

I have a 10' (actually measures about11') Raddison--36lbs and will hold 2 men up to 500lbs (yes--it has been over it capacity several times)

[ber643]

I've had a Radisson (Sportspal - same-same) for about 16 years. Love it (only 35# @ 12 ft. - even I can pick it up and walk away with it). Outside is flexible aluminum, Soft Foam inside keeps it pretty quiet, very stable (I wouldn't stand to shoot, though), oars or paddles. Used it for fly fishing (10 ft. rod), duck hunting, deer hunting, camping, transport. You can almost use it to navigate a mud puddle. Do yourself a favor and look at them real good - I noticed their web site is already posted in this thread.

[Osagetree]

I built this one from 1/4" marine plywood. 15 1/2' long, about 70 lbs with about a 4' draft in the water. This thing did'nt track well but would float in a mud puddle without dragging bottom. It lasted over 10 years. Even though it was kept out in the weather!
Materials costed me around $100.00 back then. It came from a plan called "The Six Hour Canoe". Cause that's how long it takes to buid it!

 

Took several long trips in it, over 15 miles each downstream hunting the banks along corn feilds. Almost got close enought to a whitetail to put an arrow in him, but when he realized I was not a floating log it bolted like it had been shot.

Tried to bow fish out of it for turtles and carp this summer with no luck. It is spooky standing up to shoot and the best light to see into the water is overcast sky's. Sunlight glare makes it tough.

This was my last trip in the canoe. As you can see I had a patch on the side and the trim is rotting off. It was a good boat while it lasted!

 

I enjoyed this project of canoe building and it seemed to make my adventures in it even more memorable! Whish I had taken pictures on more of our adventures on the water.

[Chris Surtees]

I have seen a lot of the Gheenoe's or similar boats around my home town in FL. They are very practicial boats and are just about as common as the John boats.

I have looked real hard at the Old Town Predator SS but the weight of the canoe is the only thing holding me back. The over 1700lbs weight capacity is impressive though.

The Sportspal or Radisson seem to have the best combination of canoe weight and capacity.

I still have a couple months to decide and the options are numerous but I do not think I could go wrong with any of them.

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

Chris

[Ron LaClair]

I had this birch bark canoe for over 10 years. It's  a great feeling to float a river in a traditional bark canoe.

This was an Algonquin style.

   

[Ron LaClair]

This one was a cedar strip canoe made by a Professor at MSU. He used it for solo canoe trips into Canada. It didn't have any seats and you had to kneel on the bottom (I had better knees back then)   :D

I used it on a trap line for a number of years and then sold it to a man that was moving to Alaska....that boat sure got around    

   

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Thats an awsome looking birch bark conoe Ron,I would love to have one for trapping and hunting.

You have the best pictures,I could look at them all day.Have you ever wrote any books?Because I sure would like to read them if you have.

Merry Christmas

Tracy

[Ron LaClair]

Thanks Tracy, I'm glad you like the pictures. I've got a lot of them and hope to get them in a book one of these days.

I started my biography a while back and work on it from time to time. I have to go back every once in a while and add something that I forgot. If I'd have wrote it 50 years ago it would have been a lot eaiser    

[Dingus]

Like Osagetree, we built our own.  'Cause I'm cheap/poor and it was fun, the boys helped a bunch.  Made a lot of memories.

The style is called the Cajun Pirogue, and here's link if you want more pics... or a starter kit.

 http://www.unclejohns.com/boat/default.htm

You can put a transom on it for a motor or even rig it for sailing.

BTW, some of my best hunting spots in VA were public land areas that I got to by water.

[Mark Fedrizzi]

Mike--thanx for bringing up the uncle Johns link--that would be a nice project for myself and the Kids---

    Happy Holidays---Mark

[Scott M]

How about the otter stealth 2000,  its mainly a duckboat, but very stable:
 http://www.otteroutdoors.com/stealth2000.html

[Jock]

  :rolleyes: