The finished product!!

[nube]

Got this brilliant idea last year but it ended up to cost me quite a bit. I have a big Marsh that is unbelievable for birds. Even when spooked off of it they come back after a couple days. Mostly widgeon,gadwall. specks and Canadas using it. We hunted it enough to know if we had proper blinds that we could smash them real good.

One of the problems I had is that most of my clients are older and not use to running around in mud so I bought an Argo to swim them out to the blinds. It will make things so nice.
Each blind can be moved around the marsh to where the birds want to be. They float as well so water level is not an issue.
There are thousands of birds that use this marsh and it is only 500 yards by 1600 yards
I also bought 6 dozen extra floater duck decoys, 12 speck floaters and a dozen Canada floaters. How's that for a spread!!

Here are some of the blinds I made up.

Got to love it when a plan comes together. Should help kill me a few birds.

 

[Moosie]

that set up does not suck............

 

[choc dogs]

Looks great, if you have problems with flaring birds, (don't think you will), you might try to lose some of the squareness of the boxes. I spend way too much time trying to outsmart a bird with a brain the size of a peanut. If you're going to be tossing that many decoys every day, look into "texas rigging" them, I started doing that about 7 years ago, never looked back since.

 

[nube]

Those are great ideas. I plan on Cutting down soem willow bushes or small aspens and putting them in the mud around the blinds. The water is only mid thigh high the whole way across the water so I can bunch up all I need. Also this is a DU project marsha nd there are small 10 yard by 10 yard dirt mounds all over the place in there like mini islands so the birds are used to higher and weird shaped things in there. Also like I said earlier the species of the birds are mostly widgeon, gadwall, teal, divers more so than the smarter type birds like mallards. We hunted the edges of the marsh last year and found the birds came real hiigh and then dove straight down and coasted 10 feet off the water all down the middle of the open water. The blinds will get us out enough from the edge but yet still look normal and we should be able to hit them hard. We did well fromt he edges but it was farther shooting and did not have decoys out.

I also thought about texas rigging them. Maybe strings of 8 or 10 on a line and have a bunch to fill in where I need to. Plan on keeping the decoys in the blind as well. Nobody else gets out there to hunt them. Just have to build a bench in there. They are 8ft by 8ft and fit 3 shooters comfortably. Heck you could have a nap in them if you wanted. I might put the blinds 10 yards apart and hunt 2 guys in each blind. We will see how she goes.

Any suggestions or thoughts are welcome both good or bad.

 

[grizzly5028]

sweet duck blind! Id be happy with that one for sure

 

[jlmatthew]

Thanks for the reminder, I gotta get out and build mine

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

Thanks for buying an argo to get this ol fart out of fighting mud!Been there done that....may be one of primary reasons I got an artificial knee! Hope to hunt widja next year!

 

[highmountian]

That is one sweet sweet set up!

 

[nube]

Thanks for buying an argo to get this ol fart out of fighting mud!Been there done that....may be one of primary reasons I got an artificial knee! Hope to hunt widja next year!

No problem TOM! It has been a hard thing in the past for older guys and even some that may be rounder in shape in some of the swamps in Alberta. Our swamps are very mushy mud and guys get stuck real easy in them and can't walk far. This was the only way to make this possible and hopefully it is worth the cost of it all and I believe it will be.

If you are serious about coming up make sure you talk to me by Jan. I was 90% booked by Mid Feb with deposits in from guys. I am fully booked this year and just turned down a group of 3 yesterday and one other a couple weeks ago. My season was extended more than I want to do as well this year and next looks like it will be as many guys or more. I don't like having different groups in camp either unless it is o.k with each other. Had to do that with 2 hunt dates this year and it is not something I like to do.

I'll post up some pictures when I get done the season. My last day of hunting is Ocober 23 this year so I should get some pics out by mid November before I go kill myself a big whitetail. Should be an awesome season.

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

Ummmm....based on booking, may be 2013 after Ivory in 2012!

 

[nube]

Yup, Ivory will eat the budget up real quick I hope to do that some day. Probably will be a long time waiting though. Who are you hunting with and where?

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

Still planning on me comparing your mud to SE LA mud ....can't be worse!

As you know my BB friend, I am going to BOTS next year.....my hunt requires $5K per 10 pounds above what I booked for.......I could end up above my knees again!

 

[nube]

Yes , I did know that. I forgot. I think you will find it will be worth every penny in the end. But I do know what it feels like. I have decided not to put a price tag on my leopard hunt and just enjoy it and worry about things after. If you stress about cost you will find it not as enjoyable and you may regret some things after. Can't wait for the report.

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

My good Zimbabwe friend calls the "expeditions" SKI trips.....Spending Kids Inheritance

 

[StrutNut]

We have good success with similar blinds. Keep a hand full of black zip ties. That cut vegitation dies off and starts to stick out in a matter of days so you will often be adding fresh cuts to it to keep it natural. As the rushes around go brown it will be a lot easier to keep it looking right. Divers, yeah, they wont care but those honkers will.