Duck boats: Hunt out of them or just use for transport?

In a large reservoir that does not have much shoreline cover, would you rather use a boat to take you to your spot or would you rather hunt out of it with a boat blind? I'm looking into restoring a boat for next season and am not sure which way I would go with it. The use would obviously also determine what kind of hull shape I would need. I've only hunted ponds and flooded fields but would like the option of trying bigger water when conditions are right. Thanks for any thoughts and advise.

Just depends how far you want to go with a blind.. if its possible to hunt shallow I usually will hunt away from a boat.. but its nice to have when your hunting deeper water.

Buy a layout and throw it in the boat. Park your boat 200yds down the bank with a camo cover on it.

Unless there is a ton of flooded cover, a boat blind sticks out like a sore thumb.

I would like to have an option.

I just use mine for transport. Like Buff said most of the time they stick out like a sore thumb. But that being said, I've seen guys shoot a lot of birds out of a boat blind.

I'd only use mine at the coast. haven't had a chance to try it out, but might have a chance next weekend. Folds down and pulls nicely.. the only problem is space.. can't take my dog, decoys and all the brush I need to brush it in.. there's a lot of shell most coastal places I hunt anyway so I usually leave the dog at home.




There's a brush burn pile the locals use near the boat ramp so I usually grab a few fresh palms on the way out. I like the tall skinny ones i can stab in the mud around the boat to hide the outline a little better (In the past we've grabbed them to build a makeshift blind on the shoreline).

Dumb question alert: If all you're really using it for is to get you to your spot, and you're only using it on a big reservoir with not many stumps/timber/rocks, couldn't you just use a bass boat to move you and your gear and then cover it heavily a good ways from where you're set up?

If you're gonna park and walk in, you dont need to cover it. Ducks see boats around the lakes all the time. Park 200 yards out and it won't be an issue.

There is more than one answer here. WHat ducks are you hunting? Divers and puddlers are two different methods all together. You can dern near hunt divers out of a yellow school bus. Other ducks not so much. I never had mush luck with the pop up blinds and mallards. They circle, get on top and see stright down to bust you. I always had to park it up under a tree where the canopy of the trees hid the open hole of the blind. With divers on the coast we hardly ever went through the trouble to pop the blind up. We just parked it in high reeds and hammered away. So my answer to you is it is situational.