I'm hoping for some advice on a hunting boat. I walked in on public land all year last year but with all the new water I'm guessing I won't be walking through dried up lake beds to my old spots, so I'm thinking about a boat.

I would get a john boat with a little outboard but I've got two constraints 1) I can't have a trailer at my place, so the boat needs to fit in a one car garage with enough room for my wife's car (priorities...) and be able to ride in a truck bed and 2) I've got around a $500 budget.

Thinking a large two person kayak like the NuCanoe is the best bet for two hunters and a dog, but even used those might be around double my budget. Canoes are cheap on Craigslist, but I've never seen anyone hunt out of one, plus it would be tough to paddle on solo days.

Any suggestions?

I'd suggest a kayak. Been using one for the past 2 seasons and its worked out great.

http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/percepti...amp;N=670787849

This is the one I have and it you watch the sales, you can find it for $449. The biggest drawback is your hunting buddies will need one too if they wanna go with. Paddling is 10000000 times easier than walking through the mud!

I've been tire kicking the idea of picking that yak up. Any picks on how you rig it?

I don't have any pics of it loaded up but I haven't added anything to it. I use the open rear holding area to hold around 2 dozen decoys, a foldup chair and shotgun. The front covered holding area holds a blind bag with ammo and a ton of junk like mojos and cammo netting. I've never hunted from the kayak, I always stash it in the woods or weeds then hunt from whatever cover is available in the area.

I'm all for the kayak idea except for wanting something big enough for 2 hunters and a 60lb dog.

You can fit a small Jon boat in the bed of a truck, and they are light enough to load up by yourself if needed. Just get a transom mount trolling motor and a marine deep cycle battery and you can drive it to your spot. A 50 lb thrust trolling motor pushes a 10 foot Jon boat pretty quick.

You aren't going to be able to fit two guys and a dog in a kayak that's $500 or less, and I wouldn't want a canoe for your purpose.

I would suggest each hunter have his own kayak and load the dog, decoys and dry bag with dry cloths in a separate sled. Also you need to test drive a kayak and go with a kayak that has a weight capacity that is 1/3 greater than your body weight.
TTU, why not a canoe? Curious!

No disrespect, but two grown men in a 10' jon boat plus gear is going to over load that boat down bad.

I think each hunter with their own yak, or a canoe would be better. Personally I'm going with a yak, which is what most of the folks I hunt with have.

See if you can find a 12' - 14' jon boat but gotta have a 60" bottom in it to get any payload and stability....and all welded would be better in the stumps I used to hunt in. It'll still fit in the 6 1/2' bed of a crew cab with the tail gate down...and carry 4-5 dozen dekes. dog and 2 guys using a 12v 24-32lb hand operated MinnKota. If you hunt alone the safety factor is worth the effort and it'll float in 4-6"s.

Red River bottoms above Texoma almost got me couple times before I learned this lesson. I HATE swimming out across 2-3-400 yards of 4" deep water over silty quiksand, with the decoy bag full of 18-24 small dekes for a life preserver and required the shotgun to go to the car wash for a bath with me on the way home.
Ron

Look at 4 rivers layout boats

I'd listen to Hopedale, he has at least 7 years of research put into kayaks and small boats for duck hunting

For garage storage and K.I.S.S. a wide deck sot kayak or a canoe/Kayak hybrid would do you well. You could rig a sling to store it up to the ceiling in the garage. But for one person and gear. Tell your buddy to get his own or buy a 2nd smaller cheap kayak for guests. I have a 9.5 ft camo kayak for guests and carry the gear in my 14.5 ft kayak. Small John boats can be dangerous on N TX lakes. Especially if it has a narrow beam. At least two forum members I know have had catastrophic failues crossing a DFW area lake. With outboard comes a hit on your budget. Titles, tax, tx number registration, and trailer tags. If I had a $500 total budget I would find me an older used heavy aluminium sportsman model canoe. Wide beam, flat bottom with keel. Think summer camp canoe. Can be camoed cheap with krylon and they make clamp on motor mounts. There are flat back models too.

Some good advice here. That's a great point that with a John Boat and outboard comes a budget hit with all of the other stuff- title, tags, etc.

So it sounds like I either need to:

1) Up my budget and wait to get a decent 2 person kayak/canoe hybrid (NuCanoe, KC Kayak, etc)
2) Buy a good kayak for myself and a cheap one for guests
3) Buy a cheap canoe for now and save up for something nicer later

I'm leaning towards option 1 or 2.

This from a guy that doesn't know what a water pump is.

Two kayaks would definitely be the best choice, but he said he wants one craft that can fit two people and a dog. I have personally fit two grown men, a dog, and gear in a 10 foot Jon boat multiple times and never had a problem. Granted, I've never done it with a "husky" fellow, only two guys in the 170-200 lb range. Since you can mount a trolling motor, there is no moving around to paddle, so balancing really isn't an issue. It's definitely not ideal, but he is on a tight budget and it works just fine for those who can't afford a larger boat with a mud motor.

This from a guy who's dog I rescued when his new boat sunk. One of the funniest things I have seen duck hunting.

Ha, I got rid of that layout boat, big men are meant to stick with boats with motors...that was just a cherry topping on a long weekend for me and the dog, we decided to drive all the way back home that night