If you want to come in under a big buck’s radar, try slipping up on him in a pirogue.
There are many different models of pirogues on the market, as well as homemade ones, and it is largely a matter of personal choice as to which one to use. I have owned both the Bobcat and Water Moccasin brands, and was happy with both. However, there are certain things to consider before buying any type of pirogue.
Is the water you plan to hunt shallow or deep, is it slack water or does it have a current, is it open or filled with tree tops and logs? Do you intend to have a trolling motor on your pirogue? And don’t forget the boat’s carrying capacity. It not only has to hold you, but also a large deer, trolling motor and battery, and the myriad equipment you might want to carry.
Jim Dunegan paid the price once for overloading his pirogue.
“I killed a deer on a slough one time, and put him in my 9 1/2-foot boat and then had to sit on top of him,” he said. “I sunk the pirogue two or three times before I finally got back to the truck.”
If you’re not a particularly big person, then the Bobcat is a good choice. It is quite stable, even with its low profile, and it glides through the water and over submerged obstructions like a stealthy snake. But it has a rather small carrying capacity, and I found my 6-foot, 2-inch frame to be a bit top heavy when trying to negotiate tricky currents.
For big people like me, the Water Moccasin’s unique arrowhead design and higher gunwales provide better stability in swift current, and it has a significantly larger carrying capacity. A drawback is that the same arrowhead design makes it a little more difficult to paddle.
No matter what brand of pirogue you choose, if you plan to hunt over long distances or in creeks that have a current, be sure to put a trolling motor on the boat. When drifting downstream you can cover a long distance before you know it, and getting back to the truck can be an exhausting experience when you have to paddle against the current. A trolling motor makes the day go much better.
If you decide to use a trolling motor, go with the bow-mount instead of the built-in stern model. For one thing, it gives you more flexibility. You can use it when hunting swift water or take it off if you just want to paddle around. It also makes the boat much more maneuverable, and you can literally turn on a dime to avoid stumps and cypress knees. You can also negotiate shallower water with the bow mount because you can simply raise the motor if need be. If you have a built-in motor, the rudder will drag in the mud.
Bow-mounted motors are also convenient for scooting over submerged logs and through brushtops. I just get up a bit of speed, lift the motor at the last minute and then drop it back down once the bow clears the obstruction. With stern motors, the rudder or propeller often gets hung up. The worst-case scenario is to get a stout limb caught between the rudder and propeller because then you’re really stuck.
As far as color is concerned, it seems the darker the better. One of my boats was camouflage and the other a dark green, and both worked fine. Dunegan, on the other hand, prefers black.
“My first boat was black, and I could slip right up on the deer, but then I got a brown one and they would always see me and run off,” he said. “I finally figured out that the deer’s predators are brown and they were seeing the boat and running. So I painted it black and started sneaking up on them again.”
