Durabak for Duck Hunting
If you're a duck hunter and you want to boost your
When hunting ducks and other waterfowl you can increase your chances of success with the right equipment. Two of the main accessories that will help you get more Ducks are Blinds and Boats. Blinds are easy to build yourself, all you need is some plywood, and Durabak.
Making a Duck Hunting Blind
Ducks have great eye-sight, so not only will they see you move but they notice colors really well. If it's just you out there in your camouflage clothes with nothing hiding you, you're slight and uncontrollable body movements will be a giveaway to the prey.
Instead you need to build yourself a blind. A blind is a portable hut for you to hide in, so you can move around inside without the birds noticing you. One of the problems with a blind is that duck hunting season is in the winter, and creating a blind that survives the elements, the waterlog, the cold and wet, and the abrasion from all the other camouflage you attach to it.
You also need to make it light enough to move around, and camouflaged so it doesn't give the game away. ('game' get it?)
You can build a great blind by getting some thin OSB or plywood cut to shape. You can create a shape of 4' x 6' x 5'. Cut one pieces 4' x 6', then three pieces 4' x 4' and attach them together with piano hinges. Make sure you leave the middle hinge folding outward so you can flat pack the whole blind and throw it in your truck. You'll have a 2' wide door opening with that arrangement.
Once you've created the foldable blind, scuff the whole thing, inside and out, with 60 grit sandpaper, then wipe it all down with Xylene. As soon as the Xylene is dry paint on a random, camo pattern, of Military Olive, Forest Green, Black and Brown Durabak 18 Textured. The texture will scatter the light even more and thus confuse the ducks eyes.
Give it at least 3 coats of Durabak and on the bottom edge give even more. You'll be standing this hut up in swamps and wetlands and you'll need plenty of Durabak to seal the wood as well as possible. If you want to cut open some peep and shoot holes, be sure to run over those edges with more Durabak to hide the wood color and protect it.
You can drill some random holes around the blind of various sizes so you can poke some branches and twigs through them to increase camouflage level even further.
Modifying Your Boat for Duck Hunting
In addition to having great vision, Ducks can also hear very well. It's not for nothing that the best duck calls are so good! If your clunking things around your boat making loud noises you can rest assured that it's not just you hearing that.
The ideal duck hunting vessel will have the following qualities; large enough for you and whoever is joining in on the hunt to hunch or lie down, space for your dog (retriever of kills), camouflaged to fade into the background, not noisy and clunky, handle impact and abrasion from ammunition and shotguns, high grip surface so you can get safe footing when shooting, easy to clean (all those bird guts) and last a long time.
The great thing about Durabak's boat paint is that you can use it on aluminum boats, fiberglass boats, wood boats, or even Hypalon Dinghys. It doesn't matter if you're going duck hunting in a Jon boat or a Canoe, Durabak will help you create a tough, long lasting camo look. Durabak forms a 1/16" layer of Polyurethane which does wonders for sound insulation, your clunks will turn to thuds. The crumb rubber granules in the Durabak 18 will give you tons of grip no matter what pattern of colors you go with.
As for long lasting, you can rest assured, Durabak is used on the decks of Nuclear Aircraft Carriers in the US Navy so it will handle any and all impact and abrasion and will protect your boat no matter what.
To create a good camo look you can map out a random pattern with 3M Blue Painter's Tape, you can cut up the shape of the blobs with a utility knife to get the pattern you want. You can try all different Durabak colors, light grey and dark grey, black, military olive, sand, forest green and brown are all great colors to use. You can also mix colors together to create your own. If you want to create a more matte finish you can mix in 10% talc. with the Durabak for that "Stealth" look.
If you already have a camouflage finish on your boat but want to protect it and gain the benefits of Durabak sound deadening and resilience you can coat your existing paint with Durabak Clear which has no color and you can sprinkle DuraGrip Silicon Carbide onto it whilst tacky for high level grip on your boat.
Durabak Decoys
Another way that Durabak can help with duck hunting is to use it's resilient properties to protect your block. Durabak forms an impermeable water resistant membrane when fully cured and it's super tough. It can withstand all that the waterfowl can throw at it and more for many years keeping your deke looking sweet.
Some people even paint their shotgun with Durabak to make it more camouflaged, so there's literally nothing that can't be improved with a coat of this amazing stuff.
So, there are lots of things you can do to 'up your hunting game' with small investment and a little time spent in the garage you can create some world class hunting gear that will leave your friends shocked and impressed that you've truly made it as a waterfowler.
