Anyone Hunting Out Of A Devlin Honker?

M

Mike Trudel

Well-known member
At this stage this is a dream, but a dream is the first step in a plan. I am trying to consolidate a couple of boats, down to one primary boat.

I want to use this boat for a tender on the Great Lakes and a regular lake and river boat to hunt out of, and was hoping for some feedback on the boat.
Thanks. Mike
 
David Chandler has either the Honker, Cackler, or Snow Goose...I get them all mixed up....I think he's still running a 27hp shorttail mudmotor on it, too.
 
Do a search on Honker in search posts.

Look up Phil Nowack he has built one, he's in north east Iowa not to far from Wisconsin.

I have the same dream, just no funding to go with it!!
 
Mike,

Pete Markantes (sp?) built a nice Honker as well. He's a great guy, may want to search his name and send him a message. I don't believe I have his email addy, if I do, I'll send it to you.

I was speaking with a guy in Cabelas the other day and he built a Honker... he loves the boat, handles well and takes a chop no problem.

Andrew
 
I have the plans for a Honker. I was going to build it with a small cuddy but never got around to it. It's a lot of boat. Pete Markantes (sp?) is a heck of a builders masterpiece. Wher has Pete been lately?
 
I guess the most important question is what sort of blind you would put on it? It is an aweful big boat to hunt with a low blind. I hunt my snowgoose most of the time that way when I'm by myself and it hides super for a boat that size. I would think that you couldn't hunt a honker well from a low blind since the sides are higher than the snowgoose and the showgoose is pretty high for hunting that way. If you would hunt it with a high blind, why build a low profile boat with gunwales that come to your knees? Why have a low profile boat where you are going to take a bunch of splash if you aren't going to use the low profile aspect? I think what Phil did to build up like a TDB makes a ton of sense in a boat that size. A low boat would be a positive for dealing with a layout, but a boat with a cockpit would make transporting large amounts of decoys tougher compared to an open design.
 
I do hunt low. We use chairs cut down to 3-4 inches and keep a low profile. having never seen the boat, I wasn't sure how high it would appear. If guys get away with those big stand up to shoot blinds, what difference would it make how high it is, it will still be lower than that type of blind.

I was thinking a nice buggy style, swing up dodger, so you could hunt 3 guys and a dog crossways, would be a nice setup for shore hunting and use the layout for open water, although on the Great Lakes, I could still hunt out of the honker for sea ducks.
 
I do hunt low. We use chairs cut down to 3-4 inches and keep a low profile. having never seen the boat, I wasn't sure how high it would appear. If guys get away with those big stand up to shoot blinds, what difference would it make how high it is, it will still be lower than that type of blind.

I was thinking a nice buggy style, swing up dodger, so you could hunt 3 guys and a dog crossways, would be a nice setup for shore hunting and use the layout for open water, although on the Great Lakes, I could still hunt out of the honker for sea ducks.
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If you are going to hunt that way, I would think it would be a good choice. A chair 3-4-5-6" would be about right from what I would quess given the combing height of my snowgoose.

Having and consistantly doing well on a variety of bird species with stand up type blinds are two different things. Shooting puddlers out of a boat that size would be the biggest problem in my experiance. I rarely hunt puddlers from the boat and only use it for transport.
 
I only hunt puddlers opening weekend during both the north and south openers out of an old style skiff. After that it is strictly divers.
 
I only hunt puddlers opening weekend during both the north and south openers out of an old style skiff. After that it is strictly divers.
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Looks like you are all set then.

T
 
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