Being, by nature, a non-risk taker I am not inclined to jump at a chance to do new things. I've never gone mountain climbing, bungee jumping, Para-sailing, or jumped out of perfectly good airplanes (unlike my son). However, having had years of experience in a canoe, including making an "A" in canoeing in college, I answered in the affirmative when Mark Dillow asked me if I would be willing to rent a Kayak for a 1/14/05 - 1/16/05 duck hunt. Mark owns his own "Yak" and his friend Greg Souther owns two. Kevin Wall had dubs on Greg's second Yak so when Mark rented a Yak for me we had a foursome of Yaks.
After work on Friday we headed for Greg's home in the suburbs of San Antonio. We arrived around 8:30 PM and enjoyed a delicious meal of grilled Redfish, rice, and salad, prepared by Greg. We hitched up the Yak trailer, loaded Greg's stuff, and hit the hay shortly thereafter. We got up on Saturday at 3:00 AM and were on the road by 3:30 AM. We arrived in Corpus Christi about 6:30 AM and made it to Mustang Island a little after sunrise (just north of Mustang Island State Park).
When we got to our launch point we were greeted by the blasts of several shotguns going off in the distance. It was overcast and not very windy. Mark and Kevin had hunted this area the weekend before so we had a good idea where to go. All of the Yak's have storage compartments in which we stored our guns, Mark's fast grass (to cover up the Yak's with), and my two ground blinds. We attached a bag of decoys to each Yak using bungee cords. We then launched.
The first thing that I discovered is the dang things are hard to get into. Especially when you're 80 pounds overweight, have on sweats, neoprene waders, a heavy hunting coat, a hunting vest with two boxes of duck shot and 10 goose shells, a camera, two duck calls, and a life vest. I basically straddled my Yak and then just plopped down backwards. Fortunately the Yak did not tip over and away we went.
Again having experience with canoes I thought that Yak's would be a piece of cake. WRONG!!! They take a lot of getting used to, especially to get them to go straight. Just as I was starting to get the hang of it we entered a cove where the water was only about 6" deep. Now instead of paddling we used our paddles as push sticks. This took a lot more exertion than just padding, which was a workout in itself. The paddles stuck in the mud and with each push. You then had to pull the paddle out of the mud. By the end of our journey my shoulders were aching.
We headed for about 100 ducks along the far shore line. They took off, of course, when we got about 100 yards away. We hid the Yak's, set out the blinds, and put out the decoys (except for me). I tried to help but promptly sank to mid calf with each step. The exertion of pulling my leg out of the muck would stick the other one. When I bought my waders about five years ago I bought them 1 1/2 sizes too big (boot size) allowing room for heavy socks. Big mistake!!! When my feet get stuck in the mud and I try to pull them out Sometimes I get them out. But usually I either get the other foot stuck, fall down, or my feet come out of my boots. I wore two pair of heavy socks on day two which definitely helped and Cabela's sells some ankle straps that I'm going to buy that will hopefully help but if you're about to buy waders buy no more than 1/2 size too big.
We knew that it was going to be a good hunt because ducks were starting to land in the spread as the guys were finishing putting out the decoys! We started to see pintails but couldn't get any to come within range. But then the redheads started to come in. The day before we left Mark received a dozen redhead decoys from Cabela's. These decoys paid off in spades. The redheads headed straight for them. Greg nailed the first red of the day. We didn't have a dog so Mark, Kevin, and Greg fetched the birds. At one point we decided that a lot of the decoys were too far out and Mark went and moved several of them closer to us. Red's came in while he was standing in the middle of the decoys. By 10:00 AM or so we had our limit of two each. We decided that no other ducks were going to come in (we only got to shoot at two pintails) so we packed up and left.
Going back was a lot tougher than getting there because we were going across the wind. My Yak constantly wanted to go to the right so I paddled mostly on the right side. We made it back, loaded up, and ate lunch at Snoopy's in Corpus. We then got a campsite at Mustang Island State Park and started to set up camp. We discovered that we forgot the poles to Greg's tent so had to make a trip to Academy in Corpus (I needed a new tent anyway). We set up camp and then at dinner at Blackbeard's in Corpus (all you can eat fried shrimp for $14.99 - yum!). By 9:00 PM we were in bed.
We got up on Sunday at 5:30 AM and headed to our spot. I wore two pair of socks so I was able to help in setting out decoys. Sunday was a completely different day. The strong wind blew away all of the clouds and it was bright and sunny. We didn't even see a redhead. Four groups of Pintails came in but only three ducks came within range. Greg and I missed the first one to come in but nailed the second. By 10:00 AM we decided that we had had enough fun. We loaded up and paddled back. This time my Yak wanted to go to the left and I had to paddle on the left side most of the time. The decoys bags acted like sails, catching the wind, and pushed us away from our destination. We finally made it back, loaded up, and left for the State Park. We got our stuff, ate at Jalisco's in Corpus on the way back, dropped off Greg, and made it back home about 7:00 PM. Along the way we had a big scare - the trailer came off of Mark's truck. Fortunately the chains kept it from causing too much damage but Greg's best Yak now has a twisted bow (nose) and Mark now has a dent in the back of his truck.
Yak's have two primary advantages. They can take you places that you can't get with any other water craft (except an air boat) and they're quiet so they don't scare away game and fish. You also will commune with the beauty of God's creation much more in a Yak. Their major disadvantage is they don't hold much. Mark and Greg state that they're fun to fish out of and to take down rivers like the Guadalupe. We're planning on a Yak fishing trip this spring/summer and a Yak blast and cast (duck hunt and fishing trip) in the fall. Try it and you'll be saying Yakety Yak - I'll be back.