layout blinds??

[click]

ok for some reason at today a litttle light came on in my head..
the place i have been hunting is tidal and really hard to hunt, and remain hidden. looking at the tide table for this year there will be more water than last year. Generally there is anywhere form 4 inches to a foot or so of water where i hunt depending on the tide.
i hunted with layout blinds alot back home, does anyone use them up here? im looking at the cabelas model that is good for sitting up to 10 inches of standing water. it's either that or buy the avery model that fits their neo-tub, wiich by the time you add the two togather and shipping is way more. i have thought about alot of different options, im not going to advertise it by putting a semi permanent blind out but i think a layout that is water proof may be just the ticket. any words of wisdom would be great.
thanks,
matt

[Erich_870]

Layout blinds and tides don't play well together in my book. I hunt in similar situations and the tide comes and goes so quickly, you will be getting in and out of your blind every 5 minutes to move. Then you'll be tracking all that water into your blind. If you were hunting a flooded field or some other calm body of water, they would make sense, but I think tides are too fast and unpredictable to use layout blinds. One situation they would work well for is if you were hunting a channel or slough and you wanted to be right on the waters edge and it dropped off below you. Then you could pick your spot so you had some water around you at the highest tide and then have the water in front of you during the incoming and out going tides thanks to the slough. It's really hard to hunt a tide on a flat broad area because the water is always moving.

I hunt out of a small marsh boat called a Marsh Rat. It's basically a floating layout blind. Even has the same style of blind doors.

Erich

[AK Ray]

For shallow water lay out style hunting I would build a Sanford Gunning or Pond Box.

If you don't need a boat then the gunning box works like a sled to haul your stuff and then lay out in for low cover shallow water areas.

[geoff156]

I havent hunted the last 2 seasons but used to hunt the kenai flats every year since I was a kid. Up the last 3 seasons I hunted I used a lay out blind and my bird number increased a lot. Up until then we used the stick blind method and after the first 2 weeks or so the birds were educated and flew way clear of them. Once I got a layout It made it so much easier to hide cover up with reeds and stay hidden. I used a back packable one and I could get up and move to where the birds wanted to be pretty easily. I did get wet sometimes but with my waders etc. on I never got uncomfortable. They definitely work well for areas with no cover.

[yukon]

When I hunt the tidal areas of the duck flats over by the little su I use an Avery Ground Force with a neo-tub. It is light, packs well, I can wedge some decoys in the blind to pack in and it is very effective on the small ponds and sheet water. The neo tub is good for up to 8" of water but I find that anything over 4" makes it hard to get in and out of the blind as it wants to float up. But a layout blind in the short weeds, 3 or 4 decoys and one spinner is a deadly combination on the flats!