Avery Sled Idea?

[JEDJR]

Guys, As I go through all the new waterfowling catalogs, I look at all the stuff out there for duck and goose hunters.
Avery makes groundblinds that fold up for portability, Pit and blind bags to consolidate our gear decoy bags x-large to pothole size and everything in between.
Now, For the mobile goose hunter, He needs a gun, a groundblind, blind bag for gear and decoys to hunt.
Even with Avery's innovations on these products, trying to carry this out all at once is almost impossible, especially in hard to reach really muddy areas. I know, I tried it several times last year.
My point is , Has there been any more talk on a sled to pull gear out to the field with?
There has to be a market for this. What I just described is a true case scenario, and anyone who has tried to carry all this at once understands what I'm talking about.

A sled with some small sides to keep anything from falling out with a good strong rope to pull. Details can be worked out on length, color, etc..
Any thoughts on this??

[Sully]

I think a sled or some kind of cart would be great. Just like you said, you have to have something to carry a gun, blind, bag, and make it where it would at least hold a bag of decoys. I've got some public areas I hunt that a sled would make it much easier. Especially if I hunt it by myself, I always have to make 2 or 3 trips to the truck, and it is a LONG walk.

[Brett Beinke]

Jed,

Up here ice fishing is very popular and a lot of guys will have the exact sled you are talking about to haul all their stuff out on early and late ice. Many of these guys give their sled double duty in the fall for hauling out decoys on sholders or by dragging the sleds behind ATV's. From my own experience with them if you do not drag then behind an ATV it is time to break out the Power Hunters and the skinny's for hunting land or waterkeels for hunting water. The best bag out there for packing in water decoys is Avery's Floating Decoy Bag. It can also handle a lot of Oversized Shells! As far as Avery making something along these lines it is difficult to say as there are a lot of irons in the fire right now but you never know.

[JEDJR]

Skinny's? And leave my GHG and DSD Specks at home?? :eek: :eek:

I know theres alot of irons in the fire right now Brett, I was just wondering if you guys were still kicking the idea around.

As you stated, these things can pull double or triple duty, and we got alot of positive feedback on this idea from alot of hunters on these in the past.

[ksgoosekilr]

I wouldn't think there would be too much of a market. You can buy one like you describe for $20 at cabeals that also floats (*** long as you don't tip it too much side to side. I would just go to walmart after winter and buy a cheap plastic sled on clearance. I have seen those in action and they work great.

[JEDJR]

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0027660222058a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnString=hasJS=true&_D%3AhasJS=+&QueryText=sled&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2F common%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.22&Go.x=29&Go.y=8&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=sled&noImage=0&returnPage=search-results1.jsp

Here is the one in Cabelas. I would like to see something alittle longer and wider for carrying more fullbodies, but this may have to work for now..

[Mark Moates]

Jed,
Scott and I use a sled to pull all of our gear out to the blind. We attach it to the back of our four wheeler. It works great.

Mark Moates
Avery Pro-Staff

[JEDJR]

Mark, do you use the one in the link I posted, or is there something better out there?

How's Scott doing? Haven't heard from him in awhile. I know he is really busy this time of year.
Let him know if I'm in town and he needs any help at Bowies or Spillway Sportsman in a couple weeks to unload some decoys or help out at the store, to give me a call.

[Mark Moates]

Jed,
It is very similar to the one in the picture. We usually do not carry more than one bag of decoys in the sled. Usually our decoys are already at the blind. We mainly use it to carry our gear.

I will tell Scott you said hello and to give you a shout.

Mark Moates
Avery Pro-Staff

[Rick Hall]

Fellow who used to hunt with us sold a great sled/poor-man's-coffin-blind he called a "Ground Box". Just a plain poly tub that was light, stackable, and sized to accomodate a large man lying down. Wish I'd bought a half dozen, despite what little doubt killed it for him: a much too high price. Was trying to get well over $100 (have $189 in my head), when he could have sold 'em to half the waterfowlers in the country for $60-70 per.

[JEDJR]

We normally pull our goose spreads out with a 4 wheeler and 12 foot utility trailer, but there are places you cant take that,And some walk in hunters may not have that luxury and thats when the sleds would earn their pay.I'm sure I can get atleast (2) 6 slot bags in that Cabela sled until something better comes along..

[Rick Hall]

Jed, I've two of the larger "Sport Sleds" shown in you Cabela's link, rigged to work in tandem or seperately, and they're MVP candidates at my blind. Not as stable as I'd like, but oh-so useful for both deploying and taking in my goose dekes and making major shifts in my duck spread to accomodate wind changes. And, while they're not cut for it, I have used them to keep my butt dry in otherwise unhuntable spots, too.

Would much rather something of my old friend's Ground Box's dimensions, but the SS beats snot out of nothing. Even been thinking about harnessing Blue up with one for field hunts and taking some of the load of my own tired tail.

[JEDJR]

Originally posted by Rick Hall:
Even been thinking about harnessing Blue up with one for field hunts and taking some of the load off my own tired tail.Cajun ingenuity.... ;) :D

[Rick Hall]

Close - Hillbilly lazyness.

(We West Virginians are proud of our heritage, too. 'Least until someone mentions that slimy monument to pork-barrel politics, Byrd.)

[Christian Curtis]

I agree that a sled would be a great idea. I could see it's value in several applications...

Walk-in hunters
Pulling behind an ATV
Picking up and Putting out decoys

This is a really good suggestion. Thanks for the input and I'll pass the idea along.

[Allan Stanley]

JED,

This is a really good suggestion. I have 3 of those sleds that you pictured, and could use more. I use them all the time. They could be improved upon though.

[Rick Frisch]

I have one big concern about these sleds as I read this post. Doesn't all this pulling them around on ground wear out the bottom? I would think it would be pretty hard to keep them from not wearing out.

Thanks,
Rick

[JEDJR]

Rick, Made of a thick, hard plastic, for pulling across sheet water,ice, muddy or dry fields? I see some scratching into the plastic at most, but nothing that would hurt the performance of the sled.
There cant be no more than 2 different kinds of these on the market. Something that is well thought out for the hunters needs, that would lay flat in the bed of a pickup,, so you could store gear on top of it for travel,.. Has great selling product written all over it!.

[jamesmc]

We use deer drag sleds we purchased from wing supply for 20 bucks. We also use them as cheap layout blinds. We attached canvas material for a wind break and then topped them off with die cut max4 camo. They are light weight, can accomendate a average size man and pull great behind a 4 wheeler. Whole setup with blind and all cost about 40 bucks. Just an Idea for you.

[Doug Steinke]

A friend I hunt snows with has two sleds similar to the ones in the photo. They are a little larger with taller sides. If I had a picture, Brett could ID them. They come from “up-nort, Yah-no for dem ice fisherman”. They are awesome for carrying in stuff on frozen ground or ice. They are probably the ones you are talking about because thaey were made out of a 1/4-3/8" thick black plastic and even when dragged on a gravel county road barely ate into the plastic. The ones we used could handle about 18 full sized floaters and thrown on top of them another 3 dozen shells, blind bag and a gun . The problem is when we try to pull them back out (1/2 mile) of the marsh or cornfield when it heats up and ground turns to mud. The word suction comes to mind. After a few hunts of doing this we tried to adapt bicycle wheels, nope, sank to the axles. We tried go-kart wheels, nope, think of making a mud snowman. The last couple of years it has been dry so we have been able to drive in and we haven’t had to worry about the sled problem. A few moons ago a company in Lincoln was working on a sled/layout blind and it was one heavy brut. You're on to something Jed, this project has merit. Keep thinking!

[Mark Moates]

Rick,

Scott has had his for about five years and it has a few scratches but it is far from worn through.
Most of the time you are going to be pulling it across mud, water, ice, or snow.

Mark Moates
Avery Pro-Staff

[Christian Curtis]

Hey Ricky...

Most of us hunt ducks over water and it isn't to tough on the bottoms!!!

[Rick Frisch]

Christian,

Why wear waders when you don't have to?
Dry field hunting is the deal up here.

[GooseFlocker]

FYI, at the Nodakoutdoors web page, they are selling a decoy sled. This sled has a decoy bag attached to the sled. The decoy bag has a drawstring to keep your gear secured. This unit sells for $99.99.

[JEDJR]

http://www.store.nodakoutdoors.com/product_info.php/products_id/104

Nice for duck decoys,but IMO, Way too small for a goose rig..Thanks for the info though..

We need something with the goosehunter in mind...... ;)

[GooseFlocker]

JEDJR

That appears to be the smaller sled you posted. It looks like there is a larger field sled offered on that same web address.

[JEDJR]

http://www.store.nodakoutdoors.com/product_info.php/cPath/6_18/products_id/58

Sorry, Here is the sled you were referring too. It says it holds 18 Bigfoots?? Dont look that big to me, but will surely look into it.

I would like just a sled, that we could put decoy bags or 6 slot bags, or whatever on it.
This is a good start for info.

Thanks again for your help!

[NEDUCKBOY]

I have used the smaller of the two sleds with the bag attatched for a couple of years now and they are great for duck decoys and have held up great, we put in about 3 doz standard and over sized deeks in each one(can fit 4 doz. per bag but they get top heavy if you do and tip over once in a while) and their is still room to put your gun and blind bag in or on top and drag it out to the blind.

JED I tried my DSD in it and could only get 12 in one bag no problem but I couldnt get much else in it.

[Stubble_Hunter]

I recalled seeing some of these in Cabela's a while ago and I was able to find them on the internet, otter sleds. They come in about 5 different sizes and look to be able to hold quite a few decoys in bags. Just type in otter sled in your internet search engine.

[JEDJR]

http://www.otteroutdoors.com/sleds.html

Thanks for the info. I think the ''perfect'' sled would have 6 inch sides, just enough to hold gear in without sliding out, and also would help reduce weight. I would like to see them wider as well.

Keep the info coming..

[mr-chessie]

I now have three ways to get dekes and gear into "walk in" situations.
1)I have a very light small sled similar to the one found at cabelas that I bought at K-Mart years and years ago. Very nice for dragging long distances in the field especially over snow. Not very good in water and definetly will not support the weight of a dog. Very light and will hold a decent amount but not very sturdy.
2) Two years ago I bought an otter sled that you are referring to. AWsome sled that will last a lifetime. It will carry a lot and will support a dog on the water if you hunt a lot of areas that you can't get a dog out of the water when it is cold. This is the primary reason I bought it. However, if you are doing any dragging over dry ground, you will kill yourself. It is just too heavy empty and when you start putting stuff in it it is a dead man's drag if you know what I mean. It is perfect for water drag ins, dragging over ice, maybe snow drag ins, or idealy, if using on land, behind a 4 wheeler but I would not want to drag it in a dry field by hand.
3) My kids bought me one of those cabelas marsh decoy carts for Father's Day and I am anxious to give it a try this fall. It looks like it will wheel in nice over long walks of dry land to get to the water, very sturdy, and converts to a laydown backrest or a bench when you get there. Downside is it is pricey and of course you need to find a dry spot to get the dog out of the water as this tool won't help in that department.
Hope the info helps.
Ken

[WI_LabLover]

I think the Cabela's Sport Sled has the most appeal. You can drag it over ice, snow, field and also attach it to or pull behind your boat.

I also agree that if it were another 3-4 feet longer and could accomodate 3-4 dozen FB's, and other gear, I would be all over it. But, like most posted, it'll probably have to do for now until someone builds a better (and still affordable) mousetrap.