The Pelican 100 is a great choice for those looking for a lightweight or cheaper kayak. At 10ft long and only 36lbs, it is one of the easiest kayaks for transportation and storage.
I have been duck hunting from a Pelican 100 ever since I moved out of my parents house and bought my first kayak. The 10ft Pelican kayak seems to have a different name/house branding at the various outdoor stores, but they are all basically the same. This isn’t exactly what comes to mind when you first think of a duck hunting kayak, but it is an excellent option if you are willing to put some work into it.
This kayak is perfect if you need to cross land before getting to the water, or if you need to drag it up steep banks or tough terrain. It is extremely lightweight, but still stable enough to shoot from. It is one of the smallest kayaks on this list so if you are 250lbs or more, it’s going to feel small, and you might want to consider another option.
Overall, I highly recommend this kayak for anyone who is concerned about budget or who would rather save some money and build their own setup than purchase something commercially. Another reason to buy this kayak is if you want a lightweight kayak that you can take anywhere.
With the twin-arched hull, this kayak is plenty stable to shoot out of. I have spent the night sleeping in this kayak out on the water in the marsh. I will often take my waders off while I am in the kayak and have occasionally stood up in the kayak to put on an extra pair of sweats. Standing in the kayak is a little sketchy, it takes a fair bit of balance, but the point is, this kayak is stable.
Being a small, 10’ long, 28” wide kayak, it is not nearly as stable as my Ascend H12. I prefer to shoot out of it by pushing it back into some weeds. But I will shoot out of the Pelican in the open water or while floating down the river and have never felt like I was going to tip it. The one thing to be cautious of with this, is the over the shoulder, behind the back shots. With a fairly narrow kayak like this, it is really easy for your center of gravity to get outside the stable zone, and when the shot goes off, it can make you lose your balance. The remedy to this is to lean into the shot so you aren’t hanging off the edge before you pull the trigger.
Weight is where this kayak outperforms many of the other more expensive duck hunting kayaks. It is insanely lightweight. I strap a cart to the kayak and use it like a decoy sled when I take it to walk-in hunting areas. I would rather take the kayak and use it as a cart than carry a bag of decoys in on my shoulders.
The base weight of this kayak is 36lbs. My kayak has been modified into a layout, so most of the top has been cut out. I bet without the blind, it is around 25lbs. Don’t get me wrong, even with the extremely low weight, it can still be a pain pulling it back to the truck after the raffia camo gets wet, but it’s manageable. I take this kayak a ton of places I would never dream of dragging my Ascend H12.
The Pelican 100 is one of the cheapest options out of our poll. Additionally, it is one of the most popular beginner recreational kayaks you can find. This makes it pretty easy to find a great deal on a used one. It also goes on sale fairly regularly and you can find it at just about any store that sells kayaks. If you want a duck hunting kayak and are hesitant to make the leap because of the cost, this is a great starting point. While I have added kayaks for different hunting situations, there is probably about 60% of my hunts that I still choose the Pelican 100 over my other more expensive options.
The Pelican 100 has fairly average paddling performance. Personally, I don’t paddle this kayak very often. I use it on the walk-in hunts where I need a layout blind that can work when there is anywhere from 3 inches to 3 feet of water. But when I do paddle it, it gets me to where I need to go.
The tracking on this kayak isn’t the greatest. Especially compared to my Ascend H12, it is way more prone to drifting off course unless I am constantly paddling it. It’s a smaller, lighter kayak, so it is going to be affected more by wind and waves as well. If I needed a kayak that was a transportation kayak, and I had easy access to water, this would not be my first pick.
This kayak is not ideal if you need to transport lots of gear. If I am going to paddle to a spot, I will stuff my blind bag behind the headrest. Then I will put my shotgun next to me on one side and a thermos on the other side. That leaves about enough room for a spinning wing decoy and a half dozen full size decoys, or about a dozen teal decoys. A lot of times, that is more than enough if you are in the right place. But most of the time, I will load the kayak up with decoys and drag or cart it in behind me like a sled.
That brings up another point though. Before I had a bigger kayak, this was my only option for all different types of kayak duck hunting. You can definitely get away with towing a sled behind the kayak if you need more storage space, and I have done that on a few occasions. It actually works pretty well, but you need to make sure not to overload the sled because they can get top heavy and tippy very quick. If you are going to be pulling a sled it is normally barely noticeable in terms of extra effort to paddle. But, if it is windy or there are waves, it adds another level of difficulty under conditions that are already less than ideal.
Need help picking the best of the best? See poll results and an in-depth review of our 4 favorites here: 4 Best Duck Hunting Kayaks
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