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for summer
Take an eco-tour on an airboat
A Stumpknocker Airboat Tour
is a fully narrated tour on the
headwaters of the St. John’s
River. It is an exciting outing
that is fun and educational for the
family, or friends when they visit, or if
you are just staying for a while. This is
definitely one of the most popular eco
attractions on the Treasure Coast.
The story started in the late 1950s,
when I was a young boy. My dad and
a friend of his built a plywood airboat
with a 65 hp Franklin airplane motor
that took us to the marsh where we
fished, hunted, and just enjoyed the
outdoors. Later, they built a cabin in
the middle of a cypress head where we
would spend weekends playing in the
marsh. Then, in the mid ‘80s, I bought
my first airboat. This is when my true
love of the marsh began. It gave me
the freedom to explore the places
that you can only imagine, the sights
that I wish that you could see, and the
experiences that are to be had. About
‘ ‘One of the great joys in my life is
taking people to the marsh, telling some
of the old tales, seeing the wildlife, and
watching them enjoy the experience.
— Steve Hayes, owner Stumpknocker Airboat’ To’urs
At Stumpknocker Tours, we
start ‘em young to ensure a
great experience for all.
a year or two later, I built my second airboat which was bigger and
much more powerful. This allowed me to run in the marshes from
Loxahatchee, northwest of Fort Lauderdale, to SR520, west of Cocoa,
and from Lake Okeechobee to Lake Toho in the Kissimmee River.
In the late ‘80s, I got the bright idea of guiding other people to the
marsh to hunt ducks. I quickly hung out a shingle and became a parttime
guide with a part-time business that had a full-time job with the
fire department. This was the start of my professional guiding career.
As more and more people duck hunted with me, some of the local
clients in the citrus industry asked me if I could take some of their
European and Oriental fruit buyers for an airboat ride. The answer
was “of course”, and the airboat ride business began.
In 1995, I obtained my Coast Guard Captains License, built a flats
boat, and become a guide. So, I fished from February until late
November, hunted ducks from Thanksgiving through January. By the
year 2000, duck hunting in this area declined to the point that it was
not productive enough to insure duck hunters a quality hunt every
time. So, I dropped it from the program. In the latter part of 2004, I
sold my old airboat that had served me for almost 20 years and in
January 2005, I went to Omaha, Neb. to buy a larger one that was
more readily suited to giving airboat rides. This boat served me for
another two and a half years. In August of 2007, I took delivery of a
new 22-foot Diamondback Airboat that was custom built for Stumpknocker
Tours. This is, by far, the best decision of my guiding career.
Besides being larger, safer, more comfortable, and a better ride, it also
has aircraft style talk-around headsets that enable me to point out the
gators, birds and flora and tell some stories about the marsh while we
are underway.
Captivated by the
ecology of the marsh,
I enrolled in the Certified
Florida Master
Naturalist Program
sponsored by the
University of Florida to
further my education
of the ecology of the
marsh. One of the great
joys in my life is taking
people to the marsh,
telling some of the old
tales, seeing the wildlife,
and watching them
enjoy the experience.
Experience “The Granddaddy of ‘em all”
A I R B O A T T O U R S
Stumpknocker Tours, Inc. | 772-778-9654 | www.stumpknocker.com
/www.stumpknocker.com
/www.stumpknocker.com