This Floating Duck Camp Can Be Yours for $5.5 Million

The South has no shortage of fine hunting lodges. But how many of them float? 

Over a decade ago, architect Tom Adams of Birmingham, Alabama, and his partner, Adam Gerndt, designed a luxury camp to do just that for owner Tony Nelson. The 155-foot-long, 4,600-square-foot lodge sits atop two independent spud barges and sleeps a whopping twenty-two people. And now, it’s on the market for $5.5 million. “I’m used to seeing the best of the best when it comes to recreation,” says Tim James, Jr., a broker with real estate firm Jon Kohler, which is listing the property. “Most places have great hunting or great fishing, but this has both. It’s one of the coolest deals I’ve ever seen.” 

The lodge, dubbed Fowl Play and divided between a main camp structure and a crew camp structure, moves with the seasons—literally—in the heart of the Mississippi Flyway. In spring and summer, it stays at its Louisiana home base in Port Fourchon at a private, gated waterfront lot with a saltwater pool beneath live oak trees. There, at the deeded home base, the quarry is speckled trout, redfish in the marsh, and proximity to world-class deep sea fishing in the Gulf for the likes of yellowfin tuna and marlin. 

Come fall and duck season, a tugboat tows the camp into a 6,000-acre exclusive hunting lease in the heart of the Louisiana marsh, where the mother ship sits waiting while hunters hop into mud boats and head out in search of wigeon, mallards, pintails, black ducks, and more. That lease is available to the new buyer with the purchase of the lodge.

As a self-sustaining luxury property—there are two generators on board, 30,000 gallons of fresh water, cold and dry storage, and an established staff—guests don’t need to do much other than put meat on the table. Besides hunting and fishing, though, there are plenty of ways to occupy oneself: lounging on porches overlooking the water, puttering around the outdoor kitchen, playing cards around a poker table, and relaxing in two indoor staterooms with vaulted ceilings and televisions.

“When someone comes to buy this, there’s truly nothing they need to do,” James says. “There’s a full-time manager already in place who cares for the boat, plus chefs, hunting guides, helpers. Everything is lined up.” 

Below, peek inside Fowl Play. 

The main camp’s open-plan kitchen boasts heart pine floors, pecky cypress ceilings, and Wolf appliances. 

One of the main camp’s two staterooms.

An outdoor porch overlooking the marsh at Port Fourchon.

A cozy nook in the eight-bed bunk room in the main camp. 

Bathrooms feature carved double vanities and marble sinks.

The mud room is outfitted with personalized lockers for each guest. 

The saltwater pool at the lodge’s home base in Port Fourchon, Louisiana. 

Two structures make up the floating lodge (shown in middle of photo, in yellow): a main camp that sleeps fourteen and offers spaces for relaxing, and a crew camp with a mud room, tackle room, game-prep room, and utility room. The property also includes a skip for a deep sea fishing boat (shown to the right of the lodge).

Fowl Play at the dock.