Look for the types of spots as described in earlier posts. Some other possibilities are to make a PVC pipe raft (a safe one), or a two-liter soda bottle raft or kayak. (Again, a safe one.)
A remote control boat with recovery hooks. A very good drone. These might be as expensive as a boat, though.
My father and I used to hunt both ducks and geese without a boat or dog most of the time. We did have a boat part of the time that allowed us to get to some very good, remote, no-blinds-around hunting spots. The number of blinds in the migratory bird route area in southeast Missouri was unbelievable. There could be a string of ten or more, side-by-side.
Some of them were large enough to hold six to ten shooters. And some were done up like some of the ice-fishing-houses on the northern lakes. Heaters, fridges or huge coolers, chairs, chemical toilets, cooking facilities, and sinks with running water.
And it was almost as bad as water-rights situations. People burned others' blinds, shot at each other, would shoot to scare away ducks that were going to land near a different blind rather than theirs, have duck and goose call battles. It was crazy.
But, back on topic. One of the things we did when we had a low water year and every good spot had a group of blinds around it, was to take some pretty large clear or whitish plastic sheet with us to a harvested field or natural clearing.
We cut or folded the plastic so there were no straight edges and staked it out on the ground, oriented so it would be attractive to duck and/or the geese in terms of location, cover, and such. Dump some water here and there, set out the decoys properly, and then get in the edge of the woods if there were any, or sit down on a pad on the ground under a one-person-sized soft blind.
There were many times when the birds would come down and get too close before they realized it was not actually water, and not be able to keep flying and get away. We often were able to get two or three on the wing coming in, and often going out, of those that realized the plastic was not water or were diverted when we started to fire. But there were more than a few that landed hard, plopped being a good word, into the ground. And the ground was often frozen.
They were often stunned and were, to coin a phrase, sitting ducks. Which were legal to take at the time and place. Not sure what the laws are now.
For a time back then it was legal to bait with corn and a couple of other things. Which helped, of course, though the right set of decoys, placed properly, and good calling were the main things to bring in ducks, and especially geese. Geese are stupid, but still smarter than most ducks. Some of those Mallard drakes though... I swear they had built in radar; motion, audio, and IR sensors.
We saw more than one V heading down, but still up a hundred feet or more when the lead, which was usually a drake during those landing situations, veer off with the whole V following, climbing fast and curving away.
As for the taste of wild duck, it could be dry and 'gamey'. The gamey was often from the fact that adrenalin was in the bloodstream from them flying. And more if they were not killed instantly.
I learned very early how to cook them so they were moist and tender, and as long as they were a quick kill, not much, if any, gamey taste. Cleaned well and allowed to bleed out completely. Plucked well. Then I would rub the duck down well with butter (real butter), salt very lightly. Sometimes pepper because that was the way my father preferred it. Salt alone was fine for me.
Then I would wrap the duck in aluminum foil. Actually, sometimes I would mix up Cornbread Stove Top Stuffing and stuff the duck. Usually though, I did prepare it separately. Anyway, after wrapping the duck in the foil I put it in the old standard original crockpot and turned it on. I did not add any liquid to the crockpot. I used enough butter that it was not needed, and with a good double fold seam in the aluminum foil none leaked out.
The first couple of times I was a bit short on the time. Intentionally, since I did not want to overcook it. I just put it back in for a while longer. By the third one I had the timing down pretty good and the ducks came out moist as could be, and with a great flavor. Even one of my sisters, whom I finally got to try it prepared that way, that absolutely had game meat, especially duck, said it was actually pretty good. I almost had a heart attack. Geez, she hated duck.
I do not know if this will be any help or not, but that was what my dad and I used to do.
Just my opinion.