There have been a few spots over the years where I'll often be hunting divers with a few puddle ducks mixed in.

How much of an advantage would it be to have some redhead or canvasback decoys vs the current collection I have now? At most I would only be willing to buy 6 or 12 because they are expensive.

Follow up question...of the decoys I have now would some be better to use than others.

Current decoys include
12 mallards
12 pintail
12 gw teal
5 bw teal
6 widgeon



Here's a pic I took last year of two can's 25 yards out. Those deks are only like 5 to 10 yards away because it gets deep quick. So these can's are much closer than they look in the pic. We had already shot our one can for the day (3 of us) and we could have shot a lot more.



Sadly I can't hunt there this year...no water.

Friends don't let friends hunt divers

I would recommend getting some diver decoys anyways. I almost always use at least a couple even when I know I'm mostly shooting puddlers. They can see the white and black a lot better(supposedly, and I like to think it does too). So I would use pintail, mallard, and probably the wigeon dekes too(ones with the most white).

I have some can decoys and I don't use them alot but my friend who gave them to me usd them for attention getters every time.

GHG can dekes are going to be your best bang for the buck. That's a whole lot of white on the water. Second would be some bluebills. We used to have a place around Brownsboro where we would go hunt divers a couple of times a year and we absolutely abused redheads and bluebills over a set of bluebill decoys.

Yeah I've seen the GHG Can's...they are like $54 for 6 or something...kind of pricy. I didnt even really think of bluebills only because I would rather not shoot them but I think the idea of the basic white on the back of the deks would be the draw.

The thing I like about can dekes is that they tend to be really wide, so they'll handle rough, open water really well.

Yeah those GHGs look huge.

You're puddler spread will be plenty sufficient. Divers are dumber than dirt, which is what makes them so fun to hunt every now & then. I have hunted with guys who used bleach bottles painted white and black (like they do for sea ducks on the east coast) and we slaughtered them.

Very true!

I always through out some BB, some Ringnecks or a Can or a Buffie out. More times than not the puddle ducks decoy to the diver decoys.

Marc,
When I'm on a lake or the coast the big Can deeks and Bluebills come out. I've had the Herter Bluebills for about 7-8 yrs. and they last. Even with some pellets still in 'em.
I do mix in some puddle ducks, but keep a larger group of them seperate. I keep a pod of Teal seperate as well. I also place long cords on the divers and give 'em a good throw out there. I also will use some Redheads at the same locations. Flambue has some that are not as expensive as Herters or G&H.
Last hunt I had on the lake, we had only one pair of Widgeon deeks out in the spread. Sure enough, a pair came in and almost landed on top of them before my girlfriend shot the drake.
Remember that some of those diver singles will just swim up seemingly out of no where and show up in you diver deeks.

For me when hunting big sloughs or big water I mix and match for diverse results. If I'm seeing divers in the area I'm hunting I put some out if not I don't.

If using divers I always set a straight line with a 10 or 12 dekes leading to a small group in the end of it to suck divers over along the line and into the hook or ball you'll be amazed at how divers follow that line of diving decoys and land in that ball.

Puddlers off and over to the side and mixed and matched in small groups.

Like I said in my opionon if I'm seeing them I mix them out there if not then I don't. All areas would not be the same.

My duck boat load consists of 4 dozen Mallards, 1 dozen Pintails, 1 dozen widgeon, 1 dozen teal, 2 dozen ringnecks, 2 dozen redheads, half a dozen cans, some Herons for confidence, mixed with some floating geese and I can go from shallow backwater marshes to the coast and cover any spread situation I want.

Wade, welcome to the forum!

This is my second season duck hunting...so take it for what its worth....lol.

I hunt under an even spread of GWT and pintail and have a lot of fun. I have a buddy that I hunt with that will ocasionaly bring out additional redheads and blue bill.....results have ALWAYS been the same. We shoot the same type of birds

These days I almost always have one to three Bluebills on the edge of my spread. Usually up wind. I like the visual effect. The white contrasts with my other decoys and I feel they make the whole spread more noticable from a distance. Attracting divers was not the purpose, but has proven to be a bonus due to occassional Bluebills, Cans and Buffleheads that find them to be their pals.

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Yeah that doesnt say much. You make it sound like you hunt the same place each time. If so yeah the place you hunt is going to matter more than the type of dekes you use.

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Good call.... I do usually hunt the same spot....or not far off of it.