Well since we are at it.............

Hey Snipe said the boys on the forums here are at it so lets keep it going for S...s and giggles.

But here's what I think about decoys,...Lots of waterfowlers think you can buy any old Deek set up and kill the heck out of birds but I beg to differ on that,Here goes,,,,,,,

First lets talk about open water and Pintails, IMO these have got to be the most stuck up,and bougiest duck I have ever hunted and the main reason is once again IMO they are looking for real pintail ducks while circling your spread 1000 times and thats one reason why I think you must make or buy the best looking Pintail deek on the market, Give me a few floaters with lots of full bodies on this duck decoy

Second the Ole Mallard, man these boys have fooled a bunch of boys into thinking you can just buy any old flat belly mallard look alike and feel like the Duck Commander BUT IMO that's not true as well.This past year should have proved that to us all when we did not have the BIG push of Mallards to come down but there where some that where here Ducks R US has picks to show and a few others too from what I saw this year,but when you are in a year like that or even a day like that when you are lucky to get 1 or 2 groups of Greens in then I think the best of the best is going to win that group.Lots of full bodies and lot of floaters on this duck decoy.

I will skip others to make it short but we all know that Divers will just give it to ya, But the Geese...Well if you dont agree with me on deeks and ducks then you have to agree with me on this,for me and my crew it's Full bodies all the way and I mean all the way except on snows then its a few fulls and a lot of rags.

Well what say you,to sum what I have to say up is Get the real deal on decoys and here is the list

#1) Dakota Decoys Flocked head mallards
#2)Dakota Decoys full body Geese
#3) Herters
#4)Any good hand made blocks.
#5) GHG because they have alot of full bodies to choose from.

This season makes 33 years of using the plain ole looking G & H Decoys. I'm not changing. I like not shooting any of those ole hard to fool Pinails and Mallards.

I think I see what your trying to say and if it is what I think it is, then I agree. I think being on the X is the most important thing you can do for your duck hunting. Second is buy the best deek you can afford. Third is calling ability.

I can run a call. I ran it a lot in the 70s and 80s. The 90s I started slowing down on the call. The last decade you will rarely hear more than a three note cadence and light quacks and pops. If I turn the suzie then it is all over for that pack of birds.

By the time the birds get here, they have heard every jackwagon with a call. I roll my own way and it is different than most. I use a Faulks call from the long ago. I have other calls but there is no reason to drag them out.

So far as decoys. I have been trading out and sellingout to buy good quality deeks. I know for a fact the full bodies I used locked and turned the birds in the air. I was 14 hours from here on my usual northern run. These birds came around the corner and then saw the deeks. I hit a three note and they did an exact 180, locked in. I am hooked on the full bodies in the right situation.

I never have thrown out more than 18 deeks at a time. I like me a little wiggle butt and pintail..

Haha that is probably one of the best "there's two sides to every story" follow up posts I've seen in forever.

Pintails are the easiest duck to kill once the hit salt water.

As far as decoys, i'm not a breaker, so I stick to just being where they want to be, and using decoys for plugging holes or don't hunt

x2

I think the decoys that look the best to ducks look like cartoons up close to people. It doesn't matter if a decoy looks exactly like a duck when it's in your hand, it needs to look like a duck to a duck that is flying over.


I agree with Bobo that when hunting certain areas where ducks want to be that you are better off using decoys to block by filling holes where you don't want ducks to go.

But that doesn't work everywhere. Sometimes my place may have 50 acres or more of water where they want to be so I can't block, I have to use decoys to draw them in.

I use old cheap decoys though but I keep them looking decent.

Hey Rob I have seen your deeks on pics posted and your right, case in point you must have high quality decoys. And if those deeks of yours are 33yrs old then you know how to take care of some deeks.

I have used G & H decoys for 33 seasons this year. None of mine are older than eight years. I replace about a dozen per year. G & H are high quality. However they have looked the same since I saw my first ones many years ago.

I could shoot just as many ducks with black painted two liter bottles. I just like to look out over decoys bobbing on the waves more than trash.

WORD!

Nice deeks help tho, so does good calling. There you go Muddy.

On the subject of geese. I feel Motion is the most important thing. If there is wind to create movement, a spread of mostly crappy decoys mixed with better motion decoys and silosocks moving around in the breeze will draw better than an a spread of perfectly still statues. But if it is a still windless morning, reverse that.

And some days same can be said about numbers where several crappy decoys will decoy geese when a few nice full bodies alone will not even get a look. Especially for snows, but it can apply to canadas too in some situations.

Now of course best would be if your spread was only full bodies and motion decoys. But unless your an outfitter it is hard to justify that. Like me, most can't afford, don't have a place to store, and don't have a way to transport several dozen full bodies. My 300+ shells, motion decoys, silosocks and sillouettes take up half my storage building.

I stopped readin' about here...


But saw this as I skimmed down...

Are you saying GHG makes a high quality decoy?

Last season we made a dozen or more hunts with no decoys, helps to be where they want to be.

We also made a ton with more than 30 decoys out including full bodies, only because they are used to seeing several dozen birds on this hole all day long.

I think I said why I put them at #5 in my book...And that is because "They have a lot of full bodies to choose from".
You show me a decoy company out there that has more full body decoys to choose from and I will look'em up but as for now my friend I dont think you will.

To me its about visibility, and realistic posture when it comes to decoys and the way they are set up.I guess to sum it up I'm all about more full bodies being used in a spread.

I have never used full body duck decoys. They take up a LOT of room. On the river where I hunt there is always mud to soft to set them, to much current, to many waves or the water is to deep.

When I go on my northern trip we hunt a small river that hte birds fly up and down. We set up on grass covered sand banks in the middle of the river. I have a deek back for my shell mallards. I stick a float mallard decoy inside of each of the shell mallard decoys so I can carry 24 decoys in one 12 slot bag. I put them belly to belly so as to protect the paint on both.

Last year we had 8 floater flocked head canada goose decoys and a dozen flocked head shells. We had to walk a long ways to get there and the canadas got heavy. So heavy I set them int he current and let them float downriver back to the truck and I just met them when they arrived by way of the current.

This year I have added some pintails to that mix. I can wait. The set up we had last year worked like a charm. I attribute that to hunting where nobody else is dumb enough to drive too. The birds respnded very well.

When I go on my northern trip we hunt a small river that hte birds fly up and down. We set up on grass covered sand banks in the middle of the river. I have a deek back for my shell mallards. I stick a float mallard decoy inside of each of the shell mallard decoys so I can carry 24 decoys in one 12 slot bag. I put them belly to belly so as to protect the paint on both.

Last year we had 8 floater flocked head canada goose decoys and a dozen flocked head shells. We had to walk a long ways to get there and the canadas got heavy. So heavy I set them int he current and let them float downriver back to the truck and I just met them when they arrived by way of the current.

This year I have added some pintails to that mix. I can wait. The set up we had last year worked like a charm. I attribute that to hunting where nobody else is dumb enough to drive too. The birds respnded very well.

Nothing talks like experience...

2005, Bayou Meto WMA central Arkansas, mid December, hunted 3 days in a row without a single decoy, landed thousands of ducks in those 3 days and killed 21 limits.

2010, northern Kansas, late November, hunted 3 days in the fields and never picked up my call. Had 350 fully flocked full body canada decoys and 150 full body mallards. It was a joke, a little flagging but the birds just ate us up. Big thing... this was a fly over field, a field in between the roost and the previous days feeding field. The birds just couldn't pass us up, the decoys did the trick.

2001, Aransas bay, late December, Hunting over the same 7 doz decoys my grandfather has had for 20 years, hardly a pintail deek out that still had color left on it. Nearly all were faded straight black, many have holes or wouldn't sit right, basically just thrown about around the blind. We landed group after group of 50+ pintails, and had hundreds of redheads, widgeon etc... in the deeks all morning.

These are specific instances but everyone with some experience can site the same types of events. Every situation is different, every day, every spot. In general however, an area has it's tendencies. I'm not talking, the X, but the setting itself. There is no one application for anything in this sport. People want to argue tactics for the same spot that's one thing but as long you're doing what works for you in the places you hunt... you're doing it right. The real "ability" in this sport is to take away the right knowledge from a hunt and apply it to the next.

The real "ability" in this sport is to take away the right knowledge from a hunt and apply it to the next.


this is the best statement about waterfowling yet

I just like to hunt ducks.

Well said...Well said indeed!

yeah, but, this one time, that didn't work for me

G and Hs for me as well.And yes, them pintails.. you usually only get one chance at em cause (99%) of the time they keep on going.If your in an area where alot of pintails are, the best thing to do is let teal,gadwalls,or diver ducks land then the pintails may fly into the killzone.Ive never had em land ...not even once.

Obviously you took the wrong knowledge. See what I did there. I learned that from a bad hunt on the coast... that was a real good fishing trip.

Texan1554 said it best.....it varies from hunt to hunt.

That being said I've hunted over several different types of spreads over the last 20+ years and have always killed birds.



On the geese, hunting small Canadas I will take a mix spread of silos, sillosocks, shells and full bodies. Like SniperJohn said, motion!!!!

There are a lot of factors to being successful and there are many ways to fool em.

Again, like Texan1554 said, you gotta keep learning and learn to adapt.

X2.

I don't need the most extravagant looking dekes (Cabelas is selling a 12 pack of Dakota X-Tremes for $190!. Insane!), nor do I need full bodied decoys in my bag. Someone said it earlier and I agree, they take up way too much room. I'd rather be an excellent caller with average looking dekes than an average caller with excellent looking dekes.

I feel the same way about that. I'm no excellent caller, yet. I do work on getting better all of the time.

Most people who go on and on with "anti-duck call" talk are people who don't care to get any better.

All an expensive decoy rig shows is that you have or had some cash at one point.

Being able to run a call, knowing how to set decoys, spotting and id'ing ducks, and being able to shoot are all important aspects of being a duck hunter.

(waiting on someone who sucks at calling ducks to chime in)

I'm here and will chime in now.
I'm an average caller with average dekes, but I have bad arse spots to hunt so everything works out just fine

...and for those of you that think you are good callers.....keep practicing and get better.

that's what I am is an average caller, I'm not picking a fight with you

I'm trying to pick a fight with the "no call" crowd

Yea, that's not me. I'll run that sob until I pass out.

Every Pintail I've shot has been a pass shot when they were checking out the decoys. I've never seen one commit in person.

For some reason on the coast they dump into decoys like teal. Well maybe not all the time but the times I've been they have!

I agree with Texas Ed. Never had a pintail light into the deeks. They will circle forever.

The best spread is the one that pulls duck off the other groups hunting
Around you. I throw rocks at pintails to make them fly
If I don't they just sit in my spread. Decoys I use the best kind
Free ones. I have some in my spread that's over 18 years old.

pintails decoy with other pintails.... or pintail decoys. thats been my experience.