Decoy Question

[Ron.C]

Hi All,

I was recently bit pretty hard by the Waterfowling bug. I want to get myself set up with my own gear this off season.

I am looking at picking up around 3 dozen decoys. And I'll be hitting a Cabelas and Bass Pro in Alberta this year.

The vast majority of the reading I have done lately, which is considerable so says my wife, is that adding some sort of motion to your spread is huge, and decoy realism is key. And according to some, unless you have photo image decoys and exact realism, you are missing out.
As a matter of fact, some say you are better with 12 high end decoys then 36 lower quality ones? Don't get me wrong, I don't want shit decoys that fill with water and sink, or paint that flakes off after a couple uses, but can afford to start something like this without having to factor in cost vs quality.

Now, is this just marketing hype? Seems to me that if a duck has time to tell that you are not using photo realistic decoys, or if the decoy proportions are not exact it has time to pick many other aspects of your spread/set up apart. For example, do incoming ducks find the paint on a decoy is off or the proportion is disagreeable, but don't mind the mojo hovering in mid air without landing and don't mind the lack of realistic movement from the rest of the decoy flock?

Would be more important to add variety, meaning not having 36 mallard decoys that don't look exactly the same. Or is being a bit different then everyone else's set up a big factor?

I don't have an endless budget here, so I will not be buying high end decoys
My thoughts are:

12 mallard decoys,
12 Widgeon decoys,
6 Pintails,
6 GW Teal ,

adding some movement, start with a jerk cord and/or a baby mojo.

And two Canada Goose Floaters, to set off my spread as confidence decoys.

Comments???????

[lorneparker1]

A few questions first,

What type of area are you mostly hunting? Marsh? field? open water? these are all factors.

IMO Ducks fly in way to fast to pick our feather detail on duck decoys. Granted if your decoys shine or look like complete shit, they are not ******ed but for the most part middle of the range decoys are not going to kill you any less ducks than high end decoys. (geese, especially small geese IMO are a different story) The pressure OVERALL on our birds is very minimal. Aka BC birds are pretty dumb MOST of the time. Having said that i would not cheap out, I would pick up some middle of the range ghg dekes and call it a day. I would forget the widgeon and gw teal dekes and buy 30 mallards and 6 pinnies for later in the season when they are around a bit more. Pintails are pretty weary most of the time and when they do decoy they do like to decoy to thier own kind if you have both in the spread. In my experience both teal and widgeons will decoy to anything pretty much all day.

As far as motion i would skip the jerk cord, and pick up the 2 pack of babay mojo's for $90.

The goose decoys are not a bad idea, both for confidence and if you do get a few fly by at least they have something worth looking at.

I have a whole shed of decoys of all different species(100's). My standard field spread is usually 2 dozen mallards and a few pintails and a cpl of robos. But i like to be prepared for anything. and id much rather have and not use then need and not have. I am a gear whore, and waterfowling is no different.

Lorne

Lastly, being in the right spot, at the right time, and properly concealed superceed all of the above info.

[pnbrock]

x2 as lorne said.however you could be a little nicer to him and share his spread.

[Foxton Gundogs]

X2 for what LP1 said. To give you and Idea, my duck deek collection consists of about 4 1/2 doz lards( 1 doz rigged for a jerk line), 1 doz pinnys, 11 widgon(dont ask) 7 GWs, 1/2 doz homemade field "standers" (plan to get some store boughts) 1/2 doz Lard Mojos and 1 floating Mojo. Probably way more than a guy needs for small water but as I have been told 1 can never have 2 many deeks lol We wont even go into the goose world

[Ron.C]

Lorne,

probably mostly marsh at this point.

my only concern with just getting mostly mallards is looking like allot of other decoy spreads out there and I thought if I had a few different types of birds, would give me the flexibilty to make my spread look a bit different week to week.

And I just figured since I was seeing tonns if widgeon, my setup should mimic the birds in the area?

[pnbrock]

do not waist money on widgeon they would come to running shoes in the field.

[lorneparker1]

Lorne,

probably mostly marsh at this point.

my only concern with just getting mostly mallards is looking like allot of other decoy spreads out there and I thought if I had a few different types of birds, would give me the flexibilty to make my spread look a bit different week to week.

And I just figured since I was seeing tonns if widgeon, my setup should mimic the birds in the area?

I hear what you are saying, and your logic is perfect. But you are giving the birds a bit more credit then they deserve. I have never hunted where you hunt, but i imagine there is more pressure there then most places on the island based on your posts and others who hunt that spot. Having a mix and mimicking what is out there is a great idea. But in reality, its more for the hunter then the hunted IMO. The factors i mentioned at the end of my post (location and concealment) are far more important. I Have hunted very heavily pressured areas most of my life, and i can tell you from expereince, even being more proficent on a duck call is more important then the realism of your decoy spread. Again, if you put garbage decoys out expect a garbage result. Especially the shine on lower end decoys. But to me there is no tangible difference in hnting over $60 a dozen ghg, or $120 a dozen full curls, except increased confidence for the hunter. Again, this is ducks only. I have a completely different view when it comes to geese. Although location and concealment are still the most important, getting geese especailly little geese to finish consitently requires higher end decoys, and decent calling. Again, consistently is the key word.


Having said that, do what you will have the most confidence in. Thats half the battle.

Lastly, if you feel you need the widgeon dekes go for it. But we decoy almost every widgeon that flys by with the spread i mentioned. Also on a relevant note, in 2011 Dave and I hunted the salt chuck on an after noon going after scoters with 2 longlines of nothing but scoter decoys and no robo ducks and shot 16 widgeons.

Lorne

[Ron.C]

thanks boys

[Ron.C]

One of the major US chains has a good sale on right now, and I just ordered 18 decoys, tangle free/GHG. And and Baby Mojo, all great sale prices. I figured the shipping/brokerage fees would negate and sale price but no, shipping was way less then I expected. Matter of fact, I'd spend more in gas driving to a store that I can walk in and buy this stuff. And I checked their Canadian store, and they don't offer all the products I ordered, and shipping was more on the ones they did have? In any case I will be still looking for a dozen pintail decoys, and the ones this store offered were not priced too great, and were not on sale.

Now I'm looking forward to doing some scouting in the areas I want to hunt. Along with my pre season bear preps, trail cam deer scouting, shed hunting, conditioning hikes for the fall elk/goat hunt...........

Like I needed another obsession

[Foxton Gundogs]

One of the major US chains has a good sale on right now, and I just ordered 18 decoys, tangle free/GHG. And and Baby Mojo, all great sale prices. I figured the shipping/brokerage fees would negate and sale price but no, shipping was way less then I expected. Matter of fact, I'd spend more in gas driving to a store that I can walk in and buy this stuff. And I checked their Canadian store, and they don't offer all the products I ordered, and shipping was more on the ones they did have? In any case I will be still looking for a dozen pintail decoys, and the ones this store offered were not priced too great, and were not on sale.

Now I'm looking forward to doing some scouting in the areas I want to hunt. Along with my pre season bear preps, trail cam deer scouting, shed hunting, conditioning hikes for the fall elk/goat hunt...........

Like I needed another obsession

Glad you got a good deal I think I paid $48 for my doz pinnies last year at the end of the season.