Hi All,
Im really keen on doing some goose hunting. I have been invited out by a very generous fellow hbc member and am looking forward to meeting up with him when possible and hunting along side. I have no geese dekes and limited funds available for splurging on geese dekes, so I have been thinking...
What are your peoples suggestions or ideas on the following.
I have access to a large thermoforming machine. I was thinking about getting a goose decoy, coating it in mold release wax and PVA and fiberglassing over half of the decoy, just one side like the right side. OR fiberglassing just the top half minus the neck and head like a headless shell.
I could use this fiberglass take off as a female mold and form many parts out of .090 or .118 haircell ABS. If I were to do the side I would need to take two halves and glue them together, If I were to do the shell I would need to add something for a neck and head. They would trim out quickly with a laminate trimmer and glue well. The base color would be Black with a haircell texture and other colors could be sprayed or airbrushed on.
I could make quite a few quite quickly. Any ideas out there on how viable you think this is, cost effective etc.... they could have flat bottoms put on them with a keel and be sealed watertight or they could be left as shells and put on a stake to wobble.
Try getting a few pieces of 1/4" plywood, trace a goose shape outta card board to use a guide. On a 4x8 piece of plywood I used to be able to trace and cut out 18 lesser size sillouettes(looking style, heads up), Jigsaw will cut them out. Get a hold of some flat black paint and paint them up, then you just need stakes. They work well when mixed in with shells and full bodies. FIrst year getting into goose hunting we made 48 of these, plus 2 dozen shells, with a few duck decoys and we had more than enough decoys. Each year we made a dozen more sillouettes to replace beaten up ones, and buy 1/2 dozen shells and then I'd get a dozen FFD full bodies. IF you check outta ebay at the end of the season you can get good deals on FFD( fully flocked decoys) from outfitters selling theirs used ones.
"A rifle hunter's hunt is over at 200yrds, a bowhunter's hunt is just beginning at 200yrds."
"Train Hard, Hunt Easy."
"A bow hunter in a week will learn what a rifle hunter learns in a lifetime."- Fred Bear
Yes I saw the tutorial on the sono tube and ply wood geese, They look good, just wondered about durability with rain etc.
at the moment i have no shells sillouettes seem goofy to me because dont geese bust your spread when they fly over it? but I've new to this so maybe they work just fine. I can see them being a benefit as fillers... so once I have some dekes then I would like to add silhouettes. Also I have no private land to hunt right now... which kinda limits me to water.....
I will keep an eye on ebay and craigslist after the season comes to an end..
I prefer them as fillers but if you make lots and place them facing all different angles then geese won't bust them. I definately prefer shells and full bodies, just comes at a price. You should try your suggestion and see if it works. If you have a few guys to hunt with its nice if you all chip in on decoys. Cept make sure their ready to take good care of them. The guys I used to hunt with in ontario didn't really care about the decoys so I took care of them, I was the only one too buy shells and FFD's, the one guy finally gave in a bought a dozen shells, after the first hunt he put them in the back of his truck and drove home. Needless to say another guy driving behind him had to stop and pick up all the shells that flew out the back of his truck and were scattered across the highway and ditch.
"A rifle hunter's hunt is over at 200yrds, a bowhunter's hunt is just beginning at 200yrds."
"Train Hard, Hunt Easy."
"A bow hunter in a week will learn what a rifle hunter learns in a lifetime."- Fred Bear
If you have a machine to make shells, those are the ticket.
Silly are great as well. They pack light, and it add a sense of movement. As birds fly overhead, they see some, then don't, then others appear. All different angles is the ticket.
For the shells, headless works fine. You'll want to get your hands on a stackable shell, and use that as a master mold. Don't use a floater, cause that won't stack well.
Yes I think I will try to make some shells as well as the silhouettes suggested by many. for the shells I think I will make them headless and then make neck/heads that plug in separately.
I will try the garden shops too.. Ive heard about the lawn ornaments, however I've never seen anything other than flamingos lol.
Copy on cloroplast (corrogated plastic, rona and hd sell), cut out, stack sheets if you are making a bunch, black, white and brown, mist of krylon khaki for the breast, welding rod for stakes, use 2. Don't worry about the slot direction, slighty point the rods and shove em in on a table!
Go hunting!
I'll dig some pics of a finished one out when I get home..