What goose decoys do you use?

[DukAddict]

Ok, I have just been wondering what goose decoys everyone uses while hunting in the Willamette Valley for these small geese. Post up your reasons why, and how your success has been with the decoys you use.

Brett Neffendorf

[Gun Rod Bow]

DSDs. Becuase they work better than anything else in the Valley IMO.

Just about every decoy in my rig has either goose poop or blood on them...

[High Life]

Neff

DSD...come on man

[Rogue Hunter]

DSDs when every bird in the valley must die accept no substitute.(jackie brown the movie)DSDs work if you can aford them.Been competitor sober for 3 years now.

[duck_crazy101]

i use hard cores and dsds

[CarBiz]

DSD's only! ...sold every other goose decoy I owned to afford a few dozen lessers last summer. Have been landing and holding birds in the spread all season long. Great Decoys!!!

CB

[BrotherWolf]

Ummm I didnt See Big Foots..????..hehe

[DRUNK COWBOY]

Originally Posted by Gun Rod Bow

DSDs. Becuase they work better than anything else in the Valley IMO.

Just about every decoy in my rig has either goose poop or blood on them...

Yep, the birds love to take a digger on my DSDs as well. It just makes me want to kill geese even more.

[Tar Heel]

I never bought a field spread. I have 4 different kind of floaters though, and I like the GHG flocked head life sized floaters. Why doesn't DSD make floaters? Would it ruin the flocking?

[Eric Strand]

Come on Brett, You have hunted with me enough and borrowed my decoys a few times, You know the answer to this question......DSD!!!!!!

















" Shoot em with their feet down "
Eric Strand

[D3smartie]

I own hardcores and Dropzones. When i hunt with my friends we usually have some GHG sleeper shells and GHG lessers.

[Linejerk]

I use GHG lessers but DSD are by far the best if you have the

[Headhunter]

Last year someone (W-101, fleece, thehunt, W&3K, Dave S. or someone) posted up a cool photo with some DSD with blood splatter on them. I would like to see that one again.

[The_Duck_Master]

I use both DSDs and Averys. The little geese are attracted to the DSDs but the big geese seem to gravitate more to the Avery's. The Averys also have a better motion system. They really move in just a light breeze.

[HonkerKnocker]

I personally own 3 dozen DSD's a dozen hardcores and two dozen avery's....people say you cant mix it up but my buddies and I mix are alike types together in family groups and it kills em....DSDs are no doubt the best on the market...unless you have the all mighty stuffers

[duckboy]

I use the ones that are mostly plastic.

They have held up for a long time.

I have a few cedar ones too, & Some cork ones that work well I think they are basswood or tupelo or poplar heads.


and some that are cut out of a weatherproof masonite type of stuff.

[Tar Heel]

I do need to add a few floaters to my collection, and was wondering what people thought was best in that catagory. I like the GHG lifesize, and would probably just get another 8 of them.

[DRUNK COWBOY]

Originally Posted by The_Duck_Master

I use both DSDs and Averys. The little geese are attracted to the DSDs but the big geese seem to gravitate more to the Avery's. The Averys also have a better motion system. They really move in just a light breeze.

Did you know he has Honkers? They are amazing to hunt with!

I will agree on the motion of the averys, but we have killed an insane amounts of big and small birds this year over the DSDs.

If you hunt the valley, go DSD or go home

[Frozen_Arrows]

DSD are the way to go!!!

I have a few boxes of honkers 1 upright and 1 rester that are for sale $275.00 per box!

[Tar Heel]

I repeat, why ddoesn't DSD make floaters? Is it that ''real men don't hunt geese over water?''Granted, water often moves your decoys and ''reaism'' is in part taken care of by that factor. Or, maybe Dave just doesn't want to deal with it? A durability issue? Tell the truth, maybe you hit diminishing returns investing that much in something that gets tossed around in the boat. However, if I could buy 10 quality floaters in several different postures, I would....

[Frozen_Arrows]

From what I understand Dave is in the Process of Developeing some floaters.

[Wingmaster]

From what I have heard on many online forums, Bigfoot floaters are the best in the floater decoy industry. I've also heard that there has been no attempt at ultra realistic floaters to prevent people from hunting the roost.

Check out the bigfoot floaters, you won't be dissappointed!

[BrotherWolf]

Originally Posted by Wingmaster

From what I have heard on many online forums, Bigfoot floaters are the best in the floater decoy industry. I've also heard that there has been no attempt at ultra realistic floaters to prevent people from hunting the roost.

Check out the bigfoot floaters, you won't be dissappointed!

wow thereS another Big foot guy....lets see that makes ummmm two of us...LOL

[Wingmaster]

Originally Posted by BrotherWolf

wow thereS another Big foot guy....lets see that makes ummmm two of us...LOL

Sorry BW... only floaters, I gave up on the Bigfoot fullbodies three years ago and have slowly built a spread of DSD's. I have not looked back, DSD's are flat out the best fullbody decoy.

[D3smartie]

Re Floaters: The advantages I see of having DSDs are holding the birds. I could see why people in the valley or targeting cacklers or specifically band hunting would want the DSDs, but as for floaters i dont think you need the realism of a DSD to get the geese into range and your arent trying to land them and hold them when hunting over water.

[Tvfowlhunter]

Plain and Simple DAVE SMITH DECOYS.

[Tvfowlhunter]

FLEECE very nice pictures.

[The_Duck_Master]

Originally Posted by DRUNK COWBOY

Did you know he has Honkers? They are amazing to hunt with!

I will agree on the motion of the averys, but we have killed an insane amounts of big and small birds this year over the DSDs.

If you hunt the valley, go DSD or go home

Yes, I know he has honkers but they're 3 X's the price of the nicest Avery's. Maybe when there is a used market for them like there is for the lessers I'll break down and buy them but I can't justify it when I can get Avery's for 1/3 of the price and they work well (and even have better motion). Or, is the motion system on the honkers better than on the lessers?

BTW. I'll decide for myself when it's time to go home thank you.

[HonkerKnocker]

that was funny duck master...I have a dozen honker DSDs and I would say the motion system is actually worse on the honkers then the lessers....It needs to be blowing a steady 20 to 30 Ive found to get them to movewell...Motion is something that Im taking into serious consideration...I hunted across from a group of guys who were running old crappy looking bigfoots but they had the motion systems and their decoys were jiving back and forth in the wind...my buddy and I had DSDs and averys out in the field across from them and the geese cued into that movement and didnt even look at our spread....thats when the Flags came out and the score got settled really quickly...has anyone tried the wingwavers that you pull the string on and the wings flap??? Im going to invest in some the next season and see how they work...flags are killer but some situations you cant always deploy a flag...IMO movement is key what does everyone else think?

[BrotherWolf]

Im not knocking the DSD at all I have hunted over them many times and have had great success and hunted over bigfoots many times with great success... But for me having three young kids I cant afford DSD....some day.

this were all over bigfoots






http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...hunt129071.jpg

[xstreme357]

Eric, where did you get those cacklers?? they dont have limits like that over on the other side thats for sure!

[nitrobass]

Bigfoots here...big decoys for big geese.

[BrotherWolf]

Originally Posted by nitrobass

Bigfoots here...big decoys for big geese.

THATS JUST SSSSWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTT!!!

[fishinpoor]

we run Bigfoots,GHG,lessers and specks and DSD for field hunting,4 dz Bigfoot floaters for the liquid stuff

[Dave Smith]

I love Bigfoots, too- actually, I never saw a decoy I didn't like- he he.
On movement, it's kind of funny to hear those comments- I developed a motion system almost identical to what AVERY currently uses and had it on all my decoys from late 1996 to 1998. We dropped it at the end of 1998 whan all our guys overwhelmingly agreed that is was scaring away tough birds. We knew that ANY motion could atract easy birds, but a rocking type motion was scaring away the tough ones. At the time we were hunting the Anchorage Lessers and there were actually alot of Honkers in the Valley- they didn't all retreat to the woods and cities, then- he he. Plus we were making more trips to the east side and into the Tri-Cities areas. Tavs were leary and tough then and Dusky's would bomb into anything.
The answer was clear and simple: make them move like geese move (no rocking) and keep it subtle- we could add movement with a flag or flapper, or jerk string if needed, but we had a good enough decoy that we WANTED the geese to get a good, clear look at it.
If you're in an area or hunting some birds that will sucker in for some motion, AND COME ALL THE WAY IN, then awesome! There are still plenty of pockets around like that and they are a blast. I certainly wouldn't spend the extra money on a US made decoy or a fancy detailed one that you have to bag up, etc.
If you hunt tough birds and need to get the bird's attention, do it with a flag or anything, then let good decoys do the rest.
Dave

[Northwest Pest]

I use dsd, hardcore signature, averys, and bigfoots. You can mix. When scouting look at the flocks your hunting and mimick that. If I see 5 big honks with a bunch of cacks then I will put out some bigfoots fully flocked with my dsds and signatures. Avery and hardcore represent lessers and tavs more effectively. I did spend tons of time to get my decoys that aren't dsds looking as good as possible. Paint, flocking, shiny nostril and Eye paint etc.....Dave has a product that is unmatched as far as out of the box realism but in high stubble in Canada, bigger will win 9 times out of 10. The birds cant see the dsds very well in those regions. Be flexible try all things out and make a choice based on experience. Have the best looking decoys your can afford and match them to the area and species of goose your hunting. Example of bad mistake: Using dsd canada decoys in Canada in 7+ inch stubble to target snow geese.....pretty simple.

[nwbirdshooter]

Originally Posted by Frozen_Arrows

DSD are the way to go!!!

I have a few boxes of honkers 1 upright and 1 rester that are for sale $275.00 per box!

Are your DSD's still for sale?

[nwbirdshooter]

Originally Posted by DukAddict

Ok, I have just been wondering what goose decoys everyone uses while hunting in the Willamette Valley for these small geese. Post up your reasons why, and how your success has been with the decoys you use.

Brett Neffendorf

I've only been hunting geese for a couple of years, but have quickly learned the value of a great looking decoy. Given that I typically pack-in on foot, my load needs to be light. I've therefore used a couple dozen good silhouettes, supplemented with a few full-bodies. It's worked fairly well, (with the caveat being that I place the dekes where the birds want to land!).

Several guys in our club have used Bigfoot decoys for years, with much success. However, the two most serious goose hunters in our club use DSD's. I've hunted with the DSD guys several times, and the results have been excellent.

I'm still amazed at the realism of the DSD's, and will purchase some of my own this summer. I guess I'd rather have a few quality decoys, than a multitude of average looking dekes - late season hunting demands realism!

In the location I typically hunt we rarely see Westerns, which leads me to likely purchase the DSD Lessers. Would anyone disagree with this logic, and point me to the DSD Honkers instead? Thanks for the help.

[jnicholson]

Up until recently ... I liked to mix them, but I think sticking to one brand might make life easier for me in many ways, he he he.

John and Bucky