What's in your decoy bag?

[Threemuch]

As waterfowl season closes in, I just went through all my deeks, cleaned them, touched up some paint, replaced some worn lines and missing weights.

I have been slowly building my deek collection up. So this is what is in my bag(s):

1 doz Flambeau mallards (isn't this everyones first decoy?)
3 doz hot buy mallards
1 doz G&H mallards with pivot heads
1/2 doz avery life size wigeon
1/2 doz avery life size teal
1/2 doz G&H Pintail
1 dozen full body GHG ducks

2 dozen avery full body lesser canada geese
1/2 dozen goose floaters of undetermined manufacture, they are blow up bodies, plastic heads, molded in metal bar for keel.

1 home made pull string spinner
1 home made jerk cord with clips
1 Air Lucky Duck

Most of my hunting is puddle ducks on private land farm ponds, and that is what my gear has been purchased for. I don't put all this stuff out most of the time, but sometimes I do.

What's in your bag(s)?

[sharpshott]

I love these threads, but really couldnt you have waited a week or so, I start class in an hour and how am i supposed to concentrate now!

3 Doz Hotbuy Mallards
2 Doz GHG Life-Size Pintails
1 Doz GHG Life-Size Teal
1 Doz GHG Life-Size Widgeon
6 Doz Mallard Deeks
(Not the best lookin but they all fit in one small backpack for long hikes)
2 Doz Mallard Featherlites
4 Rester GHG Full-body Mallards
1 Air Lucky
2 Doz DSDs
1 Final Approach Goose Flag

[Wreckless]

OK I'll play.
1 dz GHG Widgeon
1dz GHG life sized Mallard
1dz G&H Gadwall swivel heads
1dz G&H Widgeon swivel heads
1dz Carrylight Teal
18 G&H Scaup swivelheads (Gang rig)
1dz flambeu (sp) Pintail (Super light weight)
2dz Asst Mallard / Pintail (for in the timber or just adding #'s)
11 Goose floaters (I still don't know where that 12th decoy went!)
11 - GHG field full bodies Mallard

1 homemade spinner
1 - 3 decoy jerk string

My wife bought a bigger boat to haul it all!!!!

And no it rarely all goes out at once..............

Now the Goose decoys...................

[Johnandhis4x4]

I actually have 3 decoy bags set up for specific hunts;

Bag 1; Columbia River Bag

2.5 doz Widgeon
2 doz Ringneck
1 spinning wing wind decoy

Bag 2; Coast

1.5 doz mallard
1 doz Spoonies
3pcs Eurasian widgeon
1 doz Widgeon
1 doz Ringneck
1 pull string spinning wing decoy
1 pull string movement decoy (uses three mallards)

Bag 3; Sauvies

3 doz Mallards
1 doz Spoonie
.5 doz Ringneck (for the random days that diver show up)
.5 doz Widgeon
1 doz Teal
1 pull string spinning wing decoy
1 pull string movement decoy (uses three mallards)

I also have 2 doz mallard and pintail full body decoys i take with if the conditions are right. They have come in handy more times then not.


Good Luck to yall, less then 2wks asso ut:

[SImudBogger]

2 doz hotbuys
1/2 dozen widgeon
pull string spinner
and 1 COOT DECOY

i need more widgeon and pintail

[AtItAgain]

Let's see...

1 dz G&H swivel head mallards
2 dz GHG hotbuys
1/2 dz GHG wigeon
1 dz GHG pintail
2 GHG floating sleepers
1/2 dz FA brand full body Mallards
3 FA brand goose floaters
3 Flambeau goose floaters
1 Aero outdoors spinner
4 GHG feeders (butts)
2 lucky air spinners
1 WingMagic mallard
1 WinDuk

It might be more after I go to Joe's at lunch.

[Old Guys Rule]

I guess I am not spending enough on new decoys.....

3 doz 1980's vintage Flambeau super mag mallads with 30 ft line and 16 oz weights and a home made pull string spinner is my usual river spread.

3 doz Flambeau and G&H mix widgeon / pintails for the coast or big spread time.

2 doz Flambeau mag mallards with light weights for SI.

200 snow goose rags for Summer Lake

[Teton]

Kurt,

Right now, I have no idea!

Thanks for remiding me I've got even more work to do before the 11th. I've been stuck in a boat project for a month straight.

D

[billc_sbio]

Ha ha, what's in MY Decoy Bag is usually 2 doz Mallard dekes (mostly G&H)

(But it can be up to 12 Doz. "Super-Mag" decoys if I take my big boat, and feel like putting out a Giant spread, usually I DON'T!)

BUT...it could be (and would be, if I did this) pared down to 1 dozen.

That's IF I build this "contraption" that my friend wants me to work on.

It's a design of something so Enticing that almost NO regular Floating dekes would be needed.

My friend's been a working member of a couple of VERY successful Duck Clubs for a few years now. Their club has a fabricator as a fairly active member and they try out lots of "gizmo/contraptions"

My friend says he "has a design", he wants me to work on/build, I know the details and I know WHAT I have to do.

Question is will I get it built?

This thing isn't a Spinner, but it's along those lines.

He says it will be "Death on Ducks, like nothing you've ever seen before!", I dunno.

Hmm...maybe I should get busy?

[jokester]

2 dozen GHG Hotbuy Mallards
1 dozen GHG Wigeon
1/2 dozen GHG Teal
2 Mallard duck butts
Pull string spinner

-jokester

[Threemuch]

Originally Posted by billc_sbio

He says it will be "Death on Ducks, like nothing you've ever seen before!", I dunno.

I'll believe it when I see it.

[Adjhunt]

WOW! Can I hunt with all you guys???

[billc_sbio]

Originally Posted by Threemuch

I'll believe it when I see it.

Yeah, me too!

But I'm sworn to secrecy...

He ONLY wants the Ducks to see it!

I dunno, I think there are some "issues" in the portability dept. of making this thing work.

It's an o.k. idea for the static setup of a club, but how we can make it field portable is another trick.

[ogrejager]

That information is classified. Sorry.

[D3smartie]

2 doz mallards and a flutterwing. they are just ducks. it doesnt take much.

[Hunt'nFish]

Too much to list........

[Hunt'nFish]

Originally Posted by Threemuch

1 home made pull string spinner
1 home made jerk cord with clips

What's in your bag(s)?

Geeze...."homemade"???? More like Kewl Killer Kustom. You should see Rev 4.
Hunt'nFish

[SImudBogger]

Originally Posted by D3smartie

2 doz mallards and a flutterwing. they are just ducks. it doesnt take much.

i'll second that. you pack it in you pack it out.....

[Linejerk]

3 doz hot buy mallards
1 doz carry light mallards
1 doz teal
1 doz pintail
6 GHG fully body mallards
6 coot's
1 jerk line with 12 mallards on it GHG
1 air lucky duck that the one wing does not spin like all of them
and 1 of the pull sring spinners

and some were around 3 doz full body GHG goose dek's
4 doz shells
1 doz sil's
6 over size goose floaters
2 flags one for snows one for cans
6 doz snow rag's
2 doz canada rag's
and I think that maybe it but I am sure there is more some were

[libbyswingman]

hmmm.
if you ask my wife..........

i have 1 dozen hot buys in a 9.99 bag from Joes.....

if you ask my Lab...........
she can be bribed with rice crispy treats any given morning! and the spread may look bigger than advertised!!!!!!!!!!!

[Hunt'nFish]

That's funny right there.
Hunt'nFish

[Threemuch]

Originally Posted by D3smartie

2 doz mallards and a flutterwing. they are just ducks. it doesnt take much.

Mebbey not where you hunt. I find down here around the PDX area, they pretty much know what 2-3 dozen dekes means. I either go big or small, and only small if I know I am on the X. If there is any doubt, or I think I will have to pull traffic, I will put up the circus. But I will admit it, I am a gear junky.

Mike, I meant no offense.

My home made spinner is a Huntnfish Kewl Killer Kustom replica. Mark 2 I believe. But I did make it at home.

[DTSportsman]

1 Doz. Hot Buy Mallards
2 Doz. FA HD Mallards
1 Doz. FA Last Pass Fullbody Mallards
1 GHG Puddler Pack
6 GHG Bufflehead

1 Aero (Need HuntNFish to work His magic) Spinner

10 FA Last Pass Fullbody Honkers
5 Flambeau Honker Floaters
2 Doz. Real Geese Silos

[Diver Killer]

Avery/GHG
2 dozen full body Canada geese
2 dozen full body mallard
27 mallard floater
7 pintail
8 wigeon
2 Eurasian wigeon
2 gadwall
7 shoveler
5 coots
6 ring neck
2 redhead
4 bluebill
12 canvasback
I'll be adding 1 to 1-1/2 dozen divers and about 8 dabblers in the next few weeks, along with 3-4 dozen mallard shells and 3-4 dozen 5/8 shell snows.

Carry-Lite
25 shoveler
24 mallard
12 green wing
24 bluebill
4 wood duck

Flambeau
19 mallard
7 pintail
4 Canada floaters

Other
8 G&H Canada shells
6 unknown Canada shells
3 G&H mallard
4 unknown Canada floaters (two brands)
also, a small handfull of varied floaters (half dozen or so)

I own a store so many of my GHG's are weird amounts, 'cause I let people open up boxes and mix-n-match. The extras always seem to jump into my truck. Some of the other weird #'s are the result of finding "lost" decoys. Seems like they are usually mallard drakes, but not always. I usually get one every year after a high water event. I've found them in the summer too, mostly on the Lower Columbia. I also have 6 Feather Flex doves, 2 Carry-Lite (C-L) gulls (one floater, one field), 12 C-L snipe, two other C-L shorebirds (can't remember what they are), and a "field" C-L cormorant. Don't ask me why I bought those last few....I still don't know. They just sit on a shelf in the garage, on display, more or less.

None of it really matters.....I hunt anywhere from 30 to 50 times a year for waterfowl and put out decoys only about 1/3 of the time. Some of them have never been unwrapped.

More importantly:
Kicked off the season this past weekend by taking my 10 year old out to Sauvie for the youth duck hunt. He shot one duck last year thanks to the "mentored youth" program. he got one spoony on Sunday....flying, angling away at 40 yards. Then he missed a water shot on a cinnamon at 40 feet. Plenty of other good shots. If he was a little older and had more shooting experience he probably would have limited. The new lab got his first duck retrieve, too.

[duck_crazy101]

duck decoys

24ghg greenheads
12ghg wigeon
12ghg green wing teal
6ghg cinommon teal
1ghg bluewing teal
1ghg eurasion wigeon
6ghg gadwalls
6ghg shovlers
24ghg bluebills
4ghg redheads
2ghg goldeneyes
6ghg buffleheads
6ghg ringnecks
12ghg pintails
2ghg canvasbacks

goose decoys

8 dsd lessers
8 hardcore lessers

[thefishslayer]

3 drake mallards and 4 hens. thats all

[sprigkiller09]

A little of this and a little of that......

[Mallardmafia]

18 herters mill. mallard
12 full body mallard
6 hardcore goose
10 ghg oversized goose floaters
6 herter brant decoys
2 butt up mallards
but 99 percent of the time only 6 mallard floters and 2 goose floaters is all we use

[lor]

Bag 1 - 6 Avery Full Body Active Style Mallards(with embedded pellets, the guilty will remain nameless)

Bag 2 - 2 dozen hot buys.

Bag 3 - 1 dozen Avery Pintails, 6 avery GW Teal, 6 Avery Widgeon.

Bag 4 - my soon to be rigged up diver bag. 12 Bufflehead, 6 Redhead, 6 Bluebills, 6 Goldeneye, and 6 Ringneck.

[Frozen_Arrows]

Puddler
1 dz ghg mallards
1/2 dz ghg pintails
1/2 dz gadwallls
3 ghg shovlers
3 ghg woodies

Diver set up
10 burlaped herters cans
8 burlaped herters goldeneye's
14 burlaped herters redheads
2 dz ghg blue bills
1 dz ghg widgeon

Goose
12 dsd lessers
2 dsd snows
1 dsd speck
12 ghg fullbody mallards

[SouthSantiamSlayer]

12 fake ducks.
hahaha...
what else would there be in there?

[spurcrazy]

Originally Posted by billc_sbio

Hmm...maybe I should get busy?

or not, as a seasoned hunter don't you miss the basics? calling, decoy placement, getting to the spot first, competing with the ducks and not masses, johnson as a roam unit, shooting geese in every unit, no batteries or mechanics, no store bought jerk strings, and the list goes on and on.

i miss when it took skill and knowledge to kill ducks. it's too bad all the self proclaimed "newbies" didnt have to wait 4 years to buy anything but a basic decoy. They might realize that spending more money for less decoys rarely matters. Very rarely.