OK - Who do you think makes the best decoys .

Fishalot · 12-07-2001, 01:21 PM

I have used lots of different brands of decoys over the years and some hold up better then others. Some look alot more realistic, some ride the water better. What kind do you like or depend on to get those feathery little rascals to come in to shooting range. :grin:

Beer Waggin · 12-07-2001, 02:59 PM

Far and away the best decoy I've ever seen was a Columbia River Decoy made by a guy named Don Guthrie in Tigard. They are a plastic molded decoy that are hand painted. I would love to have a bunch, but boy are they spendy.
The only thing better would be some of the real ones stuffed and floating in front of you. Of course I've been told they don't last but a couple of years even with the best of care.
My bags are filled with G & H, Flambau, and then about 50 other old ones that stay home unless I feel like I need more than about 5 dozen dec's sitting in front of me.

Fishalot · 12-07-2001, 04:07 PM

Dave are the Coulmbia river decoys you are talking about the field ones or are they different. If they are the ones I think you may be talking about, I hunt on a lease with a guy that is up to a doz. These are Goose decoys and boy do they work. :shocked:

Fishalot

Get Bit · 12-07-2001, 04:19 PM

For Goose Decoys, I think Dave Smith has the best. He has his own mold and hand paints them. Spendy but worth it if you like full body decoy. Last I heard he had a one year waiting list. If you haven't seen Dave's decoys its a must. They're Awesome ! The second best for full bodies has to be Bigfoots. Silos I would say Outlaws all the way(ducks or Geese).
Floaters for ducks are another story. Don't do floaters for Geeses often. The best looking for the money has to be G&H but spendier then most of the dekes I have in my bag. I'm sure there are better out there but I'm not that familiar with all of them having not seen them all live. This is a great topic !
Get Bit

Tilla · 12-07-2001, 04:38 PM

I got oretty much a mix like North R Dave, but most new decoys are G + H. The paint holds up better. The pintails are works of art. I have a number of silouettes goose decoys but Bigfoot full body's are the way to go. I think Dave Smith's has the most realistic/spendy (this does not mean overpriced! they really are artwork) , he is supposed to be a member of our club this year but haven't seen him yet, one guy has at least a dozen and does quite well.

bigshark · 12-07-2001, 05:54 PM

My vote for best duck decoy goes to Chesapeake Bay
Decoys. Have used them since the mid 80s and still look excellent. They are very lifelike and are tough to scuff or hurt in anyway. Pricy at $40 a bird. Our club is very happy with the Plastie Duck decoys out of Klamath Falls. We are on our 4th or 5th season with them and they have held up very well. Their diver decoys are also great and the outfit will sell to you direct at a price that all can afford. The oversized decoy is best in my opinion, but thats only how I see it.
For goose decoys, if your into harvesting these vermin, stuffers are the best way to go.

Salmonator · 12-07-2001, 06:23 PM

G&H super mags....

Meridian · 12-07-2001, 06:34 PM

Do you guys think it is better to have the best looking decoy or a bunch of so so decoys? Example: One dozen Bigfoots verse four dozen shells.

Mr. Fisherman · 12-09-2001, 02:24 PM

Meridian,

I have the same question.

Anybody want to field this fer us?

Quantity or quality?

I myself am more interested in duck decoys, floaters. But I think there would be interested parties in goose decoys also.

Thanks in advance,

Mr. F.

Fishalot · 12-09-2001, 04:03 PM

The best info I can give is from expierence. If you have a mix of great looking decoys and some beat up decoys, for ducks I put the good one's in the landing zone where the birds will be consentrating at close range. This seems to help when I have a mix of good and bad. I have shot more ducks over a few good looking decoys then lots of junky looking blocks.

When hunting geese in the field the more the better out East, In areas where the geese are presured a lot the better looking decoys work best. A little good calling always helps.

Fishalot

bigshark · 12-09-2001, 06:24 PM

Meridian, my experience with quality versus quantity leads me to believe that where your setting up makes a difference. In large bodies of water like Wallola Lake or out at Russian Island
I think quantity is more helpful. Or if your setting up in a poor spot because the better, more natural places for birds to come into are already taken, the quantity factor wins again. If on the otherhand you have the natural place for them to land, a handful of say 8 or 10 will do nicely. The natural spots for birds to land are
coves, points, flooded backwaters, flooded woody
area and so on. If you were around when Jim Connway use to do his shows on the tube he would use a couple of hundred pretty poor decoys no matter where he filmed. All of this assumes that
your able to put out a good call and can read the birds.It is also about ducks and not geese. The
snow goose will come to 300 to 500 white rags before going to a couple dozen of their real-life
brothern. Canada geese with a lot of hunting pressure on them will return to a area they fed the nite before and guality is more important here than quantity, at least thats my thoughts on the question.

[ 12-09-2001: Message edited by: bigshark ]</p>

Capin' Dan · 12-10-2001, 01:44 AM

Come on guys more is always better.

Seriously I do think more often than not that the larger the spread the better.

G & H is the best bang for the buck. I have seen in Moses lake later in the season where more was the ticket and some of them had no paint on them.

Lured In · 12-10-2001, 08:36 AM

C'mon guys, I am a young buck and even I know this rule! LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION! I don't care how many or how pretty your decoys are, if you are not in the right area it won't matter. In the right location you can be out standing in your decoys and the ducks will try to land on your head. With geese, if you are in the field they were feeding in the night before you don't even need decoys. (I've seen this!)

In general I go with the best for what I can afford. Like most I have a mix of everything from beat up to less beat up. I keep them clean and painted. In general though, assuming all else to be equal, I would rather know that it is not my decoys that are keeping the birds away. We have enough things we can't control that I would rather not have to worry about whether my decoys are flaring the birds. Mostly I have some spruced up Flambeau's that I can't say have done any worse, or better, than anything else on the water with me. My main complaint with the Flambeau's is that the paint comes off way too easy. If I was going to get what I consider the most reliable and realistic I would go with G&H. But when balancing numbers with quality the home painted Flambeau's fit the bill.

As far as geese go, don't ask me. The 7 dozen shells I have don't work for **** in the NW zone.

MoJet Driver · 12-10-2001, 10:51 AM

Often while hunting Canada geese, I have found that cutting down the size of your spread helps gun shy geese. However I would emphasize that the one's you put out are high quality. One gent I ran into in the field killed quite a few Canadas one season over a half dozen dekes. Bet he didn't get all worn out dragging them in and out of the field.

I also think the subspecies of Canadas have something to do with the size of your set. If you are primarily going after tavs and cacks, a large set is the rule. Those large flocks definitely need some visual stimulation to come on down.

One other thing I think is important, is the pattern that you set your dekes. Sooner or later the birds get wise to seeing the same old set up day in and day out. This worked to my advantage one time while hunting a public area in Eastern Oregon. I knew that the birds wouldn't land in the set so we opened up a hole that acted like a funnel. We spread the dekes out so much, the geese couldn't focus on any one family group. There heads went back and forth trying to figure out if the were imposters or not. When they did commit, I was outside the blind trying to cover up the cart and my lame duck partner missed every bird with 3 shots at less than 10 yards. Just like him to choke. I started calling him "Charlie Brown" after that. Besides it matched his round head.

Lured also nailed it with location. We've had over 20 dozen dekes out and the flocks just a kept on flying. If there isn't goose **** in the field, pick it up and move. The only wild card there is if it snows. For some reason the birds get really stupid then.

As far as dekes go, if I had the storage space, I'd have 3 to 4 dozen stuffers. If you really want to get down to nuts and bolts, quality and quantity are the best bet. Quantity is a good thing to have on hand if you need it.

Versatility is also a good thing. If the birds are flaring adjust your set to what the birds want, not what you want. May be a could time to stick your call in your pocket too. I've had plenty of birds set and land while I was distracted or looking in the wrong direction.

[ 12-10-2001: Message edited by: MoJet Driver ]</p>

willametteriveroutlaw · 12-10-2001, 12:15 PM

Personally, the best dekes I ever had the pleasure to hunt over were herters. They were the Mellinium photo dekes. Another plus to herters is that if you hunt with new guys a few errant BB's won't sink em. I watched my spread of flambeaus sink one at time last season due to a couple of newbies trying to shoot cripples in the dekes. And as for geese I have a couple dozen carrylites that seem to really do the trick. I've got a bout 7 dozen dekes total but i usually leave the majority of them at home. I've foound that being well hidden in the right place usually is all that I need, along with some fair calling. Has anybody out there used those motorized goose decoys? Also has anybody used the new avery final approach copycat blind?

MoJet Driver · 12-10-2001, 12:16 PM

I just dressed up my BigFoots in some Foto Feathers and they are fixin' to get flocked shortly. :grin: I couldn't get the Foto Feathers head and neck socks to fit.

I think "flocking" your Canada dekes will make all the difference in the world. Anybody know of anything similar for mallard dekes?

Labsforme · 12-10-2001, 12:49 PM

For ducks I use what I can afford,so have a mixture of Carrylite,G&H,Flambeau,standards,mags, and supermags.It seems that with a mixture of sizes and species that they pull birds better.
For geese have some Carrylite full body standards and 5 of their super mags,and 4 feeder Flambeau
full bodies,2 doz Outlaw,and misc shells,silhouettes.The first part of the season used 15 full bodies and the 2 doz Outlaws and
the birds seemed decoy shy even then.Last week
on SI used just the full bodies and we had 3 limits by noon with 2-300 birds trying to land in the decoys.

jberry · 12-10-2001, 02:35 PM

Mojet

Try www.aerooutdoors.com

They have flocking for greenheads, but it looks a little to bright, not quite as dramatic as flocking bigfoots.

HarpMan · 12-10-2001, 09:37 PM

Dave Smith's goose decoy's and Guthrie's ducks all the way..... oh ya and some standard carry lights goose as well while we wait for Dave to get to all the decoys done.

Tilla · 12-10-2001, 11:32 PM

Boy, I have a hard time deciding here. I have always gone with the high numbers. Some buddies and I have pooled together 70 or so Bigfoots. It may be not enough at times for these west side birds. I do know a couple of purists that have done just as well or better with a dozen well placed birds. Especially with those "Smith"$$$$ decoys.

jberry · 12-10-2001, 11:56 PM

Location is a big factor, but robo duck proved to me that you can make them go where they don't want to. Now that there is no more robo duck in Washington, we've changed our spread from standard carrylites and higdon plastic duck decoys to 4 dozen Columbia River decoys. It's just awesome to hunt over decoys that look as good as they do. We've already placed orders for another 4 dozen for next year. The only downfall is they are extremely heavy to carry, without a decoy cart a single person is limited to carrying about 18 decoys at a time. I'm a big guy and hauling 18 of them for 1/2 a mile is enough to get me good and sore the next day.

Goose decoys on the other hand....... Bigfoots are hard to beat, especially if you do some of the customizing that is available now. Flocking the heads and airbrushing the bodies can turn them into realistic decoys instead of lifeless plastic. Dave Smith decoys are for the serious hunter or guide. My brother just had 2 dozen delivered about 3 weeks ago. Those 2 dozen along with 20 stuffers will outpull any 6 dozen bigfoot spread. Everything about his decoys is perfect, it even says so on the bottom of every one. He signs each decoy with the phrase "I aced this". A little cocky but well deserved.

Fishalot · 12-15-2001, 10:05 PM

Some guys I know and I have cut out our own Goose Silhouettes from corrugated plastic. The key to doing a good paint job is to cut out stencils for each paint color. I have mixed them in with the Outlaws and Realgeese and they look and work great.
Just thought I would pass this Idea on.

Fishalot