How about fullbody black ducks?

[Clayton]

Wondering how many hunters in the range of black ducks would be interested in seeing a fullbody black duck decoy? All it would take is a repainting of the fullbody hen mallard. I strongly considered repainting two of my hen mallards but with only 2 hens per 6 pack I didn't want to reduce my hen numbers down anymore.

[Dux r me]

yeah but if you made them youd have to put lik 4 feeders and 2 sentrys in the box cause i would only want 6.

[Rick Frisch]

Judging it by the sales of our O/S Black Duck floating decoys, I don't think it will happen. But then again, you never know.

Thanks,

[Clayton]

Nope it doesn't look like the interest is that high. Anyone want to sell me a couple of hen fullbody mallards so I can paint my own???

[Dux r me]

What about pintails?

[Clayton]

Ask and yea shall receive.

[goosehunter64]

I know for a fact.......that sales would be through the roof in eastern Canada.....if the exchange, duty, availablity, and shipping were better. The black duck is king in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, & NewfoundLand.
I'm not sure if there is any local dealers in these areas.
Also along the eastern shores of the US. They only have a small bag limit of one bird, so don't really need huge spreads of them.
Even though sales are not as good as expected, I would not think of discontinuing the O.S. BD.

Of course, this is just my opinion from being from eastern Canada...originally and hunting waterfowl for 20+ yrs there.

[Jeff Riverin]

Goosehunter64,

don't forget Quebec! I would love to see GHG black full bodies!!!

[goosehunter64]

Opps sorry Jeff. You are right, but my thinking was........for the most part....that the mallard has replaced the blackduck in PQ. Not that is anything like Ont mind you. tongue.gif :cool:

[Christian Curtis]

Guys,

Keep the suggestions coming. As I've said before, your suggestions are the beginnings of the ideas that we take to the drawing board. Thanks for the input.

[rsdecoys]

It seems odd, as making a black duck would be a simple repaint. No need to adjust anything.

I cant for the life of me figure out why you guys would make a eurasian widgeon and not repaint some full bodies into black ducks.

[SwampHunter]

Originally posted by rsdecoys:
It seems odd, as making a black duck would be a simple repaint. No need to adjust anything.

I cant for the life of me figure out why you guys would make a eurasian widgeon and not repaint some full bodies into black ducks.The same reason they didn't use Mallard hens and repaint them as Black Ducks. The carving for the Black Duck feathers is different from the Mallard hen feathers. They didn't want to give you a repainted Mallard hen and call it a Black Duck. :cool:
Yep, and a simple repaint would be easy. Of course if I was wanting fullbody Black Ducks and they only made Mallards I would repaint them myself. :D

[rsdecoys]

Originally posted by SwampHunter:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by rsdecoys:
It seems odd, as making a black duck would be a simple repaint. No need to adjust anything.

I cant for the life of me figure out why you guys would make a eurasian widgeon and not repaint some full bodies into black ducks.The same reason they didn't use Mallard hens and repaint them as Black Ducks. The carving for the Black Duck feathers is different from the Mallard hen feathers. They didn't want to give you a repainted Mallard hen and call it a Black Duck. :cool:
Yep, and a simple repaint would be easy. Of course if I was wanting fullbody Black Ducks and they only made Mallards I would repaint them myself. :D </font>[/QUOTE]The feather structure on the hen mallard versus a black duck is very minimal. Although there is an internal marking on the hen mallard, i think that it is a difference that could be overlooked. It seems as though just painting them myself is the alternative.

[Mike Bard]

Living in NY and having hunted the Northeast we encounter a lot of black ducks and I can see where they would work very well here, especially along the East coast and the salt marshes, but given we are a small portion of the waterfowling community, I'm not sure it would make sense to mass produce decoys for just our region.

I will most likely paint 3-4 of my GHG full bodies up.

[SwampHunter]

Originally posted by rsdecoys:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by SwampHunter:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by rsdecoys:
It seems odd, as making a black duck would be a simple repaint. No need to adjust anything.

I cant for the life of me figure out why you guys would make a eurasian widgeon and not repaint some full bodies into black ducks.The same reason they didn't use Mallard hens and repaint them as Black Ducks. The carving for the Black Duck feathers is different from the Mallard hen feathers. They didn't want to give you a repainted Mallard hen and call it a Black Duck. :cool:
Yep, and a simple repaint would be easy. Of course if I was wanting fullbody Black Ducks and they only made Mallards I would repaint them myself. :D </font>[/QUOTE]The feather structure on the hen mallard versus a black duck is very minimal. Although there is an internal marking on the hen mallard, i think that it is a difference that could be overlooked. It seems as though just painting them myself is the alternative.</font>[/QUOTE]You are right it is very minimal, but I am just passing along why it was not done on the floaters and probably won't be done on the fullbodies. ;)

[MrCamoClad]

Originally posted by Mike Bard:
Living in NY and having hunted the Northeast we encounter a lot of black ducks and I can see where they would work very well here, especially along the East coast and the salt marshes, but given we are a small portion of the waterfowling community, I'm not sure it would make sense to mass produce decoys for just our region.

I will most likely paint 3-4 of my GHG full bodies up.Mike I agree....here in the east - Blacks are everywhere. Alot of the guys around here only use Black Duck decoys - being a more skittish breed of duck - the mallards and blacks deke to The Black duck decoys better -

As for making a whole new decoy - I think they would sell 'ok' in the East and North of the boarder but I really dont think a Black duck will be able to tell the difference between a painted Mallard decoy and 'real' Black duck decoy.

Another note - even though the Black duck are everywhere...we can still only Shoot one in CT.

[Backpeddler]

I live on the Easternshore of MD and I can think of very few situations I would use full body blacks. Most of the areas we hunt them are potholes where the water is too deep for FB's. I have never killed a black in the fields and have only seen a few killed in a corn field. To warrant production I would think the demand would certainly have to be higher. Not to mention the few situations I can think of where we might put out a FB black spread would only require a half dozen at most. Not much sales in that!

[J Kryspin]

Where I'm at, Blacks are consistently harvested in the grainfields along with mallards, pintails and wood ducks. We've decoyed them in flocks of blacks along and mixed with mallards and pintails. We see large concentrations of black ducks toward the later end of the season and I think fullbody blacks would sell fairly well.

[Clayton]

Acutally Backpeddler you have a need for them and don't even realize it! :D Drag yourself a log or piece of driftwood into your pond(s) and anchor into place. Then place your fullbody black ducks loafing on the log(s). Makes for a great edition to a small pond. Almost a type of confidence decoy.

[Jeff Riverin]

As J Kryspin wrote,

where I'm at I consistently kill Blacks in grain fields.Under hunting pressure they become wiser than most educated Mallards including some Canadas.

[ScarySouthernMan]

OK guys, I gotta get in on this one.

Black Ducks are by far my favorate bird to shoot.

I live for plucking them out of those pesky Mallards that seem to be taking my coveted bird futher from my grasp every year.

I have this to say about the Full bodies...

Swamphunter,

I agree that there is a definate difference between the OS Hen Mallards and the new OS Blackies. I for one appreciate the break from the typical practice of repainting Mallards.

My question is though, why is there a "different feather structure"? Anatomically speaking, the two are identical and there is nothing tha seperates them apart OTHER than color markings. In fact they are often called Black Mallards here in VA. While I realize Avery/GHG's commitment to accuracy (and am very impressed with it), I don't think that a Fullbody Black warrants a remolding...Seriously. I know I would definately buy them should you ever market them. It has been said here on this thread that there are way more applications for a FB duck decoy than hunting in corn fields (a place less likely to harvest Blacks in contrast to big water). I think Clayton was right on when he said that a lot of hunters have a need for a FB Black and don't even know it. If you truly don't need them...That's cool too. I won't ever be purchasing any Cinnamon Teal dekes as hey live on the wrong side of the country...They are a brilliant decoy. I LOVE all of the non-Canada goose decoys too...But again, I can't use those either...THere are really only about 4 or 5 decoy species that I could warrant buying here in the Western part of Virginia...Fortunately, now that the Black Duck floaters are out and about, I have them all...(I'm holding out for the new designed Woodies though...I hope they'll show up sooner than later). The need for variety amongst the few species of ducks that we have here is imperitive. Other wise we are hunting over the same 'ol same 'ol for years on top of other years. I love what you've added with the new line of stuff this year...I own three of the "new for 05" products (including OS Blacks, FFD Elites, and the Bags are on the way) and I love virtuqally every single product you guys have. I have in the last three years as an Avery consumer found only two things that I'm not happy with in the actual decoy designs (both of which have been heavily discussed already so I won't go there right now)...and to me, that is close enough to PERFECTION for the birds that I shoot.

This being said, I feel 110% confident that as an avid Black Duck hunter as well as a very dedicated loyalist to Avery/GHG that a repaint of the mallard FB's WILL BE JUST FINE even for the most scrutinizing hunters and more importantly, the wary 'ol Blacks.

I urge you to think seriously about a full-body Black Duck decoy for next year or so. I must say that the release of the Eurasian Wigeon decoy and the Over-Sized Shoveler decoy sorta compromises the company argument that there won't be a demand for the release of B.Duck FB's. Surely I would at least THINK that this product would out sell those...I'm not a marketing specialist but I do know a thing or two about the decoy market simply from having traveled across the country to shoot at some of these pretty ducks that our country houses that don't live here.

I think the market is here. Look at the posts. Consider this my plea to give us yet another awesome product. You guys are like heroin to decoy buffs...You whip out a line of unsurpassed decoys and then leave us wanting more and more until we can't stand the suspense...I'm going through decoy withdrawl.

Thanks for the consideration,

Scary

[SwampHunter]

Scary,
I agree with you. A Mallard Fullbody painted as a Black Duck would be fine with me as well as I am sure it's fine with alot of other folks as well. I am just stating what was told to me by Tom Matthews when I asked why not repaint the floating Mallards as Black Ducks.
The fethers are the same in shape, but the way the colors lay is different. This is the reason on the Mallard Hen floaters the inside of the feathers has a raised portion. On the Black Duck floaters you won't find this, since it's made from a relief carving perspective.
This way they are giving us true Black Ducks instead of repainted Mallards like every other compnay.

Take Care,
Ronnie Ladd

[rsdecoys]

Originally posted by SwampHunter:
Scary,
I agree with you. A Mallard Fullbody painted as a Black Duck would be fine with me as well as I am sure it's fine with alot of other folks as well. I am just stating what was told to me by Tom Matthews when I asked why not repaint the floating Mallards as Black Ducks.
The fethers are the same in shape, but the way the colors lay is different. This is the reason on the Mallard Hen floaters the inside of the feathers has a raised portion. On the Black Duck floaters you won't find this, since it's made from a relief carving perspective.
This way they are giving us true Black Ducks instead of repainted Mallards like every other compnay.

Take Care,
Ronnie LaddThats just what I was thinking too...

Has anyone painted one to see just what it would look like? I personally could repaint them, but I am not sure of the durability of what I would put over the factory paint. But then again, it could be as simple as washing a few coats over it.

J Kryspin, Do you have a fullbody you'd be willing to let me throw a blackduck paint job on?

We (consumers) can do it ourselves and you guys (GHG) can take a look and see what you think.

Ramsey

[J Kryspin]

Ramsey - Had I seen this message last night, I would have gladly given you a Hen or two to repaint at the dinner!!! They were sitting on my doorstep when I got home last night. I have the actives at my house now and the feeders should arrive today I believe.

Let me know what you're thinking.

Thanks again for donating the decoy to our committee. It was truly appreciated and your work is second to none.

[Clayton]

I decided to go ahead and paint a couple of the fullbody mallards as black ducks. I am going to paint one just using the decoys as is and one painting in the feathers. I don't expect to get started until next week. So if anyone wants to let me be the guniea pig then I will post up the pictures when I get done. Probably looking at week after next before I will have the time to complete them.

[jamie w]

You can only get one. However, they are a good confidence decoy due to the fact that they are hands down the smartest duck out there.

[ScarySouthernMan]

Jamie,

I can tell you've hunted Blacks...They are indeed the smartest duck to ever live (in my opinion).

SwampHunter,

Thanks for the explanation...I was quite curious about that.

Ramsey,

I am very interested in seeing what your repaint looks like. Will you please keep me posted on it, thanks.

Guys,

I see a demand right here on this forum...Please please please...With a cherry on top!

[rsdecoys]

Originally posted by J Kryspin:
Ramsey - Had I seen this message last night, I would have gladly given you a Hen or two to repaint at the dinner!!! They were sitting on my doorstep when I got home last night. I have the actives at my house now and the feeders should arrive today I believe.

Let me know what you're thinking.

Thanks again for donating the decoy to our committee. It was truly appreciated and your work is second to none.I just want to get a heads up hen to repaint as a blackduck. I'll just give it the once over and we'll see how it looks. Gonna be down in the beach area anytime soon? I will be in Newark for the UD homecoming game next weekend.

Ramsey

BTW thanks for the compliments on the mallard. I'm glad we could raise a few bucks with it.

[J Kryspin]

Ramsey - I won't be down the beach probably until the season starts. I am about 15 minutes from Newark.

How long do you think it'll take you to finish? The season opens on the 24th, don't forget!?!? :D

[Allan Stanley]

In this one instance I think a repaint might be justifiable. If the plastic used to make the decoy could be "Black Duck Colored", judicious use of sandpaper could be used to remove the raised feather detail paint we each deemed excessive. I already touch the hen mallards up with sandpaper anyway. Works great.

I would use the full body blacks in fields, on logs, mudflats, sandbars and especially on the ice. Talk about visibility.

Until then, I guess I'll have to repaint old Flambeau Mallards, as I don't think I can make myself paint one of the new GHG Mallards.

[J Kryspin]

Allan - Exactly why someone talented like Ramsey is painting the bird. I, for one, won't attempt a repaint of one of those decoys. They come out of the box okay for me!