Twenty years ago

[A Grant]

I found this picture in a magazine from May 1986, twenty years ago. They put out couple hundred+ milk jugs painted black. Apparently they worked, three limits on Reelfoot Lake. They probably still work. I am tempted to start stockpiling milk jugs, but haven't started yet. I am waiting for the new coots. It probably is a still a great tip, though, for guys strapped for cash and want a big spread. You can't beat the visability of all black (or white).

http://img466.imageshack.us/img466/8052/milkjugs7jv.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Christian Curtis]

Little bit of history is always neat...As a matter of fact, I think I have caught some Bream right in front of that blind. For the benefit of Rick and Eric...a Bream is a member of the Sunfish family. A fairly sought after panfish in the south. Maybe not quite the table fare of a Walleye but DEFINITELY more fun to catch!

[Travis Mueller]

You are starting quite the debate, but I will have to admit, catching pound bream/bluegill every cast is a TON of fun!!!!!!!!

[cody_lane2005@hotmail.com]

What would you hunt with the jugs? It looks like geese to me, but not shur.

[Rob Jepson]

Similar set-ups have been used around the Chesapeake region for sea ducks...

[Tim Trader]

It has been ten years since I hunted at Reelfoot, but they had some interesting spreads there then. Some rigs would have 2' 4X4 posts rigged on one end and painted black for goose decoys. There were spreads with hundreds and hundreds of these mixed in with their floaters. The average size of the spreads there is much larger than spreads I have seen elsewhere.

Tim

[Curt Wilson]

The Reelfoot Lake area is where I grew up hunting. There were a lot of spreads that looked like that and a few that still do. If you are looking for visibility decoys, look at the coots, goldeneyes and buffleheads. All three of these decoys have a lot of black and white on them and will show up very well.

[Cory Johnson]

I just rolled in from Reelfoot Lake. We fished around 50 or so blinds and caught 139 Crappie. And those milk jugs are still ever popular on the Lake.

[Bearman]

I just rolled in from Reelfoot Lake. We fished around 50 or so blinds and caught 139 Crappie. And those milk jugs are still ever popular on the Lake.


They are not still there for looks, they obviously work, which is kind of podering, sin't it!

[Mike Bard]

I have seen both milk jugs and old tires used as goose decoys here. Not many lately, but it was within the last 10 years.

[Katies Dad]

Can't use milk jugs anymore but they worked really well on Reelfoot, I have hunted there for 32 years. My family is from there!

[Ryan Brentzel]

There's a place my dad and I hunt on the Platte and they have home-made decoys made by tires cut into thirds and they made heads out of cedar. They also made some dekes out of old five gallon jugs that are cut in half. They have been painted to look like geese and also have cedar heads. They still use them quite a bit mixed in with there GHG.

[Scott Moates]

I used painted milk jugs many times hunting on the Tennessee River in Alabama hunting for river ducks many years ago. I have also put a bream on a hook under a milk jug to catch catfish.

[Josh Brugmans]

I was reading a Waterfowl magazine, and to my surprise Fred Zink was in it, and in this article it showed him and another guy using some silos and tires cut in halve to kill geese... it seemed to work.

[SwampHunter]

Growing up we used them and spanked the birds over them. Still works to this day too.