Decoy Help???

[blklab72]

I was thinking about only using 1dzn decoys for this comming duck season and wanted to know if you were to only use a dozen what would you use and why? I hunt alot on public ponds and rivers and I allways see guys with 2-3dzn dekes and I wanted to try to downsize my spread to give the ducks something different to look at and also to cuttdown on the weight for packing in gear. FullBody,Life-Size,Over-Size, Mallards,Mix Species????:confused:

[Curt Wilson]

It is all going to depend on what you primarily hunt. Ducks or geese, what kind of terrain you are on and how far you have to pack in. Let me know.

[Paul "from NZ" Stenning]

A dozen or two rester/sleeper GHG OS Full Body Mallards would be deadly around the edge of a pond/river situation As the naturally relaxed poses would not require any movement, You could also use 2 to 5 GHG OS floaters set up on a jerk cord just for added visibility and a the ripples on the water will drag bird from good distances, there will be plenty of ideas and I hope you have a great season!

This is last season with My actives and feeders which was a deadly small setup on Mallards, I will have sleepers and Resters next season.
http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/5968/fullbodywt5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[blklab72]

Duck only on ponds and both on the rivers. Sometime I have to pack in 1mile.:(

[Curt Wilson]

I would go with the Harvester pack of full body mallards and then try some of the new Hot Buy Canada goose shells. The shells are smaller and lighter weight than the over size. You can put the shells in a mesh bag and the Harvester pack mallards come with a bag. I know you wanted to go with just a dozen decoys, but this is a fairly easy way to go with 2 dozen killer decoys.

[Aaron Hitchins]

If you want floaters go with the Cabela's RealImage (made by GHG) as they will make up for your lack of numbers with perfect everything else.

Aaron

[blklab72]

Thanks for your help guys!!!:D

[goose14]

Sometimes we hunt small creeks or potholes for teal, woodies, mallards, etc. Sometimes we use as little as 6-8 LS GHG. And sometimes we use up to 2 dz GHG LS. I think it depends on what the ducks like and how much other hunters are using.

[austinjbrown]

I dont think i would use any less decoys than you already were. I think you would have more success using more decoys. It is true that most people use about the same number of decoys but i would advise using more to make it look more appealing to more ducks. Less decoys might help you in certain areas, but i would say that during most parts of the season the more the better with the right setup

[Christian Curtis]

If I can only have a dozen and hunt water I think I would stick with floaters for sure. Now which ones? There again, if I can only have a dozen, I would go with a dozen of the new Hotbuy Magnum Mallards. Only having a dozen, I am always going to go with Mallards. These are awesome looking decoys, great price, and good sized.

[David Rearick]

I would agree, floaters are the ticket for your situation. I would go with 6 O/S Shovelers and 6 O/S Mallrds. Maybe mix in a few butts as well. You could also maybe add 4-6 divers as well for color.

You may even be on to sometihng, because more isn't always better!

Good luck this fall!

[Rich Good]

If I could only take one dozen out with me because of the walk terrain ect, I would take 2 Butt up Mallards / 4 OSS Drake Mallards / 1 OSS Hen Mallard / 2 Drake Pintails / 1 Hen Pintail / and 2 Wood Ducks a Drake and a Hen. That was if I had these decoys at my disposal. If I had to buy a new dozen for this endevor I would buy a dozen Hot Buys.

[Rick Frisch]

You should look into the Puddler Pack that Gander Mountain is selling. There are a hen and drake of wigeon, pintail, and gadwall. All are the Life-Size series. It has been selling great for them.

Thanks,

[Jason Pollack]

Depending on what ducks are in the areas you hunt, try throwing in a few "off species" for added realism. I have found that around the areas I hunt, if we put out some kind of off species with a little more white color on them, they sometimes pull the ducks in simply because they are easier to see than a spread of mallards. For packing long distances, I would look into a spread of mainly hot buys also.

[Travis Mueller]

If you are hunting a public marsh where there is a lot of people with the traditional 2-3 dozen mallards, then I'd run 12 OS black ducks. BIG TIME visibility from the sky.

[A Grant]

I would go with,

1 bluebill
for visability and to draw the odd diver that might fly by

2 pintails
visabiltity

2 widgeon

1 gadwal

4 mallards

2 greenwing teal

For reasoning on my picks, here is the species harvest for Colorado:
Listed 2002 first then 2003

Duck Species Composition
2002
2003

Mallard
51,856
71,366


Black Duck
0
0

Mallard x Black Duck Hybrid
0
0

Mottled Duck
0
0

Gadwall
5,538
10,615

Wigeon
10,184
9,848

Green-winged Teal
10,184
20,463


Blue-winged/Cinnamon Teal
4,913
7,418

Northern Shoveler
2,010
4,732

Northern Pintail
1,742
2,174

Wood Duck
1,295
2,046

Redhead
581
1,151

Canvasback
0
128
1
Greater Scaup
45
0

Lesser Scaup
1,563
895

Ring-necked Duck
1,072
1,279

Goldeneyes
1,742
4,476

Bufflehead
804
639

Ruddy Duck
268
0

Long-tailed Duck
45
0

Eiders
0
0

Scoters
0
0

Hooded Merganser
179
128

Other Mergansers
581
639


Total Duck Harvest
94,600±14%

[James Staten]

definitly think about some off species such as pintails or shovlers both have great visiblility to the birds. Mostly match what is in your area and as advised before if your packing them in think HOT BUYS they are light weight and a good looking decoy.

River Reaper