shooting decoys?

[MistsITR]

how often do you all shoot your decoys?
i've got 2 out of comission and atleast a half dozen more with BB's rattleing around inside them. and most of these are less the 2 seasons old! now i don't shoot birds that are sitting in my decoys but when birds are decoying well often times the 1st shot has decoys behind it.
so my question is how often do you all shoot/replace flotter decoys?

[Phil The Thrill]

In my spread decoys are like another hunter, dog, house, ect.; dont pull the trigger If they are in your line of fire. My rule is if you break one, you buy a new box. To answer your question though, if the decoys are not functioning properly, buy new decoys. Otherwise they should be fine.

[Lybeck]

Same here I would never shoot at all If there was a chance of one of my decoys getting shot but it happens I guess I have a book that says that to repair decoys with holes in them you take I think it was plastic and melt it over the hole or probably waterproof glue would seal it up pretty good like the kind you use to repair waders.

[MarshallH]

My rule is if you break one, you buy a new box.

Exactly!

[Jeremy Kriese]

I got at least half a dozen with rattling bb's in em from good diver hunts! they are hot buys and replaceable but even with the holes in em they still float perfect and function good enough i havent had to replace them.

[Jimimc]

The poor decoy is a casualty of the sport. I have broken just as many with falling honk's in the field. They make for a good story and a little humor.

[duckin82]

i just repainted 16 bluebill decoys of my dads which are now mine:D i only have two dozen cans to do now with 6 being 11 years old and 10 being 20 years old more than a couple rattle. i forget how he sealed 'em up but he did and they worked fine. we try not to shoot the decoys but when ruddys and what not come low on the deck or were shooting a cripple it happens

[CRIPLE CUTTER]

as far as I'm concerned decoys are fair game i hunt divers more then any thing else so i have lots of decoy raddles except for my green head gear decoys they don't raddle they just have lots of rusty bbs stuck in them.:D

[G Ruark Jr]

Little caulk, little glue.... floats good as new.

Decoys take a beating, but all is fixable. Usually.

[Andrew Bremseth]

I cant say I have ever shot a decoy and there have been many, many times I have had to wait to shoot until they cleared the decoys. In my opinion, theres no reason to shoot a decoy, or really no excuse for it. It seems careless to me, just my opinion. No worries if you personally like to shoot your own decoys.

[RyanGSP]

I have never shot a decoy either but I have shot birds that when they came down hit a decoys and broke it. Them geese and even mallards vaporize anything when they collide.

[Kyle Williams]

I dont know what the big deal is. I try to keep everyone from shooting the dekes but hey....casualties of war.

I do like the idea of "you break one, you buy a box". NICE!!

[waterfowladdict1]

If your my buddy its happens when you leave your spread and 2 high school kids with it.

My buddy justin left me and my buddy pete out with his spread and for some reason there was a looker hidgon fullbody right in front of us and we thought it was so ugly. Finally my buddy said im takin that things head off, I said go for it as I pulled out the video camera. Funniest darn thing I ever seen, Remington HD to the head of a hidgon at 10 yards, when he shot it it flew like 30 ft.

[kingkilla]

it happens but im not going to pass up a shot a ducks or geese in my face just to save a decoy.

[Midwest Migrator]

If your my buddy its happens when you leave your spread and 2 high school kids with it.

My buddy justin left me and my buddy pete out with his spread and for some reason there was a looker hidgon fullbody right in front of us and we thought it was so ugly. Finally my buddy said im takin that things head off, I said go for it as I pulled out the video camera. Funniest darn thing I ever seen, Remington HD to the head of a hidgon at 10 yards, when he shot it it flew like 30 ft.

You STILL OWN ME A HEAD FOR THAT DEKE TOO!!

i got a few with holes i'll admit it. i love shootin em on the water they taste the same and i figure heck i must be a really really extra good hunter if i can get em to fully commit!;) and why the hell would you shoot a ruddy? i had like three of em in my spread today it was nice have live decoys!

[waterfowladdict1]

You STILL OWN ME A HEAD FOR THAT DEKE TOO!!

i got a few with holes i'll admit it. i love shootin em on the water they taste the same and i figure heck i must be a really really extra good hunter if i can get em to fully commit!;) and why the hell would you shoot a ruddy? i had like three of em in my spread today it was nice have live decoys!

If I remember right I had to caugh up enought money to buy a hole new decoy just because somebodies undees were in a bundle.

[MistsITR]

i like where this is going. lets continue to vent...
like someone already said most of my shot decoys are divers.
and when a line of em swing threw low and fast. you ither shoot or dont. i shoot.

[RyanGSP]

I guess it matters what you are hunting. I have never hunted divers before and mainly concentrate on Puddlers over water as well as Geese and Puddlers in the fields so the should be no need for decoys to be shot.

[Bull boy]

Little caulk, little glue.... floats good as new.

Decoys take a beating, but all is fixable. Usually.
Yes ,you said it just right!:D

[Erick Grandbois]

It happens, i just use the "shoe goo" from GOOP to fixe it ore melt some yellow nylon piece of rope over the holes.... i have a few old decoys that are 25 years old and still working just fine..."remember those old rubber decoys made by "Victor"!!!!!:) :)

[kontekontos]

I have never shot a decoy directly,but have had stray pellets hit a few here and there,but not to many. It would also depend on what type of decoys i had out on how careful i would be also. Whether fullbodies or floaters or hot buys etc. But to be honest i am surprised we haven't hit more decoys than what we have,because i don't mind water swatting them at all. I guess just lucky.

konte

[orion8059]

Every year somebody in our party gets a deek,it gives them charactor.

[quacksmacker]

Don't shoot cripples in your dekes.....if you kill em dead on the wing you don't have to worry about hitting your dekes

[Aaron Heater]

I don't take it easy on any of my gear. I've shot dekes, ripped waders, dropped guns, busted acrylic calls, ran over dekes, you name it I've done it. My opinion is, if you're gonna use it, you're gonna abuse it. Like my grandpa use to say about trucks, "Scratches are better than rust".

[duckin82]

"Scratches are better than rust".
true dat, im the same way, i put durability to the test with our dekes,ive never shot a deke but trust me, they get a beating over a season

[QuackerWacker]

I've shot a few puddler dekes killing crips but just a stray pellet or 2 one of my buddies has shot more of my dekes than I have and he only hunt with me a few times per year so I gave him the rule I found here yesterday you shoot one you buy a box. Diver dekes are a different story with them it's just part of the game. If I pick up a bag of dekes and it rattles I know it's divers.