decoy question

[thezoeman]

Do you guys put Goose decoys in your spread? THis guy in 'Waterfowl Hunter' magazine says that he calls green heads into spreads of only Goose dekes. what do you think

[Dutch Dog]

that fella in waterfowler magazine is a goofball!

[Dutch Dog]

all kidding aside...that (to me) kinda gives the spread a neighborhood pond look. If I were hunting in a community lake I may consider it...in the wild once you get away from boat ramps etc the old saying comes into play: birds of a feather...Ducks tend to group with other ducks and geese tend to stay with other geese. In dry fields where they are all feeding look at them closely...geese and ducks kinda keep their distance...probably brought on by the ducks keeping away from their larger counterparts so they can feed in peace. That fella in the magazine is just writing to have something to write about. at one time or another they all come up with something absurd because it keeps them from writing about the same old things over and over again. This is not just in the waterfowl magazines..you ought to see some of the junk I have seen relating to deer hunting.

[Drakeshead]

I too was reading the same article and thought it sounded a bit strange.

The Topic is "Dirty Duck Tricks" and this part of the article is taken from Barnie Calef of Hunter Specialties and he lives up north in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Maybe up there they do things differently as in the article he says that he was tought not to mix duck and goose decoys with one another, but through the years he has changed his thoughts on this. He says to "Set up with the wind quartering over either shoulder. Put your goose dekes on the upwind side, moving out over the water from the blind. Set the duck decoys parallel to your blind. Stake a motion deke right where the last duck and Canada decoys meet. This spinning-wing decoy will pull birds into your mixed spread." Calef says this open-water set can be reversed, depending on whether the wind is to your left or right. Goose dekes should always be on the wind side, though.

I believe in this article he is refering to a large open area lake scenerio. Down here I am either hunting soybean/rice fields or up in the Delta National timber, so I doubt this would work for me/us down here. I also think he is basically using the white of the geese dekes to attract the ducks with the highly visable white, but this is only my opinion.

[SoftCall]

something about having goose dekes in the spread makes a duck let down their guard. It's the ultimate confidence deke for field hunting. Don't use snows, just canadas and a few specks and keep it to around 1 or 2 dozen max off to one side in a group. This makes it look more realistic. I would use more decoys and mix in some snows for mid western and prarie states. Then you get to the question, am I goose hunting or duck hunting? Most goose hunters wack ducks as a bonus without any duck decoys. We put out wads of both. You can cut the keels off of some shot up dekes or buy the flambeau enticers and pontoon perimeter dekes if desired. You will have em landing in your face.

For dry field hunting, it is a must!

[bullsprig]

i have found that the use of some pintails works well too....make sure they are all together and towards the outer part of the spread...i agree with drakes head, i think that the white of a dreake pintail and the white of the canada deke is very sttracting to the birds from a distance. also i think that the combination of the two species w/ the regular mallard blocks works really well.....i am not a huge spread guy so i keep my canadas and pintails to a small amount...i try not to exceed more than 8-12 in total of both sprigs and hankers!!

give it a shot....never hurts to try something new!!!

[Delta Duck]

He is a nut!!

I will use about 8-9 dozen snow goose shells off my spread about 70 yards if I want to drop a couple of snow.

[SoftCall]

Delta Duck - I am gonna give that a try! Nothing wrong with a little fly by action on those dirty snows!

[mallardhunter]

While I haven't read the article, I have hunted a lot in areas with both Canada geese and mallards, and have hunted when one could only hunt geese, only hunt ducks or hunt both. I can guarantee you that I have called mallards (using a duck call) into a spread of (only) Canada goose decoys. Not just once or twice, but almost routinely. Might not work if it was an area not frequented with both species, but it sure as heck works if both species are in the area, sharing the same refuged, fields, etc.

We've done it in open water settings (rivers, mouths of wide creeks, and on lakes), and in flooded milo fields, etc. Never in the timber, but I've never seen a Canada in the timber, so I never have used goose decoys in the woods.

[Delta Duck]

Softcall,
the snow geese will not fly over duck dekes, they will fly around the duck dekes. So set the shells up with that in mind. Most of the time I've got a flight of 100 plus snows flying over about every 10 min. I just want them to drop down and swing around.

I put the shells out in very low water 1-3" or dry ground.

Good Luck!!

[goosebruce]

Birds of a feather don't always flock together. They very much have a hiarchy in place. Lite geese and dark geese don't often mingle, but ducks will BOMB goose spread. Ever want to shoot pintails at 15 feet, a rag spread is the way to go. And anytime you got northen ducks, they will dive on a honker spread. Geese mean refuges in most parts of the country, so a flight of ducks spying 150 honks where they aint seen them in a while they suddenly loose it. Power calling with goose calls, until you cut heads, is a blast. We once killed 175 ducks in 7 days over a 150 goose spread, when their wasnt a honker in 500 miles. The ducks where used to them, so they piled on them.

We use honker deeks anytime the season is open. 2 things, they are visible a LONG way away, and they can block off parts of your field so they put ducks in place for the shot. Ducks postively wont fly low over geese sitting on the water. get funky winds, where you need to short stop the ducks, half a dozen magnum goose decoys will flat put the ducks on approach in gun range.

When we have flight ducks coming in, we often set 300 snow goose rags, to make our gig visible from the strasphere. If you've ever seen ducks drop from 1/2 mile up after they have flown 1000 miles nonstop, you know what Im talking about, and how it feels to be at the end of the rainbow.

I have used snow, honker, spec, hootchie bird, and crow decoys for confidence decoys many times. (crow decoys in hi cut stubble above your blinds is an awsome touch, as nothing is as skittish or has better eyes than a crow, and all birds know that). I use different speices of duck decoys, depending on whats in the area. Pins, teal, woodies, widgeons, whatever we're seeing, its in the spread. Complete the look with a whistle, and a lot of time those decoy & call shy ducks end up with their feet pointing toward the sky.

If a duck sees 50 spreads of decoys a day, and one doesn't look like a decoy spread, which one is he most likely to visit? travis

[Delta Duck]

Goosebruce,

That's a good looking spread, I can tell you have done more than just hunt ducks. Sounds like you have watched how the birds and bees act and re-act. Ain't it fun!!


Of course you could sell most of those dekes and buy you a couple of them robo's

[goosebruce]

I got to admit, I'm a decoyaholic. Won't even mention the snipe decoys & dove decoys, cause people start to get scared. bwhahahahaha. travis

[SoftCall]

Delta Duck:

I am going by bass pro shops in Grapvine tomorrow. I am going to pick up a dozen shells. In your opinion, do I need the good stuff or can I go with the carry lite cheap-o all in one shell with the removable heads? Sure makes things easier.

Thanks for the tip!

[RedEyed Duck]

I totally agree with SoftCall and Goosebruce!