Finding Decoys on the Water

"[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Imagine wandering down the shoreline through the hardstem bullrush beds and finding a Bob Furia cork decoy bobbing around in the line of flotsam!" What a hellish thought! Knowing you should give it back, but knowing deep in your heart you want to keep it.

I'm sure glad it will never happen to me on my CT waters. Now a Kieth Mueller decoy ......
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Found a bunch over the years, mostly cheap plastics that had too short of a line or too light of a weight, or the ones that some failed boy scout couldn't tie a knot.
Best find though was 60 odd herters broadbills left on the ramp , all bagged up. No ID, Left them there and it took 2 days before they disappeared
 
"Why they always end each season with fewer decoys than they started is one of waterfowling's greatest mysteries." - Misery Loves Company
 
Years ago while hunting a dredge ditch on my friend's family's farm, we snuck up on a mess of ducks in the ditch only to find that somebody had been hunting without permission. Just a bunch of carrylites so faded you could hardly tell what species they were. Weighted with old bolts and sparkplugs.

Then a few years ago out st Ft Cobb (Oklahoma) we found half a dozen new GHG gadwalls floating in a small marsh.

But the best "find" of all was the bag of birds I saw in front of a junk store in Des Moines this fall. I quickly pulled the car into the parking lot and asked about the bag. Full of LL Bean mallards and Herters model 72's, 18 in total and they wanted $5 apiece for them. I couldn't pull my wallet out fast enough!!
 
Found part of my bluebill rig several years ago floating near an area I hunt just after season had ended. 10 #63 herters bluebills on a makeshift long line with coffee can filled w/concrete and eye bolt as anchor. Guessing they had traveled aways up river as the closest bluebill gunnin is about 15 miles down river from where they were found. Now burlaped and painted they serve me well!
 
Was riding the Swan Quarter ferry in from a 2 day hunt in the curtain blinds off of Ocracoke. We had a decent hunt and the 3 hour ferry ride gave me plenty of time to think and recall the hunts. As I was being hypnotized by the endless waves slapping the hull of the ferry, I noticed out in front of us a small raft of old squaw on the water riding out the swells. As we approached, all but one of the birds flew...and that bird was a giant bufflehead decoy that apparently had floated out from someone's rig.
 
Every year in the spring I take my kids and nephews on nature walks up and down fire island. We always find a decoy or two. The coolest one we found was an old wooden full body pintail over by Moriches Inlet.
 
I've stayed at a Michigan Upper Peninsula, (U.P.) camp for many years. Owner had a white cedar tree where he would hang souvenirs he found along the shore of the St Mary's River. It consisted of floating lures, net floats, flip flops, etc. I started to add some of the decoys I would find on my waded jump shoots in the marsh when I stayed there. This area around Munuscong Lake gets a lot of hunters, so in the years of hunting, I may have added 5-6 dekes, all inexpensive and plastic models. Funny, I never have found what I would call a quality decoy in my 30+ years of hunting there. And RLigman keeps too good a count of his corks to leave any behind! I had to add that Rick.
Louie
 
Two lost decoy stories. When I was MUCH younger I hunted a piece of state land that was so hard to get into I never saw anyone else there. My prized decoy spread consisted of a dozen Victors bought at a garage sale for $10.00. After getting home I discovered that the dozen was only 11. Oh well, just the cost of doing business. 3 years later I hunted the same spot and guess what? The Tanglefree was chewed off right to the knot, muskrats just love that plastic!
Second story involved a very heavily hunted area that I scouted after opening day and found a goose floater. Two weeks later I was back there comparing notes with a group of guys who hunt there every year. One of them complained about losing a decoy opening day. So I went to the truck and got their decoy for them. We became friends ever since.
 
I lost a home made can decoy once, gunning divers in january, long time ago, one of the first ones I ever made
a group downwind a mile saw it floating by and picked it up
we were already done for the day and headed home. so they never had a chance to return it

3 years later I found it on a table at a decoy show with a lost and found paper tapped to it, that decoy was so bad , no one wanted to claim it in 3 years sitting on this guys table at the show LOL he couldn't believe I was claiming it at a public event!!! I had the story right so he gave it back to me, with some very serious ball busting to go along with it, LOL
 
So far this year I've found an Avian-X greenwing teal decoy and a magnum Tanglefree hen mallard, I re-rigged both and put them into my rig. I have 3 or 4 plastic decoys in my diver rig that are repainted found decoys, when I'm done hunting for the day I will often take a spin around the marsh to see what I can find!
 
I wanted to do a hunt with only the decoys I have found, but since they're plastic I lost interest and now I'm not sure which ones were the "found" decoys and which were given to me early in my hunting career.

I lost a decoy I made a couple seasons ago. It was found by a guide, the guides talked to each other, and the one I was hunting with now has it in his lodge. I told him at the time, I sure hope nobody finds that one, I number all my decoys and it was #13. Pretty bad specimen. I probably should have burned it long before I hunted it that day :D
 
I primarily hunt the mid-Columbia River, notorious for fluctuating pool elevations. Before the boat, I lost my share of plastics. A few of years ago, I hiked into a spot I knew about and as I crested the hill to spot "X" there sat a boat and a couple of guys putting out decoys. I gave them a wave and headed back upriver to a spot less favorable, but with enough of bench to set a few decoys. After a few hours, the river's "tide" captured 1/2 of the set and I watched in disgust as it float downriver out of my control. I figured to rescue the rest and started to pack up, but to my surprise the boat at spot "X" came upriver with my set. I thanked them and started my search for a boat.

My worst lose was nearly 40 years ago hunting with my father in central Illinois using some vintage decoys his uncle had made. Why were hunting them I will never know, I guess it was what we had. We were hunting from a levee over flooded corn fields in the bottoms of the Sangamon River. The river came up faster than expected and we lost the mess of decoys. I realized now as each year ticks away the sentimental value of those decoys. I wish we had just one of those.

On the positive side, I found a nice bufflehead painted Herters a couple of years ago still in good shape. Numerous plastic mallard decoys in various degrees of abuse and one paintless canvasback.
 
Carl, everybody who has posted here thanks. I have enjoyed the thread...good stories and memories.
I have found a few... thing much. A pair I liked and have never touched or altered since finding them was a pair of victor canvasbacks. They were sun faded and had barnacles. They were weighted with castnet sink line weights. The weights were threaded on a tied loop which could be dropped around the neck, making a sort of necklace. That was far down the south edisto river in s.c.
Another time I found up here in Maine along the kennebec, we found a y board of geese. They were a friend's. He normally left them out in place for the season. They were returned.
This one only has an bit to do with me. A set I carved for a friend was found on the side of the road. Itwas one of David Clarks bags. This customer had requested closed top bags and so saved the birds from being scattered. The right person found them. He in turn found me and the decoys were returned to the owner.
There have been others that were completely forgetable and were picked up like you would pick up any other piece of trash on the river. Their only redeeming quality being that there were others who share your love of waterfowling in the area.
 
This years take includes three birds. While working Lake Erie, my partner and I picked up a very worn plastic hen mallard and a drake Herters Bufflehead. Both floating well of shore by themselves. I only know one guy that hunts Herters Buffleheads on Lake Erie and I repainted his this summer. It wasn't one of his. A couple weeks later we checked a hunter that had found the mate floating along shore. The third find was a day I was hunting. Brand new looking Hardcore bluebill. I made my self stop hunting over plastic a few years ago, so I'm not sure what I will do with it. Someone mentioned making a bank out of a decoy, so I may do that for my grandson.
 
Hey Darin,
I lost a cork drake Goldeneye last friday just east of East Ave launch in the ice and snow. Was going to post a pic of the WWscoter I shot that day. There was about 8-10" of snow when I got back to the ramp!
John
 
John,


That's too bad about the cork decoy. Maybe I should go for a walk along the shore:)


Conditions were pretty rough that weekend. I was working up there on Saturday. One boat had broke 2-3" of ice to launch. The entire area looked like slush. Most of the time I was at the ramp I couldn't see the lighthouse. There were guys hunting beach 11, but the water wasn't open. They set their decoys in slush and ice chunks. Pretty wild, all the weather was north of I90 instead of the normal south of the interstate. 1/4 mile visibility when I left Erie and sunshine by the time I got to Waterford.
 
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My first set of decoys that I carved were some foamers. Not to pretty to look at. I go down to Klamath lake for the opener every year. About 15 years ago when I had my minidrifter we rowed out in the morning and set the decoys around lunch time we decided to row back to camp for lunch. After lunch we decided to hike up this hill that has good view of the lake. At the top we were looking over the marsh and could see our spread and I noticed some birds are swimming into our decoys. Then it hit me. The wind had picked up those weren't birds they were my decoys floating away. We ran back to camp jumped in the boat and rowed like crazy out to our spot. I think I only lost one. I'm sure whoever found it thought to themselves who actually put one of these out. 10 or so years later I keep my diver decoys in totes. I used to have them all clipped to loop tied to the tote handle. One morning I am setting out the rig and then notice one tote is missing. They were some old hard plastic herters I believe. They were like the victors very light. Well they blew out of the boat on the way to the river. Worst part is that they weren't mine. I found them on the side of the highway the next day shattered with bits still clipped to a broken tote. It seems I find a plastic decoy it seems about every 2 years but nothing notable.
 
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