Suggested Species to Paint 6 Old Mallard Decoys

S

Steve O

Active member
I would greatly appreciate any suggestions folks care to share on the best species to paint some cheap, old, plastic mallards which are collecting dust in the garage.

I hunt almost entirely on salt ponds and sheltered waters in the Narragansett Bay estuary.

What already comes in range (that is, when there is anything in range) in approximate order, from most prevalent to least, are black ducks, bufflehead, mergansers, brant, mallards, wigeon, Canada geese. I see lots and lots of bluebills at times, but they are almost never in range.

Someday I would love to start carving decoys, but for now, this is what I have time for.

Thanks for any input.
 
Steve~

Will these 6 birds be your entire rig in these small waters? If so, I would paint 4 as Blacks and a pair (drake and Hen) as Mallards. Any puddlers will look at Black Duck stool - but I think it helps to have a couple of "light birds" (any other puddlers) to improve visibility of the rig under certain lighting conditions.

For many years, my Long Island puddler rig was 10 Blacks along with a pair of Pintails and a pair of Shovelers.

Hope this helps!

SJS
 
Well said! I was taught that mallard decoys just decoy the Hunters not the ducks. Always ran our rigs with just blacks and a whistler or two Nothing else. Good luck.
 
Whoops, forgot to mention i already have about 7 black duck, 5 mallard (not for re-purposing), and 5 Canada goose decoys. Sorry about that.

Almost never hunt them all together.

Typical pattern is 50/50 split of mallards and blacks early in the year (when there seem to be more mallards around) and an occasional pintail.

Then more like 3-5 blacks and 2 mallards later in the season unless I'm in an area where brant are likely to show.

Am i crazy in concluding that Canada goose decoys seem to do a pretty good job of pulling in brant?

Anyway, thanks for your input. It's very helpful.
 
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Steve~

Well, now you might want to re-paint those old Mallards as Gadwalls (or maybe Pintails ?)! Since I am a carver, I am fussy about head and body shapes - so would not "convert" them to divers or even Wigeon.

Re Canadas and Brant. For many seasons on Great South Bay, I used my 10 Blacks along with 10 Canadas. I very often came home with my 1 Black and my 4 Brant.

All the best,

SJS
 
Back when I used to shoot brant we killed a ton over one e. allen brant decoy. Canadas would surely do the trick.
 
Thanks for the help, folks. All kidding aside, I really value the wise counsel.

Now gadwall may make a lot of sense. Around here they seem to be growing more numerous.

Given what you folks point out about brant, it seems like brant decoys are more a matter of aesthetics than necessity. Doesn't mean I wouldn't like to add some though.
 
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