Not dad's foamers

[Don Mintz]

The beaded foam decoys my dad and I were making back in the late 60's look nothing like what I'm doing these days. The need of more durable materials, better processes and a decoy that was effective at bringing ducks in close. Where we are at now and where we will be by this time next year, who knows, but we are constantly innovating new and better ways to put ducks in the decoys. Here are some photos from start to finish on my last group that I finished this morning.

 

[DCURRAN]

NICE!!

 

[LI-Jack]

The beaded foam decoys my dad and I were making back in the late 60's look nothing like what I'm doing these days. The need of more durable materials, better processes and a decoy that was effective at bringing ducks in close. Where we are at now and where we will be by this time next year, who knows, but we are constantly innovating new and better ways to put ducks in the decoys. Here are some photos from start to finish on my last group that I finished this morning.

Wow those are really nice! Do you put a bottom board on them? How do they float in the chop. Nice work!

 

[Don Mintz]

No bottom board, I did when I first started making them 20 years ago, but you don't need that on a burlapped foamer. I think foamers float better than just about any other type of decoy, they ride on top of the water and don't wobble. I adjust what kind of keels I'm using depending on how I'm going to use them. I use anywhere from no keels to keels that will self right. Lots of times I'll use my swim keels, the keel in the bottom the photo. That makes the decoy move back and forth in very slow current, it also stays upright due to the low tie off. I never throw decoys, I'm usually only putting out 3 to 10 decoys and can be pretty persnickety about placement. Some of my taller decoys will require more weight and when they are a tall design I want to make sure they stay upright. I use a system of composite decking and fencing that I can add or delete weight as needed to keep a decoy self righting. The more weight you have up high, the more weight you need to counter balance.

The river keel is the one on the bottom of these three, the other two have the smaller keel and will be trailing the swimming decoy in light current.


The pintail scratcher and strutter both needed extra weight to counter balance the tall wings and tail.


Some of the more curious poses will need offset keels to keep the float where it's supposed to be.