Anybody ever try just sleepers for black ducks ??

Bob M

Bob M

Well-known member
I was thinking of trying just a dozen sleepers for my black duck rig this year....just to give a relaxing feeling to the spread.
Any thoughts ?
Thanks
Bob
 
I am all for it. This was my first attempt. Lots of time spent. I will be adding another next. This time without the screwups.

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I could have a (7) sleeper full bodies on the bank and (5) sleepers in the water.....

Notice the "odd" number?.....I remember WAYYYY BACK reading that you had to have an "odd number" so that the ducks wouldn't know something wasn't right.....back then I used to believe that although I guess I never really thought about how Black Ducks would "know" that decoys were sold by the dozen......for years I insisted on using an "odd" number....my brother laughed one day and asked me if I thought Black Ducks were so smart" that they knew that a dozen decoys on the water meant they were fakes then wouldn't they also be smart enough to be thinking...."hmmmmm that guy just lost a decoy, lets get out of here".....

I saw a rig of three dozen sleeper Redheads once....neatest diver rig I ever saw......

Steve
 
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I know it's crazy but them dam old timers, whether its 7 on the pond or 101 on the bay I have to put out the odd number. I hope they can count...
 
I was thinking of trying just a dozen sleepers for my black duck rig this year....just to give a relaxing feeling to the spread.
Any thoughts ?
Thanks
Bob
Click to expand...

We've been doing it for years and manufacture sleepers in many of our decoys. You can find them on the website as well as the catalog: www.lockstockbarrell.com

The thing that makes that work so well is that birds are aliomemetic...meaning, they "follow the leader". What they see...they do. :0 It's pretty simple. Set our a "relaxed" rig and birds are relaxed. Lots of reasons here.
We've often had birds drop into the rig, right next to a sleeper deke and then....tuck her head and go to sleep. Pretty funny.
Lou
 
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"Finally he came ashore and occupied the small scrub-oak blind alongsode mine. Even then he was not content to sit and wait, but counted over and over again the wooden decoys. And was dissatisfied when he had thirty-two. 'Anyone knows you've got to have an uneven number. Why, thirteen is better than any even number!' he chafed."

-Gordon MacQuarrie in "Ducks? You Bat You"
Stories of the Old Duck Hunters & Other Drivel

I remember reading this years ago; standing joke between me and a good friend who hunts with me a few times each season. I still feel better when I put out an uneven number of decoys.

Some sleepers I'm using:

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Wasn't it Les Kouba that always painted his artistry with 13 birds? Wonder if he knew something about this odd number thing? Also, anyone ever count birds in a flock? Do more flocks contain an even or odd number in them?

Mark W
 
Mine isn't coming out nearly as nice as the ones you fella's made. Just counting on them not being able to tell until it's too late.

Side note on what Sutton said. I was hunting on a falling tide this past season and when I got enough bank exposed I put out a half dozen full bodies on the mud. The next group of birds that came by went to set in the small gap between them and the ones on the water.

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Do more flocks contain an even or odd number in them?

Mark W
Click to expand...

51% of flocks have an odd number ;) Weren't you keeping track of that last fall when you were watching the migration...
 
Yep Les did a lot of paintings with 13 waterfowl in them, not all but many.
There are supposedly some artistic reasons not to put even numbers. Your eye wants to pair up objects and it can stop the flow I guess if you have three pairs instead of five ducks. Not sure if that is really true but it sounds good.

I think 50% of it is 90% mental.

Tim
 
Bob,

I use a sleeper most every time, doesn't matter what the species. Trouble is,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, my sleeper is usually in the cockpit of the boat. ;>)
 
I'm in sleeper mode. My goal....a nice rig of Ringneck sleepers and rester heads. A couple dozen mallards/blacks sleeper/resters and about 40 goose sleepers that I can use as floaters or on ice. The geese will be keel less foam I guess. This is my goal. I'm off to a slow start as I have one usable pair of mallard sleepers now.
 
One thought I had was to get a bunch of old Herter's 63 diver bodies and make sleeper heads that will fit them for the ringers. Has anybody ever dealt with this guy.... http://www.thedecoyfactory.com/welcome.html ? I was looking at those sleeper geese...they are small but that doesn't matter to me. I think they'd make a decent sleeper rig for geese and I'm not planning on the dragging them all over god's creation so I'm not worried about the durability as much.

Lou, I'd love to have a big rig of E's but man, these 5 kids drink lots of milk and I like to buy Momma flowers at least once a year! But, some day maybe!

Eventually, I plan on carving sleepers.
 
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Good stuff there guys.
Steve I have always believed in odd numbers in my puddle duck rig.Thats what I was told when I was young.....LOL

Bob as always your birds are awesome!

I think Im gonna try it this season


Best
Bob
 
Bob I have never thought of that idear before but when I make my new rig I will make sure there are plenty of sleepers in it, I just hope they dont send me to sleep making them. HeHeHe, Those sleepers sure does look nice.
take care and God Bless
Eddie.
Its all about Building that Bond.
 
Bob,
I took some of my mallard resters/sleepers and painted them to look like Mexican ducks, which closely resemble black ducks. They seemed to work well.
Al
 
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