Michael J.
Member
I suppose 20 years worth of collecting decoy anchors. 3 dozen even right now, l'm always looking for more. The collection includes a railroad spike and spark plug, anything I have ever found strung to a decoy I've bought or found
Cabin wall and Decoy anchors
- Thread starter Michael J.
- Start date
I'll vouch for using railroad spikes. When I was a kid and couldn't afford anything fancy I used to walk the tracks and pick up discarded spikes. They worked pretty well and I really enjoyed the sound they made clanging against one another in the decoy bag when I carried them. Sounded sorta like wind chimes. Very cool.
I've found a couple of lost dekes which were using spark plugs for anchors. Evidently didn't work very well cause they allowed the deke to escape. Too light for anything other than thick marsh work.
Anything made of lead is still preferable as decoy weights, but I wonder how toxic it is to handle as decoy weights, and when lead will be totally outlawed for all uses?
I've found a couple of lost dekes which were using spark plugs for anchors. Evidently didn't work very well cause they allowed the deke to escape. Too light for anything other than thick marsh work.
Anything made of lead is still preferable as decoy weights, but I wonder how toxic it is to handle as decoy weights, and when lead will be totally outlawed for all uses?
Steve Sutton
Well-known member
for a decoy wt? Now thats weird......
My wife is always on the lookout for "wts" when she antiques.....steel only though since som many of the lead ones sold as "old" are freshly molded...she's foudn some neat stuff over the years....
If you don't look at E-Bay for them you might want to start as they, on occassion, have a good representation of old stuff...recently there were two different lots made by ANIMAL TRAP...
Steve
My wife is always on the lookout for "wts" when she antiques.....steel only though since som many of the lead ones sold as "old" are freshly molded...she's foudn some neat stuff over the years....
If you don't look at E-Bay for them you might want to start as they, on occassion, have a good representation of old stuff...recently there were two different lots made by ANIMAL TRAP...
Steve
Jeff Jacobs
Active member
did you ever try that mold I made for you? Just wondering... Trade you a couple of them for some deer meat!
Steve Sutton
Well-known member
has to be heated, and kept hot, to get a good pour...the conical cavity is narrow enough that you have to pour pretty slowly to keep from overfilling the star portion and if the molds not HOT then when the lead starts to fill up the points it hardens before you get a full pour....
The last time I did some I think I got a good one that I could live with out of about every five or so pours.....I know if I get a production line going, with enough lead melting, (probably in two pots so they aren't too heavy to easily pour), so that there is no wait between pours that I can keep the mold hot enough to get them rolling out like I want.
I thought we were trading Salmon for Venison...hell now you want to change it to Lead for Venison? What the eck am I going to do with all these fish heads?
Send me an e-mail...my computer crashed and I lost all my e-addresses....
Steve
The last time I did some I think I got a good one that I could live with out of about every five or so pours.....I know if I get a production line going, with enough lead melting, (probably in two pots so they aren't too heavy to easily pour), so that there is no wait between pours that I can keep the mold hot enough to get them rolling out like I want.
I thought we were trading Salmon for Venison...hell now you want to change it to Lead for Venison? What the eck am I going to do with all these fish heads?
Send me an e-mail...my computer crashed and I lost all my e-addresses....
Steve
Jay Anglin
Well-known member
I'll trade some of my goose meat for some screwdrivers. Mike, that must be the cabin on the river eh? I have a really old anchor I'm going to send you. It's tiny...I use it for teal but it's vintage(to me anyway)and I'm not sure where it came from. It'll fit in nicely.
My best anchor story. Two years ago I was hunting St Clair with a guy I'd never hunted with before-he was a buddy of a buddy that had to bail out on me so he "hooked me up". We were a match made in "can't go dude..it's Thanksgiving" leftover hunters heaven. Since it was Thanksgiving, I'd traveled light to my Mom's and he'd insisted on the phone that we use his old decoys. So, I drove his new boat which he'd never driven(or ever started and yes the tank was nearly empty)before and took to the task of hiding it while he threw out 18 super mag Carry-Lite magnum mallards of early 70's vintage. The boat was a new Go-Devil with a 18 Go-Devil egg beater on the back and weighed approx 1600 lbs. So, pushing it into the Big Muscamoot marl and phrags was a bitch to say the least. I missed setting the blocks and when I finally had a chance to see the spread I was less than pleased. They were totally random and some were tangled and flipping in the chop. I mentioned it and he said,"Oh, they'll be fine". After an hour of watching ducks work to the call but act totally confused by the freakazoid spread which had lost about half of it's members to drifting-I stormed out of my little Mekong style phrag tent and proclaimed my desire to "fix the f'n spread"! I charged through the water and muck and came to the first retarded looking cheater and grabbed it. At first glance I was alarmed by the dry-rotted line but when the weight popped out of the water I will never forget what I saw. The anchor was a chrome inside door handle from a car. It also looked to be of 70's vintage-Pinto perhaps? I wipped the decoy over my shoulder in the general direction of the set. As I chased down the other blocks in the ever increasing wind and spray...wandering as far as 100 yards out, I realized that all of the decoys were weighted by some part of a car. There were the door handles, inside and out, a windshield wiper base, and some elements of the truck hinge apparatus including springs and spot welded stamped pieces. I was very curious as to what in the Sam Hell was going on with my partners decoy program and muttered his name and some expletives under my breath. The guy is well into the six-figure salary range so his accessory fund should've been in great shape. After fixing things and accounting for the lack proper anchorage by throwing the decoys tight into the lee...WAY TOO CLOSE to the phrags I returned to my partner's hide. "Hey buddy, what's up with the whacky anchors?" "Oh jeeze, I guess I shoulda mentioned those...when I was in college we were so broke from using all of our money for beer and shells that we started to rob parts off my Maverick(ah HA!)....we only used the heaviest stuff...it was dead in the driveway because the motor was shot but we didn't have many tools at all so most of the stuff came off with a hammer and pliers."
I ended up pass shooting a bull black that day...the unlucky one of hundreds that flew over with no interest in our bush-league of decoys. The next day, a quarter mile away I shot a pair of banded Canadas so I think my frustration paid off with a dose of good karma from the fowler gods. Last I checked, my partner for that day still had the decoys with the same anchors intact. And when I saw his boat last fall hogging up the driveway at camp it still had the little red shipping tag on the motor intact.
My best anchor story. Two years ago I was hunting St Clair with a guy I'd never hunted with before-he was a buddy of a buddy that had to bail out on me so he "hooked me up". We were a match made in "can't go dude..it's Thanksgiving" leftover hunters heaven. Since it was Thanksgiving, I'd traveled light to my Mom's and he'd insisted on the phone that we use his old decoys. So, I drove his new boat which he'd never driven(or ever started and yes the tank was nearly empty)before and took to the task of hiding it while he threw out 18 super mag Carry-Lite magnum mallards of early 70's vintage. The boat was a new Go-Devil with a 18 Go-Devil egg beater on the back and weighed approx 1600 lbs. So, pushing it into the Big Muscamoot marl and phrags was a bitch to say the least. I missed setting the blocks and when I finally had a chance to see the spread I was less than pleased. They were totally random and some were tangled and flipping in the chop. I mentioned it and he said,"Oh, they'll be fine". After an hour of watching ducks work to the call but act totally confused by the freakazoid spread which had lost about half of it's members to drifting-I stormed out of my little Mekong style phrag tent and proclaimed my desire to "fix the f'n spread"! I charged through the water and muck and came to the first retarded looking cheater and grabbed it. At first glance I was alarmed by the dry-rotted line but when the weight popped out of the water I will never forget what I saw. The anchor was a chrome inside door handle from a car. It also looked to be of 70's vintage-Pinto perhaps? I wipped the decoy over my shoulder in the general direction of the set. As I chased down the other blocks in the ever increasing wind and spray...wandering as far as 100 yards out, I realized that all of the decoys were weighted by some part of a car. There were the door handles, inside and out, a windshield wiper base, and some elements of the truck hinge apparatus including springs and spot welded stamped pieces. I was very curious as to what in the Sam Hell was going on with my partners decoy program and muttered his name and some expletives under my breath. The guy is well into the six-figure salary range so his accessory fund should've been in great shape. After fixing things and accounting for the lack proper anchorage by throwing the decoys tight into the lee...WAY TOO CLOSE to the phrags I returned to my partner's hide. "Hey buddy, what's up with the whacky anchors?" "Oh jeeze, I guess I shoulda mentioned those...when I was in college we were so broke from using all of our money for beer and shells that we started to rob parts off my Maverick(ah HA!)....we only used the heaviest stuff...it was dead in the driveway because the motor was shot but we didn't have many tools at all so most of the stuff came off with a hammer and pliers."
I ended up pass shooting a bull black that day...the unlucky one of hundreds that flew over with no interest in our bush-league of decoys. The next day, a quarter mile away I shot a pair of banded Canadas so I think my frustration paid off with a dose of good karma from the fowler gods. Last I checked, my partner for that day still had the decoys with the same anchors intact. And when I saw his boat last fall hogging up the driveway at camp it still had the little red shipping tag on the motor intact.
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Jeff Sweeny
New member
Yep, we used railroad spikes too.
Kyle Ritter
Member
Why do they always have to pick on the Pinto??? When I first started duck hunting and had no decoys, I bought a mixed bag from a stranded motorist @ our local spring repair shop. $20 got me 2 pintails, 5 mallards, 2 woodies, 1 canada, and other assorted worn out decoys. The guy didn't tell me they came with 3 household door knobs, a wall mount pencil sharpener, and about 3 ft of 1/2 inch chain cut to 2-3 links per decoy, I was laughing so hard re rigging those.
Kyle
Kyle
Dwight Harley
Well-known member
I still find the occasional deke beached on the shore with a sparkplug anchor that's drifted away from someone's spread.