cork vs plastic decoys

M

matt brown

New member
Anyone in nj selling cork mallards or black ducks and do they actully work better then plastic ducks. Just bought avian x decoys for this season heard they hold up good....but I hear cork rides waves better and are more realistic. Don't k ow much about foam decoys any input would be great thanks in advance... I can't wait for the season to start
 
Matt, I'm not selling, but I like cork decoys a lot more than plastic. I'm not actually sure they work better--ducks seem to decoy to plastic just fine, and in fact I often hunt over a mix of plastic and cork--but I much prefer hunting over something hand-made, and something I can easily repair/improve. As time goes by my collection of cork decoys is getting more complete, and more and more of plastics are being retired or kept just for hike-in spots where weight is an issue.

One situation in which I think cork hunts better than plastic is in rough water. Cork decoys float like a duck; plastic decoys float like a soda bottle.
 
Jeff did an excellent job of summarizing...one added point down the road would be paint wear, which seems to be a near-continuous issue with plastic decoys. Avian X makes a very good molded bird, though. I use their AXP canadas as the decoys tight to our field blinds.
 
weight can be an issue with cork, all depends on your boat.
if you are concerned with added weight, stick with plastics or foam.
with cork or wood you will have to figure in repainting them every couple of years. cheap plastic you can throw away and just buy new ones
cork birds are heavy . that fact makes them ride better in
rough conditions.

my seaduck rig is all a mix of solid and some hollow white pine and cedar decoys. they are heavy, I have a bankes and even notice the added weight in that. but they ride the waves like no other in the ocean. and can really take a beating
 
Like most things...it depends.
If your carrying them farther then the truck to the boat, you don't want cork. you like re painting them? often? get cork, you want to pile them into a bag? not cork,lol, price wise? not even close.
I've hunted Black Ducks over my homemade corks, and over mid priced plastics, they both work. When my corks started breaking down I switched to plastic, and I make a NICE cork bird, never looked back.
If it's so rough the plastics bounce, then the corks turn into submarines, and your in the wrong spot.
Tradition is nice, so is making your life easier, you choose.
 
I'm not a huge fan of Avian X decoys. They do look nice and all, but durable? Not in the least bit. This decoy was used one season and not abused in any way. Never shot and stored in a slotted bag. This was number 2 out of that batch...go with cork if its a viable option for you.

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The best plastic decoys I ever used, and still have are the old G&H Decoys, Henryetta, Okla. All other brands I owned I gave to friends. Cork decoys work well in all situations, as heavy as you want, or hollowed and as light as you want. Canvas covered decoys make great Walk In decoys.

Plastic decoys you can leave in your boat all season. Not so with cork. No matter how well sealed they do absorb water, even if just a little. When frozen the water expands and cork pops open or cracks, and repairs must be made. Store them properly and no problems for many years.

As I look through all the new Waterfowl Catalogs I'm amazed at all the plastic decoys (not to mention calls). Glad I have more decoys and calls than I should (mostly old). Lotta choices out there today and mostly very pricey.

In my experience a few handmade decoys in various poses always out drew many plastic decoys.
 
Matt, Might have a few I could set you up with as a wedding gift... wouldn't your fiancé love them? Shoot me a text next week after the holiday. Scott
 
Plastics float "on" the water and are good in small water situations or where weight and/or numbers are a big factor but will bob badly in hard waves.Cork blocks float "in" the water and are best in coastal and rough water conditions.Plus the appeal of hunting over something completely made by hand by a craftsman has a certain feel and satisfaction plastic cannot acheive.Everyone has their favorite..To each his own....
 

I love cork decoys and always used them when hunting out of a boat.I built them with heavy bottom boards, no keels, so when the tide went out they sat there nicely rather than tipped over, and the ducks kept coming. When I was young and full of vinegar, I would exchange mallard heads for Herters brant heads and repaint the corkers for the late brant season (before all the regulaions and such) and hump a dozen a quarter mile down the beach, where they even rode breaking waves like live birds. I'm so old and crippled up now I couldn't hump them from my apartment to the elevator! They haven't seen water in years and I am ashamed to say I use two dozen Feather Flex decoys for their lighness. They look awful but have not turned turtle as I feared--and ducks and Canadas come right in to them. I have mixed feelings about success with such shoddy decoys.
Below is an entry from my Duck Hunter diaries which mentions one of the wonderful properties of cork birds:


"I fired up and huddled the camper stove, fixed three perfect eggs in black butter the way Mama always did, fried some dried beef, and ate. Then an hour nap sprawled comfortably in the overhead bunk with Summer on her perch above the water tank. Properly warmed and fed, I went around the point to that bay. When I picked up my decoys at the first spot, each wore heavy girdles of clear ice; the ones with low heads had icicles growing from their bills to the water. Some took ice heavier on one side than the other that tipped them over. I bashed ice off the decoys on gunn’ls; another advantage of tough cork birds. The fragile ice shattered quickly. My rope rigging resolved itself nicely, ready to go again..."
 
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Well Matt, let me chime in here.
AS my good friend, Steve Sutton and many, many other hunters here on the forum believe...PLASTICS pretty much saved the whole dang world of duck hunting.


If it wasn't for PLASTIC, the wondrous STEALTH duckboat would never have been built
Ill stop right there and let you chew on that for a while...guessing there might be a response or two before I get back.
 
Well Matt, let me chime in here.
AS my good friend, Steve Sutton and many, many other hunters here on the forum believe...PLASTICS pretty much saved the whole dang world of duck hunting.


If it wasn't for PLASTIC, the wondrous STEALTH duckboat would never have been built
Ill stop right there and let you chew on that for a while...guessing there might be a response or two before I get back.
Click to expand...

Plastic is to boats what paper mache is to corn decoys.

Tim
 
Basically, if you approach decoy production materials from a decoy maker standpoint, the "shanty artists" used whatever was abundant and cheap to produce decoys in number. If you extend that logic, molded foam birds are the new paradigm in mass decoy prodcution.
 
I started with plastic, was lucky to have a great mentor help me carve a rig of cork stool that I gunned over for years. I prefer the way cork float on the bay, mine have flat bottoms so look great when the tide is out. That said, as I have less time for gunning I can appreciate something that requires less care and I can leave in the boat. I'm considering getting some plastic stool with weighted keels. I also hope to make some foam/burlap birds.

Tom
 
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