Diver rig~ hen/drake ratio?

R

Rob_F

Active member
This fall I'll have about 1/3 of a 5 dozen Herter's diver rig I'm reconditioning deployed. Mostly 72s, and 4 dozen will be reconditioned/burlapped.

As I set to painting I hadn't considered what hen/drake ratio, if it matters, by species. I'm coming from the 1 doz is 50/50 mindset and realized I have complete control (an odd feeling, since I've been married for 16 years ;-)

On the bench:
B'bills (primed and waiting for paint)

The other species will be:
Cans
G'eyes
Red heads

This is a long-line working rig and will be used on traditional diver waters in MN.

I appreciate your insights.

Rob
 
Rob,

It sounds you like have your work cut out for you before the season!

For what its worth, I am sure others will have differing methods to the madness, but I prefer to run a 60/40 Hen to Drake ratio.

My thoughts are if you look at a raft of divers, generally you see mostly brown/black silhouettes, not so much color.

That being said, I feel like the birds see the same thing from a distance. Again, that is just my personal opinion, and we all know what they say about opinions.

Best of luck finishing the spread and happy hunting!

-Griffin
 
Frankly, what ever is pleasing to your eye is going to be just fine. I really don't think the ducks eye up a spread and even see what the ratio is. Ducks aren't nearly as smart as most of us give them credit for.

IMO the most important thing with divers is HOW you construct your spread and WHERE you put it. I have seen a spread of 8 doz plastic mallards painted all black packed into 3 long lines out toll the best diver spreads on the lake - go figure.

In my spread drakes outnumber hens: Cans -100%, Redheads - 80/20, GE 80/20, BB - 50/50. The only reason the BB have so many hens is that is how I received them (used).

Paint what is easiest, fun and something you don't mind looking at for hours on end while out hunting.
 
Thanks Gents,

I try to not get too scientific/over think it. It was just that moment of "wow, I can pretty do much do whatever I want!"

The water I hunt is typically heavy ringneck, red head, can. A few 'bills sprinkled in and G'eyes late. Since our season is typically over by Thanksgiving, few of our birds are fully out of eclipse. MN is not a spectacular "mountable" bird state.

Based on your feedback, I think I have a set of numbers that will meet my "eye" requirement. The full spread should hit the water in '16. This first dozen has taken nearly two years due to a series of starts/restarts. The other 1.5 dozen are good conditioned original 72's.

Now that I have some time estimates on mastic/burlap, prime, etc. guessing I'll be able to get things finished off in short order.

If only everything needed one coat!

Best,

Rob
 
Rob,

Forgot to add that I got a chuckle out of your comment "realized I have complete control (an odd feeling, since I've been married for 16 years ;-) "

I'm sure most if not all of the guys reading this will nod their heads in agreement :)
 
I see more hens and immature drakes in flocks than I do nice drakes, so I mimic that with my repaints, etc. The darker colors show up better from a distance anyway.

Does it REALLY matter? Probably not. But why not mimic what you see in real life? I've never shot into a flock of all drake anything. LOL.
 
Do ducks count and do math to figure out the ratio while they are flying in? Nope. Does that mean it doesn't matter? Nope. That would be confusing correlation with causation.

I'm not saying you wouldn't kill ducks without the proper ratio, but, consider this explanation given by a famous fly fisherman.

Lefty Kreh explains why it's important to get a drag-free drift when presenting flies to trout. He says, if you're at a restaurant, and the waiter returns to your table, happily presenting your steak, which is floating 3" above the plate, you wouldn't eat it either. You don't even have to think about it, it's just unnatural.

Do most ducks have a PhD? No.... but that doesn't mean they aren't wary, and things that don't fall into place are unimportant.

I try to match the hatch when fishing or hunting.
 
2 : 1 drakes for me. Why? Don't know. Lol.

Drakes for me are much easier to paint, and look nicer. Maybe that is my answer.

Is there science behind it? No. Testing, not really.
 
Good morning, Rob~

As long as there are NO follow-up questions....the answer is 57:43. This precise ratio causes the birds to count very carefully and you can usually see their lips moving as they do their on-the-wing ciphering. For those divers with less-than-average math SAT scores, they will even count on their primary tips at times - which is THE time to pull the trigger!

More seriously - aside from being where the birds want to be - it probably pays to consider "the hatch" and also light conditions. Viz. hatch - are you getting early migrants with lots of partial plumages - or you gunning a wintering area with prime, nuptial-plumed birds? The pochards frequently exhibit differential timing and geography of migration among the sex and age classes as well as highly-skewed sex ratios throughout their populations. Whistlers take a couple of seasons to reach adult plumage - so, lots of those "hens" are first-year drakes. And, a friend insists his drake Broadbill stool show a bunch of brown feathers on their sides.

We usually hunt in wind and white shows up better in a chop in in most light. On flat water, though, darker decoys can show better.

All of which makes me yearn for The Next Big Thing - when - instead of conventional decoys - we use a "virtual rig" projected downwind of our boats with a hologram driven by our laptops or iPads. No fouled lines, no mud and weed in the boat, no more carving or painting - just a happy, active flock that we select from a menu of local species and "proven" diagrams. At the end of the hunt, we simply Power Down.....

All the best,

SJS
 
Steve, my spread frequently is made up of how much I overslept, which decoys I forgot to re-tie, which ones get tangled, which one the dog tries to retrieve, etc.

So I am looking forward to your holograms.
 
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Good morning Steve,

In my circle of friends we have taken a vow not to shoot those birds with lower SAT scores, in the hope that they will breed and produce like minded ducks. It has been hard to get everyone on board, as those ducks that swing into the spread and present themselves for the shot are so much easier to harvest, but we feel long term shooting the birds that swing by and flare will provide the younger generation with some epic waterfowling. ;)
 
Hmmmmm, me thinks the HoloBloc 1.0 will be forced obsolescent after the first season and annual updates will cost more than a rig of hand carved stool :)

I have a "match the hatch" puddler set, but it's mostly plastics since I was able to get a clearance on some decoys I can only describe as "brown ducks". I think they were supposed to be Blacks, but the color pallet didn't quite get there.

To your and Paul W's point, I might reconsider and paint the ones on the bench to Red Heads. I already have ~1.5 doz BBs that are workable. It's unfortunate, but the reality is MN sees a very negligible bluebill flight. The desire for a spread anchored by BB is strictly nostalgia.

I can't eat nostalgia any better than a sunrise..... :)
 
Pete,

My bucket list at this point in life boils down to things like, "Be able to order from Filson at-will....", "Buy a different motor.... for no reason", "Change my fishing line at least twice a decade....", "Have a year where no one asks, 'What meat is this'..."

My son started coming with me last year, started shooting the .22, etc. Hoping this hunting thing sticks with him...... If I can't justify buying my own gear, least I can do is have fun buying his!

Also thinking those Homer foam blanks are priced perfectly to let a young hunter paint......

My wife calls it "scheming", I call it "prudence"!
 
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