Do you change decoys during the season?

J

Jerry Priebe

Member
I have read several posts in the past that talked about ratio of hens to drakes etc. However what is late for the northern states may be the start of the mid or southern states seasons. I would guess that possibly the Atlantic and Pacific flyways might also be a bit different than the Central. If one looks at the catalogues it is evident that most decoy makers are using spring-mating plumage and are making the decoys for us, the hunters, just like fishing lure mfgs. make lures for the fishermen and not the fish???? Any thoughts, ideas, or experiences?????
 
I change my dekes out almost every hunt!!!

Using the slotted decoy bags, I'm constantly tweaking my spreads for the situations.

For divers, when we have alot of hydrilla on the lakes, during the beginning of the season I use alot of duck dekes. By the middle to end, it's (3) three dozen coots & (6) six duck decoys.
 
That's a great start!!! Thanks Jeff----just what I was hopeing for. I trust that your reply will encourage a lot of others to share. I especially liked the double scenario of divers and puddle ducks. Jerry
 
Jerry,
I adjust to the birds. More dekes as the season progresses and then I start going backwards until I barely put out a dozen by the end of the season. I also mix the teal in early (as they arrive) and then move more bluebills, gadwalls, etc as they begin arriving. dc
 
I tailor my blocks according to what I am seeing from the birds and the area I am hunting in. My rig will change daily or stay same based off of what I am seeing and where I am hunting. There are days where its two or three blocks and there are days where 5 dozen are put out. not to say it always works but instead of putting out the standard dozen mallards, I really try to mimic what I am seeing on a daily basis. Usually its a few sprig, some widgeon and a couple mallards at the start of the season and transforms from there as the migration starts. I usually like 2 drakes for every hen but I am always tinkering with tha.

During the 08/09 season it was mostly widgeon in my puddler rig, this year however the widgeon were not here in the numbers from previous years so it was mostly sprig and mallards. Divers are a whole nother game, but will usually have a few out with the puddle duck rig...a lot of times for the white and visibility they carry.
 
I use very few hens. I have read in the old days that guys used them a lot at the beginning of the migration in reference to divers. My experience with hens in puddle ducks is that they usually and not very visible--unless you dust them with a flat black camo type paint.We have tried some hens on occassion and usually put them out in the open and the drakes up closer to the reeds etc. I have seen some hens that guys used a black wash with thined out blk rustolium flat also. You can take a sponge or rag and keep lightly wipeing over the sides and or back but use spareingly. That is my method today. I usually take my blacks and put them fairly close but not mixed in the bunch of mallard drakes as well. My partners have darkened the gray sections of Red Heads and vermiculated the BB heavier so the black shows through more. A while back there was an article in DU mag that showed photos from an airplane and the blacks/darkdecoys definitley showed up better that a rig with accurately painted hens. That was from a distance. I would think that if one was hunting a secluded area that was being used by mallards that hens might be of advatage in calm waters. As an after thought if you have read any of Gordon MacQuarrie stories--he refers to some hundred old St. Clair LK decoys he had that were solid black---not ever certain as to the species but it appeared they were mallard--his comment in the stories was that the same decoys worked well on Blue Bills. Anybody have any comments????
 
I don't know if it makes that big of a difference but I use alot of drakes no matter what the time of the year. My thoughts are that the drakes show up more so than the hens in most situations. As far as the numbers of decoys I use depends on the size of the water I'm hunting, the amount of competition, and mainly, if I had a chance to scout the day before. If I'm going in blind I like to use more decoys than if I have located a spot the birds are wanting in. Other than that I'll start adding diver decoys into the spread as the season progresses
 
The color that is best seen from a distance is black, then white.

I would think that a duck knows what a duck looks like on the open water. If you are hunting some small rivers and creeks with overhanging brush then the colors may help to a point, but on open water the colors are a shade/mixture of colors until we or the ducks approach it, and then the individual colors become more apparent.

The colors of the drake and not done so that other ducks can spot then from a distance and such.....it's to attract a mate.

It seems that a lot of guys stress the drakes because of their colors and feel that they can be seen from a distance. Science has proven that black and white are the colors that can be seen from the farthest distance and as mentioned, I think that a duck knows what a duck looks like on the water no matter what the color is.

I mix my spread up to what is around at the time. I wouldn't use BWT or woodies in December because they are gone in my area by then.
 
we add or subtract species, depending upon the split---Later in season, gadwall seem to show up, as do the sprig, so they are an addition.
I guess this process is determined by what shows up at what time.
During our early teal season, we only put out hens, which seems to work well for both bwt and gwt, as long as we get the season as early as possible.
 
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My spread can change daily depending on what I am hunting where.
I may be hunting strictly divers one day, a mix of divers and puddlers the next and then just puddlers the next. So it pays to be flexible.
Seasonally, when the birds get spooky, I tend to switch to spread dominated by coots: 3-4 dzn coots, 1 dzn puddlers and 1 dzn divers. This seems to work well.
 
I change my blocks, especially if I am after a particular species. Also, if I note that a species specific bird (widgeon/ pintails/ and buffies) has moved into the area, I usually add two or 3 drakes of that species. With some species, goldeneyes example, those two or 3 can make more difference than you can imagine.
 
Since decoy manufacturers are making decoys for people and not ducks it is normal for them to make more "colorful" drakes than hens. On the contrary, I find myself using less drakes. During the early teal season, I use only female teal or mallard decoys. Then during the first part of our regular season I will mix in a couple of drake mallards but not many. As the season enters November, I add more drakes like widgeons because we see allot of them down here.
Last year on one spot where I hunted teal, I only used three decoys. It always depends on where you are hunting and the type of weather conditions that exist on that particular day. One spot might have two or three pair of mallards with each pair in their own little piece of territory. In late December and all of January, I will use two or three extra hen mallard decoys hoping that an unmated drake mallard might be enticed by what he sees.
Al
 
I keep a lot of my decoys in tote boxes, carbage cans, and pop up leaf bags. That makes it easy to "smash n grab" the night before the hunt when I have an idea of what I'm hunting for.

Having more decoys than I care to put out on a regular basis, I usually put out all my hens early in the year (as well as drakes, probably about a 50/50 ratio) but then later on the ratio of hens decreases, as my inventory is weighted heavier to drakes.

However, I do have some staples - always put out a few cans, blacks, and mallards - and always like to have species variety unless I'm going to a spot that actually does not have species variety . . . but that's rare.

The decoys are 50% of the fun!

NR
 
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