Exhaustive Study Finally Completed

Al Hansen

Al Hansen

Well-known member


Over the years my wife has called me whacky, crazed, nuts, out of my mind, and different. All of these terms related to my duck hunting. When I told her about this last study of mine, all she could do was shake her head in disbelief.

I’ll admit it that I am one of those duck hunters who will only put out an odd number of decoys. I have done this for years and then this past Thursday as I sat in my comfortable folding chair, sipping on some hot coffee, I almost choked when I recounted my decoy spread. There were 16! OMG Well, I could have told you that because on that morning’s hunt I never shouldered my Nova. It had to be the even numbered decoy spread-----it just had to be.

Yesterday I was back out with (9) carefully counted decoys. I was set up on the same spot as my skunk on Thursday. It didn’t take long until three widgeons flew in and two of them stayed back. Then the mallards began to fly. Most of them with another destination in mind but not for a pair that spotted that odd number of decoys on the Rio. They, too, stayed.

Chili was once again a happy retriever. This all happened because I used an odd number of decoys. Yes, I’ll admit that I am a superstitious duck hunter!
Al

PC170134.jpg


PC170136.jpg


You can see the other mallard floating downstream in the upper left.

PC170137.jpg


PC170139.jpg


PC170140.jpg


PC170144.jpg


PC170146.jpg


From now on I will always have an odd number of decoys out.

PC170153.jpg

 
What a Hot dog & chilli is a good gurl,,, Al i do the same thing always have a single off by its self weather its goosin or ducks

thanks for some lovely pics man that river is shallow ,,daisy would love to have that instead of 40 feet of ripping current running thru her toes heading back out into the bay...itd be like a vacation of sorts....lol ,,wait till she sees what im taking her out into this week coming a nor easter of sorts rain snow wind 3 days of it yeeehaw bring it on....

shermie...
 
Al - you are right and in addition to all of the other things that went wrong this morning............I had 6 out...........dahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

sarge
 
(Over the years my wife has called me whacky, crazed, nuts, out of my mind, and different. )





You Too !

My wife tells me the same things . LOL

There's nothing wrong with taking the scientific approach to a matter.
 
That's too funny Al!!! I'm not superstitious, but I also always try to put out little family groups of 3, or 5, or 7. I have also always put a single hen out in front of the blind as my "caller." Don't know why, I just do it every time.
 
I've been setting a mix of blacks, mallards, and geese recently, with a few whistlers tossed in out front later if I see them flying.

Given the mix, I have trouble deciding whether my TOTAL number of decoys needs to be odd, or whether I need to have an odd number of EACH SPECIES.

What gets really hard is the math, if I decide I want both. In fact, with 4 species, it's just not possible to have an odd number of each, and an odd total number of decoys. So Saturday I pulled in one of my mallards when I put the three goldeneyes out, just so as not to tempt fate.

But then I had an even number of mallards, and that must have been why the only birds that decoyed were mergansers, and all the whistlers went screaming past.

LOL.
 
Here's something else for you to think about Al. If you own decoys where the heads are turned, or can be turned, do you have them look to the left or to the right? I've noticed a difference - really.

Mark W
 
Al, so I need to only set 143 decoys instead of 144?? So do I just leave that one in the boat? At home? throw it closer to the boat? With diver hunting I guess I need a few more than 9. hehe

Mark, on my GE I have turned all of mine. All the hens are left, drakes right. I then glued them. They still avoid my decoys just the same. What difference should I have noticed?
 
Mark, on my GE I have turned all of mine. All the hens are left, drakes right. I then glued them. They still avoid my decoys just the same. What difference should I have noticed?
Click to expand...



Eric,

I'm not Mark but that won't stop me from answering. :>) :>)

Did you set your decoys so that all the left facing hens were looking at he right facing drakes?

In making up the odd numbered set, do the hens out number the drakes?

Just thought I'd ask,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, hehe
 
I don't think ducks can count (my $0.02)...

I have used a pair or two very successfully, for many years, when walk-in hunting. Just tied them together and slung them over my shoulder.

Anthony
 
Last edited by a moderator:
All I know is that I turned all the heads on my decoys to the left to honor the election of a Democrat as President. Shot a boatload of ducks.

Turned them all to the right to honor the sweeping victories of the Republicans this past year and had another great hunt.

I'll leave the editorial over this to others. Why do you think this is as it is? I did notice a difference between the two days - anyone care to venture a guess what that was?

Mark W
 
Eric, the first thing I was trying to visualize was what a pile of 144 divers looks like when you are getting ready to set them out. Wow! I have never hunted divers in my life. I would bet, however, that if I did, there would probably be 143 in the set. Just me---
When January rolls around I have a couple of places that I hunt where I'll use less than 9 decoys. Maybe just 5 or 7. By the way, the odd ball will be an extra hen.
Al
 
Al since they only sell decoys by the doz. It's bad luck if you don't throw one away. I know because I picked up a lot of singles over the years. So you not the only one who has done this valuable research.
 
Al,

I will have to see if I can pull up the pictures from about 12 years ago when I last did "decoy day" with both of my bro in laws. My one BIL has property on Green Bay and has a natural bay in front of his property. He has a blind on each point, about 400 yards away from each other. Anyhow, one time a year these 2 guys would get EVERY single decoy they owned and throw it out. I kid you not, each of them have well over 1000 decoys. I would throw in my 12 doz to boot. Basically you would fill in the whole bay and have some long strings way out into the bay and set up 2 pockets. NEVER once was it worth all the effort in terms of shooting as they always seemed to pick a rather blue bird day, but for the joke value it was fun once...which is all I ever did it. They stopped doing it about 8 years ago. They were all set as singles mind you, no long lines. That was one huge raft of decoys....and I could not even tell you if it was odd or even.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top