Goose field decoys, Big Foots or GHG?

Nate Grace

Nate Grace

Well-known member
I've been looking at getting some full bodied goose decoys this year. I've heard some pros and cons about the GHG decoys and have heard pretty good things about the Big Foots. Has anyone here owned and/or hunted over either and could you give some insigths on durability, realism, etc?

Thanks in advance.

Nate Grace
 
GHG all the way man. They now come with stakes instead of the foot bases so even the slightest wind makes them bob and weave. GHG are more realistic molds then bigfoots and we never had any problem finishing them even later on in the year.
 
but for REALISM no one can beat the FA Brand birds tahtt were molded fro Marty Hansen masterrs.....they simply look REAL....and they gots FEETS....I'm a sucker for gimicks......can you tell?

Steve
 
I thought Marty did the Flamboobs---the goose floaters looks like some kind of freak from Mars. I heard the FA full bodies were designed by the Chinese.

I use both the GHG's and the foots. The foots are more durable and always look great. The GHG's are more realistic and look fabulous but their durability isn't near as good as the BF's. They look great together in the same flock though.
 
Doug Eck, with help from Bill Saunders, did the Geese in that line.....

And I mis-spoke again with my comment that the FA brand are the most relaistic.....at leas IMO that honor goes to the DSD line of full bodies.....Dave Smith carved the masters on these and they are sweet......they are more expensive than the others but if you are looking for realism I'd say they hold First Place for that....

I'm not a goose hunter but I do have a half dozen of Dave's decoys....they get used a few times each year but not hard like a Goose hunter uses theirs. Mine have held up way better than the paint on the very few full bodied GHG ducks that I have.

Steve
 
the new FA brands. The last line was Chinese schwag....pure crap IMHO. The new ones are great looking...actually I kinda forgot that they had come out with a new line. The DSD's are without a doubt as good as it gets. Dave is a straight shooter that knows his science and obviously carves one bad ass looking decoy. He spent a ton of time on the honkers last year. He'd post photos of his progression on Flocknockers....very fascinating. Eventually I'll have to get a half dozen or so of those just for those late season hunts when a few realistic decoys are far more impressive to birds than a giant spread of standard issue foots and GHGs.
 
I like my BigFoot floaters a lot....and they are made in the USA. Everyone I hunt with comments on how real they look on the water.
 
Nate-

Apparently from the responses this is a Ford vs. Chevy question.

I'll throw in my .02

Between my buddy and I we have close to 500 full bodies, a mixture of GHG, FA, and Bigfoots. Between us we hunt probably 50 days per year from September-February from PA, MD, to North Dakota. While we don't baby them or individually bag them between each hunt, we don't abuse them either. Here's what we've found over the past 5 years:

1. The first year the GHG's beat everything else hands down. With their flocked heads (now fully flocked bodies) and more slender design, they just LOOK like a goose. (note- this is comparing them to the older FA's so their new models may look more realistic too).

2. After about 1-2 years the GHG's just start falling apart. They're put together with allthread running through the legs that immediately starts falling apart and the feet falling off. Also, the texture in their bodies isn't as deep into the plastic as the Bigfoots (Bigfeet??). So once the paint starts getting worn a little, they look a lot less realistic than Bigfoot.

3. You have to really baby them compared to Bigfoot.

So my opinion is, depending on your $$ situation, the amount of times you hunt, the amount of time you want to spend messing with decoys, and how long you want keep your decoys, it varies.

If you're only going to be hunting once in a while, have the time to individually bag, wipe off, protect each decoy, don't mind spending 5 minutes per decoy with a ratchet tightening little bolts every season, and want a nice looking realistic spread, GHG or Avery are fine. Also, if your budget is limited and you want more decoys, GHG and FA are better (they're cheaper).

If you're in it for the long haul, are going to be dragging your decoys across the field in a bag, or throwing them loose in a trailer, hunting A LOT, and want decoys that will still be in one piece and look great 10 years from now, and have the money now for an investment that will last a long time, then go with Bigfoot hands down. My first dozen of them that I got over 10 years ago look better than the GHG decoys I got 3 years ago.

That's just my .02, but it's based on a lot of experience and experimentation. My partner and I were just talking last week about how we wish we'd have spent the money over the past few years on Bigfoots instead of the others.

Incidentally, we're also considering going to more of a fully flocked silhouette spread this year. Through our new boat business, we just became the new dealer for a new fully flocked silo decoy called Avalanche. This will eliminate the shine totally on the silos. I have a couple dozen here and they look SUPER realistic too. I have about 400 Outlaws and Real Geese of various ages and conditions, and they all shine and fade as they get older. This flocking should take care of that. This will also solve our problem of having to walk in to a lot of our hunts and try to drag hundreds of fullbodies. With these new silos we'll each be able to carry dozens of decoys with us in one trip. It will also allow us to hopefully park the 16' trailer and save A LOT of gas and hassle. Here's a link.
http://www.classicbarnegat.com/other%20products-avalanche.htm

Sorry for rambling, let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck!

Kirk Sherbine
 
Hi Kirk,

This is just the info I was looking for. Thanks very much. Honestly, it is a toss up at this point but I am leaning toward the Big Foot decoys now. I am a true Yankee and like to save money when I can, but I think in the long run the BF dekes will last longer. I have a dozen or so plywood sillies that I copied from an old set of Outlaw and MR2 decoys that I sold a few year ago. I was thinking of flocking the black areas on those to add some realism. I don't goose hunt a lot but 6-8 goose dekes would be good to have.

Where is Somerset located? I have family out in the western part of PA near Wexford and Sharon. My dad grew up in Sharon. We call that area "the land of milk and honey." Nice area for sure.

Thanks again,
Nate
 
If you're saying 6-8 decoys, you just described Bigfoots. For that few the cost difference will be small, and they'll last you a lifetime. Depending on your cash flow, you may want to even consider HardCore or Dave Smith decoys for that few. Sometimes in late season when the birds are decoy shy you're a lot better off with 6-8 GREAT decoys than 200 average decoys.

You're right about flocking the heads (and tails) on the silos, it makes a world of difference in realism.

Incidentally, we have probably 200 silos that we made from corraplast, but we just re-painted them to snow geese for ND this year. But before that we killed a pile of Canadas with them. We'd make our big spread out of those and our "store bought" silos, then put the full bodies on the downwind side and in the "kill zone".

If you're flocking your silos, you should flock your fullbody heads (and maybe tails) as well. It will add more realism. Not to be a total spam artist, but we sell that as well and have a really good deal on a good kit. http://www.classicbarnegat.com/other%20products-decoy%20rigging%20flocking.htm

Somerset is about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh (and Sharon, etc. where your family's from). It's definitely a great area. I live on the corner of my dad's 300 acre beef farm where I grew up, and appreciate it more and more as I see other areas of the country.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Kirk Sherbine
 
I was going to mention that my favorite spreads are the ones where I can take 2 to 5 dozen silos and put them in the spread amongst the full bodies. They were all the rage 15 years ago and for some reason most guys don't use them that often now. For space savings and shear numbers they rock AND if placed correctly they really do add a dynamic to your spread that full bodies cannot. All you have to do is walk around the spread at a 100 yards plus and see what I'm talking about. Incidentally, there are always BF's for sale on the net. Between the refuge forums and flocknockers and to a lesser degree WTFLR dot com....you can always find somebody unloading them(Yes...they are wicked stoopid for doing it!). And even if they are well used you can scrub them, freshen the paint if necessary and then flock them. Some of favorite ones are ancient!
 
Kirk,
Are those flocked Silleys on your webpage, flocked on both sides? I might be interested to try them...

Best,
Brian F.
 
Yes they are flocked on both sides. It doesn't matter which way you turn them like it does on the Real Geese.
 
I think I'm interested too...but my question regards the durability factor. Obviously any decoy will have wear and tear but I have this vision of the flocking rubbing off as they are transported. Can you comment on that thought?
 
Jay-

That's a legitimate concern. Personally I haven't even had mine long enough to hunt with so I can't vouch for their durability. There's a guy in SE PA though who tested them all year compared to his Real Geese and flocked fullbodies and actually left them out in the field for a month then to see how they held up. He said they held up wonderfully and bought like 6 dozen more then.

The guys that make them said that they just store them and transport them in the big rubbermaid containers and use those to drag/carry them out to the field when they're hunting. They've had other guys uses ponchos with good results as well. They've been making the decoys (mostly snows at first) for their own use and their guiding for several years now, and said that the flocking holds up suprisingly well.

The biggest problem they say is keeping them clean. The only time they've had flocking wear off is if they scrub the decoys when they're wet. They said it's best to let the mud dry, then brush as much as possible off. After that they said to use a garden hose (not carwash or pressure washer) and squirt off the mud while using a soft brush.

That said, any flocked decoy is going to wear some. Our GHG's with the flocked heads look a lot worse after a year than they did out of the box. But supposedly this flocking is extremely tough and the adhesive is very good as well. In addition, the decoy is painted the proper colors underneath the flocking so that if it does wear off it's not noticable.

These seem like really good guys too. They're just 3 hunters that developed a neat idea and it took off. They're not looking to get rich or quit their day jobs, so they don't seem like the kind that would BS me for the sake of a few bucks. For now I'll take their word for it.


I hope I answered your question. If you're not sure I'd suggest either trying a small quantity, or give us a hunting season to use and abuse them and see how they hold up.

Thanks,
Kirk
 
The GHG and Bigfoot decoys from 3 years ago aren't like the ones they make now. They have changed the bases and other things as well.
You can't judge a decoy on the company's past any more.
 
but the GHG's will never be as durable as the foots...they aren't designed to be and that's fine. It's just something worth noting.

Thanks for the reply Kirk....I'll have to give those things a whirl!
 
You mean just like Bigfoot thought it was worth noting on their website that they would NEVER have a China connection and everything would be made in the U.S.?

Like I said they are both great brands but you can't judge them by what used to be the standard.
Enjoy the new decoys.
 
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