Gunning decoy rig

[CaptBobKeeney]

I just picked up this beautiful rig of blackducks carved by Mark Ford if New Gretna NJ. It got me thinking how many decoys does everyone use when gunning heres how i gun through species.
I gun south jersey for reference

Puddle Ducks
7- Blackducks & 1-Seagull

Divers
24-Broadbill/bufflehead
6- Brant
2-Seagulls

Brant
18- Brant
2- Geese
2- Seagulls

 

[Steve Sanford]

Bob~

For many years gunning the tidal waters all around Long Island, I used:

10 Black Ducks
2 Pintail
2 Shovelers
10 Canada Geese or Brant

I was mostly in pursuit of puddlers and Brant. Geese were a bonus if they showed up. The job of the Pintails and Shovelers was to provide a bit of color in the duck rig. They were often enough joined by Mallards, Gadwall, Wigeon as well as Pintails and Shovelers. They were always set upwind of the Blacks. I subscribe to the traditional belief that Blacks do not like to approach over light-colored birds. The Brant or Goose stool were always off to one side or the other - so the Blacks could fly straight toward the puddlers.

If I hunted "up inside" the saltmarsh - especially with my gunning coffin - I took fewer decoys.

I usually shot Broadbill from my Scooter - in the open bay - and rigged 24 Broadbill and 5 or so Whistlers.

I made one Herring Gull long ago - but seldom hunted it. I cannot offer a good explanation....



BTW: I just mailed off my application for the Tuckerton Show earlier today.

All the best!

SJS

 

[Wyatt Russo]

I never run the same spread every time. If we have a push of birds I’ll run more decoys if we’re stale I’ll go with a small spread for ducks in the salt marsh. Geese however in fields or water if I’m running traffic I throw everything I got if I’m on the “X” I’ll run about 50% of what I saw there. So 200 bird feed 100 decoys. Always got to make it look natural and adapt. I call it painting the picture. I’ll spend hours watching ducks and/or geese while scouting seeing how they act, where they land, when do they show up to that spot, is the wind and weather conditions going to be the same when I hunt that spot. Ducks may be there on low tide but high tide they’re somewhere else or vice versa. I feel that you always have to analyze each situation differently and adjust accordingly. Running the same amount of decoys the same time in the same way is not a good idea at all.

 

[Carl]

Back in the day, my go to spread on Mobile Bay was 3 dozen coots, 2 dozen gadwalls (6 of which were feeder butts with bellies painted white like a gadwall), a couple pintails, a dozen bluebills, 3 cans, 6 redheads and 5 buffies.
If I was on Mississippi Sound, leave the coots and gadwalls at home and increase the redheads and bluebills to 2 dzn each. Cans, buffies and pintails went along too.

 

[CaptBobKeeney]

I never run the same spread every time. If we have a push of birds I’ll run more decoys if we’re stale I’ll go with a small spread for ducks in the salt marsh. Geese however in fields or water if I’m running traffic I throw everything I got if I’m on the “X” I’ll run about 50% of what I saw there. So 200 bird feed 100 decoys. Always got to make it look natural and adapt. I call it painting the picture. I’ll spend hours watching ducks and/or geese while scouting seeing how they act, where they land, when do they show up to that spot, is the wind and weather conditions going to be the same when I hunt that spot. Ducks may be there on low tide but high tide they’re somewhere else or vice versa. I feel that you always have to analyze each situation differently and adjust accordingly. Running the same amount of decoys the same time in the same way is not a good idea at all.

I understand were your coming, but i also don’t gun the same area all the time i was always taught with blackducks from old time baymen 7 black ducks and a seagull thats all you need. And if your gunning a ditch 3 blackducks. Ive never had and issues using the same set of decoys every time since i dont gun the same area every day.

 

[Wyatt Russo]

I understand were your coming, but i also don’t gun the same area all the time i was always taught with blackducks from old time baymen 7 black ducks and a seagull thats all you need. And if your gunning a ditch 3 blackducks. Ive never had and issues using the same set of decoys every time since i dont gun the same area every day.

I don’t always hunt the same area either. I mostly hunt the south shore of Long Island behind my house since I live on a canal. With the grass boat docked it’s very convenient, but I do hunt throughout the state and island from September through February. If I ran the same 7 or 3 ducks and placed them in the same spots every time I took my grass boat out here I’d be saving a lot of ammo. Maybe you have less pressure by you or you’re near an area that holds more birds but on the public bays here especially black ducks pick up on what looks natural and what looks fake real quick

 

[CaptBobKeeney]

Bob~

For many years gunning the tidal waters all around Long Island, I used:

10 Black Ducks
2 Pintail
2 Shovelers
10 Canada Geese or Brant

I was mostly in pursuit of puddlers and Brant. Geese were a bonus if they showed up. The job of the Pintails and Shovelers was to provide a bit of color in the duck rig. They were often enough joined by Mallards, Gadwall, Wigeon as well as Pintails and Shovelers. They were always set upwind of the Blacks. I subscribe to the traditional belief that Blacks do not like to approach over light-colored birds. The Brant or Goose stool were always off to one side or the other - so the Blacks could fly straight toward the puddlers.

If I hunted "up inside" the saltmarsh - especially with my gunning coffin - I took fewer decoys.

I usually shot Broadbill from my Scooter - in the open bay - and rigged 24 Broadbill and 5 or so Whistlers.

I made one Herring Gull long ago - but seldom hunted it. I cannot offer a good explanation....

View attachment 75214

BTW: I just mailed off my application for the Tuckerton Show earlier today.

All the best!

SJS

Very nice! I sent mine in as well im looking forward to meeting you in person Steve!

 

[CaptBobKeeney]

Back in the day, my go to spread on Mobile Bay was 3 dozen coots, 2 dozen gadwalls (6 of which were feeder butts with bellies painted white like a gadwall), a couple pintails, a dozen bluebills, 3 cans, 6 redheads and 5 buffies.
If I was on Mississippi Sound, leave the coots and gadwalls at home and increase the redheads and bluebills to 2 dzn each. Cans, buffies and pintails went along too.

Very nice !

 

[GermanG]

I typically pull a sled out to a pond on the salt meadow, and toss out no more than a half dozen black ducks. I rarely see large flocks on those meadows, and this number of decoys seems to suffice. It's been quite a while since I hunted divers on the bay. When I last did I used two dozen buffleheads, with a half dozen black ducks set out closer to the meadow edge. I have about four dozen old Herters broadbills that haven't seen water in over twenty years. I haven't had that kind of energy for a long time, especially for birds I couldn't convince the rest of the family to eat, and got tired of pretending I liked to. I hope to spend more time hunting inland this year, where the ducks have been feeding on acorns and other things that make them a little more appetizing.

When I have a partner to go with me, my favorite method is to jump hunt the smaller meadow cricks with a canoe. It's somewhat like grouse hunting, back when we still had grouse. The stern paddler handles the boat solo, while the guy in the bow has his gun at the ready. It takes a skilled paddle to propel the boat alone silently, with one bad stroke hitting the hull or splashing water, alerting any nearby black ducks, but when you get one, you have earned it!

 

[Capt Rich Geminski]

I gunned small tidal marshes with my southbay. I would use 5-6 mallard/blackducks, maybe 1-2 geese [if there were flocks around]. Match the hatch, if you see 4-5 birds in the area, copy them. Only used bigger rigs on open bays.

 

[Carl]

I will add that back in 1997-2003, we had lots of ducks and lots of competition on Mobile Bay & Delta We also had a lot of coots back then, so you had to compete with rafts of hundreds of coots.
Back then my partner and I would normally put out between 8-12 dzn decoys. Mostly the same mix, with some ringnecks, wigeon and teal thrown in.
That a pile of decoys, all singles, to deploy and pick up but we didnt think twice about it. And we were successful more days than not.
By time I moved in 2019, we had a lot less ducks, almost no coots, and a lot less competition. I dropped down to 3-4 dzn.
Yah gotta adapt to changing conditions, location, local numbers and changes in species composition.

 

[D. Hinton]

Puddle ducks - all depends on where I’m hunting and who with .
Used as little as 6 and as much as 60

Divers - only one place I hunt them and my buddy has a rig of about 72-100 he throws out

Brant - a wishful dream. I can’t get @george w to take me

 

[Jeff Reardon]

One pair of black ducks can be very effective. On Merrymeeting Bay we used to often use 4--2 pairs, separated by ~15 yards. Decoying singles would land between them most of the time. I've never tried a single decoy. Maybe I should.

 

[Neal Haarberg]

I hunt on the Columbia river primarily and for puddlers I use a jerk string with 2 mallards and supplement with usually 5 or 7 more decoys. Either mallards or widgeon depending on what I have been seeing. If I am feeling frisky I will put out maybe a dozen more but not usually. I almost always try and put out a an odd number of decoys because an even number is just bad luck. where I hunt I typically see small groups of birds so I try to "match the Hatch" Plus the small number of decoys allows me to be mobile if I see the birds are liking another spot and I a can move easily. if the 7 or 9 decoys isn't working i will take out a couple at a time. Sometimes I will get down to just the jerk string and that is the ticket.

 

[Mark Belknap]

I’ll use 3-7 black ducks. I may throw in a few hoodies or mallards for a little color and 18-24 brant if I’m out on seaside