Mojo decoys or any other type of spinning wing decoys ?

I draw the line at goretex neoprene and fiberglass. otherwise I will stick with my cork decoys and doubleguns.
Motorized decoys are an abomination we shoould be stiving to be stewards of the resource and keepers of a tradition not killers and poacher wannabes.
 
Bill, as you can see mixed responses. Everyone has an opinion, but use an opinion that helps you. As far as disparaging comments, thats freedom of speech. You can regard/or disregard them as you see fit. I hope your hunt goes well , Kevin
 
Bill - Great question and, I appreciate you asking.

Since the beginning of waterfowling, the waterfowl hunter has been resourceful and, used whatever he had to lure ducks within gunshot. Native Americans built decoys from reeds. Early waterfowlers used live decoys. When live decoys were outlawed, the waterfowler carved his own decoys and made his own duck calls. Early market gunners used sink boxes. When sink boxes were outlawed, hunters built layout boats and scull boats. Even today, hunters bushwack ducks in scull boats and body boot. Here on the Illinois River, waterfowlers tied lines to their wooden decoys to make jerk cords to depict motion.

Here is the point, waterfowlers are one of the most resourceful hunters I know. They are the imperical "gadget guys". Using a gadget like a robo duck is not new to waterfowling. Use whatever you feel works for you and enjoy it.

As for opinions, no shortage of them on this forum.... Pat

The hunter crouches in his blind
"Neath camouflage of every kind,
And conjures up a quacking noise
To lend allure to his decoys.
This grown-up man, with pluck and luck,
Is hoping to outwit a duck.

--Ogden Nash
 
They also used Punt guns, BAIT, Traps, Spring shooting, and night shooting........... All very resourceful indeed. This IS part of our history. History repeats itself I have heard.

ETHICS 1)-a system of moral principles. 2) the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc. 3) moral principles of a individual

Random House Dictionary of the English Language
 
Another long interesting string. Punt guns and night hunting still are operational in Great Britain,according to web sites I visit; these are tools and if hunters use them with ethical restraint, as is averred, I see no isse. Sinkboxes still are avalaible in Canada, from the advertisements I see, and I've read some stories of wonderful hunts. Indians also waded underwater with breathing reeds to snatch unsuspecting ducks from the hordes of pre-colonial waterfowl--this was subsistance not sport and different rules adhere.

The Brits also tend to frown on repeaters, though Americans for the majority seem to dote on them. Before this state outlawed spinners, I used a Wonderduck spinner/splasher exactly once on a still, frozen day when the temp got UP to eight before dropping...It was the only motion from horizon to horizon and the ducks sucked right down on top of it though I sat in plain sight with calls frozen solid after the first breath. The gods of the flyways being always on the job--my left-barrel firing pin refused to function with bismuth loads, new that year. The one-shot kills with the right barrel were frozen solid when I retrieved them, and so were my feet!

I've used the old jerk-string method once illustrated in the Herter's catalogue with success, and hunted with a guide who used a spinning-wing mallard activated by string pull which he played like a Stradivarius, herking and jerking and sucking greater Canadas right down on top of his wind-waddling goose shells. Stretchy cords these days get the decoys to swimming back and forth usefully.

I wouldn't use one of those perpetual motion motor decoys even if I could legally--I think the ducks would cotton on too fast. Spoonies? Well, spoonies,what can I say. I bet black ducks and sprig aren't that suceptible. I like my cork decoys fine, and they've been known to outdraw expert callers with a hundred plastic blocks two hundred yards away. But age and decreptitude have reduced me to those awful Feather-Flex shells--only to have stone dead Canadas, mallards, widgeon and teal smack right into them after cupping up and coming in like they were on rails. Go figure. When Zack Taylor years ago announced skin diver gloves and I discovered neoprene, I never looked back--finally my hands functioned in a duck blind again. But woolens and rubber LaCrosse hippers are my wear of choice.

All hunters pick and choose the equipment that complements their own style and self image. I can't find it in me to criticise the robo-duck crowd if they use their gear ethically and sparingly. For years I struggled with misfeeds in my Browning Auto 5 because I handloaded paper shotshells, not willing to succumb to plastic...thought I got a good grade in high school salesmanship class by "selling"the brand-new green plastic shells Remington came out with, sure to be a passing fad...

The thing that offends me most, and I may be alone in this, is the Mad Men advertising style adopted by today's suppliers of sporting goods. All kinds of QuackBlaster, Crush'em crap that makes my skin crawl. I myself am headed soon for that dust to which we all return eventually, and I would like to believe the good old ways of duckin' would survive me, but camouflage-clad plastic shotguns and $500 coats made of the latest wonder fabric (just don't let it near the blind heater or it will melt in a trice) don't hold out much hope. Maybe I am just a cranky old man and cannot see the truth for the camouflage(in the latest fashionable stripe).

As far as I can tell it all began when Winchester discontinued the Model 12 and substituted a piece of crap in its stead,and it has all been downhill ever since...
 
So much animosity towards a mechanical duck. It is a tool. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I used to be a heavy user but have personally found they don't work that well anymore. I've been in many spots where hunters all around were using them and I was getting the ducks to cup their wings into my set up without the mojo. Also had it happen the other way where I was using a mojo and the ducks couldn't stay away.

What I don't understand here on this site - if you don't like them don't use them. Criticize the tool but not the person. Each person chooses what is ethical for them. The other thing I don't understand is how the mojo anit's criticize this tool as being so bad for the ducks but use newer motors, guns, clothing, calls, boats, deocys, lights, gps, etc. that do the same tihng - kill more ducks. They draw their own ethical line that is OK but others line makes them immoral hunters.

My favortive thread on this occurred sometime back during the Steve Sutton days. One guy went on and on about how hard he worked/scouted to find this special spot to hunt - several paragraphs worth to make a point of what a hunter he was for going through all this trouble to find a good spot away from others. His last paragraph intricately described how early he got up, faced blinding snow coming from all directions and so on. After a couple of hours he finally go to this spot to hunt where he found someone already there set up with a spinner out front. The vitriol towards this lazy ass, morally challenged hunter was an interesting read. I couldn't understand how someone who did everyting this one guy did, and who got up earlier and beat him to this one spot all of a sudden became the scum of the earth just because he had a mechanical duck out front. Still don't get this one.

Anyway, if it is legal, and not causing harm, I don't see the problem. I do know that all the intial criticism on how this one item was going to single handily decimate the duck population has not occurred. If I have my numbers right, duck populations have gone up since the introduction of the mojo's. Dare I say that mojo's have been good for duck numbers?

Something to think about.

Mark W
 
They're just another piece of the puzzle to me. Like anything else sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. I recently started using the floater mallard Mojo and I have the timer installed so it goes 4 seconds on/10 off, then 2 on and 5 off. Trying to replicate a resting duck stretching its wings. If I had to choose a jerk string or the Mojo I'd go with the jerk string every time, but there are certainly times when the Mojo is the way to go. They can help draw attention to your spread if you're hunting small isolated potholes. The conventional wisdom is that geese hate them but I've also seen geese land almost on top of them. I will say that they are overpriced for what they are and the design could use some improvement. Funny to see how worked up some guys get over them on here. If the birds don't seem to like it you can always turn it off and climb back onto the moral high ground. :)
 
Mojos work especially well on early season young ducks but lose there effectiveness as the season progresses. Seems like around here in my hunting area everybody uses one. In some over hunted public places, you can stand and see nearly a dozen spinners going! It wouldn't bother me if they were all outlawed. That would be one less piece of equipment to have to keep up with. But unfortunately due to all the competition I admit I do use them.
 
I don't use one, never will.
Can't stand the sight of them damn spinning wings, even from a mile across the marsh, let alone in my spread.
 
Particularly liked the reminiscence about the guy who got up at Zero dark 30 and faced a blizzard blowing from every direction at once--much like trudging uphill to school through the snow and then uphill home from school through the snow--all directions uphill. Only to find someone had trudged faster, grabbed the X--and put up a spinner! Didn't know the antichrist was a duck hunter...)

Had another thought as the really interesting and entertaining thread spins on...someone said long as it's legal and ethical, words to that effect. Two different concepts that seldom coincide. In Washington State they outlawed ALL mechanical contrivances to be used for decoying ducks. Including those little battery-powered floating disks that agitate the water on those painted-ducks-upon-a-painted-ocean days. A game warden could arrest you if you pointed your electric trolling motor at the decoy spread and turned it on to send ripples out--and probably has. The Game Department here (name changed to some politically correct crapola) is not the hunter's friend. They have many locals so buffaloed that a lifelong guide is afraid to use an ice-eater to break up ice on his club ponds, with the result that over 90 percent of his ponds are out of commission during the best duck hunting weather. Found this out when I offered him a sturdy generator to power an ice-breaker on ponds too far from the power for extension cords; he said using an ice breaker is using a mechanical contrivance to hunt ducks and he would be arrested. I'd be all for running the ice breaker, taking the ticket and going to court--last time this department pulled something so stupid the judge got all over them and let them know that no, they are not the Geheimstatspolizei. But not a lot of people are willing to take a stand. You know the old saying...they came for the wing spinners and I didn't use them so I said nothing; they came for the ice breakers and I didn't own one, so I said nothing; they came for the GPS users and was not one, so I said nothing; then they came for the mud motors and I never could afford one so I said nothing, and now they've come for my shotgun and there's nobody left to say anything...

If it's ethical to agitate the water with a jerk string, how is it unethical to agitate the water with one of those little hockey puck things with a couple AA batteries? Illegal here, yeah. But unethical? (This is the same state that prohibits use of 209 primers in muzzleloaders and requires an "open"ignition, which required some companies to drill holes in their designs to qualify--the black-powder version of California idiocies involving fixed magazines and ten-round limits for modern firearms--not a hunting issue, but related. Washington eventually caved on sabot-rounds for muzzleloaders.)

For years this Game Department went unchallenged in their illogical fiats because their one size fits all reply would be: if antihunters see us arguing they will use those arguments to end hunting. (As if our perfect accord on all things will persuade the Cleveland Amorys of the land to leave us alone.) If I was younger and full of pep and could get around without any h'ep I might just take them on. I used to beat them up as an outdoor writer for Fishing and Hunting News, a gone and long lamented outdoor newspaper, when we caught them doing this stupid stuff. They have a regulation now saying decoys on waters controlled by the department may not be left out overnight or even unattended for several hours; no runs to town for lunch like we used to do on the Eastern Sho'. The regulation is (deliberately) ambiguous so that duck clubs I know of are afraid to leave their decoys out on private property because of the old construction that wildlife belongs to the state, and game laws apply on private land. Though the purpose of the rule supposedly was to prevent early birds and people of leisure from locking up public spots unfairly. Back in the day the one Washington club I was most familiar with "groomed"blinds for important members/guests by surrounding them with 50 or a hundred dekes and leaving them unshot for a week or so. Worked like a charm.

I should probably wind down--but what about electronic callers, spring hunting and unplugged guns for snow geese? What makes these things ethical for one species and not others? I thought they made us plug our A-5s because they believed five shots would extirpate all fowl. Now eight or ten shots is okay? Legal perhaps--but so were unplugged A-5s back in the market days. Conditioned all my life to the theory of waterfowl scarcity, I cannot watch those snow goose massacres without feeling extremely uneasy. And why is it all right--a cottage industry in fact--to bait deer, but not ducks?

One final note: I remember the Maryland guide who kept right on using live decoys into the 70s, on properties hard for federal wardens to access. The word of course eventually leaked out, the feds made a SWAT raid--and the quick-thinking guide shot his Judas duck as the wardens closed in. When a warden lifted the mallard out of the water--leather leash attched to an anchor--the guide said cross my heart, he flew in here just like that! Of course these days he could have an electronic release on the leash and press the button when accosted, freeing the Judas bird to flush and fly home to its pen...and claim the gadget in his hand was an e-collar controller...



_
 
I can't say I have strong feelings about the various robo ducks. I used to say "I'll never own one, but I'll shoot over one if someone in my party brings it." On those days when someone did, I'd say that about 1/3 of the time it was clearly attracting ducks to us, 1/3 of the time it was clearly flaring them, and the rest of the time we couldn't tell.

On the "annoyance" front, I'd say that about half the time the Mojo either made a noise that bothered me or the sight of it did. Somehow I find the sight of one in someone else's spread across the marsh bothers me more than the one right in front of me--especially when ducks are attracted there and not to me. (LOL)

I now find myself the proud owner of 2 mojos--one that someone gave me as a gift, and the other that I found leaned against a tree at a hunting spot on Saturday. (I'm not sure if the second one works. It's either dead or the battery is.) I've used the one that was given to me once--and it worked, but I wondered if I'd have done just as well over just decoys.

If we're going to ban them, I think the right approach would be to ban any motorized equipment used to lure game. It seems to me there is a distinct line between something that requires batteries or a generator and something operated by string. I'm not sure I'd advocate for that, but I wouldn't oppose that rule if someone else proposed it.

I'm afraid I may raise Bill's blood pressure, but I find the ice eaters and the practice of leaving decoys out overnight far more troubling than mojos. The most heavily hunted area I frequent would be a zoo except for state laws that ban permanent blinds or leaving decoys out overnight in that area. I guess I'm a traditionalist when it comes to the public trust doctrine--the fish and game belong the the people, and nobody ought to be able to privatize the ability to take them on public waters.

I think I'd probably quit duck hunting if I had to either join a private club or participate in a drawing for a blind on the days I want to hunt, and I favor laws that make the ducks available to anyone willing to get up early and put in the work to get to where they want to be.
 
Last edited:
Jeff, I enjoyed your post. I have no issue with the concept of game and fish as a public trust, but I do have an issue where owners of private marshes are told when and how long to leave out decoys or not to clear ice out of holes. As for public waters and marshes, I know something has to be done or the best spots will always be locked up, usually by professional guides who employ teenagers to get out there and hold their spots. But on the Susuquehanna in Pa., the old time hunters left enormous rigs of cork decoys out, risking their loss from the river's ravages but not--in those days--theft. Still there was plenty of room on the river for my wife and me in my little jonboat with four dozen decoys. We had our chances.
I tended to let geese work to the big rigs and not call them off if they looked committed. More than once they landed and paddled around because no one was home in the other blind. Never bothered my blood pressure--let them have a free ride that day.

As for the waiting in line thing, a whole other issue, when I worked for Fishing and Hunting News I covered the California refuges where people showed up Friday after work for the "sweat line" hoping for a shoot on Sunday. I knew what theyweregoing though because once I was working in LA and drove up to see how it worked. Talked to a guy in a camper with an Irish Setter of the old kind, good looking dog and retrieveing fool. They had been there since Friday. He lived in an LA apartment and boarded his dog all week because it got lonesome and howled and the neighbors complained, then rescued his buddy on Friday, braved the freeway traffic north, and took of the vigil. It was dedication of a whole different order and I don't know if I could have done it. He finally got on at 2 p.m., happy as a lark because "it's the best time of the day next to dawn!" I had arrived at noon Sunday and was eight cars behind him onto the hunting grounds. Every parking lot was like a tailgate party. I had hip boots--the marshes called for waders--I went anyway and froze. Shot one big widgeon drake on the pass, sitting on my bag of decoys to empty my boots. Felt like shooting from the fifty yard line of the game of the week. First time in my life I received a round of applause from the loafers in the parking lots and heard somebodyyell "What a shot!" I gave the bird to a California family hunting together so each could have a duck for dinner. The papa had a wing-tipped mallard he was taking home to let take up residence in his swimming pool. Not legal of course, but Californians--what can I say? I moved to Washington state, duck hunting nirvana,where the limit then was seven--miraculous after the cramped point systems of the east. Seven greenheads in a pile--more than I used to get in a season. Or seven sprig.Or an assortment. Since you're from Maine, it reminds me of the Maine hunter safety supervisor I used to swap duck hunting stories with when I edited the Hunter Safety Coordinator newsletter out of Seattle. Pure down-easter: he went on point when I said you could shoot seven big ducks, no point system, just have at it. Now look heah he said,in that inimitable Maine accent--do you have black ducks theah? If the answer had been yes I think he might have been on the next plane!

I love this site, and truly appreciate those who created it and made it possible. Most of my duck hunting buddies have moved on to the (hopefully) happy hunting grounds and my son has turned his coat and hunts elk and blacktail deer, but this site gives me good reading, good pictures to admire, and thoughtful as well as funny discourse. I once wrote that waterfowling is a creed and its proponents witness to each other with the zeal of born-again Christians witnessing to the awe of a most holy ghost in their lives...still true. Opinions and noses are shared by us all--and boy is it great!
 
I remember when Mojo's first came out. They were amazing. No joke. I remember first seeing them show up in the impoundments and areas where I hunted. They were like magic. The ducks would fly right to them every time. My buddies and I witnessed this for a couple of years and finally one season decided we had to have one just to keep up with the arms race. By this point it had gotten to where you couldn't even hunt within sight of anyone else without a Mojo and expect to have a duck fly near you. I cannot express the level of effectiveness Mojo's had back then. They were unreal. So, we got one. Or, my buddy did. We used it. It worked. It worked great. Our whole spread became all about the Mojo. We gave all sorts of thought to where and how to position the Mojo. The other decoys only served to highlight the Mojo. Hell, we didn't even think you could actually get ducks to fly into your spread without a Mojo. And I think we were right. By this point people had begun to have two or even three Mojo's going at a time. Now it was a race to see who could field the most Mojo's. That seemed to be all that mattered. A funny thing happened. Ducks suddenly stopped just automatically flying toward Mojo's like kamikazes. Every single hunting party in the water had at least one and usually two or three Mojo's going. The ducks started acting exactly like they had before the Mojo. You still had to have one to get the ducks to fly close enough to your spread to check it out but they didn't commit automatically. Then one fine morning. One of the best mornings in my duck hunting career. I dropped the Mojo overboard. Sunk it. It died. I've never used one sinse. After that I set out decoys. I tried to make them look real nice. And low and behold. The ducks flew right to me. I murdered ducks. I murdered ducks within sight of several parties having three Mojo's running each. That is when I realized just how smart the ducks were. They had figured the Mojo out. Now it was a signal that meant DANGER. Granted it does still work. Like you guys have said. Early in the morning before the shooting starts and you can't see. But the days of the ducks flying helplessly into Mojo's at 10:30am are gone. (and that is how it used to go).

I despise Mojo's and all other mechanical decoys. I've used them. I've destroyed ducks over them. I hate them. Do yourself a favor and never disgrace yourself by using them. Duck hunting is not about killing ducks. You don't get paid by the duck. You don't Win?? anything by killing more ducks. Duck hunting is about the process and the tradition. The type of hunting that utilizes these abominations is of a very low level. You will not experience what is truly great about this sport if you stoop to such low brow techniques. And, the damn things just don't offer much or any advantage anymore and they're a pain in the ass to carry around and set up. They are also awful to have look at on an otherwise beautiful morning. When I see Mojo's they make me furious. And every hunting party I ever run across still has at least three of em now. Because two just doesn't do it anymore. They're like crack for duck hunters. I don't even want to talk to people who use them.

So, there are some honest thoughts on mechanical decoys for you to consider. Do as you will. Just know that there are some who will pass judgment on you if you chose to go that route. I promise I will.
 
Did any waterfowlers ever think they would see Spring Shooting again? Yet we now have it for Snow Geese, for Conservation and Habitat purposes. Laws also did away with Live Tollers, but we do way better than that today, with electronic callers, also for Snow Geese. How about unplugged shot guns, yet again for Snow Geese. Is this just the beginning of going back to old ways? That is what I was referring to with history repeating itself. Are we on a slippery slope?

Mojo' and Robo's, are lightening rods for opinions and feelings, and rightly so. Having very strong feelings about the birds we love and hunt, runs deep in our lifestyle.
 
Right Vince,or here in New York a Sept Canada season,15 a day ,electronic calling,unplugged and shooting the crap out of the roost half an hour after sunset. The last being the worst.
What is legal seems to swing like a sky buster 's first day in the marsh. What's ethical on the other hand rests with the individual and their development as a duck hunter.
 
I would hesitate drawing similarities between goose and duck hunting. The dynamics of both harvest and life histories are so different it's comparing apples and oranges. Humans have done an incredibly good job improving habitat for geese, and a good job of damaging habitat for ducks. Even within Canada geese, management needs are different between migrants and residents.

Clint
 
Since this has move from the question of the affectiveness of spinners to whether they are ethical or not, I'm sure that the "ethical hunters" are not shooting hens either.....

Just saying......
 
Since this has move from the question of the affectiveness of spinners to whether they are ethical or not, I'm sure that the "ethical hunters" are not shooting hens either.....

Just saying......
Click to expand...


Of course that is relevant, just like the ethics of picking up your dog's crap when you take him for a walk and like turning out the light each and every time you leave the room. I hope all the "ethical hunters" are picking up their dog's (or maybe dogs') crap and turning out the lights.


Just sayin'...
 
I despise Mojo's and all other mechanical decoys. I've used them. I've destroyed ducks over them. I hate them. Do yourself a favor and never disgrace yourself by using them. Duck hunting is not about killing ducks. You don't get paid by the duck. You don't Win?? anything by killing more ducks. Duck hunting is about the process and the tradition. The type of hunting that utilizes these abominations is of a very low level. You will not experience what is truly great about this sport if you stoop to such low brow techniques. And, the damn things just don't offer much or any advantage anymore and they're a pain in the ass to carry around and set up. They are also awful to have look at on an otherwise beautiful morning. When I see Mojo's they make me furious. And every hunting party I ever run across still has at least three of em now. Because two just doesn't do it anymore. They're like crack for duck hunters. I don't even want to talk to people who use them.

So, there are some honest thoughts on mechanical decoys for you to consider. Do as you will. Just know that there are some who will pass judgment on you if you chose to go that route. I promise I will.
Click to expand...


So how do you really feel John? I respect your opinion but am disappointed that you pass judgement on some who choose to hunt different than you choose to hunt.

I do have a question - where does your definition of "tradition" begin? Bows and arrows, dugout canoes, punt guns, sail or row only boats, reed decoys, canvas clothes, paper shotgun shells, lanterns, no electronic navigation aides, etc.....? Everyone choses their line and as long as legal and not harmful to duck populations, I'll defend someone's "right" to hunt in that manner.

The more hunters we loose, the more ones voice becomes irrelevant. If we want to keep hunting, we have to have hunters. If better tools/equipment create more hunters, I'm for it as we need them.

Mark W
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top