Over size or Life size decoys

M

Mitch B.

Member
I have hunted puddle ducks for about 10 years now and always use life size decoys. Me and my Uncle just bought a TDB and getting into diver hunting I’ve been diver duck hunting before but the guy we go with is a clown and doesn’t know what total concealment is. All our decoys that we use are Greenhead Gear decoys. I want to buy some Redheads Buffleheads and golden eye decoys because I am always hearing that diver ducks are species specific. I’ve seen the oversized decoys and they look like a small goose. I have bluebills and ring necks that are life size. Would it hurt or help me to mix the OS and LS decoys or should I look for a different type of decoys that are the same size??

Thanks
 
Mitch,

Do not know how true biologically this is, but I have always heard that waterfowl do not have much of a depth perception...I have always used oversized decoys due to the fact that my carving style has not been able to replicate the smaller sizes of the specific bird species...Oversize decoys can be seen better over long distances...It would be to your advantage to go to a larger decoy...Larger decoys can be used in lesser numbers do to their size....

And you are right when you say waterfowl can be species specific...Really the only bird that I have experienced that will only land to their own species is the Goldeneye...Blues will land to practically anything...I have not been able to hunt Redheads heavily due to the notion that they don't stop in Kentucky or here in Northern Indiana in large numbers (specifically where I hunt in Indiana)...So I can not give you much information on my expierence with Redheads....

Your best bet is to load most of your rig with Bluebills (3 to 4 dozen), Cans (2 or less), Buffies (2 or less), and if a dozen or so Goldens...Make sure when you mix the main group that you keep at least the buffies to the side of the rig...I have seen Cans and Blues on a regular basis during late season when I hunt Kentucky the most all together...The Goldens on the other hand need to be seperated to some extent...Set the Goldens out to the left or right seperated by 10 yards or more from the main rig...Keep them in shooting range...Or just use the Goldens all by themselves when large numbers are in...The funny thing about Goldeneyes is that they are particularly high fliers on most occassion compared to the other divers...The rest will typically fly 3 to 10 yards off the water where Goldens will come in high then dive bomb in about 60 yards out...

You can rig individually to get a better looking natural spread but long lines are the way to go when efficiency comes in to play where you may have to pick up and move when birds are flying differently then you expected...

Good luck,

Special K
 
Mitch, I have a mix of life sized and over sized decoys. I will generally set the life sized in a group and the over sized in another, however I don't think that it would really matter. My carved decoys are much smaller than say my LL Bean's and they still look pretty natural...............Kevin
 
Well Mitch, I've been wondering about that myself for years now. I seem to go through phases of magnums and back to smaller blocks and in the end my rig is a mix of everything, including Y boards. I agree with Special K on setting GE's and Buffy's off to the side.

Here's a pic of some of my diver rig on the water. I want to add 6 or so life sized GE's to it. I also have about 3 doz buffy's (who the heck needs that many buffy's?!) but usually only set out a doz or less. This winter I also plan to add a bunch of BBill hens, just to see if it makes a difference.

View attachment DSCF9998.jpg

Coming in!

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Here's a shot of how much difference there is in the size of some of the blocks I use. Those ringers in the back row are as big as I'd want to ever go.

View attachment DSCF6511.jpg

Keep in mind Y boards and sleds are a good way to beef up a rig too. Most guys seem to put fulls sized decoys on the edge of a bunch of flatties.

If you ever find out exactly the right set up, be sure to let us know! : )

Mike
 
Mitch,
Birds "perceive" things different than we do. When we see a magnum decoy, we think.........hm, that's big. When a duck see a magnum decoy, it "thinks".........hm, I'm close.
Size relates to distance with birds as they do not have binocular vision (not predators). That's why we can hunt successfully out of a 6 foot long goose decoy/blind.

There's also some info on setting a rig of divers on my website under "decoy setting" or something like that. It's a pdf file.
www.lockstockbarrell.com
Lou
 
Mitch,
I used to think oversized decoys were not worth the hassle. Then I started hunting big water (upper Columbia River) with a friends spread of Neuman&Bennett super magnum mallard decoys (24" long). It was amazing the distance those decoys could pull birds, as was the visability of the spread vs life sized decoy spreads when I was a long ways out in the boat. So I am now converted to using oversized decoys in big water situations.
I wouldn't be concerned with mixing different sizes, the ducks don't seem to care.

Paul
 
Here's a spin on the same question. You've got a finite amount of room in the boat, buy more small decoys for a bigger spread, or buy less magnums for a smaller spread of bigger decoys?
I've got mostly puddle decoys, a mix of big and small, I put out all my small ones early in the season when teal are still common, and use all the hens of the magnums, since drakes aren't full color yet. They look like teal and mallards, even though they're all mallard dekes.I weed out the small ones later, bring in more drakes, and add some coots and widgeon later. I do this on the theory that the black coots may show up better than normal colored birds under the right lighting, and coots show up later in the season here. Ditto for the widgeon, and I think the extra white they have shows up better, ditto for pintail dekes.
I don't know squat about diver rigs, other than what I've heard, but want to know what guys think on more vs. big. I'm kicking the idea of rigging for them when puddle ducks aren't in the area.
 
I like to ask a lot of questions around here because I appreciate other perspectives, but I do have my own opinions . . . here's one . . .

Size vs. numbers go hand in hand. For a big spread, I like "small" decoys. I can get more of them in the boat and put them closer together for more decoys in the same area, or spread them out for a huge spread over the water. Overall, I like as many decoys as I can feasibly use.

A lot of times late in the season I really only want to shoot divers, but if a puddler wants to drop in, that's fine and dandy. Since I'm only going to put out a few mallard dekes, I want them big so they are easy to see.

Also, since I got a sneakbox, decoy space in the boat has become a premium. I have some flat diver dekes that look great on the water and I can fit a pile of them in the boat - no keels and less than 2" thick bodies!

Variety is great - don't hesitate to mix things up! This weekend I hunted over a mix of decoys that would score lots of points with affirmitive action! Big plastic goose floaters, wooden mallards from two different carvers, two GHG buffies, three GHG goldeneyes, 2 E.Allen Canvasbacks and a collection of divers carved by at least 5 different hunters including my dad and I. It looked great and even the few birds we saw agreed.

NR
 
Thanks everyone for your info. I'm going out on Lake Webster this weekend for a diver duck hunt, will put my new knowledge at work and hopefully can coax a few divers in range.

Thanks all again.
 
I use all standard size, usually a mix of 2 dzn bluebills, 1 dzn cans, 1 dzn redheads plus buffies and 3 GEs. Have some ringers too.
Depending on where I am hunting, I may also put out a bunch (3 dzn) of coots.
 
I use big blocks on BIG water just so I can help the birds "see" me. Not too many people like to lug in Super mags to a small farm pond. Mix it up and see what works for you. Nobody has perfected the perfect spread yet. dc
 

THink you have issues with the file name, try renaming it, taking out the "&" and spaces.
 
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