Recommendation for full body goose decoys.

Paul Scott

Paul Scott

Active member
Hello chaps and Dani.

I want to buy a set of full body decoys to take back with me from my visit with Fred Slyfield in January as we don't have them over here in the uk. There seems to be a mass of different types. I think I need specks as our feral canadas and our grey lags would decoy to them. I think I won't fall size ones? Canada's here only come in one size.

Is big better? What make and who to get them from? I ask because I will have to buy blind from Internet. At the moment am looking at Ghg make and final approach, fa seems to be cheaper, is there a reason for this?

Thanks guys.
 
There are a ton of different full bodies and each brand has their attractions. Personally if you are looking for a decoy that will last I would steer away from GHG and FA. Bigfoot decoys would be my hands down choice for durability. Now if you are wanting more custom decoys with durability (as long as you take care of them) check out Dave Smith decoys. I will warn you they are expensive but if you have the money they are a good decoy. I owned or used almost every brand of goose dekes out there and if it were me Bigfoot would be the way to go.

Now if weight is an issue as fullbodies can be darn heavy especially hauling a load into a remote spot you can try lessers that are made by GHG or FA. I have a dozen avery lessers and they are great on the weight side of things but I will sooner than later have to do some touch up jobs on them. One of the main reasons why I bought them was a guy was bent on chnaging his entire spread and was selling them for cheap.
 
I have used GHG ever since they came out with them. In fact, my 18 GHG full bodies are from the first issue. However, I took note to the realism the Avian X decoys offered and my wife gave me a half dozen AXP models in walker poses. These to me are the most realistic looking full bodies out there. I recently took just those six decoys into a chiseled corn field and the birds readily came right to the six, and only six decoys. The walker pose gives you both a semi-sentry and also the look of semi-picking feeder geese. Just my 50 cents on full bodies.
 
Ron
When did Avian X start making specks?

Personally, I would steer clear of any decoy that has to put troubleshooting videos on their website.

If you want durability go BigFoot, for realism go DSD.
 
Paul, why not shells, you can put them on a stake and they will move in the wind, and be much easier to sent to the UK..

You will have time to look over all mine in January, I have Big Foots and GHG both full body and shells.

F
 
Thanks Fred, that will be great I thought of shells but they seem to be not as realist. I have a good set deadly decoys, wind sock type so I thought I could get some to put the out side of my rig.
 
My 15 year old bigfoots that get chucked in the back of the truck or trailer are in as good or better shape than the GHG decoys I have had in slotted bags for two years. i do like the movement you get from the GHG's on the stakes but be prepared to baby them.
 
Paul, I personally recommend Dave Smith Decoys. If you want the best, most realistic full body goose decoy, DSD is it. They are made in the USA not china like most of the full bodies on the market. They also make greylag goose decoys as well that they ship to the UK.
 
Thank you guys again for your advice. The dsd decoys are truly amazing looking birds but out of my price range at the moment, plus I think my shooting buddy would sneak up on them and jump shoot them. They are so life like.

Thanks again.
 
Earnie,

Wow...I hadn't heard of DSD decoys. Those are nice looking decoys! Tad rich for this working class slug!
 
Funny you say that Paul,ivie had two of mine shot! Everyone had shot and relaoded then someone shot a decoy thinking it was a cripple.......twice! I have to admit that I too drew a bead on one in the same situation, and just I started to pull the trigger a goose moved to right of the bird I though was the cripple.......!
 
Here is a close up of the DSD Honkers in a tall grass field. Color variation can be done at the shop as can be seen here...

P1090700-1.jpg


I am telling you that these decoys hold geese. This one decided to stick around for our entire hunt. He came before shooting time and stayed as we proceeded to kill three limits of birds. We grew to enjoy his company and left him live. In turn, he graced us with a picture with his fallen brethren. After the final decoy was picked, he flew off...

P1080251-1.jpg

 
Great story, are they hard wearing? And how would you pack them? Also they don't seem to sale a hunters pack you know to of each poss? Now I can't stop thinking about dsd decoys!!
 
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I've been using them for five years and love them. I did have seven dozen, but last week I sold three dozen because quite frankly I didn't need them. Most guys will tell you that you don't need nearly as many dsd 's to have the same effect of a larger spread of other full bodys.
 
And how would you pack them?
Click to expand...
I can't speak to how they hold up as I don't have any, I let my friends buy them :) The decoys I hunted over were in single bags, like dry cleaner bags; then into 6 slot bags after that. Extra work, but I don't think there is a nicer decoy on the market for geese. Did you want Canadas or Specks? I thought you wanted Specks...
 
Thank you for that what ever I get I tend to look after mystuff cos it's hard to replace them over here in the uk, the import tax and post costs more than the product. If anyone knows of anyone selling 1/2 dozen specklebellies dsd could they let me know please thanks.
 
Big Foots are very durable. I still hunt over some made in 1985. I don't hunt specks but for Canadas it is hard to beat Big Foots for durability and price.
 
Bigfoots are the way to go if you're using plastic. As soon as you start killing some geese start making a stuffer rig. There is nothing better
 
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