Replacing plastic with wood

Adam Ahlers

Adam Ahlers

New member
Hello, All. I'm trying to shift my floater spread from plastic to wood (or cork). However, I really don't know where to start looking for reasonably priced decoys. I'm on a budget (I have two little girls at home that require most of my time and excess money) so I will likely start piecing things together over the next few years. Any advice from this crowd will be greatly appreciated.
 
First response to "I'm on a budget" is always going to be..."what range"......because that determines who and where you should be looking at.....
What species?...would be the second question....
Once those two questions are answered you'll get several responses...and some of them will even include species you want in the range you are in.....


Steve
 
Steve - I'm looking for pintail, mallard, teal, cans, redhead, and scaup. All gunners with for less than $60/bird. Like I said, I really don't know where to start looking.
 
that's the low end but there will be birds out there in that price range.....
I've got a few older birds that would be in that range....shoot me your e-mail, (mine is nuvan@Comcast.net ), and I'll send you some pictures of range.....
I'm sure others will post as well...


Steve
 
If foam in burlap is an option you will save a good bit of money and get a pretty good effect and durability.
 
Adam - It sounds like a good opportunity for your to start makin' you own Decoys. Many of us started to make our own when we did not have two nickles to rub together, and had family responsibilities.
It not as hard as you think. My first decoys were made at our kitchen table. In fact I was carving a Canvasback head when my wife told me. "It's time! Put the Decoy down and get me to the hospital!".
I gave that Decoy to my daughter a few years ago for here 29th birthday. Talk about good memories...
 
Adam - Great to see you out here! Carving your own is one solution. Another solution might be to find an individual that is selling or upgrading his rig. Come over to the shop and we can talk about this over some coffee...

I hope you and your family are well. Pat
 
Thanks for all the information, guys. Steve - I'll shoot you an email. Vince - that is a great story! I'm sure your daughter appreciated the gift.

I've wanted to carve decoys for ~5 years now. Finding time has been hard because of school (I'm finishing my PhD in wildlife ecology this spring), family, and other outside obligations. I'm starting a Postdoc position soon so things should slow down a little bit and allow me some free time to finally start.

Pat - I would love to stop by and chat about decoys, hunting, life etc. Thanks for the invite. If you have some free time in the next couple weeks I could head up your way.

Adam
 
Adam:
Bump it to $100 a decoy and you could do quite well. I would guess better than carving your own. Start slow, go to shows, meet some carvers and build your rig over a period of 4 or 5 years.
 
Adam - Snow Goose hunting next week, Oshkosh Decoy Show on the weekend then off to the Westlake Decoy Show 3/19-21. After that, I am golden and, in the middle of making rigs. Good time to come over... Pat
 
Terry - I'd like to bump it up to $100 but that might be pushing it. I hope I didn't offend anybody with my low-ball price. I really don't have a clue what is out there or what people are selling their work for.

Pat - I'll get in touch with you when your schedule slows down a little. I'm really interested in picking your brain on all things decoys.

Adam
 
Terry - I'd like to bump it up to $100 but that might be pushing it. I hope I didn't offend anybody with my low-ball price. I really don't have a clue what is out there or what people are selling their work for.

Pat - I'll get in touch with you when your schedule slows down a little. I'm really interested in picking your brain on all things decoys.

Adam

Holy cow.. that is why I use foam and plastic... I thought $60 a block was a lot!!!!! Having 8 dozen decoys in the puddle duck spread and another 12 dozen for the layout spread... $15k... no way!
Click to expand...
 
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Adam
I also would like to start adding some wood dekes to my spread.
Without buying all the equipment needed to get setup, you could buy carved blanks or foam blanks. I found a couple of places that have wood blanks and E Allen has foam blanks. I think you can add detail or change head position on these to your preference. Then paint to your choice of style.
Here are the ones I found
http://www.chesterfieldcraftshop.com/index.html
http://www.duxdekes.com/index.html
http://www.lockstockbarrell.com
 
I can understand your desire. I share it, but I am taking it in steps myself, working up a burlap diver rig this year, and hoping to move on to cork in the future once I get a few techniques down for a puddle duck spread.

However, there are some places and circumstances that I hunt that I imagine I will always have a few plastic decoys handy for.
 
Adam:
This is one of those "opinion" things that nobody wins, so I'll withdraw my suggestion and give two thumbs up to your desires. As I suggested, go to a couple shows, talk to some carvers, look around and hold a few decoys.
 
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