Spread question

[dtessar]

Hi guys, iv only been duck hunting a few years now and was wondering what the typical spread for mallards/black ducks/brant is like. I hunt south shore Long Island and have been pretty successful with what I know so far. Just wondering about how many of each you guys put out.

Any tips will help. Thanks
-Dan

 

[Dave Church]

Hey Dan, welcome to the sport. It's hard to answer your question without knowing more information, but I will give you a little advice. I usually try to mimic the bird numbers that I am seeing or a little more. Putting out hundreds of decoys on a pond that holds 3 ducks doesn't do you much good. Mallards and blacks in the same spread has always worked fine for me on a variety of ducks. I have never been on a Brant hunt so I can't offer you any advice there. Make sure you leave a pocket for them to land in, put your farthest decoy no farther than your guns range, face them into the wind, be willing to change things up when conditions change, always pay attention to what the ducks or geese are telling you. Good luck

dc

 

[Scott Farris]

Brant decoys. If you can count I posed up a link to waves of brant coming into or at least checking out the rig. B&W decoys go well with the brant I think the white helps visibility. Black decoys are included but in small numbers similar to what we see flying. Wigeon decoys are good too in small numbers if you have them in the area.

The photos without brant flying are taken because there is a swimmer in the rig checking them out. We all had our limits so it was only verbally abused and it finally left. The farthest decoy from where I was seated was 34 yards by rangefinder. I rarely extend them farther as 35 yds is my comfort range and provides 5 yards or more for a follow up shot on a hit bird.

Scott