Super magnum cork or wood decoys

Andy Grant

Andy Grant

Well-known member
I would like to start carving some decoys this year. I am going to start with a standard size cork decoy, but am wondering about oversize decoys. How big can one reasonably make a decoy? I am thinking of in the 20-22" range for mallards. They need to be seen right? Is that just crazy? Too big to make, haul, put out?
 
They say bigger is better,

but then you will have weight issues,

My 16' jon can hold all 51 of my corkers, most are magnums(16"). The trailer bows and I have very little free board in the water 3-4"

do you hunt big water where it would be an advantage ?
all kinds of variables in this question.

I went with magnums first, now I am going to life size because I like to have a larger spread, I also got a bigger boat !!
 
I would like to start carving some decoys this year. I am going to start with a standard size cork decoy, but am wondering about oversize decoys. How big can one reasonably make a decoy? I am thinking of in the 20-22" range for mallards. They need to be seen right? Is that just crazy? Too big to make, haul, put out?
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Basically, it all depends upon how willing you are to remove a lot of material and the size of your blocks. These Giants were carved & painted by Keith Mueller (Hollow Cedar I believe). We hunted Nantucket Sound with this rig. What a riot.
Personnally, I really like.........BIG dekes.
Lou

EiderHnt01.jpg

EiderHnt04.jpg

EiderHt-01.jpg
 
Andrew:
As you have already mentioned, weight will be a factor, not only for transport, but handling them as well. Think of hanging over the side of your boat trying to heft that bugger outta the water and tossing it over your shoulder into the boat, I'd have a good back doctor on retainer. If you decide on wood, you'll most likely be limited by the width of your stock, most of the Cedar that I carve runs 8" or so wide. I size my decoys to this dimension. My decoys are a bit larger than lifesized, maybe 16"-17" Mallards, 15" Bluebills, 15" Cans.

Good Luck!
 
I think super magnum size is for decoying hunters. We all like to think the birds see what we see but 10' off the water gives a whole nother perspective than 2-6'. Puddlers are up high enough to see every dot on the lake usually so I feel a bunch of dots is better than a couple blobs. Weight is HUGE also. Like Lou said..how much scrap you want to deal with? Scrap will be correlated to size.
 
I know they "decoy" me everytime I see them....

Any idea where they are today Lou?

20" is Goose size....think in terms of that when you make your decoys....do you want a rig of GEESE in cork or wood to deal with everytime you hunt? Personally if I was hunting some little Beaver Pond or little spot where birds come in to just rest and loaf, (and this is particularly true of Blacks and Woodies which neither of us have out here), I'd have a rig of (5) to (9) 20" Blacks without a neck visiable in the bunch.....half of them would have the head buried in the back so that it looks like only half a head, (the CLASSIC SHANG WHEELER BLACK), and the rest would be snuggled and tucked and that would be my rig.....(this assumes of course that I don't have to carry them and can access the spot by boat cause lifting them would be enough of a workout for me)...

Steve
 
Lou,wait! Why not get a hold of one of thoes good for nothing jet skis and since you build boats and mess with decoys,Thransform it into a powered decoy/sneak boat.Saw a huge decoy on the Cape May Ferry last October,that a man could put a saddle on,but I mean even bigger.:^)
 
I know they "decoy" me everytime I see them....

Any idea where they are today Lou?

20" is Goose size....think in terms of that when you make your decoys....do you want a rig of GEESE in cork or wood to deal with everytime you hunt? Personally if I was hunting some little Beaver Pond or little spot where birds come in to just rest and loaf, (and this is particularly true of Blacks and Woodies which neither of us have out here), I'd have a rig of (5) to (9) 20" Blacks without a neck visiable in the bunch.....half of them would have the head buried in the back so that it looks like only half a head, (the CLASSIC SHANG WHEELER BLACK), and the rest would be snuggled and tucked and that would be my rig.....(this assumes of course that I don't have to carry them and can access the spot by boat cause lifting them would be enough of a workout for me)...

Steve
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Man...........I remember that fiasco trying to get ahold of those. I don't know where they ended up but I believe I did hear they were sold. Bummer.......I wanted at least one. They were, well...........TOO COOL. :)
Lou
 
I have seen those eiders before. They look like some are in the 30"+ range. I am a bit tired of waiting for the ducks to come down from Canada each year. Maybe I will try to decoy them from Canada.

Yes, I am wondering about goose size, 20". About a dozen or less decoys. I don't want the ducks to see a dot. I want them to see a duck! If nothing else they would be entertaining.

Has anybody tried carved foam then burlaped similar to a Herters? Not in the same league as cork or wood (in my opinion), but easier, lighter anyway.

Lou how big are your E Allen 'giants'?
 
so leslie you dont want the 30" magnums ive got for ya? haha i once saw a rig of about nine blacks that were in the armful range maybe 3 foot and about 1.5 foot to the head. they were carved by a richard chimmel (sp) out of tan cork, i think hes from mass. he said he hunts with those and a few 2 foot teal on the conn river. said his rig vs a rig of 80 or so life size, no contest his wins everytime. im not sure about that but they were very impressive looking birds.

ask tim bombardier about super mags he showed me a pic of some whistlers he had made that were so big he had to use whitetail deer eyes in them.

you could get all your friends with sneak boats to build duck shell blinds out of canvas and group together. just watch where your barrels are pointed, someone could loose an eye shooting those decoys

eddie
 
I have seen those eiders before. They look like some are in the 30"+ range. I am a bit tired of waiting for the ducks to come down from Canada each year. Maybe I will try to decoy them from Canada.

Yes, I am wondering about goose size, 20". About a dozen or less decoys. I don't want the ducks to see a dot. I want them to see a duck! If nothing else they would be entertaining.

Has anybody tried carved foam then burlaped similar to a Herters? Not in the same league as cork or wood (in my opinion), but easier, lighter anyway.

Lou how big are your E Allen 'giants'?
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Send me your email addy and I'll email you the decoy catalog (pdf file) with all the specs/pics/etc.
Lou
 
I wonder what a duck thinks when it see's those things on the water? There was a reason they were sold.
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Actually, ducks don't think. What they do is perceive things different than we do. We look at a giant bird and say..."wow, that's big". A duck looks at a giant bird and "perceives"......."wow, I'm close". That's why big birds work. We hunt geese from a 6' goose decoy/blind that we manufacture and it works great on ducks, geese and sand hill crane...along with our cow decoy too. :)
Ducks basically "know" the size of a bird and when a big bird is presented.....they perceive it as closer than the true distance.

One thing about Keith's reasoning on the big Eiders....You're hunting ocean birds that fly 2-3 feet off teh water in 2'-3' or higher swells so the size aids in the birds being able to see them. If the birds are ignoring him, he'd reach over the side of the boat and slap the side. The birds would investigate the noise and slide in right next to their buddies.
Lou
 
Lou, that looks like a slightly vintage photo. do you know a guy named marty collins? he and mueller used to have contests for who could make the biggest eider each year. do you have any more pictures of those big guys?
 
Lou, that looks like a slightly vintage photo. do you know a guy named marty collins? he and mueller used to have contests for who could make the biggest eider each year. do you have any more pictures of those big guys?
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The photo was from a hunt in '92 or '93, maybe slightly later....don't recall at this point though. Hunted with Keith, Dave Clark, Paul Dobrosky, some outdoor writer who I can't recall at the moment, Gene Chandler (E.Allen Chandler) and a couple other fellas who have slipped my mind at the moment. Might be one of those CRS things.

Marty Collins rings a bell but can't place him right now.

Couple more pics but that's about all I have on this computer for now.
Lou

EiderHnt02.jpg

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Lou, thanks for the response on perception. It makes sense sort of, I would think they'd say holy *%<> do you see the size of that bird?
 
For ducks that size, you'd be best served to just buy Herters goose bodies and carve up some duck heads in proportion. I know of a carver, Rich Chimiel, who has made some cork black ducks in this size. They are HUGE, and not very practical, as mentioned above. You'd have to probably laminate a 3" sheet and a 4" sheet together to get the right thickness and you'd get no more than 3 dekes out of the two sheets, so with shipping figured in, you are looking at $50 a decoy to buy the cork. For almost same $150 you can get enough 5" cork to make 14 18"x7" magnum decoys.....if you know how to cut them out to maximize the material.

3 or 14?

Sounds like a fun project to do to say that you did it, but I personally wouldn't do an entire rig.
 
Magnum birds can also give life to a spread. I have 3 Magnum Charlie Brisky"s. that are over 30 years old, and massive! When rollers come through the spread, the sheer weight of this bird caused it to sink and then pop back up in such a life like manner, that I have drawn down on it more then once. It appears very lifelike in heavy waves. Mike
 
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