The importance of hens in a rig?

R

Robie Gardner

Member
How many people put a lot of emphasis on having the same drake/hen ratio in a rig. It is my understanding and experience that hens seem "to get lost in the crowd". Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would assume that drakes are more effective than hens when it comes to bringing in birds. Is a ratio of 60/40 more effective or does it not matter at all. I'm trying to determine what deks are going to be hen mallards vs. drake malllards. We are talking about of rig of 14 decoys. Thanks.

Robie
 
Robie,
For me it depends on the time of the year. For example, in the beginning of the year when parts of the North America have ducks that are basically brown----I use mostly hens. As time goes along and the drakes start to get dressed up (plumage), I then add more drakes to my spread. In December and January, I use allot of extra hens because drakes are looking for them. I might put out 8 to 10 decoys. Six of them will be pairs and spread out as much as possible. The extra birds will be hens. Just my two cents worth.
Al
 
Al,

You made a point that I never thought about, which makes perfect sense. I'm gonna have to carve a lot more birds. Thanks.
Robie
 
Hunt with only drake dekes....more bang for your buck. Drakes show up much better than hens and that's what you want. Unless you're way down South at the end of the season, birds do NOT have mating on their mind. That's why you find so many groups of bachelors...they're "hanging with their buds, having a Bud". :) Ok, tongue in cheek on that.

Hens are designed to hide in the marsh or open water (that would be for the divers) and are not that effective for drawing birds to you. Many times, I've been sculling on a bunch of Buffy and when we got close, many more birds jumped than we saw because the hens were practically invisible out there (compared to the drakes in full color).

As far as NOT using drakes in the early season because there are so many birds NOT in full plumage....bunk. You'll have birds around here in full plumage in August. You also have to figure that the ducks are NOT smart enough (they're not smart at all when you get down to it) to say "...hm, those birds must be decoys since they're in full plumage...better stay away from them". Again, if you're putting out those hens in the early season, you are reducing your chances of the live birds actually "seeing" your spread.

We give much too much credit to the "intelligence" of ducks. But then, that's just MHO. ;)
Lou
 
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Lou, just to debate a bit...

on a cloudy, sunless day, go out, away from the spread, tell me what you see..I mean 1/2 mile type distance, on a nice goldeneye cripple chase, look back now...

You see a vague outline of something big, of course Bubba with his head WAY too high or actually sitting waiting for you to come back, but then you notice the decoys. What color do they ALL look from there??? Black/dark. Actually, the darker ones stick out better. Heck, even swans look dark often from a distance.

Now add the sun...bright white sticks out like a sore thumb, again though, at a distance unless the sun hits them just right, you don't notice them as well. Still probably better than hens though I agree.

Think of this, spinners. The reason the white is so effective from such a distance is the contrast with the brown/black. If you do have hens, intermingle them with the drakes to have a greater contrast.

Or just do what you want. Just grist for the mill while you are out in the blind wondering why they are all flying/flaring/not coming in...LOL
 
Questions about visibility aside, I think drakes generally outnumber hens by 2 to 1 or better. I'm sure someone here can verify that for me. That may not always seem to be the case locally because with some species (goldeneyes among them) hens and drakes largely migrate seperately.

That said, Lou's point is well taken that we give ducks too much credit. They behave based on instinct, not reason. They definitely won't be counting the hens in your spread.

If it were my spread, I'd make 9 drakes and 5 hens . . . maybe 10 and 4.

Mike
 
Depends...

Lou has a good point about drakes sticking out better, and I think particularly on a sunny day, but at a certain angle the ducks are just going to see dark spots on the water. If you drive past a ricefield, depending on where the sun is, you'll see a bunch of black dots milling around, or the colors of the drakes "popping" out in the bright sun. At enough distance, it's just dots and movement...

For puddle ducks, I usually try to work it out at about 8 drakes, 4 hens. For divers, 10 drakes, 2 hens...I just like the black and white contrast more than a brown hen against brown water, and drakes are easier to paint...which is probably the real reason.

One other thing to think about...if you're making 14 mallards, paint two of them as black ducks. They will show up better than the hens, and at times even probably better than the drakes. I used to know some guys on the Mississippi that when the time came to repaint the plastics, all the hens turned into black ducks. Dark brown/black body, tan head, dark brown crown and eye stripe...rattle can or airbrush specials...
 
I only use hens in the first part of the season for teal and mallards. Brightly colored drakes arn't natral that time of year. But I do use drake wood ducks becouse they normally are in plumage and the white on them adds visibility.
 
I have heard tales of very successful hunts over diver blocks painted flat black. I've never tried it myself but have heard of it being done. I'm not sure how that would work in the marsh. I may have to try it some time.
 
... and drakes are easier to paint...which is probably the real reason.
Click to expand...

I use a ratio of 3 drakes to one hen, which is inversely correlated to the fact that I can paint 3 drakes in the time of one hen :)
 
Paul,
Back in the sixties it was common for all the layout rigs on this side of the lake to
paint all their decoys black. We used to shoot a lot of birds!!
John
 
A couple years ago on an MLB hunt in the UP, the Carlyle Boys' rig was almost all flat black with a few true painted bluebills mixed in. They shot more birds than anyone.
 
This reminds me of the air force study (from WW2 I think) about landing field target selection and bomber pilots. It seemed that the aircraft shadow was a big draw. Shadows laid out on the ground were selected over actual aircraft.
 
I am of the opinion that hens only matter if you think they do. That said my fastest 3 man limit last year came from only one "decoy" and that was the black flag in my hand. We picked up 12 birds in 9 min with one guy heaving over both sides of the boat in between shooting and reloading.

I use almost exclusively drakes and I have never felt that I did not kill birds as a result of my spread. If birds flare once they are inside of 70 yards or so it is usually you they are flaring from not the decoys.

This all goes back to being on the X. Decoys are designed to shift birds short distances not to force them where they dont want to be. It seems these days most people on public water have forgotten this. If you do your "fieldwork" and get where the ducks want to be you "can" leave the decoys at home and limit out, or you can take every decoy you and your hunting partners own and put them out where you want be and probably not kill more than a few stragglers here and there. However after putting in the hard work to make a rig of your own handcrafted blocks take them with you and put them to good use.

Just my two cents.

Russell Owen
 
Another way to look at it is what do you see when you look at a raft of mixed divers and coots? My eyes recognize the black of the coots first. Yes, I do see the white but the black is a much stronger color at any distance. The brown of hens just isn't pcked up. So is that color in your rig useless? Maybe maybe not.
I've read where lots of the gunners from late 1800's into early 1900's often only had drakes in the rigs, no hens. For what it's worth.
 
There are several reasons to do a 50/50 rig of hens and drakes.

1-Dark colors are most visible on cloudy days, so over exaggerate dark hens
2-Hens are more fun to paint then drakes (this one is for you Chuck)
3-Collectors want pairs, if you ever plan on selling retired birds
4-Sometimes showing a different looking rig draws decoy shy birds

Do any of these reasons absolutely give you better decoying...No!(hehe)
 
I think hens are important in a puddle duck spread, any time of year.

For divers hens aren't very important.
 
Being on the X is more important, Black and white rigs have killed a lot of birds, and will continue to do so.
I think we over think to much.
 
Ha, that's why all of the bluebills land with the damn coots! I'm using the wrong color:)
Click to expand...

Dave, the birds know that no self respecting northern hunter wouldn't sit and look at a rig of coots...others however...
IMG_3065_1_1.jpg


2-Hens are more fun to paint then drakes (this one is for you Chuck)
Click to expand...

Mike, I have learned to love painting hens...but they still take 3 times as long.


Chuck
 
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