What's the consensus on mud hen (coot) decoys

Matt Moore

Matt Moore

Active member
I got a half dozen oversize GHG coot decoys last week for a good price. I didn't get a chance to use them this weekend. I've often thought they'd add some confidence, and the white bills add some color. They're a fairly common fowl here, and do mix in with the ducks. I'm still wondering if the room in the decoy bag would be better used for duck decoys. What's your opinion?
I'm also considering a heron decoy, they're vary common here, but that's also a damned big decoy to haul around. So again, what do you guys think?
 
I'd take coot decoys along long before I'd take a heron decoy with if room was an issue. Herons and egrets aren't that wary of birds and I've never seen ducks pay them any attention. I've seen ducks land with coots, gulls and even cormorants. White gulls might be better and a swan would be great if you want something to stand out.

I do think heron and egret decoys are cool and wouldn't mind one but I just don't see why they would help.

Tim
 
Depends on what area of the country you're hunting.

Down this way my marsh sets consist of (3) three dozen coots & (8) eight ducks.

We pod up the coots & place the ducks within them.

This is how they act in the wild over top the hydrilla so we attempt to mimic it.

And it works for us!!!
 
If you have coots in your area, coot decoy spreads work great.
My normal spread is 3-4 dzn coots and 3-4 dzn ducks, a 50/50 mix of divers & gadwalls.
If I had the money to invest in decoys right now, I would buy another 4 dozen flambeau coots. They are cheap, relatively self-righting and light. Never need repainting, they are molded in black.
 
As everyone else has said, if you have coots in your area, use them. Around here, we shoot mainly wigeon so I would not leave home without my coot decoys...about 5 dozen coots and 12 - 18 wigeon decoys.
 
I'm a believer. If you have access to crab pot decoys they are relatively simple to make, here are a couple of shots of some I made several years ago. Floats, 2" x 6" pine, band saw, sureform rasp and rustoleum paint.
proto-coot3.jpg


proto-coot2.jpg

 
Confidence., confidence, confidence. Same principle as letting those big 'ole mergansers swim around your spread wondering why those silly blocks don't dive with them to feed!

I also second the heron idea and have even considered putting a seagull block or two on my layout boat.

"Don't pay any attention to this little log floating over here, or maybe I am just a figment of your imagination, I am not here . . . "
 
Matt,

We hunt one lake in the early part of the season that holds a large number of coots. We use 5-6 coots and maybe 3 duck decoys and 3-5 goose decoys. Many ducks just come in and land. The geese work our decoys. I think the coots help. Once it gets colder and the coots leave we do not throw any coot decoys.
 
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