Duck Decoys - What would you recommend

[hawk4932]

Ok folks,

I am new to the waterfowl hunting and I want to build up a collection of duck decoys. What are the best decoys for the quality and price. I am not looking for the greatest high tech decoy on the market but I also dont want cheap junk either. What would you all recommend for a new person to start building up with? Also what would be a good number to get for a nice spread? Thanks in advance.

Kevin

[Lucky Dog]

What will you be hunting and where?

[Maverick_Brittany]

Are you wanting decoys for field hunting or water?
GHG ( green head gear ) has some great stuff for both situations.
The best advice I can give you is to buy the very best you can afford.
I bought some cheaper stuff years ago and have been upgrading ever since.
http://www.greenheadgear.com/duck_decoys.html
http://www.greenheadgear.com/decoys/life_size_mallards.html
I would also recomend a spinning wing duck for your spread as well as they work wonderfully.

Mav.....

[Bmac]

Greenhead Gear decoys are an excellent choice. Your location says Michigan so I'll give you my typical spread. For inland small water hunting a dozen or two dozen mallards will work. You could add some black ducks, teal and/or wood ducks but I'm not convinced they are necessary as these species will decoy to mallards. I don't use a spinner over water very often anymore. However, I usually have a couple with me in case someone else is drawing all the birds with their spinner.

If you are hunting big water go with several dozen bluebill, redheads and canvasbacks. A half dozen or so bufflehead and goldeneye decoys will help get them to decoy as they usually land by their own species. I may also throw a dozen or so mallards off to the side in case they are in the area.

If you can find ducks in dry (or sightly flooded) fields, a mix of floaters or full body mallards and a spinner works well. If geese are also a target species I'll use just goose decoys and a duck spinner.

Fair warning! Waterfowl hunting is addicting. I started with just a dozen each mallard and goose decoys. Now I have to park my car and truck outside as my garage is full of decoys. :eek:

[Nebraska Vizsla]

Buy six Canada floaters and two Mallard floaters, thats all you'll need..im telling ya. Put the Canada's together and the two Mallards off to the side.

-Marshall

[justintimeforquail]

I have hunted the same 6 dozen "flambeau" brand decoys since 1978. In that time I have added others in and taken some out; but these have been my favorites. You won't be afraid to throw them in the bag and treat them like decoys either. They are a real deal if you get them at a national sporting store at the end of the season. I bought some a couple of years ago as a gift for a friend and I got two dozen mallards for $12.95 a dozen in the clearance area! Spinners can help... and get good with a call. ( did I mention you can collect lots of calls too! :D :D :D I got good by listening to tapes in my car and practicing while I was driving ( also helps cut down on small talk if you car pool :D )

[hawk4932]

Wow, I have gotten some great responses and I have a good idea now. I guess I was a little vague as well. I dont plan on doing any big water hunting. Mostly small inland lakes, rivers and field hunting. Ducks & geese. I dont mind the addiction at all :D . So since duck calls were mentioned, are there any recommendations on those as well :confused: . Thanks to every one for there input.

[rigthis]

For calls, I use pretty much exclusively Haydel's. They may not be the absolute finest in the world, but they work fine for me, don't cost much, and are for sale pretty much every where there's ducks, so if I loose or break mine, I can replace it with like.

I agree with every one in the above posts regarding decoys. I'll add one thing that I've done this year. I bought 18 (6 teal, 6 woodies, 6 greys) 'featherlite' inflatable decoys. The first time I saw these things on TV, they looked pretty cheezy. But last year I hunted with some guys who had them....... you know how every once in a while we check the spread to make sure a duck didn't land while we weren't looking? well those inflatables fooled me every time. I can carry all 18 in the pockets of my jackets and a small back pack. I hunt the slews and ponds back in the woods, so I may have to walk a mile or more to get to my spot. Those standard dekes work fine, and I have a hundred or so collected over the years, but they sure can take the fun out of it, and make me think twice about walking that last 1/4 mile to get to a really sweet spot. Any way, they work pretty good and look great. I wouldn't want to shoot them though ;)

hal

[Brian 45]

My advice might be a little different as I started hunting ducks on a slim budget in the Great Lakes where numbers count early season until the ducks get wise.
Decoys don't cost alot but adding lines and anchors add up if you're talking numbers.
I went to a barn sale my former boss was having and saw a big pile of decoys with anchors and line. His asking price per each was fair and I asked him what he wanted for the lot. He figured 50 and it was almost a hundred and that was the only time I got over on him. :)
My partner and I added to them over the years and had a good bunch when we split them up and he moved south. :D
We changed most of them later to tangle free line which costs some but is well worth the hassle.

I still have my share even if they retired with my Golden a few years back when he got old. I'll get back to them and duck hunting again and those old decoys will still work fine. I'll just be sure to oil my shottie well as some tears will surely be shed over my lost hunting dog.

Oh, another thought. Forget the water weighted keels if you're hunting rough water. Nice light weight concept for level water but rough stuff demands the heavier weighted keels. We pitched the water weighted ones for weights over a foot chop.
When the fronts are coming in and ducks are active you'll want the best gear there is. Don't scrimp on clothes or waders there either. You'll need the best when you need to upright the water keel decoy floating upside down wrecking your spread. :)

[Lucky Dog]

Ahh decoys. Decoys sex and money, a man can never get enough....

For inland water I'd stick mostly with mallards, if you are on bigger water you might want to toss in a few divers, like blue bills.
I'm a magnum decoy fan, everything I use is magnum anymore, I think it just gives you that much more visibility.
A couple dozen should do for most cases with maybe a dozen divers tossed in for bigger water. On beaver ponds I'll only use 3-5 decoys. Saginaw Bay, I've put out as many as 300 before but usually use 4-6 dozen. If I'm in my layout the rig is 6-10 dozen.

I think most of the brands out there are pretty good these days, GHG seem to be pretty nice. Mine are all Carry lite's They work well for me. Flambeau has some pretty good stuff too.

I think the best duck call is best kept in your pocket. Rarely do I use a call any more, seems to help me, maybe my calling sucks. ;)

Get ready to spend some cash, duck hunting can really suck the dollars out of your wallet. :) :)

[Nebraska Vizsla]

Get ready to spend some cash, duck hunting can really suck the dollars out of your wallet. :) :)

Yes it can....better yet try getting into Snow Goose Hunting.. 119.99 for six decoys.. Its gonna be another expensive year :(

[Bmac]

Calls. Now you are really talking an addiction! Each new one sounds better than the one you have. Some good basic calls are the poly Echo or the RNT Quackhead. For a more custom call, check out www.winglockcalls.com very good calls for the price. I'd also agree that most hunters over use the call and most sound terrible. I'll never be a World Champ competition caller but I can usually call birds. Some days it is better to just stick them in the pocket. Probably the most under used call that can work for a beginner is the drake whistle.

[hawk4932]

Bmac,
Thanks for the info and the link.

[rigthis]

Yes, that drake whistle can be deadly. And yes, often the best call is the one left hanging from the lanyard.

I call to wing tips and tail feathers. I just give a feed chuckle or cofidence quack when they're coming in, or just keep quiet.


hal

[justintimeforquail]

On calls.... One of the best things I think you can do is to listen to a big raft of ducks for awhile - especially if you want to really learn how to whistle. Watch the ducks hail others and listen for the hi-balls. Especially watch the sky and listen for what is turning flights into the raft. Early in the season I put out a bigger decoy spread. If you are hunting an area with lots of hunting pressure later in the season; use less than a dozen decoys and learn how to call really well. Start out with a dual reed mallard as they are pretty easy to blow. My favorite calls are made by Primos, Olt, haydel, and Knight and Hale. I have bunches of others but those are my faves. Primos makes an absolutely killer teal call (green, blue, cinnamon). It is a great call to blow if everyone around you is quacking and chuckling and nothing is coming in. Absolutely deadly! You can get a cassette for learning how to blow it from them too. One of the areas I hunt has lots of sprigs (pintails). Learning how to pip is very productive. Oh yea, never, ever, ever take your calls apart! They are factory tuned and if you take them apart and the reed is not back in the exact place you might flair ducks from that point on. Tuning calls is an art form and very few people know the art. My most beautiful call is a custom wood call( I got it at a DU auction ). It is absolutely gorgeous but scares pets and small children in neighboring counties. It looks pretty nice on a shelf though ;). If you use wooden calls make sure you don't leave spring lock lanyards on them all year long as you can warp them over time. With one exception i hunt all plastic or synthetic calls now.

I never have bought any of the expensive goose decoys. I have always used goose rags. I have over 1400 in my spread. You would be really frustrated hunting near someone with a spread of 1400 unless you had a spread of 1500 :D . They don't look like snow geese to me but of course I am not trying to decoy me ;) . Snows, Specks and Canadians have consistently come in to this spread for over 30 years. Take care of your equipment and it will take care of you.

[h2oknine]

I get the Herters foam. they have a low profile weighted keel so they will float in some of shallowest waters.

I have a single reed duck call Made by Wade Carpenter it is the easiest and most life like call I have ever owned. He makes Goose and duck in either wood or acrilic.



http://www.webfootcustomcalls.com/

[hawk4932]

There is a large variety of Herters products. But I must say that Webfoot Calls is a little more costly than I would care for :eek: . I would exspect them to be able call on there own :D . Thanks h20knine

Kevin

[Brian 45]

I hunted with a guy about 15 years ago in his high end duck boat. He had about $15,000 into the boat with most of the work done himself.

I can't remember who made his hand painted cork decoys but they were $100.00 each for mallards and "only" $75.00 for divers and he had a boat load of them. I was afraid to handle them for fear of doing some real expensive damage.

I don't know if it was the gear or the day but we limited on ducks in no time.

He was serious about his duck hunting though as he took the entire season off and hunted out of my buddy's cabin on Saginaw Bay almost every day.

[hawk4932]

Holy Cow :eek: He is very serious about it. I thought that $100 was steep for 6 decoys but I guess not :D . Thanks for the story.

[colbeth84]

I would go with Greenhead gear you can buy a dozen mallards for 24.99 from cabela's, as for calls i just got QuackHead calls and i realy like them and there not to bad on price.

[omega58]

One of my buddies has these decoys, both duck and goose.

http://aerooutdoors.com/

As far as calls, I have just started and am getting a little better. . .driving to work calling and so on. I really like the Primos wench and fusion wench. Like others have said, if you can get ducks coming in without calling, then let them come.