Buddy and I have been using his dads 20year old decoys for sometime. But I want some of my own this year.
Anyone know of a make I should consider looking at??
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Buddy and I have been using his dads 20year old decoys for sometime. But I want some of my own this year.
Anyone know of a make I should consider looking at??
Really depends on your budget, you can get a lot of cheap decoys for not much money, or you can spend a lot of money and get not very many good decoys, :)
Also depends on what you're looking to get out of them.
If you're gentle with your gear, and you're only going out a few times a year, then maybe a cheaper decoy is going to work out well for you, and wont get used and abused and worn out (paint chipping, etc).
However if you are getting out there every chance you get, you may want to invest in some quality decoys that are going to take the wear and tear and still look good at the end of the season.
I like my GHG pro-grades and over-size dekes. For the most part, they've been durable and I haul them in and out of a marsh for about 30 or more hunts a year. I hunt the public marsh a lot so I try to have the best decoys I can afford (I avoid flocked models because they'll just get ruined given I can't individually bag them).
Higdons are durable, but I don't care for the colour scheme on their mallard or black ducks. If you're hunting an area that has a variety of duck species, seriously consider getting decoys to match that. Most company's sell they're better decoys in 6 packs. So mixing mallards with say, gadwall, wigeon, and pintail really makes your spread pop. I run woodie and teal as well (and don't forget the black ducks), and I'll even run a few divers for colour, even on small marsh ponds. GHG sell 'puddler' and 'diver' packs. Boxes of 6 decoys with 3 different species pairs in each box. Cheap and effective way to build a mix spread.
I can't comment on Tanglefree or Dakota since I've never used them. I can say that Flambeau storm fronts are about the worst decoys I've tried. I got a dozen to add to the spread a couple years ago, and they literally lasted about 3 hunts before the paint was just flaking right off.
For Floater ducks, I like GHG brand.
Best I have used so far, and I have tried them all.
Check out http://distributionpleinair.com/index.html for the best prices and fastest shipping for GHG products in Canada.
All the best.
CALL PAT... http://www.canadianwaterfowlsupplies.com/ awesome guy to deal with he will get you set up with whatever you need, only guy i will buy from.....
camo
Final Approach, GHG, Dakota, Tangle Free, Higdon... All of these are decent brands
search function at the top of the forum will return pages of opinions on the matter.
If you buy some G&H decoys there's a good chance they will last you a lifetime...........they are that durable.
I'm a Greenhead Gear guy as well when it comes to duck decoys. They seem to hold up well, and they look good. They also produce quite a variety of Puddler, Diver, and Sea Duck species.
-Nick
Okay so I am gonna buy the ghg brand. Good reviews.
What set ups should I consider buying. Lookin to drop about 100-120.
I think it all depends on where and what you're hunting. Like they say in fishing....Match the hatch.
Start with a dozen over sized mallards, and build youur spread from there. Spend more money once, or less over and over. You get what you pay for.
S.
Ditto what Sinker said.
check out Canadianwaterfowlersproshop.com they carry Avery stuff.
Can't go wrong with GHG there the best company out there when u factor in price, durability and look
Oversized GHG all the way
Picked up 2 dozen of these from Cabelas a couple of months ago
http://www.cabelas.ca/product/2953/g...ard-duck-decoy
They look great and are almost the same size as some of my goose floaters lol.
Now this is getting good, lots of comments getting tossed around that im sure some others have fealt but won't say....
Here's where i am...
Higdon - Owned 18 or so including the foam filled.... Didn't care for them as far as being durable enough nor did i like the paint scheme.
GHG - Been around forever, that's why most comments will speak highly on them. I had some, I didn't care for the paper thin plastic that breaks in extreme conditions, nor did i care for the paint rubbing of when dekes rubbed in bags.
Avian's - Cant say, have yet to use any.
Dakota - I have had 2 dozen for 2 or 3yrs all piled together in a honker bag, flocking has worn a bit on the heads but the paint is stellar. (I'm a bit biased here, but believe in the product).
In the end go to a store, look at them, drop them on the floor, scratch them with a key and you decide.
I might be a little biased too Jay ;) but they are a sweet looking piece and all the feedback I have heard has been postitive regarding durabilty and paint retention.Quote:
Avian's - Cant say, have yet to use any.
With all that everyone of the major manufacturers have stepped up their game and are putting out some superior products.
next time I am at Pats I will bring you along and I am sure he will let us drop-kick and scratch the crap out of his stock. LOLQuote:
In the end go to a store, look at them, drop them on the floor, scratch them with a key and you decide.
Every decoy manufacturer has its positives and negatives. I have a complete mix of everything. GHG, G+H, Final Aproach, Tangle free, Higdon, bigfoot.....they're all good. For me its about the price and availability when I want to buy.
Field decoys I look for durability and ease of set up....motion is always good too. Water decoys, I look at the keels, and basic shape and how it looks on water. How real they look doesn't matter to me much, because I swear I could paint them all black, and kill just as many ducks. I've started buying foam filled the last couple years, no repairs needed when I shoot them. The tangle free's are a good bang for your buck IMO.....that said, I've only put one season on mine. I sure like the fact that they have hens in their divers, and the foam filled decoys look much better than the GHG that is sinking beside them! That said, I like GHG floaters too. They're big, ride high in the water, and the only real durability issue I've had is them breaking at the keels. The sink when shot tho.....
I've dealt with cabelas, canadian waterfowl supplies, distribution plien air, and a couple local shops like gagnons, and sail.
I think you will find the guys that are brand specific, are either pro staff, or employees of the company.
Bottom line for me is who has what I need, when I need it, for the best price. I really like dealing with canadian waterfowl supplies. Great service, good selection, great prices, and they always seem to have something new. Everything I've ordered from there has been at my door the next day with no extra shipping costs at the door. If Pat has what I need, when I need it, I tend to get it there. After meeting him, he is a stand up guy, and a die hard waterfowler, based in ON.
BTW I have no connections with any companies or decoy manufacturers mentioned above. This is just experience coming from a guy who eats, sleeps, and breathes waterfowl, since birth. Take it for what its worth!
S.
I forgot to mention that just because a decoy looks good, doesn't mean it is good. Looks are the least of my concern. I want. Something I can beat on, throw around, have freeze solid and not break when I beat the ice off, and not sink when I shoot it.
A pretty decoy is just a pretty decoy until its cracked open and sinking in your spread!
S.
Alright boy's lets put this plan in to action... Pat, Barry and I are coming... Put a hunt together, i'll kick ur products around and you can shoot one of my DD's...
Yes Pat i do still staff for DD but have severed ties with a couple other company's due to poor C/S... I remain with DD because in my humble opinion they are a great product...
Not really sure why my boss (i work in concrete) has anything to do with this.
No real need to respond to this. Been using GHG's forever and minus the removable keel issue have never had a problem with them. Been shooting over the same goldeneye decoys for 6 years now.
Like there Mallards a lot, there floaters look odd to the eye but they are great for visibility. I will be shooting over Dakota Honkers this fall. Everything I have heard about them is the plastic on the older one's wasn't great but that is supposed to be fixed now.
He he. I think I will test out that box of Hevishot I got for Christmas when we line up your DD so bring an old one. LOL
Better get someone with a video camera to tape this hunt.
Can't wait to see you kicking the decoys around the cornfield. Will give the hockey stick I found to Barry.
G+H, your kids and grand kids will thank you.
Tony
Boiler, Do you really think that we don't know about your affiliation with CWPS? Here is a little reminder for you from one of your previous posts:
"Don't mean to Jack your thread or anything but i will be at the Canadian Waterfowlers Pro Shop booth all weekend, everyone feel free to stop by and say hi, would be nice to put some faces to names.
Blake"
I believe it was Luke's thread you were trying to jack when you did this!
No real need to respond to this.
Not going to play your childish games man. Don't work for Canadian Waterfowlers Pro Shop. Friend of mine owns it. Guy asked where he can get GHG decoys from I shared a place he can get them from.
Met a lot of good guys at that Hunt Fest from the forum. I am sure Luke could care less i posted in his thread, it's a public forum man.
Look up some of my other posts. i have been here a long time, met lots of guys off here and hunted with quite a few of them and have shared a lot of tips and learned a bunch too. Don't really think there is anything wrong with that.
I met the owner of Canadian Waterfowl Supplies at the Jack Miner Calling comp, his prices are good and he deals with respectable products, this will also save travel costs to some of the big box stores as it is closer to home and to boot the gentleman is a nice guy and knowledgeable. That is half the battle right there, I will be shopping here.
My diver spread is GHG and wish I had the same good fortune. In the past two seasons (keeping in mind I hunt divers almost exclusively come Mid-November), I have had about a third of my spread break or falling apart in one way or another. I'm not gentle, but I'm not purposely rough. When something goes wrong, I do a temp fix to try to make it through the next hunt. I was thinking of trying to blow them all full of foam just so they continue to float. I run everything on long lines and store in slotted bags.
1. I've had 4-5 (at least) bottoms crack on bluebills and buffies. There may be some seam cracking because there is water in the decoy, but can't find it.
2.The paint is flaking off a number of dekes. One buffy after just two hunts. Not a huge deal to me because I think divers are less selective, but my spread isn't as pretty as it once was.
The goldeneyes have survived alright.
I've got bluebill, ringers and wigeon with removable keels. I've had leaks develop at the keel on all three species. Also, I lost a few keels before I started gluing them all on.
Why anyone would make removable keels on divers is beyond me.
I have busted keels on a lot of GHG decoys. They split where the keel attaches, and they're pretty much decorations. I've sealed some of them up with goop, but they still leak. The keels on them suck. I also have higdon geese that have keel problems.
A buddy of mine runs a full mixed spread of FA floaters, and they are a nice looking decoy, but same issues with the keels.
The tangle free divers I got last fall held up well so far. We'll see how many seasons I get out of them. The nice thing is they don't sink when/if they break. The paint is a little too white on the bills and redheads, but they work. I have no complaints with them yet, and we are hard on gear.
My collection of out of commision decoys are 80% GHG, 20% higdon. The bigfoots and tanglefree floaters are all still fine ;)
All that said, foamers are the way to go. No screwing around with sinking decoys and keels. They don't have to look pretty either
S.
your always going to run into problems hunting in the cold with plastic decoys. I am sure i am just like everyone else here i don't really feel like babying my decoys but i started my goldeneye decoy collection 6 years ago and I hunt at least twice a week after Nov. 1 and there always in my spread. I have fixed the pellet holes with Shoegoo and they float great and the paint is still in fairly good shape.
Like most diver hunters here I wish i could afford to shoot over Cedar's or foam decoys but my budget's don't allow that.
I have about 40 old carrylite bluebills that I still shoot over today, wish I could find some newer one's of those because those are the best plastic floaters i have come across. I guess decoys are no different then most things now a days, they just don't make em like they used to
Yep, those old carrylites are tough! They're not pretty, but I've killed more ducks over them than any other brand of decoys by far! I wish I never sold them all off to "upgrade"!!
S.
Back from the dead - I know - but whats everyone gonna be running for goose, puddlers and diving decoys this year.
That old thread was such a good read I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone had to say a year later lol....
For me its Big Foot Field geese, Big Foot Field mallards, Dakota goose floaters, Tanglefree Migration divers and a mix of Dakota and Avian-x mallards.
Why - the Field Foots are indestructible, the Dakota goose floaters look incredible and the paint is second to none on a floater, Tanglefree divers are all I can afford and seem to be quite durable TBD..(would love to have a rig of foamers), Dakota Mallards - same reasons as the floater geese but I do think that they look a little unusually "aggressive, steroidal even, don't know how to explain it" so I'm softening the spread this year by adding a dozen Avian-X, 6 open water/ 6 back water, they look great, lets see if they are as durable as the Dakotas.
Hoping to pick up a box of Dakota Decoy X-Treme Mallards when I head south from CWS.
For water I hunt over a mix of flambeau stormfronts and the cheap bass pro mallards. The birds don't seem to mind that they are cheap decoys.
Over Land I use a mix of GHG and FA shells, as well as a dozen full body big foot ducks. I prefer the shells as they set up easy, are light and don't take up much space.
That's what I been using the last few years (Flambeau's) from Canadian Tire.
Shot a pile of ducks over them, but they show wear quickly.
I am easy on the decoys, place, not toss, they go in slotted bags, but just the water lapping at them has rubbed the paint off, so going to start upgrading.
Old thread ehh
[QUOTE=Frosty;817556]Back from the dead - I know - but whats everyone gonna be running for goose, puddlers and diving decoys this year.
That old thread was such a good read I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone had to say a year later lol...."
For this season I'll use 8 dz cork and foam bluebills/redheads for Eastern Ontario. I added 12 new cork redheads I carved this summer to the rig (see below).
If I get out to Lake Erie I'll mix in 5 dz cork/foam cans and loose some bills.
All rigged on long lines.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...psf1fcc569.jpg[/IMG]
For puddlers on water, 4 dz GHG and Restles mallards and some E Allen blacks . Nothing new in the last couple of years.
For field geese I have 7 dz RG Pros, sometimes I add 12-18 bigfoots. I'd like to buy another 2 dz RG Pro II if the opportunity presents itself. Love the skinny decoys.
I'll post a picture once she has some diver blood on it...won't be long!
Whoa, you must have hid the fancy blocks when I was around. Those are sweet!
Nice redheads, Lowflyer!!
Get that bankes up this way for a run! I know we get the divers first :)
S.
Iil have to check the brand of the dekes in the shed. My buddy picked them up at CT a few years back on a blowout, Christmas ish time of year. They are unbelievably tough. These things bounce around in the back of my truck all season, last year they spent all winter buried in snow in the backyard. There isnt a mark on them.....other than the one we call tasty, he met a load of #3 last year. Still floats.