Spinning wing decoy laws? Do they work?

[chub]

Used the wind powered ones, sometimes they help, sometimes they appear to hurt more than help. ...not enough wind.....too much wind.... .

I've used the motorized ones too. I had a remote model. Being able to shut it down once birds were coming into range seemed to be the best. Never got caught with it, but I suspect I may have been ticketed if I had been. Sometimes they help.....sometimes they don't. Pain to drag around, pain to keep the battery charged, takes up more room in the boat.

Got sick of it one day and smashed against a tree. I always felt I had to have it with or I was going to miss out. When in reality I'd say on public water, it had little to no positive effect. If anyone thinks you can be sitting on the "X" without one, and the guy sitting across the lake with the wind in his face, a half dozen junk decoys and a spinner, is going to pull all the birds........ , that isn't even close to my experience. If your in a spot that the birds want to be, your hidden, your set up right, you'll kill all you want without a twirley.

There may have been a time, when they were brand new, and you were the only guy in the county to have one, that they may have worked wonders, but those days are no more.

That is........

Unless your field hunting.

For whatever reason, the things do work wonders in dirt.

That's my experiences with them anyway.

[Maxxed Out]

Bottom line is they work great when field hunting for ducks. You just can't have it spinning with geese approaching because your goose hunt won't be much of one.

[PierBridge]

Warden's exact words "There is nothing in the Regs that says specifically says you can't use them for Waterfowl."

Case Closed.

Not sure if we are talking about the same thing here or not but again to clarify with 100 percent certainty....

WIRE-LESS REMOTES CAN NOT BE USED with your MOTORIZED spinning wing DECOYS in MINNESOTA ...PERIOD END of DISCUSION... CASE CLOSED!

If want to control your spinning wing decoy by remote you must hard wire it!!!!

Hope this clears things up for you guys!

[Surface Tension]

If you like to tinker and experiment the Lucky Duck is right for you. In the end you might give up on it.

They need a lot of wind and they do not follow the wind well.

First flaw is the wings are heavy thus needs a lot of wind. Second is the axle lack of bushing creates too much drag.

I polished the axle and de burred the bushing or what should be a bushing, its just molded plastic. Then used graphite as a lube. That helped a little.

I went on to make a set of lighter wings out of aluminum. That helped too.

Next problem is the mounting pole does not stay plumb, in return the duck can't track sifts in wind direction. Even then because of the shape of the decoy it does not do well to face the wind. Best I could do there is lock it down where the higher gusts came from and hope wings spun when they needed to.

As is its more headache then its worth and if I'm going to have to baby something during transport and storage it better be worth it. I'll be retro fitting this thing with and electric motor and hard wired to a 7 amp hr battery in the blind.

[tweedlap]

Directly for the MN DNR at 1:20 PM, Friday August 28.

They are ILLEGAL.

Tim Hage...MN DNR office St Paul.

tweed

[brittman]

It would be nice then if the DNR would clearly state that law in their hunting proclamations !!! Say small game AND WATERFOWL ... to eliminate doubt.

MN DNR hunting regs are not easy to follow or read. Way too many pages, etc... Placement of some laws do not fall into the place where you think they would be placed....

What is Mr Hage's position in the DNR? (at one time you could run a contact personel search, but I do not see that option this afternoon)

[cutter08]

You have to buy a small game license to hunt waterfowl so why would they not consider them small game. Anything that requires a small game license IS CONSIDERED SMALL GAME. I don't get how everyone thinks waterfowl are different then small game. Everyone considers pheasant small game. The only reason there is a supplement is because waterfowl are a Federal migratory bird. And the feds don't set the limits until mid august.

[brittman]

Page 42 of the Hunting Regs backs up Cutter08's statement. Waterfowl are listed as Small Game in MN.

Still in the "spinner section" of the Waterfowl Regs, just clearyly state that remote control devices are not legal in MN on motor driven spinning wing decoys.

[MinDak Hunter]

It appears that the penalty for using a radio to take a protected animal would be $200 plus court cost and law library fees (about $85 in most counties)$285 total; I think the CO could seize your equipment too.

Looking at the Statutes below I would say it would be ILLEGAL to use a remote controlled spinning wing decoy.

I could see a loophole if your remote was infrared but I'm not an engineer or an attorney...

97B.085 USE OF RADIOS TO TAKE ANIMALS.

Subdivision 1.Radio use in taking game prohibited.A person may not use radio equipment to take big game or small game.

Subd. 2.Taking unprotected wild animals; permit required.A person may not use radio equipment to take unprotected wild animals without a permit. The commissioner may issue a permit to take unprotected animals with radio equipment. The commissioner shall cancel the permit upon receiving a valid complaint of misconduct regarding the permittee's hunting activities.

Subd. 3.Communication excepted.This section does not prohibit the use of:

(1) one-way radio communication between a handler and a dog; or

(2) a remote-controlled animal noise caller for taking crows, fur-bearing animals, and unprotected animals.

97A.015 DEFINITIONS

Subd. 45.Small game."Small game" means game birds, gray squirrel, fox squirrel, cottontail rabbit, snowshoe hare, jack rabbit, raccoon, lynx, bobcat, red fox and gray fox, fisher, pine marten, opossum, badger, cougar, wolverine, muskrat, mink, otter, and beaver.

Subd. 24.Game birds."Game birds" means migratory waterfowl, ring-necked pheasant, ruffed grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, Canada spruce grouse, prairie chickens, gray partridge, bobwhite quail, wild turkeys, coots, gallinules, sora and Virginia rails, mourning dove, American woodcock, and common snipe.