Less is more???

[mudslinger]

What are your feelings on the decoy debate that some times less is more? With ducks being very skittish this time of year it is important to make solid decoy spread decisions. Im starting to feel like over-pressured ducks prefer less decoys because it changes things up a bit from the two dozen decoy spreads they have become used to. What are your thoughts???

[chub]

Depends on what your hunting and where. As for me, I can't fit enough decoys in an 18' boat. I'll hunt the migration days and feel short if I've got less than a hundred out.

[Basseyes]

This is a great topic mudslinger.

If you see what most guys are doing it all looks the same after a while. Sure ducks see the signs from above. Spreads of a couple dozen mallard decoys, maybe a diver string into the puddle duck decoys and then a few geese off to the side are all to common.

Work with what is around and be willing to try some real goofy looking spreads.

If there isn't a lot of birds around less is usually more. But if those few birds are heavily concentrated more might be more some mornings.

Big trigger is movement in the spread IMO. If the decoys have wind to move them around and look some what life like and if you have the time a very large spread really scattered out can be deadly. But on the other hand no wind and a tight typical batch of decoys looks terrible. Looks like plastic ducks to pressured birds.

We've had luck on pressured birds with one decoy on a jerk cord. It seems odd to tuck all the decoys back in the boat. Then put just one decoy out and jerk the pitons out of it when a flock of birds has their backs to you. Then stop when they turn to see all the motion and ripples from jerking the decoy like a mad man. Doesn't work so well when it's windy though. When it's windy seems a good sized spread scattered all over the place with small flocks of birds and a well thought out kill hole can make a big difference. That kill hole might have to be changed to adapt to where birds want to land. The only way that can be determined is by watching how birds react to a spread.

Only problem is if there's not many birds around and they're pressured you don't have a lot of time or opportunities to make even a few mistakes. That's the fun of hunting a few highly pressured birds I guess. Makes each bird a bit more of a hard earned trophy though.

[BrdHunter01]

what ducks? went out this morning and saw 4 ducks! by far the worst day of the season!

[MN Greenheads]

160-200 will always kill more.........

[Traxxx]

Usually only when the winds are dead calm I'll throw out less. Last week a buddy and I had a really good shoot with eight mallard deeks and six divers, set in seperate groups. Funny thing was, my buddy said that morning, "That's all were putting out?" and I said yep, it's dead calm, it'll work. So I guess sometimes less might be more. Just have to experiment and see what works.

[airdriver]

DU has a great read about less is more. If you drive around you will see areas of just three to four birds sitting there. Sometimes less is more. Just drive around a see how the ducks are sitting. Right now, there isn't a lot of movement, so set up on what you see. Right now I only see three to five birds sitting. If less isn't working, throw more out, it's easier to put deeks out than to pick them up.

[mudslinger]

Great comments guys. I agree on all accounts. My best shoots this year have come from fewer decoys and have been around the noon hour. BUT I am still out there well before first light

[HunterLee]

The last few years I have been using 17 mallards and 8-14 honkers. Works for me, but I guess where I am at isn't real pressured.

[phishnerd]

I think Basseyes has hit the nail right on the head... I ALWAYS choose movement over numbers. Jerk cords, quiver butts, feeding mallards (with the pump on the bottom), spinning wing decoys, pretty much anything that will add motion to the spread adds more confidence for me than massive numbers of deeks. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a time and place for big spreads, but adding motion will always bring in more ducks IMHO.

[Jarrod32]

Depends on the situation, depends on where you are. We hunt a lot on small 'prairie potholes', and anything over a few dozen would look out of place. We go with a dozen, maybe two on larger ponds...that's about it.