New deeks but which ones?

[mudslinger]

Im lookin to pick some new duck decoys this off season and finally get rid of all my old ratty mallard deeks. Not sure how much I want to spend but I want a good decoy in a magnum size. Which ones do you all like and why?

[Bassinbob84]

G&h swivel heads. They are one of the most realistic out there and hold up pretty well. There heads don't blind you like some other brands.

[Muthagoose]

Slinger

Honestly if I were to buy a plastic decoy and was looking for durability I wouldn't buy anything that needed to be carried in a sleeve I would buy G&H.

If I was only looking for a few then GHG or the tangle free pro series those are painted by Don Mintz and he is the man when it comes to painting..

If you decide you are buy G&H drop me a email I have a couple sacks of new and nearly new. Most have swivel head,line and wrap anchors. Not sure how many I have here in town and at the lake.. I left 6 or so freeze in.. Being I make my own now plastics are somewhat disposable to me.

[BucksnDucks]

If you dont want 2 be replacing decoys every 5-10 years and weight is not an issue, hands down the way to go is Herters. I've owned only them for the last 16 years and wont buy any other decoy made. The realism maybe isnt quite what the others have but it more than makes up for it in durabilty and the way they ride the waves. None of that side to side bobble head look that you will get with the other weighted keel decoys made.

[dan z]

G/H dollar for dollar they cant be beat. spend a few more bucks on herters and you wont buy decoys tell your kids ruin them.

[Moonie]

those herters deeks are indeed sweet!

if you don't want to go that route, I would go G&H or GHG (green head gear). FYI, check out the cabelas HSOforum. They are currently having sales on both of these brands.

[Shadrap5SJ]

I like the Cabela's Real Image Mallard decoys. They look good and the drakes have the swivel heads. Great decoy for the money! I've shot alot of mallards over these decoys.

[NR]

If you are looking for quality, then G&H hands down.

If you want cheap, pretty, disposable, GHG.

I also like the herters foamers. Some guys burlap em at home and repaint em for superior durability, but it seems like a mess to me, so I haven't done that . . . yet.

NR

[Gordie]

herters style if I'm buying new but I intend on doing what muthagoose is doing someday those are sweet decoys

[mudslinger]

Great info guys. Your opinions will go along way in my final decision making. Im all about quality as i have been burned too many times with the less pricey deeks. Muthagoose, are you looking to sell your G&H deeks???

[Muthagoose]

[email protected]

[Farley]

I always used Flambaeu\GHG cheapies but two years ago invested in a dozen herters. I am to the point now that I segregate the Herters from the cheapies, the Herters look so nice in the water I put the cheapies around the corner so I dont have to look a the them. Would like to get a dozen G&H to add to the spread also. I figure with the herters though, I can use and abuse them untill they dont look like mallards anymore, then burlap and repaint and they will last another 20 years. The only thing that is different is the herters I have dont have the wrap around keel (they do have swivel heads though) so what I did was rig up some big egg sinkers so it slides along the lenght of the line, and clip all the ends to a caribeener so I can carry the whole load over my shoulder. Works pretty good. If you go this route, dont get the greenhead gear "Rig em Right" setup,GHG should advertise it as "Rig them good enough for early season". I just copied their design with quality components.

[Muthagoose]

Quote:

I did was rig up some big egg sinkers so it slides along the lenght of the line, and clip all the ends to a caribeener so I can carry the whole load over my shoulder.

Texas rig.. I use weedeater line and 3/32 clevis so I have loops at both ends,did add a cord stop to regulate depth.

3 rd year and the eater line and no problems yet. Comes in green accepts paint and even with sand bottoms it don't bother the birds.,.

[Basseyes]

Some things to consider before buying decoys;

Herters decoys are well built, heavy and expensive short term. We own a fair amount of them mainly for divers or big water. They are a great decoy that ride the waves on windy days like no other but have a bit of a generic look on calm sunny days. We like our birds close and the decoys can take one heck of a pounding and don't sink. We mainly put them in the kill hole to take the abuse. One thing with Herters is we mainly run them on gang lines. Would be a bit of a pain if you put out big spreads and had them individually lined and weighted.

If you do any hunting where you have to carry decoys Herters would not be my first choice to add to the spread. I've been on enough death marches to know every ounce of weight is magnified ten fold on the way out. Even in big boats the weight adds up.

We have learned over the years not to put all our decoy eggs in one basket. Most decoys are built well enough to be used. Some can take the abuse much better than others though. With that said have seen younger guys put all their allegiance into one decoy brand and their spreads look terriblly un realistic for ducks to me. But I'm sure they still kill birds over them. With geese this doesn't seem to be as big of an issue. We like different shapes, sizes and colors even with in the same species be it mallards or what ever. Variety is the spice of life.

My first choice is G and H with the swivel heads. Go with different sizes if you can. They have a great water keel standard decoy with out the swivel head. They are light and you can carry a fair amount of them in a decoy bag for a long walk.

GHG for the money is a great decoy. Quality is a bit questionable but you get what you pay for. The different shapes really add something to the spread. Their keel design is interesting.

Carry Lite has some lower profile decoys that aren't bad. Very durable because of the softer plastic. But they are a bad word to re paint because of that plastic they use. You get a durable decoy yet the paint can't stay on. I think they add a real different look to the spread. Nice thing is you can buy them in smaller amounts than a dozen.

Not a huge fan of Flambeau but we have some older blue bill and mallard decoys that ride the waves decent and have held up some what well. I like the color on the heads of the newer mallards. They don't shine in the sun.

One big thing I consider is the keel design. We do a fair amount of hunting in water deep and shallow. I like the 2 hole design so I can rig decoys from the front or back. And be able to use those holes to feed more line through so I can hunt 15' of water or pull line back through the hole to adjust to shallower water. Have also drilled holes in the middle so we have decoys facing into the wind, away from it and the ones in the middle of the keel swim back and forth adding a bit more motion. If all you hunt is shallow water under 2' rig 'em right decoy systems are great. We need a bit more flexibility to be able to hunt a small pond, a shallow back bay, a deep water point or flowage system.

The ridged ness of the plastic is a big thing if you hunt at all in colder weather. The harder and smoother the plastic on the decoy and keel the more likely it will be to break when the temp starts really falling. Not a big deal when the decoy is in the water but can be early in the morning or after sunset when you're cold and tired and getting a bit careless with how you're handling the decoys.

Biggest thing I look for now is adding different stuff to the spread be it feeders, sleepers, motion decoys, head less feeders or anything different to make the spread look a bit more realistic.

[mudslinger]

Great advice Basseyes. Maybe I'll get some G&H and Herters. I mainly hunt from a larger boat and I do see the Herters being a pain to pick up and mess with.

[Gordie]

Yes great advive basseyes thos eare the types of things I look at when considering decoys as well and I have differnt style/types of decoys in my spread and do see a differnce also.

I will be adding more for the next season and I know that at least a dozen and half will be canvasback in magnum size not sure what brand yet but they will be added

[Knickpoint]

The new Dakota Xtreme mallards are great looking decoys. Extremely durable.

[dan z]

Great advice Basseyes. Maybe I'll get some G&H and Herters. I mainly hunt from a larger boat and I do see the Herters being a pain to pick up and mess with.

you will learn how to body wrap those decoys and you will then be body wrapping all your decoys. with tangle free line and bullet weights you cant go wrong. I'm surprised they even make all the weight designs bullets are the way to go period. no matter how deep it is I have 10-12ft cords and use it all everytime out.

[Gordie]

Yep body wraping is way faster and easier in the freezing temps.

You just need to make sure where wrap ends up with you weight so you can wrap it around the neck.

I run lines but all my singles are body wraped and so are my goose decoys.

[bemidjibasser]

elwood... if you can find the G&H Super mag cans you will love them! They can be seen from a mile away... I have 1 1/2 dozen of them and 2 1/2 doz super mag bluebills for my big water set and the ghg goldeneyes and buffies to boot. I also mix in some old flambeau bills and ghg life size ringers... it weighs the boat down, but loooks sweet when they are all bobbing in the waves and there is a flock following the line into the blind!

[Gordie]

sounds like my set up with out those decoys but thats what I'm after

[Basseyes]

Originally Posted By: mudslinger

Great advice Basseyes. Maybe I'll get some G&H and Herters. I mainly hunt from a larger boat and I do see the Herters being a pain to pick up and mess with.

you will learn how to body wrap those decoys and you will then be body wrapping all your decoys. with tangle free line and bullet weights you cant go wrong. I'm surprised they even make all the weight designs bullets are the way to go period. no matter how deep it is I have 10-12ft cords and use it all everytime out.

Dan Z enjoy your pics and reports. Looks like you have little issue with your decoy sets.

Just a few things we do. More personal preference than anything.

We also body wrap our Herters decoys but not our plastic decoys. We only use about six feet of tangle free cord on the Herters and brass swivels. The brass swivels allow us to take the cord and weight off to be able too gang rig them for applications for Leech, Winnie or where ever bigger spreads are the norm sometimes in deeper water.When it's windy on those bigger lakes efficiency is key. Getting decoys in the boat as quick and safe as possible can be a trying ordeal even when you've got it down.

We don't use the bullet type weights for a couple reasons. They don't hold well on harder deeper rockier bottoms typical of the bigger lakes we personally hunt very late in the year. The rig 'em right systems are great and I have no doubt for a lot of guys they work very well if you only hunt softer shallower bottom lakes and sloughs.

On our plastic puddler decoys we go with bungee cords with strap type weights and hook them on the bottom of the decoy's keel. Helps the paint stay on a bit longer. And we also like the strap weights for harder bottoms. We bend the strap in a J hook on the bottom and in the heavier weights this will help hold bottom on windy days on a hard or rock bottom. For us the tangle free cord is nice on softer shallower bottoms but we also hunt deeper rockier harder bottoms so we've found that with the strap weights and a thinner stronger decoy cord it is easier to pull out from rocks with the strap type weights with the J hook on the bottom of the weight without stretching and braking like the tangle free cord does. Works for us but I'm sure other guys have found other ways that work for them. Just the way we do it.

We also hunt many different areas shallow, deep, hard and soft bottoms. I like the ability to shorten up my cords for very shallow water and being able to go very deep. On some of the harder bottoms we hunt it isn't unusual to need 2 times the length of cord for the depth we are hunting. 12' of hard bottom on a windy day needs 24' of cord with a heavy weight that can dig in and hold bottom. Also like the ability to shorten up my cords for shallow water so we don't have kissing cousins. That is something that really bugs me when setting out a bigger spread in shallow water. On smaller ponds and sloughs like to have as little cord showing as possible and I don't care what color or how well the cord blends in. Have had birds flare at the strangest things. We like to try and eliminate enough of those things before they arise. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of flesh or some thing like that.

Just some things we've found that work for us. Love hearing how other guys do stuff. It's a good way to learn a new trick or technique.

[nate larson]

Thanks for all the great info Basseyes! What size brass swivels do you use and where do you get yours?

[Basseyes]

Nate,

Just got done painting some old G&H hen canvas back decoys into drakes. This is the set we us for our Herters and bigger decoys. I make my own gang lines with O rings and a snap from Fleet Farm on the bottom. We have yet to have one of those snaps on the bottom rust yet and they are easy to put on and take off in cold weather. The brass swivels are from ©-abelas. Not sure if they still sell them though. Bigger fishing snap swivels work as well. Nice thing about those is they come in black.

The long line snaps look like they'd work nice just haven't had any chance to use them yet. One thing I like about having the O rings set on the line is in the dark it's easy to spot and set in place. You know you won't have to re adjust it. Putting snaps on a line early in the morning with no set spot could lead to a couple decoys getting a little close IMO. But the simplicity of the long line snaps will lead me to try them in the future.

One of the greatest advantages to long lines or gang rigs is the simplicity of adjusting your spread.

Hope it helps.

[Muthagoose]

Doctari's all the way well worth the money and the large ones are easy to handle..

I use'em and 400# mono for dropper going to 5/16 main lines..

My lines they stay out almost all season without any line slip.

Being I carve my own decoys I prefer a angled river keel to get away from the duck in row get real nice cigar shaped flocks. Wire gang spreaders work pretty good .

If you guys like the bigger clips and swivels, search for marine hardware or netting hardware, used to get them in box of a 100 pretty reasonable but since I got the doctaris they got replaced.

Nice job on the decoy.

Seems a little dark on the back to me..What colors are you using for he head?