Fewer Decoys?

[HugoBox]

I'm the guy who puts out 4-6 dozen dekes pretty much all the time (especially for divers). I think I'm going to do it differently this weekend. There haven't been a ton of birds around so I'm going to put out 8 or 10 instead (if I can do so without getting the shakes) along with a smattering of goose decoys. Have any of you experimented with less dekes and had success. I'll be on about a 500 acre lake.

[dan z]

Have heard it works great on the X not so much if your running traffic.

I went to a more species set-up pintails,gadwalls,teal,widgeon,mallards, wood ducks,divers and geese and set them as they were flying in small groups and not one flock.

[pureinsanity]

My favorite is to have the a single or double decoy near or close to a set of When I use to duck hunt I would have him drop me off in a corner near where he was hunting. Id throw either a single or double decoy out. I had a lot of ducks come in that way with out even calling. It attracted the smaller loaner groups not the big flocks.

[uwleagle]

I tend to use less decoys on no wind days. I'll put 6 decoys on a jerk cord and throw 2 or 3 decosy on each side of them. I'd rather have a small spread that is moving than a huge spread that looks likes its sittin on glass. How many decoys I put out also depends on the area I am hunting. If am hunting a large slough thats holding tons of birds I'm going to throw out every decoys I have. If I am hunting a tiny pot hole I might only throw out a dozen.

[BrdHunter01]

I think decoy placement and ur spot far ouweights the number of dekes. I have no problem hunting over 12-16 mallards and 8-10 geese. Also easy to pick up and move if need be.

I remember last year we had maybe 2 dozen decoys out and the guys litterally right next us had 100+. they maybe shot twice all day and we had our limit of mallards.

Each has there own style. Whatever ur comfortable with and works for u is what I'd stick with...

[BoxMN]

Except you always need an odd number of decoys. Learned that from our "old guide"... the single will always be looking for an odd number so he/she will have a partner

[Gordie]

I have used less decoys in the past but I was the only one on the lake and I think thats when it will matter the most. Like Dan said also if your on the X you can get away with also last year my best shoot was with 11 decoys and 1 goose decoyu that was postioned 45 yards up and arounf

d the cattails from me everyduck that came by looked and I shot myt limit in less than an hour. There were others on the lake like 5 different groups and I was the only guy that didnt have a spinner and it didnt hurt me in any way.

Starting now typically its about numbers when it comes to decoys for me

7-10 dozen divers

6-8 dozen mallard decoys

I may throw in a goose decoy or a dozen just for comfort

[Superduty]

I agree with Elwood. As the season progresses, I like more and more decoys. Some days it's all about numbers.

[HugoBox]

So I tried the downsized decoy set - about 15 divers and 15 or so geese. It turns out that if there aren't any ducks around it doesn't matter much!!

The good part is that pick up only takes about 5 minutes!

[FBMH]

I use about 2 dozen mallard deks, along with a dozen geese deks with 4 of them setup on sand or shore, and about 3 dozen diver deks. OH, and 3 swans. Very good spread that gives every duck the confidence to land, however, the cost and pickup of all these deks is sometimes ridiculous and not worth it.

[dan z]

couldnt have enough of them out there this morning had atleast six dozen out of all species of ducks and the ducks ate it UP! add a dozen geese to the spread also

[slabchaser]

It depends a lot on the spot but I have gone small. Has worked pretty well most times Ive done it. I just try to have my spread look different then most peoples.

[hawgchaser]

Hunting with my son in North Dakota about 10 years ago. Bluebird weather with lots of high flyers. My son & I decide to hunt a 40 acre slough in mid afternoon. He carries his huge bag of dekes & sets up on one end of the slough. I carry 3 dekes in and set up on the other end. He's calling and making a lot of noise. I give 2 or 3 lonesome hen calls if the ducks seem interested. After 2 hr., the score is "pa"-4, "kid"-0. My philosophy - by this time of year, there is nothing you can show or say to ducks that they haven't seen or heard many times before. My rule of thumb...as the season progresses, LESS is MORE!!

[BrdHunter01]

We shot our limit of mallards Tuesday over 8 mallard dekes and 7 geese. Some buddies hunted the same spot that afternoon and shot there limit but put out 60+ dekes. Sure was nice only picking up 15 dekes in late November

[BoxMN]

Location, location, location!