Robo' Review

[Duck-o-holic]

OK-- Here's my honest review of duck hunting over a Robo-Duck. I did a little experiment this weekend with it, and here's what I observed:

Saturday opener-- Had birds decoy into the spread, but the majority were very decoy and call shy! MANY flocks wouldn't commit, and that was using the Robo-Duck. There were actually birds that didn't come in, that had responded to the calling-- and I wondered if they would have decoyed if we DIDN'T have that contraption set up! Of the birds that decoyed, the majority came in on the OPPOSITE side of the spread that had the Robo. There was also not one time that I believed a bird/birds zeroed in on the Robo, which is what so many people say happens. If anything, my honest opinion of it was that it may have drawn attention to the spread from a distance-- similar to flagging geese. There was not one time that I thought to myself "Those were ducks that wouldn't have come in if not for the Robo."

Sunday's hunt-- I hunted a smaller slough, 300 yards away without the Robo-Duck. I offered the Robo to my brother to use (in the same spot we had hunted the day before), but he declined, as he wasn't impressed with it! The result: We both filled out on basically the same species of birds that we had shot the day before. The birds were about as decoy shy as the day before, but we still decoyed several.

Conclusion-- Hard to say. As it was my first time using it, I was unsure if the wings were flapping as fast as they are supposed to. I honestly didn't see or notice any major differences from one day to the next, except in the possibility that some distant birds saw our decoys due to the added movement... but this didn't necessarily cause them to drop in. There was not one time that I saw a bird zero in on the Robo and float in-- nor did any really try to land by it. Possibly because it was opener, and they were getting shot at all over???... Possibly. I don't know what to think yet. It will be interesting to further the testing of it though. I'll keep posting the results-- and you never know, you may see one for sale in the "Used Equipment" Post!!!

Good Gunnin'

Duck-o-holic

[Duck-o-holic]

Robo Review Part II...

Well, here's a Robo Review of the second time using one! This morning (Saturday), my Dad and I hunted a small slough which is not far from the locale where I tested the first day. Got set up just before legal shooting, but didn't put out the Robo right away in the morning. My Dad was still catching his breath after the 1/2 mile hike in (Through CPR grass, then a corn field, then a bean field, then around the slough) during first light. I stood in the cattails and used the calls softly and sparingly, as there was a slight echo (which can flair ducks) due to the timber surrounding the pothole. Mallards were everywhere! Several decoyed, and several ended belly-up in the decoys. After 20 minutes: four drake mallards, a gadwall, and a redhead were piled on a rock near shore. My Dad traded places with me, and I called birds for him (and cam-corded the action). Birds were still flying, but most were teal now. As the light got brighter in the east, I put out the Robo 15 yards to our left side. The birds continued to buzz the slough. My Dad doubled on three mallards that decoyed. Dozens of birds circled just out of, or just at the edge of range. Over the next hour and a half, birds worked the slough, with several landing on the edges and in the middle-- far away from the spread! After too many birds flairing and spooking, my Dad wanted to turn off the Robo and put it away. Two mallards were added to the bag within 25 minutes after doing this.

Conclusion:
In only one case did using the Robo OBVIOUSLY help us. Other factors to be considered... Noise-- although the Robo that I used is pretty quiet, you can still hear the motor. Birds COULD have been hearing this on initial swings around the spread. Concealment-- The weather DID get sunny during different times of the day, and the sun was in our faces (hence the obvious... glare from guns, and highlighted faces and movement). Robo Location-- I honestly don't know through experience if I am setting it up in the right place... but I shouldn't be too far off!

I am not saying that Robo's do not work, but due to my hunt this morning, it seemed to both my Dad and I to flair the ducks that we were working. Am anxious to hear BLACKJACKS field report and review!!!

Good Gunnin'

Duck-o-holic

[This message has been edited by Duck-o-holic (edited 10-06-2001).]

[BLACKJACK]

Used the Robo Duck (mine is actually called a Motoduck) both Sat and Sum mornings. To make a long story short, it didn't seem to help us one bit. In fact on Sat it seemed to hurt us because it kept tangling on the decoy string and weeds, I screwed around so long with it that my gun was still not loaded when a batch of mallards landed on the edge of the decoys. Then later on when I marched out to do the untangle, some wood ducks landed on the edge of the decoys. Gee whizz I said. My partner and I concluded that those ducks would have come in anyway in the half dark, Robo duck or no Robo duck. We only ended up with one duck that morning. It did flair right over the Robo duck, I missed the easy shot and my partner got it going away. To be fair, it seemed like there weren't many ducks flying around us, so the Robo duck didn't have a chance to help or hurt us.

Sunday I was by myself and the results were similar, not many ducks flying. The only ducks that I saw were young and dumb, one came swimming into my decoys, the teal landed right in them, like we've all seen them do.

The Motoduck was a hassle to use, you can't carry it very well with the wings on, so I had to carry a phillips screwdriver to install the wings in the blind. I've found a styrofoam box to pack it with the wings intact (goodie, another big itme to tote with into the duck blind). I'm going to try the Roboduck another time back in some timber where I see mallards in the morning while I'm bowhunting.

In conclusion, I would say that the Robo duck hasn't helped my hunting so far. To be fair, I didn't see a lot of ducks flying last weekend. Talked to my brother who was hunting by Grove City on Mon, Tue, Wed, and he was just blubbering about all the ducks and geese that they've been seeing and shooting (without a Robo duck). But they took the time to motor out and set a big spread of geese and duck decoys off a big cattail point. Its back to proper location and a good decoy spread.

Wish we had more reports of how people were doing with the Robo ducks... Obviously not many readers of this forum are using them.

[EW6]

This has been the most debated topic of the last serveral years, and I have made up my mind that I would like to see any electric decoys banned, espesially the Robo-ducks. I have never hunted over one, and will never buy one, but have seen them in action. It appears that Mallards are very vunerable to the spinning wings, they seem to commit from much further away, and come in with less passes.

My observations come from a hunt during the second Saturday of the season specifically, and also from hunts last year. I was hunting a lake that was fairly big for duck water, and on the entire lake there is only one small island of cattails. That is the place to be. In fact if I get there, and someone else has the island I will drive back to the access and go to a different lake because it is impossible to get ducks from the shores. Too many coots that lure the ducks into the middle. Well on this day a group set up on a straight shoreline that never holds ducks, but they had a motion wing decoy. The flashing of the wings could be seen from a long way off. During the morning they had groups of Mallards cupping their wings from over a half mile out, even though they obviously couldn't call very well, and even though they were not where the birds wanted to be. I had never seen anything like it. The fact that they missed almost every bird that was hovering in their dekes only further convinced me that they were not experienced hunters. To me it was obvious, when Robo-ducks are new to the birds espesially young Mallards, they are too effective to be fair. Thankfully I think this is one of those gadgets that ducks will become educated to with only a couple of exposures. But we could go a long way to preserving the history of duck hunting by not allowing electric decoys. That is my two cents.....

Also if we are worried about Robo-Ducks being too effective, we must surely be concerned over the recent developements in the Southern States. From the little info. I have heard it sounds like Mississippi, Trent Lott, are trying to regain the 9 days they lost from their seasons when they chose to have a later season several years back. For the first time ever, last year Mississippi hunters shot more Mallards than Minnesota hunters even though there are many more Minnesota hunters, and yet they are still pushing for more. It is bad politics, and it is bad for ducks. If anyone else knows anymore.....inform the rest of us.
E.W.

[rvvrrat]

ew6,

Here is a link to an article in the Pioneer Press about the southern duck season changes. http://www.pioneerpress.com/outdoors/out_docs/162205.htm

rvvrrat

[Guest]

I recently returned from hunting Marsh Lake and LQP and EVERY hunting group I saw on the water had a robo duck in their decoy spread. Some groups were absolutely pounding bird after bird for hours. I saw one group who had 3 robo ducks and approx. 6 floating deks! We could not bring the birds in close enough without the robo, it seemed. We had the disadvantage.

I hunted with a friend a couple weeks ago who had a robo and he wanted to try it (for the first time), so we used it. It didn't do us any good that day. I don't believe in these devices and I will never own one. That's all I need is more clutter in my boat/blind!

[Guest]

I don't mind one bit that people are using "robo-ducks". If you people are so against the robo-duck then QUIT using them. If you think they are hurting your hunt then QUIT using them. Our hunt this past weekend was great. No, we do not use the robo-duck but we did see parties that were using them. It sure didn't hurt our shoot and why shouldn't they be allowed to use them if they wish? Oh, and by the way, the sound of the robo-duck is not any different than a dog whining in someone's blind.