Herter decoys

[Dorkfish]

Just recently acquired a lot of herter decoys and am wondering what to do with them all of them are bluebills and ringnecks. 

[leechlake]

1.  don't hunt with them or...

2.  do hunt with them and enjoy the memories of hunters gone by that enjoyed the hunt.  No matter the weather think of others braving the sleet, rain, and snow as flocks of bills dove threw the sky.

[Dorkfish]

I don't hunt with them anymore they're to heavy for me to backpack in and I don't own a boat to haul them in

[Dorkfish]

More or less wondering how much they are worth I have 3 dozen or so

[Kettle]

Really depends on the shape in regards to how much they are worth.  The model 72's are nice and can catch some money the 63's are a little small IMO.  I wanted to pick some up last year and search the internet for them, in all honesty you can but a new foam body and pre-painted head for less than what most banged up ones go for.  Mint condition and I mean w/o any foam missing or dinged, paint not faded and heads intact assuming they are the 72's possibly 150$ or a little more per dozen.  Some that show wear and tear in around 75-100$.  Really depends on if you can find the right buyer.  Guys that hunt with them these days, typically pick up beat up ones on the cheap end and fix them themselves.  Burlapped they are great decoys but there are companies out there making an exact replica of the model 72s burlapped and painted (keep in mind they are brand new) and these are going for around 240$ a dozen....

Kettle

[Dorkfish]

There isn't much wear on them at all. There's 38 in total

[Neighbor_guy]

Are they old family decoys???

You might want to hold onto them for future use??? Who knows you might have a boat in the future and regret selling them. 

[TylerS]

Those are some nice gunners. I'd hunt them, no questions asked!

[Black Bear]

They look to me like they are burlapped wrapped...if so, they are fairly valuable and you can sell them easily.

 

[Dorkfish]

Checked a few sites such as craigs and E bay and the prices seem to be very spread out

[Neighbor_guy]

I'm going to lay it all out and your probably not going to like it, but here goes.....

I took the time to look through my collection last night and I have a few non-burlaped Herters 72's. They are blue bills same as the ones you have here. I paid $2.00/each for them at an estate sale. I can also tell you that if you were to take those decoys into a dealer your going to be lucky to get $3.00-$3.50/each for them. I have paid $12.00 for non used mint condition burlap, but yours are used. I have a number in my head I would offer for the entire pile, you can text/voxer me later if you want. 

In the end only you can decide what they are worth to you. Value is subjective, if your "price" is in the same ballpark as someone is willing to give up for them they will sell. Otherwise you are going to sit in them. I know you want to hear that your sitting on a gold mine, but it might not be in the cards. 

[TylerS]

Neighbor_guy speaks the truth. If they were mint, in-the-box burlapped Herters they might pull in some coin. But they're used. They have the lead weighted wrapped around the necks (big no-no). Overall they look to be in fairly good shape as used decoys come. 

I'd either use them, or sell them for a reasonable price. The problem today is pricing decoys seems to be very subjective. Folks will try and sell decoys they bought several years ago for darn near retail. 

I look at used hunting gear a lot like used pickups: as soon as they leave the lot, they depreciate by 30 percent. If you want more than 50 percent off retail for used decoys, you're asking too much. 

But that's IMHO. 

[Dorkfish]

Well these came with the wrap arounds. That was apparently the way to do it back than. What would be a better way to do it rig em rights?

[BoxMN]

I have hunted with 7200's for many years. They ride the water great, and birds see them from a long ways. We still use them in our long line. We used to use the wrap around weights and it works fine.

The prob I have with them, is that in icy conditions, when the water freezes on the decoy, there is no way for even big hands to grip the 7200s, as there is no keel to speak off. So you up grabbing it by the head, and the only way to wrap these is the figure 8 "MN wrap" method (which we always use anyway) and when you are holding the decoy by the head, this is very difficult. Great if it isn't windy and freezing, not so much if it is.

Hence, why we now use them on long lines. 
But the wrap around the neck weight work fine and really don't damage the paint enough to notice.

Good luck, have fun with the Herters! I still love them! but heavy   G&H are still my favs for divers.

[Gissert]

Those look like some nice working dekes. I have some 72s that were my dads and in terrible shape. Sun bleached, paint missing, foam coming off etc. I burlapped them all and now use them on a long line. Yes, when they ice up they can be a pain but they wont capsize like some plastic dekes will. (How often does that happen, though.)

I also do the figure 8 wrap with some of my other keel-less dekes and have had no issues.