Duck / Goose hunting tips

[Duck-o-holic]

Just thought I'd start a post for us fowlers to share some innovative tips and tricks and such, now that the season will be officially ending tomorrow. Here are a couple off the top of my head:

Decoy Bags...

Have you ever had the mesh-style bags rip and tear around the handles? Or have pintail tails, or whatnot rip holes in your bag... only for you to get frustrated and curse the bags for being cheap?? Well I have And instead of going out and buying the big $$ bags like I probably should, I still manage to keep using my old bags... by utilizing zip ties. These things work wonders on eliminating holes! Just start threading them through the mesh a couple of holes in, and cinch them up. Around the handles, I use a fillet knife to puncture the thick material, and then cinch up the torn mesh to it after threading the zip tie through it. It's given me 3+ years of bonus use from my bags. And I ALWAYS carry extra zip ties in my blind bag for multitudes of emergencies!!!

Another quick tip for those of you with goose dekes with flocked heads. Ever notice how the flocking attracts gunk and debris? Ever had the bad experience of mixing flocked heads with cattail fluff?? A good going over with a lint brush (not the sticky roller type) does wonders for cleaning them up!

Let's hear your best tips and tricks!!

Duck-o-holic

[Duck-o-holic]

Apparently nobody has any tips that they feel like sharing with the fellow fowlers. I guess I'll have to keep posting here all by myself

For those of you with full-body goose dekes, especially GHG canada's... I've found that storing them in a large decoy bag is really hard on the paint! With limited garage space, they are also pretty big to store "all set up" (plus I've had a hard time with heads breaking at the neck when taking them on and off a lot). When putting away my gear this fall, I found that putting a long piece of conduit through the legs of the dekes, and then hanging them upside down from the rafters worked great! They are out of the way, and I'm not sacrificing any of my garage space to store them. It would be nice to utilize the conduit pole system in a trailer for easy transportation in the field when setting up!

Nine months and counting 'til Early Goose...

Duck-o-holic

[myzee13]

A good tip for saving the flocking on goose heads..... use an old sock, and slip it over the head when transporting your deeks..... simple but it works.

[MattKeller]

Don't buy Avery snow spray for $8/can. Go to Walmart right now and buy the exact same thing for 23 cents.

It's in the holiday clearance section.

[Duck-o-holic]

Great tips guys. I've always wondered about the spray-on snow for the layout blind. I've thought of rigging up a fitted bed sheet with strategically placed slits in it to allow for the doors and "Brushing Loops". What I've really wondered is how hard it is to wash off once it's dried onto the blind fabric? Anyone have experience with this??

[Goosepimp]

the fitted bed sheet does NOT work. Got whacked with snow when in Sask this year. Tried the same thing, they just turn blue after they get wet.

[snowgoose]

Hey Duck O

I have used the spray on snow. It rubs right off when it drys. I like it. Really helped us one a snowy morning.

[MattKeller]

Ya. I think the snow spray looks better than even the expensive snow covers. It does wipe off very easily when you're done hunting. And again, 23 cents, that's quite resonable.

[loc9fisher]

for those of you who don't care for the motorized decoys, such as myself, use a jerk cord to create the movement you need in the water.

now to spice it up so it doesn't sound like a stupidly simple tip that everyone knows about.

leave the ducks anchored to the bottom. instead tie some geese to the chord (be creative, put more than one on). those big decoys make alot of ripples and i think you'll be tickled by the results. i know i was when i slipped on to this.

another thing, throw out a snow goose or 2 in with your canada's. im sure im not the only one who's seen real snows mixed in with canadian's. and if you've ever watched a spinning wing decoy flutter from across the lake you know how well that white stands out. the snow decoys aren't for decoying snows, their more like a becon that will be much more visible from a long distance than any spinning wing.

good luck all, and stay safe..........loc9

[IceHawk]

Here is a tip I have found over the years of hunting ducks.

Incorporate a few coot decoys to your spread as confidence decoys. The ducks really seem to let there guard down when a few of these are added to your spread. Another is add a blue-heron decoy on your blind or near the waters edge of your spread.

I know it sounds funny but how many times have you seen coots scatter or a blue heron take flight when you get close to them. Giveit shot and you might be impressed. The ducks seem to sense a feel of security when they spot these set-ups.

[Duck-o-holic]

I just sent Paul W. a pic of the goose deke storage tip. Hopefully, he can post it for me (Thanks Paul). Not a giant technological breakthrough, but the pic illustrates how well it gets the dekes up and out of the way for 7 1/2 months I don't use them.

Good tips on the artificial snow! I'll have to check out Wal-Mart!

Duck

[MattKeller]

Too bad they're Avery's.

[loc9fisher]

the legs on those should fall apart any minute now.

lets watch and see.........

[Duck-o-holic]

Normally I'd feel defensive about those remarks... but two of those hanging there have black hockey tape holding on the heads, and another has the plastic of the body cracked. All of this in their first season! Big Foots next time!!!

Duck

[Mike Walerak]

I agree, I snapped the legs off two of mine this season. I only bought six to see if they would hold up. I won't buy six more.

mw

[wallygators]

You guys just aren't treating them right you have to treat them like dump cause then the prove you wrong Took dozen and half on our anual trip to canada used and abused them and only one head busted and that got run over by a truck and trailer so as far as i see it Big FOOTS SUCK that look like dump and hey the geese have seen them millions of time at least the avery's look like real geese

[MattKeller]

I'll believe it when you can start writing in complete sentences....

[loc9fisher]

ahhhhhhahahahhahahhah, hahahahhhahahhahahahah!!!

thank you for saying what we've all been thinking. LOL

[mwktrapper]

How can you say that a Big Foot decoy sucks but yet these Avery full bodies are the ticket? If that goose ain't coming into your big foots, he ain't coming into those avery's either. By the time the goose sees a difference between the two, I sure hope you can put 'em belly up.

I tried 6 of those avery mallard decoys this year. I took them out of the box and put them into my decoy bag before opener. I pulled 'em out of the bag opening morning and the paint had terribly chipped off of every single decoy, before I even floated them! Even worse, we wrote Avery and told them this and not only would they not refund, but they accused us of only trying to get free decoys from them, even after sending them the pictures of our brand new paintless decoys. Terrible decoys, terrible customer service.

[Farley]

Big Foots hold up, but the Greenhead Gear ones were a pain in the arse in Kansas. The nut and bolt system that holds the legs on needs modification. Some kind of Locktite or something to keep the nut from backing off. Every time we picked up or took out dekes, the legs were falling off. They looked great though, more realistic than Bigfoots, but the Bigfoots are more durable. From what I've seen.

[big drift]

Just an FYI in regards to Avery prior to this season in I believe september there was a problem with the paint used by Avery for all their decoys. They switched suppliers and compounds and the current paint appears to be holding out lot's better then before. they were for a long period replacing all decoys sent to them or sending out coupon vouchers for new. I don't know if this was a limited time only type thing or not but there it is.

As for a tip take a peice of rubber hose to wrap around your ankleon your waders to keep them from being pulled off or vacumed when walking in the muck.

[MattKeller]

The problem with Avery is that they sold seconds without telling the consumers.

If you have a paint chipping decoy, you probably got fooled into buying a second. AND, nope, they won't do a thing about it either...

[Sartell Angler]

we have a few crow decoys that we always set up a little ways from our goose dekes while field hunting...seems to add a little confidence

late in the year when the ducks became really wary of the motorized dekes, instead of putting ours in a pocket like we usually do, we set ours right in the middle of a huge cluster of mallard decoys, and had it just a couple of inches off of the water. Instead of looking like a landing bird, it looked like multiple ducks stretching their wings. We pounded 5 drake greenheads between the two of us that morning and fooled many more, so it seemed to work well for us. This was on a day during the week so there wasn't a whole lot flying to begin with.

Anyone else have tips? This thread was a great idea duc-o-holic...lets keep 'em coming.

S.A / wdw from the MN Refuge Gang

[Duck-o-holic]

Thank you Big Drift, and Sartell Angler for getting this Thread back on track with the topic. I'm all for the issue of what deke brands we like the best, but that should be a whole seperate topic.

SA-- I've heard of a lot of different confident dekes out there, but crows are a new one to me. Makes a lot of sense, as they are such smart birds.

I've had a lot of luck with mixing in "sleeper" mallards into my water spread. This is especially deadly on the leeward shoreline on a windy day. I put out 30-40% sleepers mixed in with my other dekes. All are very tight to shore, and it sucks the birds in very close. This spread is very effective on ducks that have been gunned heavily over "traditional" spreads in the area, as it has a different look from the other spreads they've gotten shot over.

Duck-o-holic

[icehousebob]

I read somewhere that old George Herter recommended using a Tundra Swan decoy on the edge of your water sets as the best confidence decoy. I couldn't find one, but I got an Egret decoy that I put by the weed edge. They're normally spooky birds so they give the appearance of a safe area. Also, that white can be seen from a long way off. Before season, even with new Canada decoys, I check to see whether the white cheek patches should be repainted. When you see a flock of birds on the golf course or ball field, the thing that seems to stand out the most is those white patches.