Sport Plast Decoys

[snowgoose]

Since things have slowed down in the waterfowl section I thought it would be a good time to ask about Sport Plast decoys. I am looking to purchase around 15 dozen snows and blues this year. I have been hunting over Texas rags and wind socks for about 5 years. I have a hard time decoying snows when there is little wind using these. I was thinking that these decoys would make a nice spread at a resonable price. They are $60 a dozen. I would love to have Bigfoot snows but can't justify the price.

Anybody ever use this brand. Just looking for some feedback on how they have held up for you.

Thanks

[srj]

Snowgoose, might you have a brother in Bemidji? If so, he saw a few last year on our Sask trip as I bought a dozen to try as an alternative to FB's. I think they look great for the price. The body shape is good. If you are Mitchs' bro and come up to Bemidji this summer, let me know and I will drop a couple off with him.

[snowgoose]

srj

I don't have a brother in Bemidji. You got the wrong guy.

Thanks for the info.

[srj]

Snow, a little more input then--I won't buy anymore fullbodies after using the sportplasts. Sitting in our blind chairs, I couldn't tell them from FB's except for the diff in legs vs stake. The only downside to me was the length of the stake--with really hard ground they would be difficult to push in all the way to the stake stop which is a molded "goose foot". But they do look good out in front of the rags/silos. Liked them well enuf to buy some Canadas too.

[snowgoose]

Has the paint held up well on them? It sounds like a good product.

Thanks again for your help.

[srj]

No paint problems so far and the paint is not shiny. I make and paint my own silos so not too concerned. I would expect the price to go up--they seem too cheap.

[Superduty]

The paint comes off on the canadas. May not be as important on the snows if the plastic/rubber body is molded from a white resin.

[tearin' lips]

I don't have honker dekes, but I have about 3 dozen scaup dekes of theirs. I am not happy with the paint job at all. The rest of my dekes are GHG and Flambeau and I am far happier with them. I did get one good year out of them though, but since then I have had to touch them up every year.

[snowgoose]

Thanks for the help guys.

I think I may still go with the Sport Plast for the snows. I don't know what I will do for blues yet.

[stayman79]

We have 4 doz. Sportplast snowgoose decoys and like them. They don't have much motion, but spread around socks they look pretty good. They're a cheap full body and really light. They don't pack down like a shell, but better than a hard full body. To give you an idea, I have a jumbo decoy bag and we put ALL 48 of them in it and it can be easily carried by 2 guys. Could be carried by one guy if it wasn't so clumsy. As for the paint, the plastic is white so you don't have to worry about that. I think the realistic stakes are an unnecessary novelty. Plus the feet are kind of a pain. After one year we cut off the feet because they got stuck pulling out of the bag, after the second year we made some thinner metal stakes that push into the ground easier. If the birds don't decoy because they don't see pink feet I guess they're too smart for us anyway. We'd buy more but have decided to begin upgrading (i.e. spending more cash) even if it takes more space. Last year we bought 3 doz Avery full bodies...they look sweet! We heard about a 5/8 shell coming out from Avery, sort of in between a full body and a shell, might wait to see what those cost. Could be the ideal decoy for realism, motion and, if they stack, for storage.

Go buy those Sportplast dekes! Good deke for the money! I think the snows look the best of all of their collapsable dekes.

stayman

[snowgoose]

Thanks Stayman

Let me know if you want to get rid of the Sport Plasts you have as you upgrade. After hunting with guides in Texas they stongly suggested only using one kind of goose decoy at a time. I'm not sure that hunting with different kinds such as socks and full bodies at the same time ever effected my hunts or not.

Maybe I can give you some seed money for you upgrades.

Todd