How many decoys?

conan

Member
I use a scull boat for a layout boat on pool 13 in the Mississippi.
We have alot of divers Cans and Bluebills rafted up in the open.
Mallards are very few.
So to hunt the divers, how many decoys should you use, wind duks or not and any
particular set up. V vs J hook or straight line vs bunch
Thanks, gotta hunt whats out there.
 
Here's Lou Tisch's famous spread sketch that has graced this site a gillion times. He's done a lot of open water killin.

http://lockstockbarrell.com/doc/DHBP-DEKE-SET-Lou.pdf

I guess you could remove the scoters and Old Squaws and just put the puddlers off to one side. I flag is usually enough to get the birds attention, the wind duk should work too, but don't think you have to have it.

The birds are out there feeding and staying away from hunters, so set up where they want to be. Sometimes being 100yds off the mark can make for a slow day.

I'd say 100 is a good number of decoys to be successful.

Good luck and be safe.
 
i hunt lk st clair - i use 4dz. ducks in my spread - 24 per side in three rows of 8 - set up like lou outlines more or less -- not in tight rows but rather with some slack between the two anchored ends so they get a J or C appearance -- if the ducks are there we limit out - i don't think we could do better with 100 -- but i don't have the experience of most here - so far the 4dz are workin just fine
 
Sounds like a plan, remember I'm using a scull boat which can barely hold 4 dz decoys.
Should I mix the spread half cans and half bluebills? Maybe a few mallards
 
again - i am no expert - just telling you what my limited budget allows me to do at this time in my duck hunting career --- we use mostly bluebills with a few buffies and cans mixed in - also limited by size - our tender is a 1675 lund that carries the layout - decoys and three hunters - we are maxed out on room for safe operation - so i don't forsee expansion of the operation unless the mrs. alows me a bigger boat - and i don't see that happinin just so i can haul more decoys!!!

lol --- lol --- now if i was married to dani it might be different--- lol --- lol
 
I'd go with mostly bills but make sure to through in a 1/2 dzn cans and a couple of buffies (GEs if you see them too.). Cans, GEs and buffies tend to home in on their own, especially buffies and GEs. Having them in the spread can make the difference between passing & decoying birds.
So if you can fit 4 dzn, get 3 dzn bluebills and then mix up the rest.
Here's a classic layout spread, the J hook.
As you may notice, I like coot decoys. The last two years, my main spread has been 3 dzn coots, 1 dzn puddlers and 1 dzn divers. It works great. If I had 6 dzn coots, I'd use them all.
LayoutSpread11032003.JPG
 
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I like Carls spread. You can use Mallards too in group off to the side. Mixing blue bills and red head OK ,Keep the cans seperate.
 
Curious...What side of pool 13? IL or IA. We noticed a sculler last week on the pool headed across the channel and was debating if the boat was a Ralph Thompson rig.

Ed L.
 
That was probably me. It is a Thomsen boat, one of his last that he built.
Great boat, I have a 9hp on the back and it can fly.
Good layout boat too, just cover the whole boat with some netting and sit in the middle.
Pushes into the shallows too just no mallards worth huntin
 
I hear you about the Mallards!!! Watched what appeared to be 1000's coming out of Potters last week but them's is edgicated ducks!

Went out this morning for a few hours. Seen 8 ducks and 20 Geese. Nothing on the water today. I'll be trying again tomorrow.

We did make a comment about how fast that sculler was moving. Figured you had a bionic arm...lol I located one of Ralph's for sale. Going to take a look this weekend. I'm using his decoys. It would be cool to be using one of his boats too.
 
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