"real" decoys

mike braden

mike braden

Well-known member
Hey guys,

I want to post this topic, just to see what people's beliefs are in terms of duck decoys.

Don't bitch at me and call me bad names for questioning this. I am not sugeesting that it be legal......just curious.

I am not sure how many of you hunt turkeys but in the last few years there is a new turkey decoy. One where the bird(hen) was skinned to make a mount and that is what you bring into the woods to get old Tom. Now I am sure if you use one of those, you will damn well kill more birds.

So what if......

we were allowed to skin ducks and tack it over a foam shell or whatever to make a "real" decoy. PLEASE the topic is not if you can do that because the skin will rot etc because of excessive moisture. The point is - if it could be done and be legal......would you do it. If you did, would you feel like you were cheating? Would it make you less of a sportsman?

Now before someone gets all enviromentally and politically correct on me, just think of the items that you use to hunt or even find fish(sound familiar?) Back in the day some felt that duck calls should be illegal. Some think that taking a buck at 250 yards should be illegal. Some feel that motorized or even wind driven decoys (wings) should be illegal(they are in some states)

What do you think?????

Cheers,
Mike
 
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I dont think that would be a bad thing but thats just me. I have heard of some guys using sticks to prop up geese they shot and put them in the feild with the decoys.
 
seen a lot of guys that will skin geese they are called stuffers i have only hunted over them once but they are kinda of a pain have to very careful with them no moisture no real strong winds but but blue bird days i dont think they can be beat.
 
do you think this practice is "illegal"? Your post seems to indicate that you think that it is....

Lots of people used to use "stuffer" Geese in the days prior to the ultra realistic flocked Goose decoys.....those "seem to have" killed off the "stuffer" people who always claimed that "nothing" could match the realism that stuffers offered.....

Duck stuffers would have been just as "legal" as Goose stuffers, albeit not as practical since keeping them in good condition as floaters would be "problematic" as you can imagine...

Through the years there have been all sorts of "frames" that would accept freshly killed ducks, as well as frame over which skins could be stretched for use as decoys....not to mention the technique of old that was as simple as running a sharpened stake up through the neck of a freshly killed bird so that it could be floated with its head up while the opposite end was driven into the mud.....

Nothing new under the sun....just not required these days, at least in most peoples minds....

Steve
 
Don't think you'd decoy ducks any better with the decoys you're assuming would be "deadly." Plus like Steve pointed out, they'd be tough to keep in decent condition. If a real duck couldn't preen and take care of its feathers, it would be ugly real quick.
 
I am not suggesting that it is illegal. I did not know either way. I am not a field goose hunter and I don't go out specifically for them unless it is the special winter season that we have here. So, from the post so far, it seems that this practice might be quite common for goose hunters.

Just wasn't aware that people were "already doing it" It just seems that we have a wide array of opinions here and I was just curious to how others felt about it. That was the purpose of the post.

Again...who cares about how tough it would be to keep in good condition. I know that. That is why I said in the post that I really wasn't concerned about that. JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW PEOPLE FELT ABOUT IT, THAT ALL.....

Cheers,
Mike
 
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I don't even repaint my dekes, I couldn't imagine a bunch of rotten stinking skins to take care of.If you have more than two days limit, would you be pulling a Mark?
 
You mean you can't do that?!?!?!

There was this kid named .... Mark, ya Mark... back in Manitoba in the 80's who was too cheap to buy decoys so he stole some boards off a snow fence for the CPR line, and cut tear drop shapes with his dad's chainsaw, used fencing staples to hold the wings of freshly dewinged mallards and a spike to put the head on upright. He was quite pleased with his new decoys and deployed them one evening on a good slough known to be a roost. The plan was to sneak up on the real birds at T - 30 min to sunup, and sluice them on the water. Common practice in those parts in them days.

His plan was foiled by a coyote or something that didn't mind wet feet, and as the sun came up he saw his boards defiled and headless. The whole operation was such a failure he never tried it again, or told anyone, until tonight....


Mike

I still say live bait would work best.
 
Guys, I forgot where I found this picture but I believe it was from someone in Nova Scotia who said that he and a friend used these guys for late season wary birds...From what I remember they put it over a foam frame and then put neoprene on the bottom layer...Pretty cool...enjoy

DSC01343.jpg


DSC01342.jpg


Zach
 
I hunted over a rig of stuffer geese for years and they are great decoys if you are willing to make them, pay to get them made, and take care of them.

Overall they're a pain to maintain.

Now give me a few of those blacks and mallards and I'd definitely hunt them in a few small potholes that I only need a few decoys for.

-D
 
There is no way that you will not kill more birds with those black and mallards. Maybe a real pain to maintain but say you only need 4 of them like shown above. Not that much of a pain to carry. It would probably be all that you would need. Put a plastic next to the black and see what a real duck sees coming into a spread.

But this leaves us with the cost - aggravation factor. What is it going to cost and how much is it going to aggravate you in the process. This isn't really what I was fixing to get at with the original post naturally. I just wanted to know if anyone was "againt" them and why???

Cheers,
Mike
 
Hi Mike !! Back in the early 80's a friend of mine made a dozen Black Brant floating decoys from the real birds for us in California. He was able to make very realistic birds with different head positions which added a lot to our decoy rig. They were pretty tough and we used them for quite a while. In fact I still have one sitting on our shelf with our other hollow wood Brant decoys. The mice haven't gotten to it yet !!!!
SO THE ANSWER IS THAT THEY DO WORK !! Bob Hayden
 
This is an interesting topic. I've never really thought about it in regards to ducks. I don't see any reason why not to do it. I think in comparison to hand carving decoys, the cost and time would be similar if it were a do it yourself type thing. Only problem I'd have around here is getting the ducks to mount!
 
One of the guys I hunt with has some black duck and pintail stuffers that he uses late season and they definitely make a difference.
They are full bodies and we place them on the edge where the marsh is beaten down.
 
I have often wondered why a decoy company has not come out with a decoy with synthetic feathers. If they can make artifical plants that are so real you have to grab the leaf to tell the difference they should be able to apply the same science to a feather. Better yet, why not use a cork decoy and insert white pigeon feathers, trim and then dye to the colors needed. Flock the heads and breast. Suddenly, plastic decoys just got a whole lot cheaper!
 
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I have a buddy who had some gadwalls stretched over herters 63 foamers (4) and used them for years until stolen....swears they'd decoy more ducks even the local, shot up ones. I don't know...but I'd like to try it.
 
Those are how the original duck decoys were made by native Americans a long time ago. I wouldn't mess with them; they wouldn't survive where I hunt. Thank God for plastic.

Ed.
 
you know Todd, that's not such a bad idea. A little time consuming but still workable.

If I am lucky enough to shoot another bird this year.....I am going to pull the feathers and attach them to the appropriate plastic decoy. Not all of them but enough to make a difference. Just some on the wing and back should do it.

Cheers,
Mike
 
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