Old Herters fixer upper - how to

quane

quane

Active member
Greetings,
I've got some old Herters bluebills that i want to ask about. As you can see they are some high mileage units. They are probably 30+ yrs. old.

herterbluebill.gif

So my question is:
What to do with them?
I need your advice. I have repainted decoys, but do not have any experience with Herters.
1. rig them and hunt them (get out of the garage and take the kids fishing instead)
2. Clean and repaint
3. bondo, burlap, and make real pretty
4. Sell them on ebay and buy a couple of nice decoys

Thanks for your advice,

Dave
 
My dad used to use those for seaduck hunting repainted as eider back in the late 60's and early 70's. I still have 8 of them. All I've done to them over the years is repaint them. I wouldn't modify those old deeks too much. I think they are kind of neat just the way they are.
 
I don't know how old they are...they look like newer model 63's to me with a wee bit of wear on them. I used to put wear on them like that in one season. Are you sure they're older ones. If they are somebody either hardly used them or took really good care of them. I mean, like ridiculously good care! If they have the pink foam then I believe they stopped using that in the 80's sometime so maybe they are old.

I'd just use them and touch up the paint. If you're going to get into a burlap job I'd probably buy some new bodies and start from scratch.
 
Dave, you saw my re-paint post a couple of pages back. They were Herters. I agree that those are in excellent condition. My foamers have taken a severe beating..................Kevin
 
From the picture they appear to have the pink foam.
I wish the ones that I have were in that good of shape. Mine have a lot of dents, dings, and gouges in them, as well as some bites out of the tales. I am planning on burlapping and repainting 2-3 doz to thicken up my diver spread.
 
Dave I think you should get rid of those nasty things by giving them to me! He he Just touch em up with a little paint and hunt em. Nothing wrong with those birds.
 
Here's the dissenting opinion - just hunt them the way they are. The ducks do not care. Only hunters do.

Charlie
Click to expand...


That's what I'd do Charlie...I just figured he had an itch to paint something!
 
I wouldnt sell them, they are great decoys and the new ones aint cheap.
I guess it depends on how much time you have. If you have the time, burlap them & repaint, they will last a lifetime.
If time is tight, either just touch them up with new paint or hunt them like they are. LIke Charlie said, the will look fine to the ducks.
 
I wouldn't get dirty burlapping a couple dekes...order a couple dozen more bodies and make it worth your while. Then make a couple templates and get some spray paint and whip them out...or a couple qts of rustoleum and a couple cheap brushes. Then you will have a rig that will be shotgun proof...especially if you get some MLB heads that will drive nails.
 
Get some MLB heads as the factory herter's heads break easily. Spend no more money and put them in your diver rig.
Just my $.02 worth,
Harry
 
Scott,

Thanks. I didn't no MLB or Lou sold only heads. I've got between a 12 and 20 herters blocks that need new heads. I don't really like the ones cabelas sells.

Ed L.
 
Scott,

Thanks. I didn't no MLB or Lou sold only heads. I've got between a 12 and 20 herters blocks that need new heads. I don't really like the ones cabelas sells.

Ed L.
Click to expand...

Hi Ed,
Yup, we sell heads separately as well as with the bodies. You can go to the website and download the catalog and view a bunch of bodies and comparison heads. Let me know if we can be of service.
Lou
www.lockstockbarrell.com
 
Thanks for the ideas everyone - I do appreciate it.

My diver rig is growing into a real frankenstein - any suggestions on how to place different birds?
I have:
old Herters
new Herters
G&H magnum
GHG
Flambeau (repainted mallards)
Fowl foolers
etc..

Should I place all the same models together, or mix them all up?
It seems like the differences are more noticable to me when different brands are put near each other in a spread.

The birds may not care, but I would like to hear your experiences...
 
I like to keep them mixed up a bit, brand/posture wise. For blue bills I'm using herters, flambeau, and repainted carrylite mallards. As well as sportplast buffies, sea gulls, old squaws and herters repainted brant. Usually not all at once! It looks more obvious to me if they are grouped together. I do tend to keep the high heads toward the end of my rig and low heads and sleepers more toward the middle. Active birds just coming in or getting ready to leave seem to stay at the edges and appear more alert so I try to mimick that. I also leave a space or two in my lines for a landing area and more natural look.

Gene
 
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