Types of decoys used

[corey hendrickson]

I don't want to start the whole this decoy is better than that decoy, but I want to know what types of decoys your spreads consist of. Fullbody's only, silo's, or shells etc. Is it good to mix shells, and fullbody's etc. I want to slowly start building my spread, which right now is 4 feeding bigfoots and some shells I got for 15 bucks which are atleast 7 days older than god, so are the silo's a good way to " fill in space" Hope this isn't to vague. Thanks guys, Y'alls knowledge, and willingness to help us beginners, is a excellant resource, and has already helped me alot!

[Mark Spence]

Since I just sold every decoy I own....I am in the process of rebuilding my spread for this upcoming season. I plan to have everthing below in place within the next three years.

Well...my goose spread - once finished - will consist of 6-8 dozen full bodies (feeders and active/rester) and 2-4 dozen shells (resters and sleepers). I try to keep my full bodies in about a 60% feeder to 40% active/rester ratio. I will also alter my % based on what I see the birds doing while scouting. As for the shells and sleepers....I under utilize these tools...and I can admit that. But, for the most part, the later in the season, the more shells I put out. I will begin experimenting a bit this year with some spreads set with more sleepers, etc. to see how it affects the birds.

As for my duck spread - again once finished - will consist of 2 dozen mallards, 1 dozen black ducks, and some woodie floaters. For field hunting, I will be using 2-4 dozen fullbodies and maybe some shells on stakes for motion. My floater spread is pretty small, but I really don't need a large spread for the small swamps, backwaters, and creeks I hunt. I don't hunt divers often and when I do, I hunt with a buddy who has a fantastic diver rig.

I hope I gave you an understanding of what I run....if you have any specific questions....post up!!!

[corey hendrickson]

Well I wish my goose spread was like my duck spread, we smash ducks consistantly, I usually hunt small/medium sized ponds and we usually hunt 4-6 dz decoys and 2 robo's , we have mallards, pintails, widgeon, and teal, we usually set the pintails and mallards in a large group, and the teal and widgeon out to the sides, our spread setup is a consistant producer, and we have tinkered with it, and it works great. My thing is w/my money situation, I wont have but maybe 1-2 dz fullbodys, so i am maybe thinking of getting some silos for fillers, or should I just invest in 4 fullbodys as opposed to 12 silos???? Last night I just put in a bid on my first home, so who knows what my finances will be like, but the garage has plent of decoy space. I have probably 10 dz duck blocks, I should sell some for goose decoys

[corey hendrickson]

I am still lookin for some more feed back what do y'alls spreads consist of to put em on the X

[Silver Webfoot]

i use all fullbodies and maybe some sillos but not too many,i just dont believe in them.......

[h20fowler]

If it is the X ... my decoy spread is set to match what was there the day before. Unless I am trying to get in and get out. I will through a dozen full bodies to look like the first group in. (Unless it is COLD. then I through shells, or take the feet off the full bodies. Shoot the birds, then through the decoys in the layout blinds and get outta dodge. Pick it all up once the birds leave the field. Runnin traffic I will througha bigger spread to pull them off the X if I can get into the field next to it or close by. Bottom line is if you are in the field they want to be in ( The X) then it doesn't matter what you have.

Ducks, it all depends on the day. Spread consists of 15 dozen mallards, 6 dozen teal, 1 dozen woodies, 3 dozen pintail, 2 dozen shovelers, 1 dozen widgeon, and 3 dozen motion full body mallards. I also have 6 robo's, but I hardly ever use them. I used 1 maybe three times last year.

Geese, depends on the amount of help that I have. I have 12 dozen full bodies, 15 dozen shells ( 4 dozen super- mags, 2 dozen mags, 9 dozen standard), and 6 dozen silos.

[Kelly Rees]

Mostly fullbodies, nothing but fullbodies until November. After November we start to mix in some silly's for numbers. When theres snow on the ground we will start using sleeper shells and sillys. I dont like sleeper shells in a field until it's real cold and snowy.

[corey hendrickson]

what do you mean runnin traffic????Just new migrators in the area????

[h20fowler]

not so much migrators, but very well could be. X is where they want to be, traffic is everything in between.

Think of it like this. You want to go get a gallon of milk. So think of the milk as the X. That is where you want to be.

The supermarket knows that all you need is the gallon of milk, so they put it at the back of the store. Hoping, that you will be a little 'impulsive' and stop along the way to pick up that loaf of bread, bag of chips, roll of paper towels, whatever. So everything you pass to get to the milk is "traffic".

Well, geese are the same. They have that magic place they want to go. commonly referred to as the "X", it marks the spot. Sometimes they all go to the same place, sometimes they split up and there are 10 x's. That is not the point. The point is sometimes you can't get permission to hunt the field they naturally want to be in. So you get close. It may be a mile away, it may be a field away. None the less you are the bag of chips and they want the milk. so you got to convince them that they want the chips.

If we can not get permission to hunt that X, we will throw more decoys to try to convince them that the X moved today, and now it is over here. Otherwise. If there is no real pressure from other hunters we will go get on that "X" with a minimal set up, as they want to be there anyway. The minimal set up is just a marker on the field to get them to land there instead of any place else in the field.

This is all things you may know, just not in that terminology.

[corey hendrickson]

Thats a great description, and I really didn't know any of that, so Thanks Alot, and hopefully that'll help me get a few more geese next season!!!

[h20fowler]

Anytime. I hope I didn't over generalize it.

[corey hendrickson]

Nope, didn't over generalize, I just used the term "on the X" and I didnt know what most of y'all consider the x...But the young grasshoppa know now..... 8)