Decoy placement/ spreads

[meaux fishing]

Originally Posted by AubreyLaHaye458

I'll be honest with you, I'm not real excited and my expectations are low for this weekend


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[bab52]

My boat house is next inlet west of duck cleaning sign. Across from big red barn north of the road.

[C-Bass2mouth]

Originally Posted by DaPointIsDaBomb

Buddy from Patoutville a big duck hunter and he taught me a lot this past season. All about the whites and blacks. Ducks can't see them drab browns and grays from far away, need some color so use bleach bottles and good flat paint, shiny will flare em. We save bleach bottles all year and when if I see a crab trap with a certain fellow's name on it, I cut them and save them up all year to make decoy heads to stick on the bleach bottles. Carve em up aint gotta be pretty and wrap electrical tape on em, don't paint em it will melt that styrofoam.

Sometimes if mallards are around we put out a few sprite bottles in middle of spread to look like greenheads. If reds and cans are in the area, use CocaCola bottles in spread.

For late season, less decoys is not needed, we see em rafted up in the bay in big flocks but they started pairing up already, so we put out some duckling decoys too to make it look like a safe place to land. If baby ducks around, then all ducks know its safe. Proof in the pudding baw

I need one of those duckling dekes with a treble hook!

[Bdub]

Originally Posted by bab52

My boat house is next inlet west of duck cleaning sign. Across from big red barn north of the road.

Haha yeah hey neighbor

[Bdub]

Should be a good weekend, I saw a lot of birds last Sunday

[C-Bass2mouth]

Originally Posted by Bdub

Should be a good weekend, I saw a lot of birds last Sunday

Good! Yall swing by twin oaks for a beer sometime. Bringing a buddy's dad for his first duck hunt this weekend and he's wanting boiled crabs. Is Rock the best place for that around there? Never been anywhere that side of the ship channel.

[Duffy.yyz]

I meant bring the deeks in tight to your blind, not clumped in a group.

[AlexOrtego]

if you're in an area where there's constant pressure i would use the Prettiest(i take out my Dakotas and late season GHG's) decoys, cut spread in half(i put out 30 max), and 1 jerk string........


2nd split.... calling...... "less is more" , they've heard every call from Canada to Louisiana, once you know they've seen your pond, single quacks and feeder call..... they'll make up their mind

[southLA]

How is Cameron parish looking?

[Dogface]

We use 24-30 decoys and put out/ pick up every hunt. Set them according to wind, etc. I'm a big believe in picking up every day.

[C-Bass2mouth]

I've killed 500+ a season for years over coke bottles painted black in Holly Beach, so who knows lol. I've also seen pintail land with ONE bottle that floated off. Pretty sure we over think everything to do with duck hunting, but it makes me feel better when a "plan" comes together.

[C-Bass2mouth]

Originally Posted by AlexOrtego

if you're in an area where there's constant pressure i would use the Prettiest(i take out my Dakotas and late season GHG's) decoys, cut spread in half(i put out 30 max), and 1 jerk string........


2nd split.... calling...... "less is more" , they've heard every call from Canada to Louisiana, once you know they've seen your pond, single quacks and feeder call..... they'll make up their mind

And those flocked Dakotas are gnarly btw.

[Bdub]

Originally Posted by Duffy.yyz

I meant bring the deeks in tight to your blind, not clumped in a group.

Gotcha I thought u meant tight group...I usually put my jerk rig decently close to the blind.

[cajunduck man]

I mix up my species during the first split. Late in the second split I put specific species together. Where I hunt I never use more than 30 decoys and on some days, especially after a front before the wind shift I may use only a dozen. I use Mojo's on a clear, windy day. On a foggy day or any day w/o wind I use motion decoys...some homemade and some factory...Mojo feeder, Wonderduck feeder, and jerk-string along with about 6 flocked decoys. NO MOJO wing decoys on those days. On clear days I space my decoys rather far apart and on cloudy days a littler closer together. Look at the duck movement in your area. Ask yourself these questions: How many ducks do you see on the water in a given area? When duck are rafting up how many are there? If you come into an area and jump up 20 ducks should you put out 5 dozen decoys? Are they flying in flocks of 10 + or are they singles and doubles? In my marsh less calling is better. How do the duck in your marsh respond to calling? Look at the moon phase. When is the feeding time? Should you be hunting in the early morning, mid morning or afternoon. All of this comes into play as you figure out what works best where you hunt. At 54 years old and made I first duck hunt 50 years ago I can tell you that, in my opinion, you don't need the best of everything. Know where the duck are flying and feeding, camouflage is important but you don't need the "latest and greatest" just don't move and let them see your eyes or your "moon pie" face, don't over call and just have fun!

[B-Stealth]

Everyone has made some very good points, IMO every "Best Practice" that I'm aware of has been mentioned.

What kinda spread y'all hunting in the "Lacasine Flyway", I heard they only respond to fully flocked dekes?

[cgoods17]

i personally think white/black contrast works the best. i plan on repainting mine after this season and will definitely emphasize the white and dark.

and as far as the spread: i hunt in a rice field, so i tend to think more is better. just rearrange them from time to time, give the birds something different to look at. if things start to slow down and birds wise up, then change something. and remember, ALWAYS KEEP YOUR BLIND BRUSHED LIKE IT IS THE FIRST DAY!!!!!!!!!

[AlexOrtego]

Originally Posted by cgoods17

i personally think white/black contrast works the best. i plan on repainting mine after this season and will definitely emphasize the white and dark.

and as far as the spread: i hunt in a rice field, so i tend to think more is better. just rearrange them from time to time, give the birds something different to look at. if things start to slow down and birds wise up, then change something. and remember, ALWAYS KEEP YOUR BLIND BRUSHED LIKE IT IS THE FIRST DAY!!!!!!!!!

AGREED with the contrast / most colorful spread possible / SPOONBILL GHG's are probably my favorite decoy on the market!

[all star rod]

Originally Posted by cgoods17

i personally think white/black contrast works the best. i plan on repainting mine after this season and will definitely emphasize the white and dark.

and as far as the spread: i hunt in a rice field, so i tend to think more is better. just rearrange them from time to time, give the birds something different to look at. if things start to slow down and birds wise up, then change something. and remember, ALWAYS KEEP YOUR BLIND BRUSHED LIKE IT IS THE FIRST DAY!!!!!!!!!

I hunt in rice fields to and basically do the same thing. Also, keeping your blind brushed is very critical!

Hopefully, everyone kills on SAT....BANG...BANG....

[Bdub]

I agree with the blind brushing, we bring extra roseau in with us every hunt and just keep adding around us.

[mstulb]

Originally Posted by Dogface

We use 24-30 decoys and put out/ pick up every hunt. Set them according to wind, etc. I'm a big believe in picking up every day.

2nd that, Texas rig em and string em up, only takes a few minutes.
Then I can place my decoys according to that wind that morning. Ex. Heavy winds tighter groups closer to shore, calmer days spread them out and push off bank etc.

This also help tremendously between fronts when birds stick around for a few days or sometimes weeks. If you leave your decoys out they start to learn where those blinds are quick.