Decoy Color

[Smalls]

Alright, me and my buddy were talking about this yesterday while getting destroyed by mosquitos and watching all the ducks go around us. What is ya'lls opinion of decoy color? What we were talking about is the pretty badly faded (nearly a white sand color now) mallard hen I had thrown out. I know ducks see in color, and better than we do, but I never thought much of it being too light.

Any comments?

[SaltERedneck]

I got about 2 deeks that look like a mixture of the rainbow lol... havent had any problems with it. but I am usually hunting with 4 - 7 dozen. my deeks are going on 12 yrs now.

maybe take the emphasis off of the deek with a bigger spread or just dont use it. sure you will get alot of opinions, but if it bothers you then eliminate it.

[Duck Butter]

Some days the ducks will come into Clorox bleach bottles and old faded coot decoys, but once they become localized they have seen all the faded decoys that never have any ripples around them and the duck sitting on top of a metal stick that will never land, and they want no part of it. Good decoys make all the difference in the world many times, especially with stale ducks.

If you have to use a big spread then keep your best looking decoys on the edges which is where they will be focusing most their attention, the ones in the middle are just fillers. We flew over Lake Martin back in April and yes there were still decoys out there! From 1000 ft up, you could see the faded decoys looked nothing like ducks

[Smalls]

Well I use a pretty small spread (less than a dozen dekes) since I hunt public land. Thinkin about just pullin it from the spread until I can repaint it.

[all star rod]

High dollar decoys are more over rated than using high dollar shells..

[Top Dawg]

We use about 2 doz of the ugliest mixture you can find and it works just fine.

[duck enticer]

I love my GHG spoonbill decoys. No lie. The spoons come right to them. We also killed a pair of canvasbacks a few years back that zeroed in on them. Good thing I always put the spoons on my side.

[saodma]

I hunt public land and use 8 of teh best decoys I can find. I do find it does make a difference when hunting with so few. At the Lake we use soem older decoys along with coots. Lots of coot decoys. Works great on new birds but resident birds know what is up. With the small spread I use 2 jerk lines with 3 decoys each. Works great even on resident birds.

[Gottogo49]

I would suggest that you pull it out and repaint it. That's what I do during the pre-season - repaint decoys. I like decoys with white on them, drake pintails, spoonbills, and scaup. You can see them from a long way off. I wish that I could afford 10 dozen coots, if there are coots in your marsh the ducks seem to follow them. I also like head down dippers and sleepers if you have a little resting area. A full body decoy or two doesn't hurt - try to match what live ducks are doing. I agree it's difficult in the refuge when you must pack them in and out. I usually buy the cheaper shells - at 20-30 yds it doesn't matter much. I don't have a dog so beyond 40 yds I just don't shoot. To me, playing with decoys is part of the fun. Others get great pleasure from watching their dog work. To each his own....