Attn: Waterfowl fanatics!

[OntarioHunter]

I hunt on the leading edge of the migration early in the season. My spread consists of two dozen shells that I usually carry out on the field or wheel them out in a modified golf cart. I think I did as well in the old days with just one dozen. Others in my area have tried mixing silhouette deeks with shells or body decoys and had very poor results. If you have six dozen full bodies, that's plenty. With honkers I have found more decoys is not always better (with snows more is essential). How are you setting them up? I keep mine less than 4' apart and facing mixed direction although facing roughly the same direction. Because I have a spread that resembles a family group or two (depending if I put out the second dozen), I set out a lone pair about fifteen yards ahead of the rest. That's where the honkers will land ... if they land without getting shot! No motion in my set! The second dozen came with crappy motion stakes. I tossed them and made fixed T stakes like the ones that came with the earlier model dozen (fifty years earlier). How they can sell Mojo honker decoys is beyond me. I guess the hunting crowd just has to have something new ... even if it doesn't work. Flags do work but only at long distance to get their attention. Once the geese are giving the set a look, put the flag away!

 

[Nick87]

I tried five dozen black and white silhouettes this past weekend mixed in with about six dozen bigfoots and five dozen regular silhouettes. It was a nice sunny day with about a ten mph wind, perfect scenario imo. I could not for the life of me get these geese to finish and I was on the x. Pulled the black and whites and we were done in about an hour. Any others have experience with the black and white silhouettes?

No but I've been a little skeptical to try them. Silos work real well for me here early. But I've found in late season I just can't get them to fully commit.

 

[corndog1]

I'm going to try them again but won't wait so long to pull them. I've seen that some guys have had success using them. I've been accumulating full bodies for two and a half decades now so I'm more just messing around with new things. I won't hesitate to put them out on a mallard feed I think they will be deadly on them. time will tell I guess.

 

[Nick87]

I'm going to try them again but won't wait so long to pull them. I've seen that some guys have had success using them. I've been accumulating full bodies for two and a half decades now so I'm more just messing around with new things. I won't hesitate to put them out on a mallard feed I think they will be deadly on them. time will tell I guess.

Yes, silos have been great on field ducks for me, even wood ducks.

 

[Runnin_Chupacabra]

For those looking for quality mallard deeks, these are hands-down the best I’ve seen. https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/avian-x-topflight-mallard-duck-decoy-outfitter-pack?ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=Shop|Generic|AllProducts|High|SSCCatchAll&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI64mHuOmv9AIVA_HjBx2ZiwqSEAQYAiABEgIYHvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Any updates on the motion duck jerk rig you got?!

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Any updates on the motion duck jerk rig you got?!

Love it, it’s in my bag from now on. It shined when mojos were flaring educated birds!

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Love it, it’s in my bag from now on. It shined when mojos were flaring educated birds!

I've had problems with my lab dragging the line from the jerk rig when returning with a retrieve.
Any tips on minimizing that problem?

 

[Deleted member 38069]

I've had problems with my lab dragging the line from the jerk rig when returning with a retrieve.
Any tips on minimizing that problem?

I’d run an egg weight on the line to keep it down?

 

[WestKyHunt]

Camped on a spot Thursday night to hunt Friday morning. Hopes were not high, but figured we could atleast get some shots off at some woodies and fool a passing mallard or two.

Thursday night a fire was started, friends were made, laughs were shared and a few adult beverages were consumed.

Woke up at 4am, made some coffee and some quick breakfast tacos. At 5am we made it to our makeshift blind and by 545am decoys were set.
I figured we were in for a rough day when by shooting time not a single bird had flown over.
We joked around and bs'd until 8am, only seeing 6 birds, we decided to pack it up.

Not the morning we had hoped for, but we had fun and ate good!

 

[Art Vandeley]

Still waiting on sights like these here… so far this year… zilch

 

[BrentD]

Still waiting on sights like these here… so far this year… zilch



View attachment 203307

Gotta be photoshopped, if that's supposed to be this year...

 

[Art Vandeley]

Gotta be photoshopped, if that's supposed to be this year...

I guess you didn’t read the Comment above the photo

 

[BrentD]

I guess you didn’t read the Comment above the photo

No, I just made a poorly worded response.

 

[glass eye]

Went exploring a new spot today.
Won't be going there again. Spent the day trying to get out. It was like driving on a giant pie. All good as long as we were moving but when we stopped we broke through the crust and it was all pudding underneath.

 

[seeth07]

Went exploring a new spot today.
Won't be going there again. Spent the day trying to get out. It was like driving on a giant pie. All good as long as we were moving but when we stopped we broke through the crust and it was all pudding underneath.
View attachment 203320

But look at all those birds!!!

 

[Jmnhunter]

Anxious to hear how it went?!

it went really well! got lucky on finding a good mall/snows roost; got permission right away. Snow goose migration was in full force too, tornados everywhere, but they knew to keep just high enough from us.

Pups were not in the blinds with us, but they helped find a few of the malls we couldnt find.

 

[seeth07]

So something interesting happened to me this weekend that is potentially something worth exploring. I had a decoy float away from my spread on a large body of water and it got restuck about 100 yards away down the shore. Twice I had birds come in and land closer to this decoy than my spread and they not only landed but swam right up to the dang thing.

Fast forward to this morning. I decided to hunt a small hole that is about 70 x 140 yards. Oftentimes it's difficult to get the birds to always land directly where you want them in this spot and many hit the water out of range. I decided to employ the single deek that kinda worked Saturday. I don't know if it was coincidence or what but every single duck, and I mean dozens, rained down and was going to land within 5 to 10 yards of that damn sexy looking decoy!!! What a morning and maybe I'm on to something?

 

[Deleted member 38069]

View attachment 203667

it went really well! got lucky on finding a good mall/snows roost; got permission right away. Snow goose migration was in full force too, tornados everywhere, but they knew to keep just high enough from us.

Pups were not in the blinds with us, but they helped find a few of the malls we couldnt find.View attachment 203671

Love it, who shot the wigeon?!

 

[JShane]

So something interesting happened to me this weekend that is potentially something worth exploring. I had a decoy float away from my spread on a large body of water and it got restuck about 100 yards away down the shore. Twice I had birds come in and land closer to this decoy than my spread and they not only landed but swam right up to the dang thing.

Fast forward to this morning. I decided to hunt a small hole that is about 70 x 140 yards. Oftentimes it's difficult to get the birds to always land directly where you want them in this spot and many hit the water out of range. I decided to employ the single deek that kinda worked Saturday. I don't know if it was coincidence or what but every single duck, and I mean dozens, rained down and was going to land within 5 to 10 yards of that damn sexy looking decoy!!! What a morning and maybe I'm on to something?

View attachment 203680

You are. Just don't tell anybody else.

 

[seeth07]

You are. Just don't tell anybody else.

My buddy has a theory. It's a single fully flocked black duck from avian. He thinks that the other ducks don't wanna be blamed for being racist so they come to him.