Goose Decoys

[MT_Chad]

Hey guys, I'm in the market for a few new dekes this year to add to the collection, but I haven't had to add for about 8 years so I'm a little rusty. We used to buy only the fully flocked greenhead gear bonkers but the have gotten ridiculously expensive and hard to find. We also have some of the avian x fully flocked, not a big fan. They are really heavy and the plastic is super soft and they get mangled in storage. I have thought about trying dakota decoys, higdon, and tanglefree mostly but open to others. Interested in full body and shells. The old man is buying another dozen silhouettes so we should be good for a while after this. Thanks guys.

 

[F250]

Watch Craigslist. Try to find some of the old Big Foot decoys. Due to the reduced season and bag limits in the Atlantic Flyway, I expect some folks will be giving up and selling off. Flocking the heads yourself is easy and not expensive.

 

[MT_Chad]

Watch Craigslist. Try to find some of the old Big Foot decoys. Due to the reduced season and bag limits in the Atlantic Flyway, I expect some folks will be giving up and selling off. Flocking the heads yourself is easy and not expensive.

Definately not the same climate here in montana, our limits went up in the central flyway and finding decent deals on craigslist are few and far between. I've never been a big fan of bigfoots either, they are tough, but I am easy on our decoys and prefer the movement you get of the greenheads. We bag and head sock our decoys to keep them in good shape and the bags make it easier when we can't drive into the fields.

My question is mostly to address who still builds quality decoys. Since I bought last Avery has went through bankruptcy, fred zink sold avian x, and final approach and hardcore have emerged from under giant corporations with bargain basement decoys.

 

[Nemont]

Higdon Alpha Magnum Full-Body Canada Goose Decoys, 6-Pack

Deceive the most suspicious goose with Alpha Magnum Full-Body Canada Goose Decoys from Higdon.

www.ganderoutdoors.com

 

[Nick87]

I dont do Facebook but I know a lot of buddies find deals on "waterfowl garage sale" page. A lot of guys selling them after one season. Why I have no idea, but give it a look.

 

[Nathan]

So 90% of my spread is Higdon and they have held up great over the years. But I do keep all my full bodies in bags with socks covering the flocked heads. I’m sure that helps a lot.

This summer I picked up some used Tangled Free and a dozen of the Dakota fully flocked full bodies. Initial thoughts are that they both look nice but no way I’d spend the money for new Dakotas.

If I gotta buy new I’m gonna keep buying Higdon but I wouldn’t think twice about buying more Dakotas used for a good price.

 

[MT_Chad]

Thanks guys, I'm looking pretty hard at the new higdon apex honkers, might try them out. I have some store credit I need to use with Mack's prarie wings after returning a set of bibs that sucked and I can always use more decoys.

 

[muleyfreak08]

If you are looking for a used big foots, Dakota Extremes and some hidgen I’d love to sell my set up. Haven’t gone the last two years looking to get out of the waterfowl lifestyle.

 

[Doublecluck]

Dakota makes the most durable long lasting goose decoy. We treat em like crap, no bags just throw em, kick em, whatever in the trailer. Heads don’t break, stands don’t blow over in the wind. Buy Dakota’s..

 

[Addicting]

Dakota makes the most durable long lasting goose decoy. We treat em like crap, no bags just throw em, kick em, whatever in the trailer. Heads don’t break, stands don’t blow over in the wind. Buy Dakota’s..

I’ve had a dozen mallards sitting in my base for years. Won them at a DU dinner. Had no idea what I had and I just kept using my Carry lite. This thread made me go down there to see what goose decoys I had. Man those Dakotas are nice. Unfortunately, I sold the boat years ago and got out of it. They are now listed on FB market place. Someone will get a good thanksgiving deal.

 

[Doublecluck]

I’ve had a dozen mallards sitting in my base for years. Won them at a DU dinner. Had no idea what I had and I just kept using my Carry lite. This thread made me go down there to see what goose decoys I had. Man those Dakotas are nice. Unfortunately, I sold the boat years ago and got out of it. They are now listed on FB market place. Someone will get a good thanksgiving deal.

What state ? What decoys? How much?

 

[Addicting]

PM sent

 

[Duck-Slayer]

I do some goose hunting lol, I’ve gotten away from full body goose decoys, only run 1 1/2 dz FB and 10 dz silos, I own avian x FB. 6 upright walkers and 12 lesser sportsman series I think. Anyway good advice from everyone above, get some DSDs lol and rogerssportinggoods.com has great deals
Matt

 

[MT_Chad]

I do some goose hunting lol, I’ve gotten away from full body goose decoys, only run 1 1/2 dz FB and 10 dz silos, I own avian x FB. 6 upright walkers and 12 lesser sportsman series I think. Anyway good advice from everyone above, get some DSDs lol and rogerssportinggoods.com has great deals
Matt

I used to hunt with a guy that had some DSDs, nice but my God are they pricey, heavy too. We have started using more silos as well, we are hunting more fields we have to walk into so most of the full bodies stay in the trailer these days. Roger's is great, they are usually the first place I check when I'm looking for something for waterfowl.

 

[Sask hunter]

I have 6 big foot full bodies and the rest are huge in shells. I honestly like shells best

 

[MT_Chad]

I have 6 big foot full bodies and the rest are huge in shells. I honestly like shells best

Yeah, I just got done looking through our spread, I think I'm going to get some new shells, I'm down to a dozen shells. I looked at the higdon shells at sportsmans today, decent shells for a decent price and they are about the only shells Mack's has. I wish I could still get the oversize fully flocked shells avery used to make, I have a dozen of them and they are unreal. I would do unholy things to get a few more dozen of them.

 

[Duck-Slayer]

Yea DSDs are too spendy for me lol... I haven’t noticed a difference in Regular vs Fully Flocked, I still kill a bunch of geese. I think numbers trump the fully flocked/expensive decoys. My buddy swears on FB decoys, but imo it’s more about your hide. Plus I’m always running traffic too
Matt

 

[MT_Chad]

Yea DSDs are too spendy for me lol... I haven’t noticed a difference in Regular vs Fully Flocked, I still kill a bunch of geese. I think numbers trump the fully flocked/expensive decoys. My buddy swears on FB decoys, but imo it’s more about your hide. Plus I’m always running traffic too
Matt

I agree, being on the x and a quality hide is most important. I do like the fully flocked decoys though, no shine on sunny days and we have actually had better durability with the flocked decoys vs the painted ones. When we were buying a lit of decoys, avery used to include the bag with the ffd decoys but not the painted ones, so for us the ffd was only like 20 bucks more when you include the price of the bag.