Posts Tagged ‘Duck decoys’

Motorized Duck – Do They Work?

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Motorized Duck1 300x201 Motorized Duck – Do They Work?Motorized duck decoys work and I can prove it. I was told they don’t work and when fellow hunters see me with mine they laugh under their breath or they give me funny looks like I’m nuts. I feel this is mainly because they are old school duck hunters and they have never even seen a motorized duck work.

I feel most of the bad press for any motorized decoy come from all the bull #$%* advertisers out there that claim the best hunt you will ever have but the truth is you still need regular decoys and proper decoy placement to be successful.

What Motorized Duck Decoy To Use?

There are a few options here and every website and their dog claims they have the best and maybe they do but I can tell you which one has worked great for me. Decoy movement in the water is very important to your success mainly because you are after realism in any decoy spread. Live ducks and geese move in the water or waters edge they don’t just sit motionless. Both ducks a geese have great eye sight and they notice if there is movement as other ducks or geese are grooming and cleaning themselves and this is why motorized duck decoys work so well.

lucky duck 300x117 Motorized Duck – Do They Work?Mainly there is one motorized duck that I use called the Lucky Duck. Why is it better than others? First off the remote control motorized duck decoys that swims around takes both your hands to operate and is only good if you are hunting with someone that doesn’t mind running it for you while you get all the great shots. I know, I was that guy once operating the decoy while my buddies took the shots. Also it kept breaking down because it’s cold and wet and soon I was spending more time fixing it than hunting. It is buried in my basement somewhere and never get’s used unless the kids get it out and play with in the pool.

With my Lucky duck motorized duck decoy I let it run on it’s own and now I can enjoy getting in on the shots when they fly into my floating duck decoys.

Motorized Duck Decoys I won’t Use

I have tried a few different new and flashy motion decoys with little to no success. With that being said I’m sure there are a few people that have used them and liked them, I’m just not one of them. The problem with wind powered motion decoys is that there is no in between. If there is too much motion from wings flying in the wind at 20 miles/Hr ducks will not fly into your decoy spread. If there is no wind, what’s the point of having the motion decoy because it’s not moving.

Motorized duck decoys can be controlled which is why I like them. I like having both hands free so I can still get in on the action.

Motorized Duck Decoy Placement

Motorized Decoy Spread 300x300 Motorized Duck – Do They Work?OK I know there is some debate on this subject and I’m open to any comments or suggestion but I will tell you how I set my motorized duck decoy spread because I know this works.

First I like to use the “U” pattern on the water. I place a mixture of different species of duck decoys from one side of the bulrushes to the other. My duck pond allows me to set them up this way. I always put my lucky duck on the inside edge of the “U” on either side of the center, it doesn’t matter which. The splashing draws the attention of the high fliers and I have seen a low passing group not land into my decoys yet. The landing zone in the “U” shape invites them right in.

Also make sure your decoys are nicely painted up each year. See our post for a quick lesson on decoy paint touch ups.

Others use motorized duck decoys on land but I have always stuck to the water, why mess with something that works just fine.

Hunting Decoys Can Make Or Break The Hunt

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

Wood duck decoys 300x300 Hunting Decoys Can Make Or Break The HuntUsing hunting decoys can make or break your hunt. The trick is the use the right ones at the right time. Here are some very basic hunting decoy tips to help you out. I know that most of us have our own ideas of what works but I have never been skunked yet and I have been hunting for over 30 years.

Duck Decoys: When duck hunting some basic skils are needed but a very large part of your success will depend on your duck decoys. Birds of a feather flock together and in the water fowl world this is very true. Most ducks will be attracted to their own species, so you want to use Mallard decoys for Mallard ducks and wood duck decoys for wood ducks although I have had great success mixing species in my decoy spread.

Decoy placement becomes very important because ducks will feel better about landing into your decoys if you leave them a landing zone. Really the main reason for your duck decoy spread is to attract the ducks to land until they are in your shooting range. A help ful tip is to make sure you have lots of decoys as this will help create security for ducks that are passing by plus increase the visibility of your decoy spread. See duck identification chart to mark your species. Also see how to use duck decoys.

Turkey Decoys: Any turkey hunter will tell you that if you want to successful every trip you will have to learn some basic turkey hunting skills. First off giving some strong turkey calls before you walk into the woods to see if you get any response back should be your first priority. If you hear a call back you can begin to place your turkey decoys. Always start out before the sun rises and make sure you have a good shooting lane.

My dad once told me that turkeys can see you breathing so keep in mind that they can detect movement, so once you get your decoys placed get comfortable and try not to move once you see the turkey. Once the turkey is in sight start to calling and try to get the turkey to gobble back, this will bring him into shooting range and once the turkey spots the decoys it will slowing make its way strutting into the turkey decoys.

You should always try to make the decoys look as realistic as possible. I use Turkey Skinz on my decoys because you can’t get anymore realistic then that.

Deer Decoys: Most deer have great survival skills but when they see a deer decoy they won’t be able to resist even though they have great eye site and a great sense of smell. You need very realistic deer decoys and I have even see a buck try to mate with mine. The most common deer decoy to use is a doe decoys but also you need a good scent. During the rut I use scent on the doe decoy itself and this has proven to be very successful. I also use grunt calls, doe belch and rattling to bing in the big bucks. It dose not matter if you are in a tree stand or a ground blind, if you use the right deer decoy you will be successful.

Goose Decoys: Geese are very sociable by nature, and with proper goose decoy placement you will do great. Mind you I have seen geese fly into my wooden plywood decoys but I had them placed properly. When in flight geese can see other geese weather they are on the ground or on a pond or on a lake, they have a strong tendency to join that flock. If you have lots of goose decoys then you’ll be set. By building your own display of geese decoys with a proper landing zone will have the geese fly right into you.

As geese fly overhead looking down at your goose decoys they will want to land right into them. Use good strong calls but mix up the calls a bit to get the flocks attention. It is known that you can hunt geese in the rain, snow and over cast days, because geese love this kind of weather. Be sure to make your spread as realistic as possible, which in turn will make the flock turn and land. If you setup you decoys using proper decoy placement and calls you will be successful.

How To Make Cattail Duck Decoys

Monday, September 14th, 2009
cattaildecoy11 150x150 How To Make Cattail Duck DecoysBefore you learn how to make a cattail duck decoy let me give you some history. For thousands of years, Natives Americans across North America used cattails, other grasses, and rushes for items of everyday use. One of the most ingenious uses of cattail, bulrush and the tule plant was making floating decoys to lure waterfowl to roosting areas to be bow-hunted, netted, or snared. Geese and other migratory birds, passenger pigeon, cormorant, swan, and as well as turkey, grouse, partridge were important game birds to Native Americans.