newbie duck hunter, give me advice on a super basic set of decoys

[BigSkyHntr]

We have a bunch of different brands of decoys, but for packing in the Lifetime brand is awesome! They are made of a foam (think floating Croc) and seem to be real durable and are lighter and quieter than the normal molded plastic..

 

[Macintosh]

Appreciate it guys. Keep it coming if anything is relevant. I’ll pick up a dozen decoys and weights based on the suggestions. I already have a jerk rig so the decoys and weights is all I need to ensure I can sufficiently embarrass myself in front of some ducks. Shouldnt be too hard.

 

[Jason Snyder]

The most important thing IMO is where and how well you build your hide.

No glare off your decoys is important and so is movement in your spread. Hiding yourself is critical.

 

[KurtR]

Being on the x trumps every thing else. Up here scouting will make or break you.

 

[Macintosh]

Yah, Im green, just getting the basic stuff so I can focus on that ^^^. Thats the fun part. I went a few times this past fall with 2 old decoys that I dont even remember where they came from, my light-grey fishing waders, deer hunting jacket, etc. didnt get much, but scratched a few down, learned a lot and learned of things that I dont know but didnt even know were things to know. Tagged along with a friend of a friend once. That steep learning curve is fun. Looking forward to a couple more mornings like those.

 

[Wallace]

That was true in 1998 when they came out but the reality the last decade is a lot more nuanced than that as they have been so common and cheap for so long. Some days now they are helpful, others putting them away is better and more than anything now having a remote or being able to toggle them is fairly important to actually using them well.

Spinning wing decoys are more helpful in lower density duck and duck hunter areas and the opposite can be true in high hunting pressure areas. Spinning wing decoys can be more helpful for ducks to see a small spread of decoys than a group putting out 10 dozen decoys.

I do not particularly like spinning wing decoys just for the headaches I’ve spent fighting them in sub freezing conditions for 25 years but they are a useful tool with a small decoy spread.

Blaming spinning wing decoys is a popular scapegoat for all problems in certain circles of duck hunting. If you separate their utility as a tool from the chatter it really helps.

My opinion is skewed due to the places I hunt (pressured, public, green timber). In my experience, SWD will get birds to dip below the tree tops (not commit, dip), which leads to groups tree topping ducks instead of finishing them. Because of that, I'll always label them as a crutch.

I've also seen them suck birds down in the prairie pothole region.

I like a few dozen decoys and a couple of jerk strings for the areas I hunt the most.

 

[nettereo16]

I hunt in NC and unless we get some crazy weather, our ducks are smart and in small groups. Here are my tips:

1. Location is more important than decoys and calling
2. Everyone puts out 1-2dozen mallards. I look different. I put out 4-6 and use a jerk cord. Or I go big with a few dozen & some geese
3. Texas rigs are easy
4. I put a mesh decoy bag on the meat shelf of my Mystery ranch. That hip belt is awesome and I can load it up for the long hikes.
5. Jet sled strapped on the Hawk Deer cart works awesome too. Use the cart to get to the marsh, then use the sled in the muck. I cover miles on public during duck season

 

[Jim1187]

I have long supplemented my decoy spread with 2 litre pop bottles spray painted with a flat dark brown. Add whatever length of line works for your location water depths and a suitable weight depending on current and wind conditions. No keeled decoy has as much movement as the pop bottles with any amount of breeze or current. I typically use a spread made up of almost exclusively black duck decoys and a goose or two.

One of the best things you can do is buy a case or 2 of target loads and burn them up. Ideally on a clay course so you can get instruction but anything that gets you practicing mounting and swinging your gun.

Other than that, scouting and concealment will increase your success or opportunities for it.

 

[Macintosh]

Thanks all. Have a dozen decoys and weights inbound.

The scouting, shooting practice, etc is all a given, at this point I now have the basic “stuff” and can focus on the important part. Appreciate all the help.

 

[UpTop]

But, my biggest suggestion would be start using Meth. Its a far cheaper addiction.

This comment is about as accurate as they get! I’ve had lots of hobbies but waterfowling is by far the most expensive. It doesn’t have to be but if you end up loving it you’re in for a ride!

 

[David Gough]

Small spreads can be deadly. These are the three things that are most important in my opinion:

1. Learn to scout
2. Learn to hide and become invisible.
3. Learn to set a decoy spread correctly.

There's nothing like a flock of birds committing to your spread because that's where they already want to be. Calling, running traffic, how to hunt in the ice, when to make the shot call, etc will all come in time. I don't use a mallard hen call that much where I'm at in Nevada.

 

[MOwhitetail]

The most important thing IMO is where and how well you build your hide.

No glare off your decoys is important and so is movement in your spread. Hiding yourself is critical.

I think this is the best tip. If your hide sucks, it doesn’t matter how good your decoy spread is.

This is even more true with smaller spreads. You can get away with a little with a big spread, but with a small spread you better be invisible.

 

[Rich M]

I grew up in New England. We'd hunt streams, lakes, rivers (float hunt), beaver marshes, and the salt in the winter.

If I was going back up, would see what ducks I could actually lay my eyes on and how many. Relying on my experience of growing up in that area.

I'd get a 4 pack of goose floaters and 1 or 2 standing goose decoys. That's all you need to shoot some geese.
I'd also want 4 mallards (2 drake, 2 hens) and 2 black duck decoys. 1 standing/resting mallard hen or black duck.
Maybe a couple wood duck decoys.
Make a bilge pump duck butt decoy - 500 gph bilge pump, 12 volt feeder battery, and a turn signal switch from auto store. Makes a lot of ripples, entices birds, keeps ice at bay.

We use spinning wings down here but prefer the bilge pump decoy. Everyone else uses spinning wings.

You need to pay more attention to the flight paths than anything else. The ducks/geese will fly these routes most of the time and that's where you want to be. Set up out on points as opposed to the back of coves. The nicest decoy spread on the wrong side of water will not draw ducks.

When you set your decoys don't set em in weeds, set em with water all round them for ease of visibility. I will clean a circle of lily pads to help make decoys more visible. If you hunt salt water you will need much heavier weights than fresh water.

For black ducks - you will get better results with fewer decoys in most areas. a pair together and 1 lone decoy - lone ducks will aim for that lone decoy.

Duck hunting is fun. Was just tough hunting all day pretty much for 1 shot opportunity. That's why the salt water hunting was so good in the winter - interior water was frozen and all the bird pushed to the bays. My uncle and cousin used to hunt great bay - the black duck decoys needed to be set tight/close together to get those ducks exiting the sewage treatment plant. LoL!

Enjoy your fun.

 

[Macintosh]

Thanks all. I guess this has morphed into actual hunting tips. All good, I can use them.

i’ll mostly be hunting what is locally called a slang, which is a very slow moving or no-current dead-end creek off of a main creek, that flows into an extremely large lake that forms sort of a mini-flyway in the region. The creeks are usually about 40-100 yards wide, have an open channel in the middle, and emergent vegetation (cattails, bullrushes, pads, etc) for 15-20 yards on both sides, with hardwoods on shore. Sometimes it gets much wider though, with 200 yards of head-high or higher cattails on either side of the main creek. Ive already figured out the birds fly the open-water channels usually, and not nearly as much over the cattails and shorelines, and the points put you much more in the path of travel. In order to hunt those points theres times id be in waders or on shore in brush/blowdowns, but also times id back into the weeds in my kayak. Once the creeks freeze I can hunt the lake itself, which is a different ballgame entirely as its very big water.

As far as concealment, what did you have in mind? Ie what makes a good hide vs a sucky one?

As far as “learning to scout”, what is the method? Ive basically gone out in the pm to see where ducks are feeding, and tried to be there in the AM, assuming similar wind and conditions. And if Im somewhere in the AM and see them piling into a location, obviously I note that and try to find a pattern I can exploit next time. But I really dont have much nuance to that. What do I need to know?

With regard to the wooded edges, there are times when the shoreline timber floods in a few places, and you can frequently walk up some wood ducks and singles along the edges especially in a few little isolated holes where there is permanent water along the edge of the hardwoods, very few people hunt these but theyre skittish and its hard to be successful. Is there a good/better way to hunt these areas? The holes seem a bit isolated and not on any of the normal flight paths Ive observed, so not sure if there is a way to hunt them more effectively than just walking the edges of the marsh and trying to be sneaky.

Regarding meth, I’ve sworn off it, my parole officer said he’d prefer I obsess about something else.

Keep it coming, this is great, I appreciate it.

 

[Sooner]

Don't do it man. Pretty soon you'll have 6 doz Dakotas, 6 pulsators, a new boat and a 5,000$ dog lol. It the most fun you'll ever have. Esp if you have or plan to have kids that get involved with it.

 

[Kurts86]

For concealment there are a couple of options. First is to use your kayak as layout boat, much like a field hunting blind. Basically you brush your kayak with fast grass/real grass/native vegetation in a tennis net and laydown in the cockpit flat and sit up to shoot. There are various commercial layout boats like a four rivers boat or door kits for kayaks or sometimes you just use a field layout blind in/on the boat. The downside to this is shooting from sitting is it’s own skill and getting in and out of your boat gets a lot of water in there. In general everything gets soaked hunting from a layout boat.

Another option are the MoMarsh invisimans or the sitting equivalent. These are basically field blind on stilts and they hide better than a layout boat because they are 3-6 feet long instead of 10-14’ long. The downside is they cost $300-$400 and weight 25 lbs before they are brushed. They are borderline too big to move with a lot of smaller kayaks.

A panel blind is another option. They make rectangular ones for groups or round ones for solo hunting. Lots are on the market now but the tanglefree ones are a good example. You will still need a marsh seat or a bucket to sit on to get concealed.

The biggest thing is not figure that you can just sit in skimpy bulrush/cattails on a seat/bucket and finish weary birds. That works on the first morning flight or on teal but not on a December flock of mallards.

Wearing a face mask can really held as is building shade to hide. Don’t stick your head out of the blind and spin in circles to watch birds work.

 

[WCB]

I've duck hunted out of kayaks, canoes, and ducker boats a bunch here in MN and ND. Cattails, bareish shorelines, shallow grass sloughs, creeks, and rivers etc. Get a ghillie suit (at least jacket and hat) and some ghillie blankets. enough to cover your boat, kayak, whatever. Done this a bunch of times just pulled onto a bog or short grass shoreline. You can hid is some pretty low open cover. Basically turn your vessel into a layout blind. A lot of times in ND I have had 3-4 feet of my ducker sticking out into the water with decoys right up to it and a few full bodies around me on shore on smaller lakes or large sloughs in pastures so really short grass (knee high at most) and have ducks land within feet

forget pannel blinds and all that B.S....way more work than needed if you don't have to hide kids or a crap ton of gear.

 

[KHands17]

Love the input of there’s have put in, but I truly think the key to making your spread stand out, is motion. Weather it be mojo spinners, water agitators, a jerk rig with 4-6 dekes on it, or even wind motion decoys get action if you’ve got enough wind. For decoy brands I don’t think it matters id just buy some cheap ones, weather they be flambeaus or hard core, cheap as possible, they’re going to get beat up and you can touch them up in the off season with paint. A dozen mallards to 18 dekes is plenty. And you can use hen mallards as teal decoys if you have a special teal season.

Look at sites like Rodgers sporting goods, Mack’s prairie wings and cabelas for deals for waterfowl motion decoys, they’re spendy and you can get burned if they’re not of quality. I’m a self proclaimed mojo fan boy but they’re the best in the market and especially during teal season you cannot have enough motion.

Jerk rigs are cheap and effective. And there’s a million different ways you can make them and tons of YouTube videos on how to make them.

 

[Forestryguy]

I've duck hunted out of kayaks, canoes, and ducker boats a bunch here in MN and ND. Cattails, bareish shorelines, shallow grass sloughs, creeks, and rivers etc. Get a ghillie suit (at least jacket and hat) and some ghillie blankets. enough to cover your boat, kayak, whatever. Done this a bunch of times just pulled onto a bog or short grass shoreline. You can hid is some pretty low open cover. Basically turn your vessel into a layout blind. A lot of times in ND I have had 3-4 feet of my ducker sticking out into the water with decoys right up to it and a few full bodies around me on shore on smaller lakes or large sloughs in pastures so really short grass (knee high at most) and have ducks land within feet

forget pannel blinds and all that B.S....way more work than needed if you don't have to hide kids or a crap ton of gear.

^^^^ This. Ghillies are about the lightest way to go. If allowed, pull some local vegetation to help break up your boat/kayak. I do not like having a facemask on so I always paint my face to cut glare down. Ducks can see better on cloudy days than on sunny ones.

I do not use acrylic calls. They are great for competition calling and if you want to really scream at birds. I have had better success with all wood calls and learning how to call very quietly. I probably do more feeding chuckles than anything, with mallard drake calls. For teal I do use plastic calls (for higher pitch) and call more. That just seems to be what they like where I am at.

Teal like the open mud flats with cover nearby.

 

[Rich M]

Your hide is something to break up your outline. Could be as easy as a couple tree limbs tied or leaned in a V with dead grass thrown on them. Mostly just stay still and dont look up at them.

The hunt area you describe is awesome. Main thing you gotta learn is which channels they will fly on what winds.