Waterfowl decoy spread

[Raghornklr]

I'm doing something similar, pack 2 doz decoys
12 mallard
9 widgeon
3 pintail drakes. It's been pretty versatile on small water and I can always pull a few to shrink it down if need be.

 

[CorbLand]

Appreciate all the information. Keep it coming. We will be prodominately walking or kayaking into locations.

Given this information, I would get half a dozen decoys and learn how to make it work with that. Decoys, plus rigging the weight and bulk adds up quicker than you would think.

Be where the ducks want to be and make sure they cant see you and you will kill ducks.

 

[Macintosh]

Very new duck hunter so take with a grain of salt.
I posted the same question here, maybe some of the responses will be helpful for you.

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

I am a total newb, been a few times with friends over the years, have gone a few times myself with varying success, but I am very green. I have decent access to public water in northern new england in some of the marshes along a big local lake, as well as some inland areas. Early season there...

rokslide.com

I got a dozen of the last pass mallards. They are on the small side, so a dozen in a bag easily bungees onto the bow of my 10’ sit-on-top kayak. Early, hunting some small potholes in the marsh, I just brought the hens and had teal, wood ducks and black ducks come into it several times. Our wood ducks and most of our teal have left for the season, so we’re hunting mallards and black ducks now on the bigger rivers where they dump into a very large lake. The real mallards Im seeing are in groups of 2-10ish mostly, but multiple groups are landing in one small area so it forms a bigger group on the water. We’ve been hunting with 2 dozen (2 guys each can carry a dozen pretty easy in a kayak) and had some minor success. Seems like a decent starting place, anyway, and its clear to me my weakness is being where the ducks want to be, combined with having a truly impeccable hide. Seems hard to do for a mobile, minimalistic hunter, but working on that mostly now.

 

[isItFallYet]

What motion decoys do you all recommend?

 

[Kurts86]

What motion decoys do you all recommend?

A jerk cord is a great low cost option.

All battery powered motion decoys are a pain at some point just know that going in. Flock a Flickers are pretty good as are the pulsator water pumping decoys. I recently used one of the kicking decoys and it was great on a still day.

At the end of the day they are all cheap electronics exposed to freezing water. They will throw wings, get water inside of electronics and have loose battery connections. They are an absolute love/hate relationship because sometimes they really help.

 

[isItFallYet]

A jerk cord is a great low cost option.

All battery powered motion decoys are a pain at some point just know that going in. Flock a Flickers are pretty good as are the pulsator water pumping decoys. I recently used one of the kicking decoys and it was great on a still day.

At the end of the day they are all cheap electronics exposed to freezing water. They will throw wings, get water inside of electronics and have loose battery connections. They are an absolute love/hate relationship because sometimes they really help.

Thanks. I’ve heard that The Real Decoy brand is good, but want to get a few other reviews before I pull the trigger because they are expensive.

 

[Strider]

@BearGuy