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who has some pics of decoy spreads?

7K views 26 replies 22 participants last post by  John Wester 
#1 ·
I just started hunting over decoys and could use some help in setting them up. I read some articles about it and I'm using v or j shaped spreads. But I've been told they(my spreads) are not al that good. In this picture you can see the stem of the J and I have to mix them up a bit more so the "line" is less straight


Here the same spread from a diff. angle


I lack the routine to make it look natural. So if any1 has a few pictures to share? That would be great.
Thx
 
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#4 ·
I'll try and post pictures of my spread after this weekend. I usually use two pods of decoys with a runway between them. I don't set them up in a J or a V. I just put the two wads of decoys out with about a 10 yd gap between them. Birds decoy just fine with that spread and it seems to work better at decoying teal. I noticed that your pairing up your decoys. The only time I do that is when it late in the season and I'm hunting small ponds.
 
#6 ·
for puddlers i use about 2 doz mallards, and a few woodies and a pair of pintails, i set up the mallards in 2 loose ovals with an equel hole in the center, and the woodies together a little closer to our shooting spot, and slightly away from the mallards, has been working very well this season. For divers i use the J with the top of the J into the wind (usually from 3-6 doz, plus a handful of buffleheads at the top of the J and torwards the center, the buffs will usually drop into the hole below the buff deeks, the bluebills land in the opening and often in among the deeks. Hope this helps, i am hitting the bay tomorrow, will try and remember to take pics. good luck, let us know if any of this works for you
 
#7 ·
I wish I could have read this yesterday, I could have taken a nice picture of my spread today. I messed around with it three times until I got it just the way I wanted it (the shooting was slow). Everyone has different opinions about how to set the decoys and this is just my opinion. For the mallards, it would help if you made the line a little more "rough around the edges". The pairs do look a little funny. Are you rigging two birds per line? If you are, it would help if you bunched the pairs into a couple of different groups with gaps between each group. Still maintain a rough J or U shape but just make it out of clusters of decoys. Also if you are rigging two per line, break it up a little with some singles and some three per line. Also, the hook of your J looks a little narrow, I would widen up the gap a bit to give the birds a little more room to land. Good luck!

Hey jjohnson, you sure have some nice scenery where you hunt!
 
#8 ·
It depends where and what kind of water your hunting. I hunt alot of lakes, and my favorite set up is to be off of a point, and have 12-18 decoys in the calmest water, trying to make it look like they are resting, or feeding, and on the other side of the point, about 20-30 yards away have 6-12 decoys making it look like these have just landed, and are swimming into the other flock. I also like to add a few goose floaters off to a side to give off some realism, and to help channel birds into where I want them to land.

For smaller ponds, in early season I make one large spread in front of me, and leave them spaced out some what for them to land in, and later I make two groups, that are closer together.

Does'nt matter if you have 18 dekes or four dozen. Concept is the same. I never use a J, or U formation. Look and see what the birds are sitting like on the water in your area, and copy it.
 
#9 ·
Do not pair up your decoys like you have them in the picture. Migration time is not like the Bunny Ranch in Las Vegas. Birds are really disorganized in rafts in open water. Birds that are landing are landing between individual rafts or to the outside of a raft.

I set up my divers in 'loose' lines radiating outward from the boat blind. I set them as the boat is drifting downwind. Two lines with approximately 6 decoys each will always bring in the divers. I hunt mostly alone these days as my boys have grown up and moved on leaving me with a somewhat heavy load. So I reduced the amount of decoys from 150 to 18 and I have seen no difference in the amount of birds that decoy.
 
#10 ·
I'm going out 2morrow, so I'll take some pics again. Thanks for the info so far

Here in holland I can only hunt mallard. And only use mallard decoys.(I use a few bluebills though) I hunt in 10 feet of water. straight away deep water.

I'll post again in two days. greetz
 
#12 ·
u know whats wrong with ur spread. its grouping them up in pairs and running each pair to form a U or J. Dont worry about mixing and matching cause its natural.
Ur spread is not natural. Heres
how my spread for puddler usually is.

----------------------------D D D-------D D
------------------- D D D D
----WIND-----> D D D----------------------LANDING HOLE----
--------------------D D D
---------------- D D-----D D D
---------------------D D D D D

OR

----------------------- D D D D D
--------------------D D D
---------------------D D
-----------------D

-----WIND------------------>

------------------D D D
---------------D D D D
---------------------D D
-----------------------D D D

DUCK HUNTING ITS NOT ABOUT THE BAG ITS ABOUT GETTING AWAY
 
#13 ·
your spread is set up "by the books" meaning that when you make a J or a U, it is a pretty ragged looking shape. I never do, I just set out two wads with about a 10-25 yd. gap in between and sit in the middle of the gap. I have never seen ducks in nice neat little geometric figures, so i don't set my decoys like that. Also, try no to pair your decoys up so much.
 
#15 ·
Here is the spread I use. It works well on farm ponds. I don't know how well it would work in other situations. The first pic is my spread. I use 4 groups of dekes. One group you can't see is to keep birds from landing in an area I can't shoot to from my blind. The other 3 I have staged to keep birds in range and so all I have to do is move move mojo for different wind directions, not the dekes. The second pic is proof it works.

 
#19 ·
My camara usually takes better pics. I didn't have it set for motion, but I thought it came out pretty cool.

I bought some land a few years back, and the first thing I did was add a pond with a ground blind built in. I built the pond mainly around duck hunting. You can see dirt piles in the background from the current expansion going on. when it is done there will be about 4 acres of water. 75% of the pond will be 18-24" deep with several small islands. We built a house here last fall, so now I just get up , walk 100 yrds and get in the blind. My dekes stay set all season.
 
#20 ·
Nice pics, that there is PROOF!! I was trying to take some pics like that on Monday after we had already limited with mostly teal. They were still swarming in with me standing up 10 yds from the dekes. Needless to say, all I got on camera were big flocks of BLUR. Those little things are so fast!
 
#21 ·
Hi Jersey Joe. Welcome to the wonderful world of waterfowling. I am by no means an expert, but I have a few suggestions that may help you out. First of all, scout the areas you plan to hunt. See where the ducks are laying on the water and try to set up in that spot if you can. If for some reason you can't hunt that exact spot, see where the waterfowl are flying and set up in their flight path. Remember that they are using these flight paths and feeding/resting places for a reason.
 
#25 ·
First thing, welcome to the wonderful world of decoying ducks!!

The number one thing to a set-up in my opinion is this, randomness.

Dont be afraid to scatter the decoys out, after all, you can have a bigger looking spread with fewer decoys and they can be close together if it happens that way when you toss em out, the only reason i move decoys after setting them is if they are to close to each other that they bang in the wind, i just dont like to hear that all day!!

Set your decoys out and watch what the birds do, if they flair, you might not be hidden very good, if they land far out, move the decoys in, if they land to close..........take a mental picture and set it up the same way next time!!!

I only use 18 mallard decoys, and sometimes i dont even put them all out, maybe i'll go with six if its a small pothole.

Dont think to hard about it bro, just get out, throw em out and stack em up like cord wood!!!

But i do agree with one thing,
 
#26 ·
Tule: that is good info. I have found that later in the season as the ducks sit colser together, I shorten up the decoy lines and move the decoys closer together in small groups, but I spread the groups out. With the short lines they usually do not hit together, but just in case, I use decoys that are filled with foam urethane. And this quiets them down, not only from hitting each other, but from wave slap!!
A bad hide cannot usually be overcome by a great decoy spread. Be sure that the ducks are not circling because they think you are hiding there. Here is another shot of one of my spreads.

 
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