'Nother ducky question

[huntinsonovagun]

Sorry ya'll, but ya can't learn if ya don't ask.

This slough that I'm gonna hunt, mainly holds mallards, woodies, and gadwalls (from what I have seen), that being said, what kind of dekes should I have in my spread? (Besides the obvious mallard....)

A local Atwoods had some pintail singles for like 3 bucks apiece. Thinking about getting a couple drakes and a hen to throw off to the side....

I truly have no idea where to start....I'd just like to kill a few more ducks than I did last year.lol

I'm sure I will though, since I'm working for a hunting guide this year. All the quail, chukkar, and duck I should ever want.....

I hear the duck hunting is amazing....flooded field, that is a sanctuary basically....Anyway....enough rambling. What should go in my spread?

[huntn4bucks]

Re: \'Nother ducky question

Where I hunt we are covered up with gadwalls. It's a slough similar to what you're talking about. There is also a HUGE concentration of coots. Believe it or not, those gadwalls will fly over a large group of coots and land right in the middle of them. We mainly hunt over coot and mallard decoys but we put out way more hen mallards than any other dekes (other than coots) to give the appearance of gadwalls. Let me tell you, last season my brother and I shot more ducks in that slough than anyone else. It was a tough season but we routinely brought out more ducks than most other hunters at the boat launch. Of course this doesn't work for every situation but it works well in that particular location.

[waterfowler_gal]

Re: \'Nother ducky question

Coots are about as realistic decoys as you can get... wait oh yeah they are real... you want to make your decoy spread attractive yet realistic... It wouldn't hurt to through a few woodie decoys on the outskirts of your mallard spread... the fun thing about waterfowling if one thing doesn't work switch it up... you learn from experience... keep open pockets for them to land dependent where you are set up-keep it simple though and somedays the ducks/geese don't decoy at all or ignore my calls... so its an ongoing battle but a fun one that keeps us going back

[dogdoc]

Re: \'Nother ducky question

All i use are mallard decoys. I have no problem with woodies or gadwalls coming to the mallard decoys.

[Guest Iambenelliguy]

Re: \'Nother ducky question

I hunt with a variety of decoys. Mainly mallard decoys, but I also have wood duck dekes, wigeon dekes, pintail, and a bluebill deke (found this one floating). We alot of the time throw out a few honker dekes as confident decoys even if you can't shoot canadas.

[Covehnter]

Re: \'Nother ducky question

Its always good to have decoys to match the species your hunting, but sometimes it's not actually a necessity if you already have some mallard dekes and are hunting mostly gaddies or whatever be the case. But if you are in the market for new decoys and are deciding on what to purchase, you cant go wrong with getting the species you see most often around your area. I hunt the same general area as Huntin4, and we use an assortment of decoys. . . usually on the big water we'll have 3 doz. coot, 2 dozen gadwall, 1 doz. ringers pushed out a bit, half doz. teal, and 4-6 woodies thrown to the side. It's all just what and how you see it on the water.