[MarkM]

Looking to add some more decoys to my decoy spread. Right know I have mostly Mallards with a few Pintails. I have been thinking about getting to teal decoys. What species do you guys like to mix together or do you go with all one species?

Also have any of you tried the inflatable decoys? I have a couple spots that are a long way to walk into and it is always a pain to pack in a couple dozen regular dekes. The inflatables sound like a good way to go.

Mark

 

[Jesse Higgins]

Hi Mark. I suppose it depends a little on where you'll be hunting, but my personal opinion on Teal decoys is that they are a waste of space. Teal decoy just fine to larger decoys, and I don't think they are any real confidence builder for other species that might come to your spread. But the big kicker IMO is they are just too small to do much good. I want decoys that look realistic, but that have high visibility at a distance. I personally think that Widgeon decoys (because they have some white), Gadwall decoys (because they are big and dark), and maybe a few Coot decoys (because they are dark) would do a lot more for your spread than Teal.

I'm sure you'll find others that will disagree, but that's my take on the matter based on my own experience with teal decoys. Good luck whatever you decide to go with.

I haven't used inflatables. It theory they sound good. Seems like a nice way to add numbers if you're packin' in your dekes.

 

[Duurty1]

about half of my decoys are inflatables. they are nice in that that they don't take up very much space. downside you have to blow them up and then deflate them when its done. and after a day out usually one or two of them get holes in them, but they are cheap

 

[chuckler]

Teal decoy to teal decoys pretty good but you're right that they also decoy to mallards and other bigger birds. I tend not to mix my decoy species. I cluster the teal tighter than mallards as it would be in real life. The net result is that teal decoy to my "teal balls" 4:1 over other parts of my spread...just my opinion.

 

[UtahSprig]

Mark,

I have teal decoys, and to be honest they're not really that visible from more than 100-150 yards. They're the cheap water keel flams, and the paint on the drakes is really lightly colored. I did repaint a bunch of the hens with a chocolate brown and they show up a lot farther away (I've seen them from about 200 yards before). I have coot decoys and they're light weight and they'll show up the best from a distance. What I've done when walking in a long ways is pack a small bag of decoys, maybe 12-24 and I'll take a dozen or two silos also. Silos are light weight and they show up from a long ways away. I place them closest too me, with the regular decoys out in front which seems to get the birds to come in a lot closer. I have multiple species, and I'll try and take a couple of each species I'm likely to see. I also like to take a couple of widgeon or pintail drakes as that white shows up a long ways. To cut down on weight I've converted all my weighted keels to aqua keels.

I used to hike in to some fairly small holes (maybe 30 yards x 50 yards) in some dense cover. I had a lot of sucess with only using 2-3 decoys (usually hens painted a bit darker so they would be visible). That way I could be mobile if I saw the birds hitting somewhere out in the distance, it only took a minute to pick up 2 or 3 decoys.

 

[avidhntr3]

Honestly, I think teal decoys make a big difference...just for some variation in size. I don't think it's going to pull them in from a long distance, but I think it tends to finish them off. What makes me so stubborn about my teal decoys is about 3 years ago I didn't have any. I could pull ducks in, but they would never come in. I got a dozen teal decoys and added them to my spread and the difference was amazing to me...a lot more birds cupping to my spread. I'm a big fan...but to each his own!

 

[dkhntrdstn]

THis is what i got in my spread.Mallrds,wigeons,green wing teal,gadwalls,coots,cans,redheads,spoonts,pintails,11 bigfoot geese and then in Nov and i got a swan tag i take two swan decoys out with me and im geting 6 more this year. that what all in my spread O yea cant for get the two lucky ducks to.

 

[Riverrat77]

I have Mallards, Pintails, Teal and Gadwalls. I've never had a problem getting ducks to commit to those. Oh... I have six coots too. Dark and light colors, just for visibility. I've also gotten advice on using silos.... just because you can pack a lot a long way and they're highly visible. My teal are pretty small.... so I'm not a huge fan of them and have had no problem getting teal to come in before I bought them... I just figured I could add a few small, light dekes and it surely wouldn't hurt anything. I still have a lot of sand in my keels that I need to get rid of..... that would lighten my load a lot I think. Usually its something other than my spread thats flaring them or keeping them outside the dekes. I agree with Jesse about the white and dark but instead of Wigeon, I use Pintails and just use a semi-gloss white paint to really give those decoys some pop for visibility. I also paint tail edges and speculum linings on my Mallards with that same paint..... :idea:

Not that I'm some expert... but I think too many folks get overcomplicated with their decoy spreads. You don't need every species in the "duck id" book to be successful.... just a good mix of light and dark decoys so that the ducks know you're there and then good paint/realism will finish them when they come to check you out. Play the wind right and regardless of what you've actually thrown out that day, you should get your shots. I threw out ten decoys the other day.... ten out of six dozen I was packing.... and was covered up with ducks. I had Pintails on the outside, Gadwalls on the inside and Mallards in the middle.... I threw a U shape with the pocket downwind.... and NO teal dekes and was covered in teal and spoonies. I'll take that any day of the week, any day of the season.... but that could just be me.

 

[UtahWineOh]

I use a few different species in my spread. Mostly mallards with a few pintails and widgeons. I just added a half-dozen teal this year and haven't noticed a difference yet. The teal that have actually landed in my spread have landed with the bigger ducks and not in or near the teal decoys (I have them separated from the bigger decoys in a "ball" on the edge). They sure are pretty and add a lot of color...but I'm not sure what value they will bring in the long term. By the way, they are the Averys with the snap lock keels.

 

[hairy1]

The teal decoys add a little depth ..which is good in my opinion.

More importantly for me is the colors.

I bought some O/S golden eyes to add a lot of white to my spred. But I still have plenty of darks in there as well.

 

[chuckler]

but I think too many folks get overcomplicated

Riverrat could be right. In the rice fields of CA in the Butte Sink country, most blinds have 10 dozen or more dekes and they are usually a mixed assortment with no rhyme or reason....those boyz do shoot ducks. I think the sheer numbers of ducks overrules any particular layouts.

I still think the most successful hunters find better decoy spread techniques than those who are not as successful. I also think the calling needs to match the spread to some extent. At least I'd like to think that's the case. 8)

I'm not willing to just randomly toss my dekes out there to see if I do worse..... :mrgreen:

 

[dckhuntr]

my dad and buddy like to take the teal and put them about ten feet in front of where your set up so that it takes the attantion away from you and we get alot of ducks coming in i've never hunted without the teal so i dont know the diffrence

sorry i've never tried the inflatabls so i cant help you there

in my spread i have 2doz. mallards 1doz. pinnys and 1doz. teal