For the most part, waterfowl hunters are a friendly lot, always willing to lend a hand when someone needs help and grateful to belong to such a tight-knit community of folks who share a passion for all things ducks and geese. Yet even the most congenial hunters can find themselves on opposite sides of certain debates. Among the questions that spark lively discussions in the blind is this one: Big decoy spreads or small? And then there’s this hot-button topic: Should you use motorized motion decoys or go with a traditional setup?
There may not be any right or wrong answers to these questions. To add more substance to the conversation, we asked several veteran waterfowlers to share their opinions on a variety of different decoy strategies.
Strength in Numbers
For Ashur Tolliver, vice president and marketing director with Dive Bomb Industries, there is something special about hunting over a massive spread of decoys. “It takes more work to set out a big spread, of course, but the upside is that when I’m hunting over a large number of decoys, I’m usually hunting with a large group of people, and that means there are more hands to share the load,” he says. “When the work is done and the spread is set, it’s a sight to behold.”
A spread containing hundreds or even thousands of decoys has an impact on waterfowl, too, which Tolliver says makes all the extra work worth the effort. “A big-spread type of day is one of those situations where your decoys really need to be visible. Maybe you’re hunting traffic, or it’s a migration day. Or you might be hunting a big field or on a big body of water. There is a pulling power to all of those decoys that you simply can’t get with a small spread,” he says.
Tolliver adds that you might need more decoys to compete with other hunters in the area, or extra numbers might be needed to persuade birds to divert from an entrenched flight pattern. “I also think that a big spread helps overcome challenges, like hiding a bunch of layout blinds or a big A-frame blind that’s needed to hunt a large group,” he explains. “Or maybe you’re in a field that just doesn’t have much cover, and the extra decoys can be used to help break up the outline of the blind.”
A large spread can also be deployed to steer approaching birds to a specific location, with masses of decoys positioned to funnel ducks and geese into shooting areas. “All that said, there are very few absolutes in waterfowl hunting,” Tolliver notes. “A particular approach may work well in one situation, only to backfire in another. As much as I love to beat the drum for big spreads, I think it’s also important to be adaptable and not commit to one particular strategy in all situations.”
Try Downsizing
Last season, Washington hunter Matt Judy received a helpful reminder about the benefits of reducing the size of his decoy spread. “We were working hard to hunt some West Coast cacklers and just getting our hats handed to us every day,” Judy recalls. “We tried running 10 dozen full-body decoys, then a huge spread of silhouettes, and then all windsocks, but nothing worked. Finally, I set out just six full-body decoys. You know what? It worked like a charm.”
As Judy discovered, using a small decoy spread can be a good choice late in the season or when you are dealing with highly pressured birds. “Sometimes the best approach is to do the exact opposite of what other hunters in the area are doing,” he says. “Any time I notice that birds are getting stale or they are not reacting the way that they should, I start thinking about making a change in the number of decoys I use.”
Small spreads are also effective when hunting smaller bodies of water, loafing areas, flooded timber, or when you’re hunting on the X. “If you are hunting where the birds want to be, it’s often a good idea to go small and let the birds do what they have been doing without having to navigate a bunch of decoys,” Judy says. “This allows you to set a small but ultra-realistic spread, bring the decoys to life with motion, and use calling to put the birds where you want them to be.”
Magic of Motion
Among the most important technological advancements in waterfowl hunting over the last 25 years has been the advent of motorized motion decoys, including spinning-wing decoys and “tip-up” feeders that splash and create ripples on the water. “Motion decoys can be used to get the attention of passing birds and help bring them in for a closer look or to create super-realistic motion that helps convince birds to finish those last 20 yards,” says Brook Richard, director of marketing at Higdon Outdoors. “They can also be used to divert the birds’ attention away from the dog on a stand or hunters in a blind. They help provide options, and options are good when it comes to consistently fooling birds.”
Richard believes that motion decoys can also help your spread stand out from the crowd. “When you’re hunting in an area with high pressure, motion can sometimes provide a leg up on the competition. Instead of running a massive spread of decoys like the next blind over, try setting only a dozen motion decoys—maybe even less—that all look and act like ducks. That could be the thing that the birds haven’t seen and what it takes to convince them to give you a look,” he says.
While Richard admits that there are times when motion decoys can lose their luster, he always brings at least a few along on his hunts. “Overall, I would rather have motion decoys with me and not need them than need them and not have them,” he says. “I’m going to spend at least 30 minutes putting out decoys anyway, so I might as well give them a shot. If they aren’t working, I can just turn them off or pick them up.”
Go Unplugged
South Dakota waterfowl hunter and photographer Phil Kahnke has mixed feelings about spinning-wing decoys. He almost always uses them while hunting mallards and other dabblers in dry agricultural fields, but he prefers to leave them at home when he’s hunting ducks over water. “It’s just a simpler way of hunting that I appreciate,” he says. “I could make the argument that they are not needed and that they cause birds to flare at times, but I mainly just like hunting without them. For me, it puts an emphasis on those skills that I have worked hard to acquire since I started duck hunting years ago.”
Kahnke also prefers to avoid the hassle of charging batteries and keeping track of multiple remote controls. “There are enough other things to worry about when I’m hunting out of a boat, especially late in the season when the weather gets cold,” he says. “It’s one less thing to charge, one less thing to put in the boat, one less thing to set up, and one less thing to argue about with your hunting partners. I might sound like a grump, but I just appreciate a simpler way of hunting. For me, it’s all about using my knowledge of the marsh, the birds, the calling, and how to stay concealed. All that knowledge builds into something that feels more substantial—at least to me.”
