# a question from a rookie



## Bhilly81 (Oct 18, 2009)

ok so this will be my second year duck hunting and i will be going on my own alot and i am looking to get some more decoys and what i have right now is 2 dozen mallards and i would like to get another dozen what would be the best to get for around this area? i am planning on hitting farmington bay as well as alot of time on utah lake thanks for the help and advice


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## king eider (Aug 20, 2009)

if your targeting puddle ducks then adding some pins to your spread would be fine. or more mallards would work! if your targeting divers, then get the species your going after. cant go wrong with mallards or pins!

good luck!!


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## Honkin (Feb 11, 2008)

I'd add a few Widgeon.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

+1 on the pintails. Also, look at getting some teal because they are small and easy to carry a bunch of them.


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## king eider (Aug 20, 2009)

Come to think of it, If your hunting real shallow stuff some silos would work. Plus you can carry a bunch of them!


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## Kdub (Sep 6, 2010)

I wouldn't get teal. Just my opinion. They are to small and don't show up at a distance. Pintails are good, but they are often bigger than Mallards which isnt a bad thing but take up more space. I would agree and say get a dozen widgeon, especially hunting out at Farmington.


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## lunkerhunter2 (Nov 3, 2007)

Gadwalls are the key!


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Kdub said:


> I wouldn't get teal. Just my opinion. They are to small and don't show up at a distance.


The ducks will see them trust me, and lots of teal hang around all season where some of the other duck species don't......


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## shootemup (Nov 30, 2008)

Do alot of scouting! Get out with your bino's find out where to ducks want to be, put some miles on your truck and on your feet. The most important thing in duck hunting is being where the ducks want to be. If you find a spot that is holding ducks and hunt it within a day or two of the time you find them you will usually do well. No one who considers themself a serious big game hunter would just go out and wander around and then just sit down and expect to kill a monster. What makes ducks any different? If you want to kill lots of ducks consistantly you have to Scout, scout, scout. If you are where the birds wanna be you could throw out milk jugs and kill birds. Just my 2 cents. 

Good luck!


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

I would get Pintails,gadwalls or teals.


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## Longgun (Sep 7, 2007)

gads and coot's. EVERYBODY has mallards and pintails...

...maybe a few Drake cottontops for contrast. dont forget, the wigeons and the gads like to mug the coots for the marshplants they dive for anyhow, so it looks natural. get a good good jerk cord going and id say you would be pileing them up in no time.


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## Greenhead_Slayer (Oct 16, 2007)

Get some floating honks, you don't need many, say four. Plenty of used ones for sale as well


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## nickpan (May 6, 2008)

If your looking for cheap, numbers, and decent quality them hot buy mallards are the way to go. IMO, i don't think ducks are racist and will be where any other ducks will be 99% of the time. Its all about location. Used to hunt a pond that had decoys that sat out there year round for years, looked like a black plastic ducks. But they still brought birds in. Unless your targeting divers, any mix of puddlers would work. Alot guys kill em over plain black silhouettes...


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

nickpan said:


> Alot guys kill em over plain black silhouettes...


I have every intention of finding out if this works this year.... :twisted:

As far as another duck to add to your spread... I bought some Gadwalls and teal after mallards because at Farmington where I hunted a lot, those were the other "common" puddlers I always seemed to see. I've also go some Buffleheads and Spoonies, mostly for the white on em. They show up from a LONG way away but my spread is going to be 70/30 black silos to floaters this year.


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## huntingbuddy (Sep 10, 2007)

Wigeons, Gadwalls, Teal, and some coots. Anything but mallards, give your spread some variety, every other spread out there has just mallards. From my experinece hunting the WMA's I haven't shot very many mallards. In fact I haven't shot any, my friend shot one but he was the only one around. I know people are going to say ya but there are mallards around. Yes there are but everybody else uses mallards including Dike Hunter Dick. If you take your binos and look at the rest areas you will see a ton of different birds not just mallards. So spice up your spread. I am only going to use a couple mallards if any at all on the opener. 

P.S. Wigeons steal food from coots, so if you put the two of them on a jerk string it will give the impression that the wigeon and coot are fighting for food.


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## WasatchOutdoors (Sep 26, 2007)

So this is just my humble opinion, and I've only been duck hunting a short time compared to some of these guys (23 years, jesus has it really been that long?) the scary thing is there are a ton of guys on here that have been at it longer than me and have a ton more to learn from. 

I used to carry as many decoys as I could possibly carry. But have you ever taken a look to see what EVERYONE is throwing out there. 2 to 3 dozen mallard, or 2 dozen mallards and 1 dozen pintails. I thought about that because you're competing with every guy out there. Farmington bay for instance from one end to the other is about 90 seconds for a duck. They see every spread out there.

So 2 pieces of advice. First, Shootemup is dead right. If you are where the birds were intending to go, they'll try to land on you without decoys, or in the middle of cleaning up your spread. They WANT to be in that spot and it takes a lot to deter them.

Secondly, a big spread that looks just like everyone elses big spread can actually be a deterrent sometimes. My spread for the first part of the year consists of 3 teal (2 hens one drake), 2 gadwall, 2 mallard (one hen one drake), 1 coot and a single goose floater. 

That's a total of 9 decoys, pretty light, allowing me to hike out to where the birds WANT to be, and I get a lot more birds to finish than I ever did with the same generic spread as everyone else.

You can go in on a dozen of this species or that species with your buddies, or keep the full dozen so you have backups when your regular spread starts looking shabby. The other thing I like to do is buy singles or doubles off of ebay so that every bird in my spread looks different. Let's face it, 3 dozen flambeau mallards all with a 15 degree tilt in their head to the right looks kind of hokey. 

If you feel like carrying the extra weight, a spinning wing decoy is a great addition early in the season as well.

Anyway, good luck to you and in the end, as long as you're having fun, you're on the right track


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

WasatchOutdoors said:


> So this is just my humble opinion, and I've only been duck hunting a short time compared to some of these guys (23 years, jesus has it really been that long?)
> 
> I used to carry as many decoys as I could possibly carry.
> 
> ...


Man, you've been at this a long time... plenty long enough to figure out some good advice to pass on. Thanks for the tips! Your two sentences in the middle cracked me up because I too used to carry as many as possible... and it didn't always work which was a lot of sweat and swearing for not much reward. The "hokey" look made sense to me too... wish more dekes had the adjustable heads. You're right that its all about having fun anyway... and whether there are idiots or not, you can still find ways to be entertained.


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## Sprig Kennels (Jan 13, 2009)

+1 for the pintail and teal dekes


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## Bhilly81 (Oct 18, 2009)

well now i have alot to think about here but i did fail to mention that i do also have a mojo duck as was stated and i really do appreciate the helpful advice but i had just found out that the guy i was going to go with for the opener wont be able to go so i am a solo guy and if anyone else is going solo and would like some company or to join me that would be great as well


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## WasatchOutdoors (Sep 26, 2007)

If I get back from the muzzy deer hunt in time, I'll probably hunt solo as well. ANY of the forum guys are more than welcome to hunt with me anytime, because every time I hunt with someone new, I learn something new to add to the bag of tricks.


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## avidhntr3 (Sep 26, 2007)

I'll throw my two cents in. I personally love adding teal to my spread. My spread is usually pretty small as well. I'll take a small pack with 6-8 decoys usually, and I think teal make a big difference. It's the variance in size more than anything that really helps with the look...according to me. Of course, my opinion doesn't mean much, especially with my LACK of experience, but I did notice a difference once I added some teal to my spread.


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