# Pics of decoy spreads?



## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

I still have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to decoy spreads. I got lucky with the redheads and had a few other birds cup n come close enough for a shot. Today I only had the first hour of shooting light to hunt. I had to be home before the kids got up. I spent 15 mins of that hour listening to two younger guys who pulled up in their truck, loudly critique my set up to each other. The input was good. Made me realize there is a lot more to just putting them in the water. Anybody have any general pics of a spread? I know location and wind determines how you lay em out. Anything to give me an idea of how it should generally look?


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

35whelen said:


> Anything to give me an idea of how it should generally look?


It should look like a flock of ducks. ;-) There's no better way to learn how to set them up than by watching flocks of ducks on the water, so I'd recommend that you start there. There are articles in Ducks Unlimited that address other strategies, but the ones I have found seem to be written for people who hunt over a lot of decoys. I typically hunt with between 6 and 18 decoys, so there's really only so much I can do as far as working with the wind, creating a landing pocket, etc. I just do the best I can to create a reasonably authentic scenario and bring the birds close enough for a shot.

IMO it's all in the spacing of the decoys. Most hunters I see will place their decoys much closer together than ducks typically like to sit (probably because they want to keep all their decoys close to them, and hopefully draw birds in for a close shot). However, in ponds or open lakes, my experience is that small flocks of ducks tend to spread out quite a lot if they have the space. They only pack in tight if the water is crowded or if there is some particular food source they are after. I frequently space my decoys 10+ feet apart from each other, in clusters (I have found that feeding ducks in small flocks often move together in groups of 2-4).

When there's some ice in the picture, ducks tend to congregate near the edge of the ice. In that scenario, I pack my decoys tightly along the edge of the ice, and more loosely out into the water or farther onto the ice.

On rivers, ducks will congregate wherever the current is slowest. I pack most of my decoys into those areas.

Sometimes, I'm just too close to my decoys to see if there's a problem. I've found that if I take a look at my decoys from a few hundred yards away, though, it's much easier to tell whether they will look convincing.

Good luck.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

Thanks Clarq! That is very helpful. I’m gonna wait till the weather is less clear n give it another crack. I only get a couple hours each outing


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## Papa Moses (Sep 27, 2018)

I too only run about 18-24 decoys. For me it’s making sure I’m hidden and not moving rather than the decoys. Also being under the birds fly line is a big help too.


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

I don't have any specific pictures to post right now, but I will say that decoy spreads are as individualistic as the hunter and there are many ways to skin a cat. The purpose of running decoys isn't just to attract ducks, but to manipulate how they approach your blind/hide, and influence where they land in order to give you the best shots. I have different spreads I like to run for big water, small potholes, fields, flat sheet water, and ice holes, but they all follow the same basic ideas- wind and landing zones.

Some basics-you preferably want the wind at your back, ducks and especially geese need to land into the wind. If you can keep the wind at your back you will most often have head-on shots. You can work a crosswind into good shooting opportunities too. Try to envision where ducks might be coming from, and where they might fly if they circle your spread and eye your setup.

As far as # of decoys goes, it really depends on the area you're hunting. If you're hunting a spot that the ducks really want to be on, you won't need many, like 6-8 or so. This is where scouting can really pay off. On the other hand if you're hunting big water and trying to pull down birds that aren't necessarily looking to land where you are, the more decoys the better IMO. I have a weird thing where I only like to run odd numbers of decoys, but that's just me. How high can a duck count anyway? :mrgreen:

I like to keep my diver decoys separate from my puddle duck decoys, and my geese seperate from both of them. I have hunted with guys that mix them all together, and that works too, but you'd be surprised how often divers will land with divers and puddlers with puddlers. For some reason wigeons really seem to like to land with divers, maybe they like the black and white colors. I really like some solid black decoys in my spread too, they show up on the water from a long way away. You can find some cheap crappy decoys and spray them flat black as a good way to fill out your spread.

If I'm running my big-water spread, I like to make a big V, with divers as one arm of the V and puddlers as the other. The idea behind this is that often times ducks aren't comfortable landing in a crowded group of birds on the water and having that big open space in the middle gives them a nice open landing zone. It's amazing how often birds will fly right up one arm of the V, hook into the open water, and land right there. Other shapes to try are a fishook and a big crescent, with the idea of always having an open spot for birds to land in. Of course you will always have that one bird that lands in a 3-foot opening between decoys on the water, there's a reason why most of my decoys rattle a bit and have some battle scars!

As far as spinners go, I very very rarely run them. They are definitely effective at times, but when ducks don't like them, they REALLY don't like them. I prefer a jerk cord for motion on the water.

If you haven't already, invest in some Texas rigs-not having to individually wrap your decoys up saves SO MUCH time. I can pick up 5 dozen decoys solo in about 20 minutes, not bad! Commercial kits are expensive but worth it if you're only rigging a dozen or so. I bought a kit from a fishing supply company a few years ago that had enough material to rig about 250 decoys, I still haven't used it all, and the cost works out to about .50 cents a decoy. Here is the kit I use https://snlcorp.com/SNL/Other/DuckDecoyKit.aspx For weights, I like to go to CAL Ranch because you can buy hardware by the pound. I get a big sack of the biggest nuts I can find (hehe) and use them as weights. They work great and won't scratch up other decoys in the bag.

Keep in mind that these are just general rules, part of the fun of waterfowling is figuring out what works and what doesn't and just experimenting. Good luck!


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

So many scenarios. Small pockets of water, small spread. Big water, big spread. I have done Y,U,W,V,X,J patterns and straight lines of lllll for diver hunts....And a lot of times I just throw them out and hope for the best.....


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

Fowlmouth said:


> So many scenarios. Small pockets of water, small spread. Big water, big spread. I have done Y,U,W,V,X,J patterns and straight lines of lllll for diver hunts....And a lot of times I just throw them out and hope for the best.....


Fowl, I see we follow the same philosophy for geese on ice holes, it's crazy how often you will see them all lined up right on the ice edge when it's cold like that.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Pumpgunner said:


> Fowl, I see we follow the same philosophy for geese on ice holes, it's crazy how often you will see them all lined up right on the ice edge when it's cold like that.


I was going to post a big long list of things to try, but I thought I would keep it short and mostly post photos. We were posting at the same time and when I got done uploading my photos I read your post and thought to myself "that's exactly what I was going to write" Oh man, we were definitely thinking on the same page today. (but I do like my spinners)


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

Great as advice guys. I have 7 mallards, 6 teal, 4 honker floaters and a teal mojo. The spot I’ve picked is a pretty stupid looking spot. It’s 100 yards from the main road and in plain view of the road. I picked it for 4 reasons. It’s close to my home, it’s usually the only spot with no other hunters, For the last month I’ve seen divers and puddlers all throughout the day, and finally my waders fill to the waist if I venture into the deeper water. The divers seem more like clockwork and the puddlers seem to depend on the weather. I’ve been spreading the decoys out in long strings, hoping to attract the divers. The diver numbers are consistently low double digits. When the weather is rough there are a lot of puddlers. I’m thinking if I try small groups of decoys and spread em out, the divers will show up regardless and I’ll have better odds of attracting puddlers. Of course, I either see lots of puddlers or I see zero but I always see about a dozen divers that land within 100 yards.


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## shaner (Nov 30, 2007)

Don’t forget a scarecrow, an old coat on a piece of pipe will suffice.
Use it far enough away that it forces birds in to you.
Extremely effective on geese if you can’t set up exactly where they want to be.
Put your scarecrow in ‘their’ spot to keep them from landing there and 99% of the time they will land on ‘your’ spot.
Using decoys is just a game of manipulation.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Years ago, my hunting buddies and I had a huge discussion as to how to set up goose/duck decoys. (1982) Each of us seemed to have the solution in our own minds.


We get out to the field on a goose hunt (chopped corn) and wouldn't you know, we began to argue about how the spread should be set up. We finally just began spreading them out because the geese were in the air and we had already missed out on the first flock. 


We killed our limits within the next hour. The one thing we did learn was-- Hide in the decoy spread!! If the geese see movement outside the spread they will flare and be gone.


Ducks-- I've always just left a hole open for them to land in.


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## Pipeliner (Dec 2, 2018)

*Throw em out the boat.*



35whelen said:


> I still have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to decoy spreads. I got lucky with the redheads and had a few other birds cup n come close enough for a shot. Today I only had the first hour of shooting light to hunt. I had to be home before the kids got up. I spent 15 mins of that hour listening to two younger guys who pulled up in their truck, loudly critique my set up to each other. The input was good. Made me realize there is a lot more to just putting them in the water. Anybody have any general pics of a spread? I know location and wind determines how you lay em out. Anything to give me an idea of how it should generally look?


I use to take such care to set up my decoys. Once shot a box of shells to get my limit on the Columbia/Snake River. Had a dream how to move the decoys closer in a V. Next day shot 7 ducks with 7 shots. Realized I had more fun shooting the full box!

Now my first year in a boat I just throw them out with a plan in mind but the boat usually flips around before I'm done and decoys end up every where!

Everyday out has been a blast! So many ducks of all different kinds. Taking my son and his friends out again tomorrow! I couldn't figure out how to rotate this picture!


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

Nice bag pipeliner. I’m gonna try n go tomorrow n Thursday


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I was going to take a photo of my 7 decoy spread yesterday, but I left my dang phone in the Jeep. The ducks were eating it up too.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Fowlmouth said:


> I was going to take a photo of my 7 decoy spread yesterday, but I left my dang phone in the Jeep. The ducks were eating it up too.


Carnivorous ducks??? Never seen one of those species. "Choot" one so we know what they look like.


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

taxidermist said:


> Carnivorous ducks??? Never seen one of those species. "Choot" one so we know what they look like.


Probably like a merganser on steriods :mrgreen:


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

7 decoys ?! I thought I was handicapped cause I only had 23. It’s a pain to set em all up.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

Im late to the party, I didnt bother reading through all the posts and im sure there is great advice within them. Im just too tired to do so and its late BUT, heres my advice.

I am not a fan of just throwing decoys wherever they land on the water at all. Can you kill birds like that?? SURE! but, you can control where you want the birds to land by decoy placement. I like birds in my face so I set my decoys in such a way that allows that. Every time before I set my decoys I first determine on where I want the birds to land, and that will be determined upon the topography of the area im hunting and the wind direction and the location of my hide. Ask FowlMouth, I'm sure it drives him nuts but, that is the first thing that is discussed when we arrive at our hunting destination.

I am not lazy in my hunting and defiantly not when it comes to decoy sets. Im known to completely change the set up halfway through the hunt.

is it over the top? maybe but, I shoot a lot of birds really, really close...

as far as pictures, Side views will show you very little of what you are looking for since most the birds you decoy will be ascending.. Unless they are Divers..... Sometimes. 

give the birds something to look at and open up a hole for them to land in and keep obstruction out of their flight path including decoys


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## Luhk (Aug 16, 2017)

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOpqpryb3VDEfHvAuPLRjg288ui9eIMFCMSfk4c

This decoy spread had three decoys. Two on a jerk string and one mojo. I had malards and pintails diving in from miles away just to get into this little hole. 30% on decoys, 50% on being on the X and 20% on calling.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

Thanks ! I went out today and had a lot of ducks coming in. Mostly divers. I missed every single one but it was at least encouraging. Need to work on my shooting now. Shot 14 shells in an hour. Pretty good for me. Pretty consistent action. Even had a lone golden eye come in to land while I was reloading for the two scaup I’d just missed seconds before


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## gander311 (Dec 23, 2008)

Like everyone is saying, it doesn't always take numbers. Two canvasbacks and a teal on a jerk string today, and two separate teal. And then a few swans because I was trying to fill my tag and there were 200 swans in this spot last night. 

Only ended up shooting a couple ducks, but they were both feet down trying to land 12-18" above the jerk rig decoys.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

Nice job gander! I need to get a jerk rig. I went out today. It started good. Had scaup n goldeneye coming in while I was setting up. Then I took my mojo teal out but grabbed it by the duck so the stake fell out in the water never to be seen again. Then after it was all set up and the wind started blowing hard, I tripped on a large underwater rock n went under in my waders. I was done.


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## Jedidiah (Oct 10, 2014)

Jeez man. Wader mishaps are scary, I hope you're not hunting alone. You know the two guys who drown in Spanish Oaks were both found wearing waders and were probably fishing alone on a slippery cement slope.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

Yeah. I hunt alone. It limits me on where I’ll hunt. If there’s any kind of mud I don’t go any further. I don’t usually go passed waist deep water unless I have a downed bird.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Here's one from the other day.


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