# Farmington Decoy Spread



## OPENCOUNTRY (Jan 25, 2009)

To help everyone get excited/thinking about the duck hunt this year (and for everyone to learn what kind of decoy spreads are out there on the same water) I thought I would ask a decoy question!

1. What does your decoy spread consist of on your normal day in the water?
2. If you were new to the sport and HAD to buy 4 dozen brand new decoys, what would you buy?

My answers..... On a normal day I run 4 buffleheads, 6 mallards, 8 pintail, 12 teal and like 6 wigeon.
If I HAD to start over I would buy 6 mallards, 6 pintail, 6 shovelers, 6 wigeon, 6 gadwall, 6 buffleheads, 12 coots. Also, I prefer GHG. 

What about everyone else?


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## utahgolf (Sep 8, 2007)

I would buy 2 dozen mallard no head feeders, 1 dozen mallard resters, 1 dozen teal dekes just to spice it up.


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## goosefreak (Aug 20, 2009)

where I hunt. BRBR, Farmington, Howard slough, OB, ect. I put out 6 mallard decoys 90% of the time. I have several dozen duck decoys and I rarely put out more that that many.

It all depends on the place I hunt. I hunt some places on the GSL marsh where a few full body ducks is all I need. 

Once and a while i'll plan a hunt and take out the army of decoys in my shed, mostly just to get it out and see how impressive it is.

I'v jumped over to avian X but, I really liked my GHG's that I had. I still have my GHG pintails.

I would buy mallards, and pintails if your hunting puddle ducks.

I have 3 dozen teal decoys. Late December and early January, I'll hit up one of my teal spots and throw out nothing but teal decoys with 3 mallards and that is pretty cool to see floating in the water


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## colten.thomas (Aug 3, 2015)

I run 2 mallards and 2 wigeon on a Jerk rig. 6 Pintail with 2 of them being the feeding butts. 12 green wings, 6 mallards. And a MOJO if I see fit


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Well if we are just talking Farmington Bay I tend to constantly change things up. Some days I run 12+ dozen and other days I will only use a handful. A lot of this depends on the time of year, locations and if dkhntrdstn is there. (if he is the spread tends to get much larger):grin: As far as decoys go, if I was starting with 4 dozen I would have 1 doz. mallards, 2 doz. teal, 1/2 doz. pintails and 1/2 doz. goose floaters.
Here's some of our typical Farmington spreads:


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## SidVicious (Aug 19, 2014)

I generally run 12 mallard, 12 pintail, 10-12 teal, 6 bufflehead, and 6 goose. That can be overkill for a lot of situations though.


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## MuscleWhitefish (Jan 13, 2015)

In the early season, I would say movement trumps calling, expensive decoys, tons of decoys, etc. 

I run a 6 decoy spread in October. 3 Drake Pintails on a jerk cord on the edge of shooting range and 3 drake shovelers closer to blind in feeding formation. 

I will leave this quote from a duck call champion 

""If I had to choose between a duck call and a jerk cord, I'd choose a jerk cord 100 percent of the time."" Buck Gardner

In the mid season - to me it's all about divers. That being said I think one of these years, I will get smart and paint all my mallard decoys coot colored. From what I have seen in most places 10 dozen coots will work better than 10 dozen puddlers. 

In the late season I will throw out everything that I can pack out.


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## lunkerhunter2 (Nov 3, 2007)

I just get close to someone with a nice looking spread and sky bust the birds that are commiting. Works every time. No need for expensive decoys or calls or boats.


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## lunkerhunter2 (Nov 3, 2007)

I ACTUALLY use 2 dozen mallards, 3 mallard butts, a mojo gaddy, a wing thang, 5 teal, a dozen pinners, and a half dozen goose floaters. This year i have an army of new decoys to throw in and adjust the mix. Several diver dekes, 2 dozen coots, and some other random things. The problem is i am running out of room in the scanoe to haul all of it.:-o


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## KennyC (Apr 28, 2010)

LH2- I will take some off your hands and pack'em in my scanoe. LOL


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

lunkerhunter2 said:


> I ACTUALLY use 2 dozen mallards, 3 mallard butts, a mojo gaddy, a wing thang, 5 teal, a dozen pinners, and a half dozen goose floaters. This year i have an army of new decoys to throw in and adjust the mix. Several diver dekes, 2 dozen coots, and some other random things. The problem is i am running out of room in the scanoe to haul all of it.:-o


Make chicken wire sides that go up 3 feet and put a bigger outboard on it

WHOO HOO top of the page


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## lunkerhunter2 (Nov 3, 2007)

It has a mud motor on it. 48" beam. I just need a second one to tow dekes in.


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## ram2h2o (Sep 11, 2007)

Opening day just walk out and hunt over someone else's decoys. They got up early and out in the dark to get a good spot and put out their decoys. Just walk out right at shooting time with the crowd that is afraid of the "Dark Monster" and sky bust over their decoy spread. Works all the time at Farmington! Please pick up all of your empty shells.


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

ram2h2o said:


> Opening day just walk out and hunt over someone else's decoys. They got up early and out in the dark to get a good spot and put out their decoys. Just walk out right at shooting time with the crowd that is afraid of the "Dark Monster" and sky bust over their decoy spread. Works all the time at Farmington! Please pick up all of your empty shells.


Exactly...let's face reality here...if someone is set up in a spot they must have done the scouting for you and picked a highly likely spot so why waste time stomping around the marsh when someone has already found a good spot to share... /**|**\\


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## wileywapati (Sep 9, 2007)

6 gadwalls, 6 pintails with the drakes on the
Front edge of the spread, a dozen or so teal 
And the rest is filler. Usually hot buy mallards. 

All rigged with rig em rights. After tearing up my knee
On the deer opener I won't run more than 4 doz. I hope
This thing heals in the next month or it could be a short
Season.


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

im with fowlmouth. but if I had to start over four to five doz honkers 1 doz mallards 2 doz teal 2 pintails.


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## fish-n-fool (May 26, 2009)

KennyC said:


> LH2- I will take some off your hands and pack'em in my scanoe. LOL


Whats wrong with you two! Light and fast! If you get away from everyone else why pack so many decoys.  If you need some extra room I can throw some in mine also. with what I take I can throw another guy in my boat. HA HA. Getting close!!!!!!!


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## lunkerhunter2 (Nov 3, 2007)

Make it look like a rest pond and they will come! Strength in numbers:grin:


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## fish-n-fool (May 26, 2009)

lunkerhunter2 said:


> Make it look like a rest pond and they will come! Strength in numbers:grin:


You make a very good point there.


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## EricH (May 3, 2014)

I hunt potholes on foot and use 8 Mallard, 6 teal and maybe a mallard MOJO. I block out the areas I don't want them to land in and I have had no problem shooting a few ducks here and there with this set up.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I'm another one who's quit using decoys. 

Just walk around on the top of the dike picking up trash and empties. Wear work clothes, not camo. The ducks won't have a clue what you are.

After awhile the ducks will get wise to you so hang your garbage sack on your shotgun.

.


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## Utahyounggun (Nov 5, 2014)

This is probably just one of my dumb teenager questions of the day but it seems like you guys like to run quite a few teal decoys is this because the spots you hunt hold quite a few teal or do you have better luck getting mallards and other large ducks into your spread with the teal decoys?


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Fowlmouth said:


> Well if we are just talking Farmington Bay I tend to constantly change things up. Some days I run 12+ dozen and other days I will only use a handful. A lot of this depends on the time of year, locations and if dkhntrdstn is there. (if he is the spread tends to get much larger):grin: As far as decoys go, if I was starting with 4 dozen I would have 1 doz. mallards, 2 doz. teal, 1/2 doz. pintails and 1/2 doz. goose floaters.
> Here's some of our typical Farmington spreads:


12+ dozen!!:shock: Well, Dustin IS a big boy. He'd make a pretty good pack mule too.:mrgreen:


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

Utahyounggun said:


> This is probably just one of my dumb teenager questions of the day but it seems like you guys like to run quite a few teal decoys is this because the spots you hunt hold quite a few teal or do you have better luck getting mallards and other large ducks into your spread with the teal decoys?


I like teal decoys because they are lightweight and small, so I can carry more of them. Since green-winged teal can be found in Utah all season long, they are also realistic and useful for the entire duration of the season. They add a good variety of size, and are often inexpensive compared to most non-mallard decoys on the market.

I've decoyed large ducks using my teal decoys, but I have no idea if they work any better or worse than mallard decoys would. The teal do seem to like them, but again, they might like mallard decoys just as well. It's kind of hard to compare. I simply try to make a spread that is both realistic and a little more varied than the standard dozen mallard decoys, and it seems to work okay for me. Of course, location is far more important.


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

I have 12 mallards, 12 bluebills, 6 GWT, 6 shovelers, 6 buffleheads, (all GHG) and two mojos. I walk in to all of my hunting spots, so I rarely bring them all unless I'm feeling foolishly ambitious. If I had to buy 4 dozen brand new decoys, I'd probably get what I have now plus another 6 teal (although 6 goldeneyes sound tempting as well).

I don't really have a standard spread. If I'm hunting divers I'll take all the divers, the shovelers, the mojo, and as much else my buddies and I can carry. If I'm hunting my early season potholes, I'll take the mallards, the teal, and a few shovelers. On the GSL, I take the shovelers, the teal, and a few buffleheads and bluebills, plus the mojo. It all depends on location and time of year.


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