Decoy spreads

[Nick87]

If everyone around you is using mallards, pull the mallards .
Try to look different.
Use a haphazard look to your spread
Forget J,X,Y
I've come to rely on a jerk cord on public land.
Couple of Canada Geese may help too

Yup

 

[salthunter]

My hun's very so widely.
In Washington State hunting flooded pasture or hayfields we had a mixed spread of decoys mostly pintails and Mallards depending on how much time we had to hunt anywhere from 50 to 200 decoys.

In Utah if I was hunting a small river flow generally a dozen to three dozen decoys tucked in the slow-moving.


Hunting open water or flooded pickle weed and saltgrass anywhere from a dozen to 250 decoys mostly Mallard decoys. And a handful of Canada geese floaters.
water.

Now here in Idaho hunting reservoirs I'll generally fill the edge with Canada goose decoys and a handfu to 50l of duck decoys in the water.

Small springs river backwaters I like to toss in three four goose decoys and a half a dozen decoys more often than not that is my preferred spread.

Almost always a j shape or an inverted t. For larger numbers of decoys..


And just flopped out in the water in front of me,.


I do have some wing things and if I get a chance to hunt and flooded tall grass I like setting them in the flooded tall grass and the decoys in the open water

 

[nobands]

Scout more . If you ain't shooting , might as well be looking for something to shoot .
Don't hunt ducks where they don't want to be .

 

[BigSkyDuk]

2nd on throwing a few Canada goose floaters out there. Ducks seem to think they are a security blanket sometimes.

 

[bbfky]

A hen and a Drake and a higdon duck butt with a pair of canada floaters

 

[Mondoman]

What type of ducks are you mainly targeting or seeing?

I hunt pressured areas with lots of bird traffic... The hide is huge... Natural cover and low profile... Building a well-concealed house next to open water will not work.

You can go big with large spreads and flight lanes/holes... Or you can go small, with smaller more realistic decoys..... Both have worked for me. Open water a large spread might draw more birds... But they will often fly the edge of those large spreads.

As far as calling... Depends on the species and on the day... If a little calling is not working, I try more... If birds are bouncing off the call, I call less and more subtle. One day birds want to be called at, and one day they don't.... No calling is frequently better than poor calling. (Record yourself and see how you actually sound compared to how you "think" you sound).

We are mainly hunting mallards, gadwall, and some teal. I have had my fair share of luck this year. Yesterday was the first day I have blanked this year, but everyone and their mom is using 3-4 dozen mallards and three spinners. Yesterday I left the back of the cove I was in and went by 4 spreads on the way out in the same cove. There was no shooting all morning. I have hunted a lot of ducks but this is my first time having a boat and being on a public lake. Just looking for more ideas

 

[1duckmaster]

Two groups of coot decoys. 23 in each group with a mallard or two in each with some motion. (Higdon duck butts)

 

[Billy Bob]

1: Half dozen coots and a poacher. 2: 1 Drake buffie and several hens. 3: 1 Drake spoonie and several hens. Pressured mallards, pintails and wigeon are suckers for all of those.

 

[thekillerofmallard]

Coots work not me but a friend from Montana.

 

[Duck&Pheasant]

Don't over think it, if you are where the birds want to be, toss out 6 or 7 decoys in random order and they will come in. Emphasis on you're where the birds want to be, not where you want to be.