full body decoys

R@nger_BO@TS

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what's everyones favorite full bodies I personally like the greenhead gear full bodies but wanting to try a different brand this season and wanted to get your guys 2 sense
 


Kurtr

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If I ever buy any more full bodies it’s a few Dave smith to add realism. They are spendy but the detail is second to none. Other than that it’s skinnies for me from now on.
 

Migrator Man

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what's everyones favorite full bodies I personally like the greenhead gear full bodies but wanting to try a different brand this season and wanted to get your guys 2 sense

A guy should have at least 10 dozen decoys for mid season birds. The hunter series are good decoys that I have killed many birds over but much cheaper than the full size pro grades. I have fully flocked Dakotas, DOA, and hardcore decoys. Great decoys but they are really overkill most days. I would not buy another full body and any decoys I buy will be going into dive bomb decoys. They are coming out with a fully flocked version this fall that has me intrigued.

I honestly wouldn’t pay over $300 a dozen for new or used decoys, not worth it for more expensive ones. Do you have a trailer for all these decoys?
 

Rut2much

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Have always liked ghg and Bigfoot and those were pretty much available when we built the spread back in the day.
If I sold and started over it'd be 95% lessers in the 12 slot fb bags for ducks (easier storage in trailer) w/ a dozen pro grade shells/sleepers, 6 lookers and 6-12 bf's to go around the blinds. So basically id be keeping some and getting rid of most of the mid-size for lessers.

I do have 13 fullbody Avery 6 slot bags with hoods for sale if anybody needs some, pm me.
 

Kurtr

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A guy should have at least 10 dozen decoys for mid season birds. The hunter series are good decoys that I have killed many birds over but much cheaper than the full size pro grades. I have fully flocked Dakotas, DOA, and hardcore decoys. Great decoys but they are really overkill most days. I would not buy another full body and any decoys I buy will be going into dive bomb decoys. They are coming out with a fully flocked version this fall that has me intrigued.

I honestly wouldn’t pay over $300 a dozen for new or used decoys, not worth it for more expensive ones. Do you have a trailer for all these decoys?

I will be getting 5 doz and a bag when the fully flocked come out right away they will sell out fast. Buddy has 5 doz v2f and 5 doz v2fa and they proved last year they work. Add some socks in and it’s a damn good spread. The mallard silo and socks work great to. Used the tall socks to lay under in a bean field would have bet you a million dollars that it wouldn’t work. I would have lost it was a great shoot. Dog practicing hiding in the pintail socks

118030B0-6CB2-4039-94F3-7C9396475B3D.jpg
 


R@nger_BO@TS

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A guy should have at least 10 dozen decoys for mid season birds. The hunter series are good decoys that I have killed many birds over but much cheaper than the full size pro grades. I have fully flocked Dakotas, DOA, and hardcore decoys. Great decoys but they are really overkill most days. I would not buy another full body and any decoys I buy will be going into dive bomb decoys. They are coming out with a fully flocked version this fall that has me intrigued.

I honestly wouldn’t pay over $300 a dozen for new or used decoys, not worth it for more expensive ones. Do you have a trailer for all these decoys?
Yes we have a trailer and We just bought 5 dozen dive bombs and they look great I eventually wanna do a just sillo spread, do you run shells too
 

Migrator Man

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Yes we have a trailer and We just bought 5 dozen dive bombs and they look great I eventually wanna do a just sillo spread, do you run shells too

Yeah I have about 5 doz FFD full bodies and 5 doz FFD sleeper shells and a dozen dive bombs. I downsized and went with a smaller trailer because I never used many decoys unless it was late season so I went with the realistic and no glare route. In my opinion you should either go big numbers of decoys or less ultra realistic decoy route.

If you mix FFDs and painted decoys in the early fall you are going to not eliminate the morning dew glare so wasting money on FFD is pointless if you are not going to an all FFD spread. It takes just one shinning decoy to flare birds.

Since I am limited on space I sold all of my Bigfoots even though they are great decoys. I would recommend going the lesser or midsize route if you are limited on space. But if you see the results the results with dive bombs why not go with an all silo spread now? Cheaper, quicker to pick up, and take up way less space! What’s not to like about that!

Used decoys are a good option to pick up at a great price. Most I would pay is 70% of the new price.

- - - Updated - - -

I will be getting 5 doz and a bag when the fully flocked come out right away they will sell out fast. Buddy has 5 doz v2f and 5 doz v2fa and they proved last year they work. Add some socks in and it’s a damn good spread. The mallard silo and socks work great to. Used the tall socks to lay under in a bean field would have bet you a million dollars that it wouldn’t work. I would have lost it was a great shoot. Dog practicing hiding in the pintail socks

1690838466849.png

Yeah I think layout blinds are almost a thing of the past. I’ll be investing in a panel blind this fall. Switching it up to laying under decoys is a good way to fool those smart birds. Those ground blinds just pop out for even us to see. I might have to try the socks too.
 

Traxion

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If I ever buy any more full bodies it’s a few Dave smith to add realism. They are spendy but the detail is second to none. Other than that it’s skinnies for me from now on.

I had a friend that did this, sold a ton of Bigfoots to get 18 DSD's. The results, well, we're too hot. Other than early season little sets, the realism didn't matter. He sold them after three years and went to silos. That last year we were running a mixed bag with the DSD's up front. Consistently had birds landing amongst my Real Geese and that was the end game for him.

With everyone going to silos, maybe FB's will be the thing again? I have ran Real Geese for 15 years now and had great success, even on the Missouri River corridor with everyone running FB's. Been tough to test that theory the last 5 years with few birds, but I am curious to see if the effectiveness is reduced with more silos out there. I like the socks too, use them for ducks but have not gotten any for dark geese yet.

If I were buying FB's, it would all be lessers like Rut2Much said. Mixture of GHG, FA, and Hardcore. Look for deals and throw together a mixed brand spread. That always looked best to me.
 

snow1

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I remember the good old days when we had those giant 42" maga honker shells,shot ashitton of geese over them,then years ago whilst living in colorado /hooked up with a couple fellers that had a goose hunting lease near ft Colins colorado(front range) rocky mountain flyway,90% lessers and cacklers.

crazy spread but it worked well they made silio's out of 4x 6 sheets of plywood,painted all flat black(feeders only) just a white chin strape,2 dozen dekes was the spread,they used 1/4" re-bar for permanate stakes,worked well,migraters bombed right in.

Today dumped all of our (honker)FB dekes (big foot) at one time we had (two guyz 2 16' enclosed trailers)50 doz big foot dekes,today couple dozen magum shells same with silio's,old age has us old farts lazy but still bang plenty of birds which is a bonus for me,just watching the fall mornings,migration and my pup makes the day.,scratch out a couple birds is frosting on the cake.

Any of you shoot over stuffers?,way before we had FB dekes stuffers were the grand daddy spread,usually just a dozen worked well and pit blinds.
 
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Dirty

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This thread reminds me of about 20 years ago…before every Tom, Dick, and Harry wanted to be a hunting guide. It didn’t matter what decoys you used as long as you were at least half ways close to at least the flight line out to the feed, if not the feed itself. You could hunt the same feed several days in a row without stepping foot in the actual field they were hitting. Now, when I muster up the energy to deal with today’s waterfowl hunting obstacles, I still find that the type of decoy doesn’t matter much. A little motion goes a long ways and it seems more important than ever to be in exactly the right spot. The right weather is more important than about anything also. Decoy manufacturers have made a KILLING off of making decoys that look perfect to the hunter rather than the birds.
 
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Allen

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If anyone is interested in a complete goose hunting setup, I know someone who has a trailer filled with decoys and layout blinds. All of which are for sale.

I never counted them, but I'd guess there are 3-5 dozen decoys, 3-4 blinds, enclosed trailer, probably some of the mechanical decoys, etc.

Note, they are located in Minot. Feel free to PM me if interested.
 

R@nger_BO@TS

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Has any body here tried hunting the roost on like the river and just wait tell birds get off of it and then set up on the shoreline and set out some decoys and just wait and see what happens
 

Kurtr

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Has any body here tried hunting the roost on like the river and just wait tell birds get off of it and then set up on the shoreline and set out some decoys and just wait and see what happens


no you don’t hunt the roost. Unless you are from Minnesota and want to fuck every one else. Find loaf water if you want to hunt water. Never hunt the roost.
 

snow1

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NEVER ever hunt the roost.guyz that do fuck up a 20 square mile area,of feed ground,bust the roost during migration will push the birds out early,however hit a small loaf slough at sunrise,push remaining birds out,either sit and wait w/o dekes to pass shoot or throw a few floaters out and wait for the birds to return,it works great.
 

zoops

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This thread reminds me of about 20 years ago…before every Tom, Dick, and Harry wanted to be a hunting guide. It didn’t matter what decoys you used as long as you were at least half ways close to at least the flight line out to the feed, if not the feed itself. You could hunt the same feed several days in a row without stepping foot in the actual field they were hitting. Now, when I muster up the energy to deal with today’s waterfowl hunting obstacles, I still find that the type of decoy doesn’t matter much. A little motion goes a long ways and it seems more important than ever to be in exactly the right spot. The right weather is more important than about anything also. Decoy manufacturers have made a KILLING off of making decoys that look perfect to the hunter rather than the birds.

So, so true.
 


snow1

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Kurtr,your avatar pic,is that your new pup wearing proud as hell ribbons? what event? novice or? good lookin pup.curious
 

Kurtr

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Kurtr,your avatar pic,is that your new pup wearing proud as hell ribbons? what event? novice or? good lookin pup.curious

yep that was from our hrc started test in Custer. Last weekend we went 2 for 2 in seasoned down in Hartford sd. One more pass and we get his hr title. Then onto finished next year. Can’t wait to start hunting this year with him going to be fun.
 

snow1

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Kurtr,your avatar pic,is that your new pup wearing proud as hell ribbons? what event? novice or? good lookin pup.curious

SWEET, looks proud as hell,congrats on your part training,he looks like the perfect size 60-70lbs?
 

Dirty

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Kurt, this may be a dumb question but did you train him yourself?
 

Kurtr

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Kurt, this may be a dumb question but did you train him yourself?

yep with help from a friend I met in the club I joined and lots of reading and used mike Lardys and Freddy kings videos. Lardy is more field trial side and I don’t know that he is enough dog to run those. Freddy is more hunt test focused so his program was very helpful best 60 dollars I have spent. Overall goal is to run a hrc grand and a srs event in a few years.
 


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