The Ultimate Decoy Spread

 

Derek Christians, DU

As waterfowl hunters, we recognize that a well-designed decoy spread is a thing of beauty. What’s more, most of us relish the effort that goes into planning and setting an effective spread, and we reap our rewards when birds drop into the landing zone we have so carefully created. For years, the Ducks Unlimited magazine team has been discussing and debating the components that would be needed to create the perfect decoy spread, along with how such a spread should be deployed in various habitats and hunting situations.

For any given habitat, we wondered, what would be the optimal number of decoys and the right mix of species; what would be the correct ratio of floaters to full-bodies and ducks to geese; how much motion would be enough and how much would be too much; and how should the spread be configured on the landscape? Last season, we decided to give it a shot, and we set out to build the perfect decoy spread. We needed some expert advice, so we called our friends at Higdon Outdoors, a DU Proud Partner, to help us plan and deploy the decoy spread to end all decoy spreads. The idea was to rig all the decoys, set the spread, and field test it for two days. For decoy junkies like us, this was a dream come true.

The Plan

John Hoffman, DU

Testing of the ultimate decoy spread took place in a flooded Arkansas rice field with a pit blind built into the levee and water both in front of and behind the blind.

Because habitats vary by region, we knew we couldn’t create a spread that would be perfect for every hunter or every situation, so we decided to design our spread for a shallow-flooded agricultural field—a scenario that is familiar to many hunters across the country. For testing, we settled on a flooded rice field on Arkansas’s Grand Prairie. The dates we circled on the calendar were during the week following the Arkansas season’s second split—a notoriously slow period that would provide a true test of our spread’s effectiveness.

Well before the season started, we sat down with Brook Richard, marketing director for Higdon Outdoors, to discuss how we might go about the task. Like mad scientists, we threw out wild strategies, plans, and sketches before settling on a general design and some rough numbers. Richard assured us that the Higdon warehouse was at our disposal. “You tell me what you need, and I’ll make it happen,” Richard said. “I work at a decoy company. When Ducks Unlimited magazine calls asking for the perfect decoy spread, I want to put together an order that would be something I would love to hunt over, and then I’ll add 30 percent more, making it the ultimate decoy spread.”

Our shipment arrived in a large truck at DU headquarters in Memphis, where we spent two days unboxing decoys, attaching rigs, and charging batteries. A few days later, we loaded up pickups, trailers, four-wheelers, shotguns, dogs, and hunters and headed west to set up and test our creation. Here’s how we did it.

Configuration

The general configuration of a decoy spread can be a matter of preference or necessity. Owing to the sheer size of our spread, and taking into account the pit blind’s location and being able to shoot on both sides of a levee, we agreed that we needed to be able to hunt multiple wind directions by shifting only a handful of decoys. We decided to run the decoys in a loose X shape that would extend out from the levee in each direction. This design also provided ample room for multiple landing areas and additional space for full-bodies and silhouettes.

Duck Decoys

John Hoffman, DU

Arkansas hosts large numbers of migrating and wintering ducks during the hunting season. Deploying decoys representing multiple duck species throughout the spread helped provide volume, contrast, and realism. DU's Ultimate Decoy Spread included mallards, wigeon, green-winged teal, and northern shovelers.

Our priorities for this spread were volume, contrast, realism, and drawing power. Arkansas in December is known for migrating and wintering ducks and, especially early in the season, numbers can make a difference. For volume, we started off with 20 dozen Powers’ Pack Battleship decoys, including flocked head mallard drakes and black ducks. The number of black duck decoys might be a surprise to many who know that there are not a lot of these birds in Arkansas, but this strategy isn’t species specific; it’s for contrast. “I hunt in Arkansas, and I know how important it is to have your decoys seen,” Richard said. “Dark decoys on sunny days, lighter on cloudy days, make the decoys pop. A muddy rice field is the color of a mallard hen. Mother Nature is good at hiding hens, and passing ducks may not see that mud-colored hen decoy. I would rather run a high-contrast spread that will be seen by ducks at a distance.”

John Hoffman, DU

Higdon Outdoors Battleship Decoy Rigs: All of the floating decoys were rigged with Higdon's Battleship 54-inch Texas-Style rigs with six-ounce weights. The longer lines and heavy weights will hold decoys in place, even when the wind picks up.

To add some splashes of color and species-specific drawing power, we also included four dozen each of pintails, wigeon, and green-winged teal. The final cohort among the duck floaters was four dozen northern shovelers. Anyone who has driven across Arkansas during duck season knows that dabbling shovelers are a very common sight in the flooded rice fields.

“We know that half the ducks we will shoot won’t be mallards in these fields,” Richard said. “In my experience, there are a lot of greenwings around this area, so it’s a great idea to put those greenwing decoys into a pocket. Teal tend to land with teal decoys. These decoys aren’t big, so they won’t take up much room or pack a hole. These other species add color and contrast. The bright pintails, wigeon, and shovelers add true realism.”

John Hoffman, DU

Goose Decoys

John Hoffman, DU

A combination of floating, full-body, and silhouette goose decoys on the water and across the levee created a realistic display for the area's specklebellies and snow geese.

Being strategic with the goose floaters was important, as these big-bodied decoys can fill up a lot of space, which could limit open water and potential landing zones. We deployed three dozen specklebelly goose floaters and three dozen snow goose floaters. We placed the snows on one end, just to the left of the pit blind, as more of a visual cue, and set the specklebellies near the landing zone to funnel in decoying birds. These two species do intermingle, but we separated them, splitting the specks into two groups to fill in one leg of the overall X. In some areas, hunters might want to substitute Canada goose floaters for either species or both. Canada geese are few and far between on the Arkansas Grand Prairie, so we excluded them from this spread.

Richard pointed out the value of using goose floaters in a spread like this. “I like goose floaters due to their size and visibility,” he said. “However, after hunting over similar spreads, what I’ve noticed is that they also serve as confidence decoys for ducks, and you’ll end up shooting ducks over the goose decoys consistently.”

John Hoffman, DU

To help bulk up the spread, we added a complement of four dozen full-body specklebelly decoys and four dozen full-body snow goose decoys. We packed the snows along the water’s edge, across the levee, and into the field on the back side of the pit. We used the specks to complete the leg of the X to the left of the blind and positioned them to create a pocket. These decoys have big-time drawing power due to their size and realism, and we wanted to capitalize on this by using them as strategically as possible.

Motion

John Hoffman, DU

For a spread this large, the idea was to fill each leg of the X with some form of motion, and Higdon rolled out the full suite of their motion decoys. We set four each of the XS Splashing Flasher Mallards, XS Crazy Kicker Mallard Drakes, XS Pulsator Mallard Drakes, and XS Pulsator Pintails, as well as two XS Floating Flasher Mallard Drakes. Though it might seem like deploying 18 motion duck decoys is bordering on overkill, the sheer size of the spread offered ample space to keep them separated along the legs of the X and near each of the holes.

“The idea here is to make this look like a party to passing ducks and geese,” Richard explained. “Having that many Crazy Kickers and Pulsators is enough to keep water moving throughout the whole spread, while flashers give off that wing flash that we have all seen when live ducks are on the water.”

Another bonus to using this many motion decoys is that we could move them throughout the spread to create different visuals for passing ducks. It would take a couple of hunters only a few minutes to move the motion decoys, completely overhauling the look.

Clones

John Hoffman, DU

The Higdon Clone decoys were a unique addition, even more so when we mounted them on the Persuader motorized decoy stands, which simulate the up-and-down and side-to-side motion of a goose landing or hopping within a flock to feed. We used a specklebelly clone and a snow goose clone, which, along with the Persuaders, are powered by 12-volt batteries. We placed these lifelike decoys along the levee’s edge near the full-body decoys of the same species.

Richard explained the tactics behind using the Clones in this scenario. “The Persuader makes it look super-realistic, bringing the Clones to life,” he said. “Ducks and geese will keep their eyes locked on that Clone, and when they are focused on that decoy, they aren’t looking at your hide or anything else that may be out of place.”

Fillers

John Hoffman, DU

Silhouettes were the final piece to this intricate puzzle. Three dozen Mallard Flats; two dozen Mallard Motion Flats; five dozen Specklebelly Flats; five dozen Specklebelly Motion Flats; five dozen Snow/Juvie/Blue Goose Flats; and five dozen Snow/Juvie/Blue Goose Motion Flats rounded out the fillers. We were not able to deploy all of the duck flats due to the water level in the rice field rising in the days before the hunt, but we placed many of them along the levee edges to imitate resting ducks. We stretched the goose silhouettes all along the levee in both directions, filling in any gaps in the spread. These decoys can be deployed and picked up in a matter of minutes to create a hole or even extend a leg of the X if the winds shift.

“This is all for visual footprint,” Richard said. “This is a fairly cheap, quick, and lightweight option to give the impression that the number of birds in the spread is way higher than what you can get with floaters or full-bodies. And ducks and geese will decoy right into them.”

Results

Derek Christians, DU

Silhouette duck and goose decoys placed among the floaters and full-bodies added volume. Seven different kinds of motion decoys brought the entire deception to life. Even during less-than-ideal conditions, the spread fooled multiple groups of ducks and geese.

Over the course of two days, mallards, greenwings, gadwalls, shovelers, and specklebellies fell victim to the spread. Light wind—or no wind at all—impacted our success, but the sheer volume of decoys and the added motion helped us turn what might have been a bust of a hunt into a couple of decent days in the blind. The overall breakdown of the spread was 36 dozen duck floaters, six dozen goose floaters, eight dozen full-body geese, 25 dozen silhouettes, 20 motion decoys, and two 12-volt batteries. Hunting over more than 900 decoys in a flooded rice field was a spectacular experience, and after setting and picking everything up and loading it in the trailer, the entire DU magazine team was reminded that we aren’t as young as we used to be.