I began duck searching with a number of associates, and again to start with, we didn’t have a lot. We’d piece collectively our small decoy collections to make a variety, haul them out in a few outdated canoes, and tuck ourselves right into a panel blind. Since then, we’ve gotten extra superior. Two members of the group picked up a giant duck boat with sufficient room for 4 of us. We’ve additionally acquired a canine now. And the decoy unfold has actually blown up.
However on a latest journey, we discovered our huge unfold wasn’t bringing within the birds. Many mornings, we discovered that fewer decoys had been doing a greater job. That’s why I needed to ask Dave Smith of Dave Smith Decoys for a little bit of perception. Smith’s firm makes a number of the most practical decoys available on the market right this moment. On high of that, he’s a devoted waterfowler with a great deal of expertise. Listed below are a number of instances he recommends operating a small unfold and why Dave thinks it really works so properly.
First, How Small is Small?
Operating a small decoy unfold relies upon loads on what you’re used to and the place you’re. To a goose hunter operating 10 dozen silhouettes, 24 decoys might sound tiny, however to a duck hunter on a farm pond, their small unfold is perhaps nearer to 6. “Everybody has their magic quantity,” Dave mentioned. “For geese and geese, mine is seven or eight.”
An enormous a part of how Smith settled on his quantity has to do with motion on the water. “With duck floaters, seven or eight decoys can nonetheless be offered as actual with none motion. Any extra decoys, and you really want them to have some movement. This is among the stunning issues a few small unfold.”
When is the Proper Time to Shrink Issues Down?
In keeping with Smith, probably the most apparent instances to reduce your unfold is when birds are below a ton of stress and beginning to get stale. “For those who’re getting the finger from birds, and also you’re certain your cover is stable and nobody is shifting, it is perhaps time to drag a number of decoys,” he mentioned.
Different hunters have a tendency to point out birds loads of the identical issues. Down the flyway, birds get used to seeing a blob of five- to seven-dozen decoys, a spinner, and a jerk rig, they usually know they’re going to get shot at in the event that they land. “For my part, a small unfold seems much less just like the boogeyman and extra pure,” Dave mentioned.
“You may be totally different than everybody else and use 20 dozen decoys, however it’s far more enjoyable and loads simpler to run lower than a dozen. Seven or eight decoys are additionally much more cellular, so you’ll be able to decide up and transfer shortly in case you’re not on the suitable spot.”
Decoy Rig Measurement Additionally Has a Lot to Do With The place You’re Looking
On small water, small spreads can actually work. However they are often much less efficient on bigger our bodies of water and large fields. As talked about above, Dave solely likes to make use of fewer decoys in greater areas when he’s feeling searching stress and watching birds react negatively. The extra stress—and the extra you do your half to search out the X—the extra you’ll be able to lean on only a handful of decoys to carry birds in.
As necessary as establishing the place birds wish to be is, your cover performs an even bigger position once you’re simply operating a number of dekes. “Small rigs are solely efficient when there’s a very good cover,” he mentioned. “Your cover has to have zero mass, so the few decoys you have got are nonetheless the obvious factor for geese to see.”
Run a Small Rig of Decoys
With fewer decoys to distract birds, you actually must be in your A-game whereas operating a tiny unfold. “Folks don’t maintain nonetheless almost sufficient,” Dave mentioned. “By means of murmuration, all it takes is one duck to identify the tiniest motion and steer the flock away.”
Hunters also needs to pay attention to how they set a spinning wing decoy. “For those who can have spinning wing decoys in and round grass, timber, or corn, that helps a ton,” he mentioned. “Attempt to match the fundamental colours of a wing in your space, and work issues out so the darker coloration is going through up once you cease it.”
In terms of selecting the best birds for a small unfold, Smith doesn’t really feel prefer it’s one thing to obsess over. “Right here within the Pacific Flyway on the west aspect of Oregon, we’ll see six or extra species in a day, so we do loads of combined spreads. I often see every species key in on its particular decoy, however I’m not satisfied it’s all that necessary. Dabbling geese are normally simply glad to see there’s a protected place to land, they usually’ll land with plenty of different species.”
And in case you nonetheless can’t give up operating a bigger unfold, Dave suggests making an attempt to interrupt issues up a bit. “You can also make a big unfold learn like a small unfold by letting geese uncover your decoys a number of at a time whereas circling. On this case, I’d put a number of teams of three or 4 decoys in pretty tall grass and even below branches. With geese, I nonetheless need not less than some type of footprint, so I may need the vast majority of them collectively and some stragglers not distant.”
The smaller teams of geese can come in useful on nonetheless days with little motion on the water, and a extra pure presentation goes a great distance towards separating your rig from the competitors when the stress is on.
Characteristic picture by way of Ben Matthews.
