[deerpusher]

so i just read a topic on here and realized i may be using a small ammount of decoys for the water i am hunting. my questin is all i have beaugh so far are used decoys. alot are of diffrent specie of ducks?? is it ok to use multiple species in one set or shout you match them more to one specie?? thanks for the advice..

 

[blainek]

When we duck hunt on the potomac river we use goose decoys mixed with a few duck dekes, it works better than having just duck dekes

 

[Killin'time]

I've found that goose decoys are a MUST when we're targeting black ducks.. Down in Md, black ducks decoy better to goose decoys and goose calls than just mallard decoys.

Deerpusher... Mix and match isn't BAD...I just wouldnt target diver ducks and dippers on big water with a mix match of puddle ducks. or vise a versa. If I were you, and didn't wanna spend alot of $$$ just go buy a dozen less exp mallard decoys. (if that's what your targeting) When I hunted down in Tennessee on Reelfoot Lake, the guides down there had prolly close to a thousand decoys out. Many of them were just black jugs to add "mass" to their spread. I'd say 90% of their decoys were "mix n matched".

 

[blainek]

That could be very true for black ducks and do not doubt you at all. Yet when we use these goose dekes mixed in we never killed blacks, lots of mallards and woodys. Although im sure different areas would create very different outcomes.

 

[quackmaster4]

If we're shore hunting, we'll mix things up. We usually put some divers out in the deeper water, but will scatter some mallards and blacks along the shore. A dozen geese or so maybe 70-80 yds upwind finish things off.

 

[Bearklr]

We'll mix it up as well. We'll put out just shy of a dozen geese up river from us at the head of the spread and trail off the back of them with the mallards and maybe mix in a few pintails to add some contrast. The blacks we usually put outside the geese in their own group and then finish off the spread with a string of goldeneyes at the tail end. Although, we don't run the string up and down the river like most people, we run it accross the current in a U formation. We get a lot better movement out of them and the buffies and eyes drop right in behind them.