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decoy spread

4K views 27 replies 16 participants last post by  jjtroutkiller 
#1 ·
What is an effective way to set up a duck decoy spread? I will be hunting in ponds. Any advice?
 
#2 ·
ponds............that leaves a whole lot of room for interpretation. What size ponds? What shape? Fresh or saltwater? What type of cover along the bank and where is it located? Are there any groceries in the ponds for the ducks, and where in reference to all of these other features are the groceries located? Are you planning on just sitting on the bank or do you have a blind? Is it a platform blind or a pit blind? Is it along the shore or out in the pond?

I'm not tryin to be a smarta#$, but there are so many individual factors that determine how I set my spreads that it is really hard, dern near impossible, to determine the best spread without actually seeing the area to be hunted.
 
#6 ·
biggest thing I'd say matters is be on the windward side. do not set up on the south side if the wind is blowing 20mph out of the north and so on. Quack!

I just slap me some bodies out there and shoot ducks!
 

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#9 ·
There's the "J-hook", the "X", the "Pac-Man", the "Pom-Poms"...

It is a matter of what is "right" for your pond, really. The best way to find out is to have a quick hunt & pull everything off the pond, then watch to see how they set themselves up when no one is around.
 
#10 ·
Think about where the wind is, where the sun is, where the ducks want to be and where your blind is.

1st) Ducks land against the wind generally speaking, so leave a pocket for them to sail in against hte wind in front of you.......if its a cross wind a line or string of decoys across the wind angling toward you will encourage them to land to the upwind side. Ducks GENERALLY don't like flying across other ducks/decoys to land.

2) If possible keep the sun behind you to hide you and illuminate the ducks.

3) If you are huntin exactly where the ducks want to be, then you need very few decoys and scatter them loosely. If you are NOT exactly where they want to be then the spread becomes more important and the wind and other factors come into play more.....in the case NOT being exactly where they are coming to, use more dekes......and leave them more than one gap in which to land.

Something else to take into account is if this is a spread/spot you'll hunt every day or once a week.

Its hard to tell hte size of your pond from the pic but it looks reasonably small, and if it is I'd say one or two dozen should likely do the trick.
 
#11 ·
What area are you in, and what kind of ducks frequent the pond? How many ducks normally sit on it when it isn't hunted?

If you aren't far and have plenty of birds, triple f and I can show you first hand how to set the spread. :D
 
#12 ·
There's the "J-hook", the "X", the "Pac-Man", the "Pom-Poms"...

It is a matter of what is "right" for your pond, really. The best way to find out is to have a quick hunt & pull everything off the pond, then watch to see how they set themselves up when no one is around. Watch them in the morning, watch them in the evenings (sometimes, they are setting up differently when they are resting vs rested & ready to head out).
 
#13 ·
dwhite said:
Spout,

Is that pic off of CR 210?? It sure looks like a place that I train dogs at.
I dunno, it's a pond I potlick out in Annywhack ever now and then! I usually hit it during the week because the real lease members are there on the weekends,,,
!!!

No it's not off 210 anything
 
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#14 ·
Here is part of my reply to his pm......

well, going by what you just described, and without knowing anything else, I wouldn't use more than 1 1/2 to 2 dozen blocks at the most and would set them in pairs or groups of 3, being sure to leave an open landing zone at your optimum comfortable kill distance. If there are alot of trees in the pond, then I would use some type of decoy or device that created movement in the water......quiver butt, swimmer, water surface flapper, etc.

Like I said, so much depends on all of the factors listed by everyone so far that it is almost impossible to come up with a definite setup without actually being on the pond and seeing the specific conditions.
 
#17 ·
huntinguy said:
Think about where the wind is, where the sun is, where the ducks want to be and where your blind is.

1st) Ducks land against the wind generally speaking, so leave a pocket for them to sail in against hte wind in front of you.......if its a cross wind a line or string of decoys across the wind angling toward you will encourage them to land to the upwind side. Ducks GENERALLY don't like flying across other ducks/decoys to land.

2) If possible keep the sun behind you to hide you and illuminate the ducks.

yep

and where they are on the pond when you see them ?, there is a reason for that.

make a big loose donut away from the bank or a runway to your blind .

dekes never go all the way to shore if the banks are brushy...
 
#24 ·
give him a second,, he just passed out. He's foaming at the mouth right now.


LOL,, good area. your north of me a little ways. I still say just put a few out on the wind side and get ready.
 
#25 ·
Probably two dozen at most, many times you probably won't need that many. No spinners, but a jerk cord would be good. Get you about a half dozen diver duck decoys with plenty of white, and put them out in good open water where they can be seen, that will help ducks see your spread. Keep the spread loose. 6 teal in a bunch here, mallard pair there, couple gadwalls there, spread out and not balled up.

Wind won't really matter on a small pond like that. It might be better to hunt it with a crosswind so the birds are not looking at you when coming in. Just hunt with the wind at your shoulders or at your back, never in your face.

If the ducks are landing in one place more than another, pick up and move over there. If they want to land in a place that you can't hunt, add more decoys and call a little more to try and pull them. If you move to where they land, and they go land on the otherside where you were, they are decoy shy or they are seeing you. Cover up better, and remove decoys until they come in.

That's about the best I can do without seeing it myself. Which in all seriousness is probably the best option - get someone that knows how to set and manipulate a spread out there with you to show you how to do it. There are lots of little things that would have an impact, and we simply can't know them without being there. Waterfowling is an art, not a science!
 
#26 ·
Simple. Try to find out what part of the pond the ducks favor. This is usually the shallower end. Keep the wind more or less at your back. Sun also. Early, more decoys is better, and mostly brown. Late, fewer with more color. Do not place decoys too close together or too close to the blind/shoreline. Leave holes and lanes for them to approach. Use some motion (spinner, jerk string, inflatable decoys) if you have it.
 
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