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I'm going to get my own set of decoys this year. I will mainly be hunting ponds and small lakes and most of the time we use less than 3 dozen decoys. I plan on hunting early wood duck and teal season first and then on to regular season later where I will mainly be hunting mallards, wood ducks and the occasional canada goose, pintail, ring neck, gadwall, and any other duck that flies close enough. I am thinking about getting a dozen good mallard decoys, a half dozen wood duck decoys, some feeding decoys, and some type of jerk rig. I also already have a baby mojo mallard drake. My questions are:

 

1. Does this sound alright?

 

2. How many feeding decoys should i get?

 

3. Do wood duck calls work very well?

 

4. and any suggestions would be appreciated on any of this!!

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Your mix seems fine to me, similar to what I own myself. I would get maybe 2 or 3 feeders. No experince with a wood duck call yet, I just bought one over the winter but the past has told me they do respond to the hen mallard quack like calls too - truth is soon to be found.

 

Everyone in our group has some different types and brands of decoys, you can show multiple speices in your set. We use a lot of Black Ducks mixed with Mallards, and sometimes with it some Gads, Woodies and even teal.

 

The jerk rigs are nice on really still days.

 

Good luck

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I think you're on the right track. We use mostly mallards. I really like the GHG life size. Only use feeders in an area ducks will actively feed. I rarely put out feeders. I do have some full body mallards for the really shallow stuff both active and feeders. I really like the way they look in a spread and it really adds to the overall realism of your spread.

 

We will throw in a few pintails, maybe a couple woodies and a couple teal, some gaddies on bigger water. Teal will usually decoy into anything. For teal season we use the hot buys from GHG. Their small size is perfect for teal season (hens only). Then, when regular season rolls around bring them all out. The variation in size, shape and the variation in brands really adds to your spread.

 

I would really consider getting some goose floaters in case a rare honker just happens to be looking for some friends.

 

Motion decoys are very effective, both spinning wing and movement in the water. Very important in our spread and sometimes just a little tug on the jerk string seals the deal. High pressured birds will become very wary of your mojo's so make sure you have a remote or some kind of multicycle switch to add some variation.

 

As far as calling, I use a mallard hen call, and a 6 in 1 in whistle, wigeon, pintails, drake mallard, wood duck and if you use it right, teal. Practice now and it will pay off in the long run. I don't think it hurts to throw a little pintail flutter to a group of mallards. Its something different and not what they are used to hearing. The drake whistle is also a very usefull tool.

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I'm going to get my own set of decoys this year. I will mainly be hunting ponds and small lakes and most of the time we use less than 3 dozen decoys. I plan on hunting early wood duck and teal season first and then on to regular season later where I will mainly be hunting mallards, wood ducks and the occasional canada goose, pintail, ring neck, gadwall, and any other duck that flies close enough. I am thinking about getting a dozen good mallard decoys, a half dozen wood duck decoys, some feeding decoys, and some type of jerk rig. I also already have a baby mojo mallard drake. My questions are:

 

1. Does this sound alright?

Yes.

 

2. How many feeding decoys should i get?

Three.

 

3. Do wood duck calls work very well?

Not for me in my 30+ years of hunting near woodies. They fly early in the a.m. in any pattern they choose. Fog is best out west.

 

4. and any suggestions would be appreciated on any of this!!

Sounds like you know what you are doing :)

 

 

..........

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I've been whacking ducks for quite some time. I started out with hand me downs and a burlap sack. The single most important piece of advice I can give you is to NOT scrimp on dekes. I ONLY shoot over G&H dekes, and I highly reccomend the Magnum Pro series line of them. I have 10 Dozen of them and 3 full sized mojo's, and It was money well spent. Obviously you can find cheaper dekes, and there's many that are good also, but keep that in mind when looking. I think you're on the right track.

Also Variety is key as well. Throw out a mixed bag Pintails and can's work wonders.

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  • 3 weeks later...

i have had good response from a woody whistle from time to time.

they will atleast come a little closer when they hear a comrad callin but the woodies i hunt usually have a place in mind when they come screamin by and dont decoy very often unless you are close to where they originally wanted to set down

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