flocked floaters

[jagermiester]

Anyone ever flock their floater duck decoys? How does it hold up?

[h2ofowlr]

I own flocked floaters in Higdons, Tanglefree and I have some Blue Collar ones made up.  You have to bag them individually or the flocking will rub off.  The Higdons sat in a wet 12 slot bag and I noticed the brown chest coloring on the mallards has bleed into the white bodies.  I have multiple marks where the flocking has rubbed off.  Do they look good, yes.  Do they hunt any different than my non-flocked decoys?  I don't seem to notice.  I don't typically have many birds just flaring off my decoy sets.  If they are flaring most of the time other reasons are involved.  To prove this point I have hunted over some pretty sh**y decoys in poor shape and missing lots of paint and done equally good.  I have hunted over spreads where 60% of the spread were plastic jugs and bottles.  I have also hunted over decoys that are left out all season with many turning green.

Location, setup and hide are most crucial.  Knowing when and when not to call is another critical aspect, along with using the correct types of calling sequences or sounds.  Movement in the spread is right up there as well.  Decoys are down the line for ducks, in my humble opinion.  Decoys can be a fashion statement for some I believe and are marketed to the hunter and not the bird.  Even though we have come a long way from the Flambeau days of decoys looking like a decoy vs. the realism of today.
 

[EWUeagles]

Some guys believe they work better some guys believe they don't. Normally the guys that don't believe in flocking hunt clubs or a lot of private land.

Now to answer your actual question. Yes I flock my own duck and goose decoys and they hold up fine. It depends on how you hunt. If your style is hiking 2 miles with a backpack and cramming all your decoys into it while being texas rigged I would highly recommend against flocking your decoys. You will be reflocking them every year. If you don't mind at least using 12 slot bags then they hold up fine. I personally thing flocking done by people like Matt Bishop, Don Mintz or Hunter Louviere hold up a lot better than flocking done by the decoy companies themselves.

[h2ofowlr]

Some guys believe they work better some guys believe they don't. Normally the guys that don't believe in flocking hunt clubs or a lot of private land.

I don't know if this would be an accurate statement as many of the clubs I have hunted in use a lot of flocked decoys.  They definitely are not necessary given the low pressure, select hunting hours and feed around.  You could kill limits of birds in many of them with Johnson Wax decoys.   

How did guys kill ducks before flocking?  Must not have killed as many?  Right.  I would personally save the money. 

[EWUeagles]

Some guys believe they work better some guys believe they don't. Normally the guys that don't believe in flocking hunt clubs or a lot of private land.

I don't know if this would be an accurate statement as many of the clubs I have hunted in use a lot of flocked decoys.  They definitely are not necessary given the low pressure, select hunting hours and feed around.  You could kill limits of birds in many of them with Johnson Wax decoys.   

How did guys kill ducks before flocking?  Must not have killed as many?  Right.  I would personally save the money. 

I 100% agree that if hunting clubs, private land  or the X,decoys really don't matter and if that's all I hunted I would save my money too. Shoot if your truly on the X you don't need decoys, calls, waders or pretty much any of the fancy gear people spend a ton of money on. What about hunting high pressured areas, do they make a difference then? When you have a mile stretch of river and have guys spaced out 100 or 200 yards apart how do you stand out from that guy? I know scout it and hunt the X but what if that isn't a possibility?

Saying how did people kill ducks before flocking is pretty moot. Technologies change, habitat change, pressure change, number of ducks change. How did people kill ducks before mojos? No clue but it sure seems like every video I see where they are allowed the guys have 4 of them. That being said I would still rather hunt over wood or cork decoys than anything else.

[h2ofowlr]

Some guys believe they work better some guys believe they don't. Normally the guys that don't believe in flocking hunt clubs or a lot of private land.

I don't know if this would be an accurate statement as many of the clubs I have hunted in use a lot of flocked decoys.  They definitely are not necessary given the low pressure, select hunting hours and feed around.  You could kill limits of birds in many of them with Johnson Wax decoys.   

How did guys kill ducks before flocking?  Must not have killed as many?  Right.  I would personally save the money. 

I 100% agree that if hunting clubs, private land  or the X,decoys really don't matter and if that's all I hunted I would save my money too. Shoot if your truly on the X you don't need decoys, calls, waders or pretty much any of the fancy gear people spend a ton of money on. What about hunting high pressured areas, do they make a difference then? When you have a mile stretch of river and have guys spaced out 100 or 200 yards apart how do you stand out from that guy? I know scout it and hunt the X but what if that isn't a possibility?

Saying how did people kill ducks before flocking is pretty moot. Technologies change, habitat change, pressure change, number of ducks change. How did people kill ducks before mojos? No clue but it sure seems like every video I see where they are allowed the guys have 4 of them. That being said I would still rather hunt over wood or cork decoys than anything else.

I hunt over some very high traffic areas and you would be glad to get spread out 100 yards in some of them.  I had a guy set up 25 yards from me yesterday.  I had him come join me, so he didn't ruin my hunt.  If your familiar with Fir Island, it is hunted every day of the season morning and afternoon, so I would consider that high pressure.  Yes, as mentioned variables do change.  Just trying to save the guy some money, as I have tested this theory out and spent the money on flocked ones along with many others.  After all the additional work to keep them in good shape, they are sitting on a shelf and don't get used.  I went back with what's easy and works.  I will hunt over wood and cork decoys for sea ducks and brant every year.  I used to get in 4-5 hunts over some very nice hand carved mallard decoys each season.  More of a traditional drake only shoot.  Definitely a fun hunt, but nothing was shot near the water as these decoys were over $2,300 a dozen. 
Club guys that spend the money will also spend a lot on decoys from my experience.  When you can leave them in the blinds, run Argo's or UTV's to set decoys, the flocking last longer, but again not a necessary expense unless you like to throw away excess cash. 

The Mojo's do work and work without other decoys around them as well.  Motion, definitely catch's a ducks eyes. Brown chunks of 2x4, 2x6 or brown / black milk jugs attached to a string while being pulled on top of water, can bring in birds.   

[EWUeagles]

Some guys believe they work better some guys believe they don't. Normally the guys that don't believe in flocking hunt clubs or a lot of private land.

I don't know if this would be an accurate statement as many of the clubs I have hunted in use a lot of flocked decoys.  They definitely are not necessary given the low pressure, select hunting hours and feed around.  You could kill limits of birds in many of them with Johnson Wax decoys.   



How did guys kill ducks before flocking?  Must not have killed as many?  Right.  I would personally save the money. 

I 100% agree that if hunting clubs, private land  or the X,decoys really don't matter and if that's all I hunted I would save my money too. Shoot if your truly on the X you don't need decoys, calls, waders or pretty much any of the fancy gear people spend a ton of money on. What about hunting high pressured areas, do they make a difference then? When you have a mile stretch of river and have guys spaced out 100 or 200 yards apart how do you stand out from that guy? I know scout it and hunt the X but what if that isn't a possibility?

Saying how did people kill ducks before flocking is pretty moot. Technologies change, habitat change, pressure change, number of ducks change. How did people kill ducks before mojos? No clue but it sure seems like every video I see where they are allowed the guys have 4 of them. That being said I would still rather hunt over wood or cork decoys than anything else.

I hunt over some very high traffic areas and you would be glad to get spread out 100 yards in some of them.  I had a guy set up 25 yards from me yesterday.  I had him come join me, so he didn't ruin my hunt.  If your familiar with Fir Island, it is hunted every day of the season morning and afternoon, so I would consider that high pressure.  Yes, as mentioned variables do change.  Just trying to save the guy some money, as I have tested this theory out and spent the money on flocked ones along with many others.  After all the additional work to keep them in good shape, they are sitting on a shelf and don't get used.  I went back with what's easy and works.  I will hunt over wood and cork decoys for sea ducks and brant every year.  I used to get in 4-5 hunts over some very nice hand carved mallard decoys each season.  More of a traditional drake only shoot.  Definitely a fun hunt, but nothing was shot near the water as these decoys were over $2,300 a dozen. 
Club guys that spend the money will also spend a lot on decoys from my experience.  When you can leave them in the blinds, run Argo's or UTV's to set decoys, the flocking last longer, but again not a necessary expense unless you like to throw away excess cash. 

The Mojo's do work and work without other decoys around them as well.  Motion, definitely catch's a ducks eyes. Brown chunks of 2x4, 2x6 or brown / black milk jugs attached to a string while being pulled on top of water, can bring in birds.   

I don't think you will ever save a duck hunter money ever haha. The guy who was willing to buy flocked decoy will buy something else with that money instead. I have tested flocked decoys too and found them effective but as you (and I have stated) are a pain to handle. I found them the most effective in small number of decoys 2- 18 decoys. If using more than that I don't think they made a difference at all. I own a little bit of everything foam, flocked, and plastic and think they all have their place and time.

I'm sure you and other people have tied a string to a 2x4 and shot ducks before but I wouldn't ever feel confident in it. I think in waterfowling having confidence in your equipment is very important. I know it was just an example and I'm sure that's not your go to jerk cord.

Good luck on Brant hunting and post some pictures. It always seems like a good time and you never see enough pictures of brant around here.

[Spuddieselwwu]

To stand out from other hunters in high pressure areas, I'd focus more on getting motion on the water instead of spending money fully flocked floaters. The amount of time and effort to baby them is just not worth it IMO to try to stand out - that you can do w/ a really good motion set up on the water.

[jagermiester]

It's actually pretty cheap. $19 for a kit. Does like 36 decoy's. Bought 48 on Craigslist for  $25 spray paint and acrylic paint line and weights. Never mind it's expensive 

[jagermiester]

Before

[jagermiester]

After

[jagermiester]

I can't wait to shoot duck's over these deeks

[Brad Harshman]

Love it!  Nice looking Flambeaus!  How do they hunt?  Which  flocking kit did you buy?