Rubber ducks for big boys!

Of all the paraphernalia utilised by wildfowlers, one of the most interesting is decoys. Why? Well decoys were used before shooting was invented, and whilst the materials may have changed over the centuries, the basic idea has not. Decoys are used to bring our quarry closer, hopefully in range. But, as you may expect with wildfowling, it is more complicated than that! It is not just a case of throwing a few plastic ducks on the water and expecting the birds to pile in.

Let’s look at duck deeks first. They come in all shapes and sizes and species, and newcomers to the sport often ask what sort they should think about purchasing. You need to think about the type of shooting you will be doing, if you will be a very short walk from the car, then you could consider the magnums, which are now readily available in this country. If however, you have a 2-mile slog across wet sloppy ground to get to your spot, you may well want to consider something less bulky. The larger decoys also always seem to have a habit of sticking in your back, as they seat less easily in your bag.

What species of decoy is always a bone of contention amongst ‘fowlers. Do you have to have the same species in your pattern as you want to shoot? Most ‘fowlers agree though that it is the “duck” shape on the water that is most important rather than the actual colours of the deeks. One trip out on a muddy marsh and your deeks are a matt brown anyway! In a large pattern I will often have a real mixture of different species including Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, Tufted, Pintail and even Shoveller on occasion. Why? ‘cause I have a real mixture of decoys collected over the years, and they all get thrown in a very large bag and stuck out to make a big, hopefully attractive blob of duck on the water. It usually seems to work OK. However, for the long walk foreshore decoying that I really enjoy, I use Teal decoys exclusively. They are small and therefore I can get a decent number in my Bergen without taking up all the space or breaking my back carrying them.

Shoveller	Teal	Mallard
Tufted	Widgeon	Pochard
		Which species of decoy is always a bone of contention between fowlers
	Pintail

The keel question

Weighted or aquakeel? Aqua what? Some decoys come with a keel that fills with water and that is what gives them their stability and keeps them upright. They are fantastic if you can place your deeks on the water and they hugely reduce weight for carrying. However, there are a couple of practical problems when using aquakeel decoys. The first is that if you have to throw your deeks out to get them out on the water, they more often than not land upside down. Also, when you get your deeks in at the end of the flight, it is a physical impossibility to get all of the water out of the keel, and you can end up with a very wet bag. I have managed to get round the “right way up” problem in the past by inserting a weight inside the keel, which only slightly increases the weight, but does get them landing the right way up.

Suction, aqua and weighted keels

It is possible now to also get suction keel decoys. These have a concave base which sucks down onto the water. I have only used them a few times, but they seem to work well, especially if the tide goes out, as they then sit flat on the mud, rather than at an angle as keel decoys do. But they still land upside down if you throw them out.

Weighted keel decoys land the right way up, but of course they increase the weight you have to carry out. Some of the weight can be removed on some of the more modern designs. Most ‘fowlers end up with a mixture which they choose from dependant on where they will be shooting, how long the walk out is and how they have to get their decoys out.

Weights and lines

Of course, if you just throw you decoys out into the tide they will disappear. In some areas it is possible to use a peg on the end of the line. If you can’t get out to put the pegs in the ground then they have to be weighted down. There are again many methods of doing this. If the tide pull is light where you shoot, then you may well get away with fishing weights. A very popular design of weights is the ‘strap lead’. It is exactly that, a strap of lead which weights the decoy down, but, at the end of the flight is then wrapped round the neck of the decoy to keep everything tidy. I have found these to be excellent, and are my first choice method, as long as the tide isn’t too strong. If you shoot in strong tidal areas, meatier weights are required. In those areas I use a decent sized boat fishing bell weight. This brings us on to methods of attaching the decoy and the weight.

Gang rig

The choice of line you can use is again almost endless. Many people use heavy breaking stain fishing line. This is great as it doesn’t absorb water, but it has a tendency to tangle. Para cord is also good, but it soaks up water, and can also rot. The best product I have found is ‘no tangle’ line. It is a sort of plasticy / rubbery line (technical definition!), but it doesn’t soak up water, cut into fingers or rot. And whilst despite the name it is possible to tangle it, you have to try really, really hard to do it. The only downside I have found is that should you get your weight caught on something, it is possible to snap the line if you pull too hard.

 

Single or gang?

I think every ‘fowler I have ever met has their own special way of rigging their decoys, usually developed over may years of trial and error. But they usually follow one of two basic ideas. The single line system is a weight and line for each decoy. This is great for splashes, ponds and areas without too much tidal pull. The key thing is the length of the line. If it is too short, one of 2 things will happen. If you use a heavy weight, the decoy will be pulled under. If the weight is quite light, the force of the tide will cause the weight to drag and even lift off the bottom, resulting in a rapidly disappearing decoy. A good rule of thumb is for the line to be three times the depth of the water. Besides, you don’t always have to let all of the line out!
A gang rig uses one main weight for all the decoys. You then attach all of your decoys to the line coming from that weight. This allows you to only use the one big heavy weight for up to about half a dozen decoys. I regularly use both methods with great success.

Pattern

Most ‘fowlers agree that positioning is more important than pattern. You need to put the decoys somewhere where duck are likely to be. You also need to think about the direction of approaching birds, as that has an effect on the placement of your decoys. It usually works well if you put your decoys slightly upwind of your position, as approaching birds will usually try and land into the wind.

But the key thing about where you put your decoys is range. The whole idea of decoys is to bring the birds CLOSER. There is no point having your decoys way out of range, as incoming birds will be too. Most of the time my decoys are between 20 and 30 yards away, that way even if birds approach the back of the pattern, they are still in range. This is even more important with steel shot, as it loses velocity quicker than other shot types.

The final thing about decoys is that they are great for attracting ‘fowlers too! I gave up counting mine years ago, yet I still buy more each year, much to the annoyance of my wife. You can never have too many decoys.