The cheapies i have look like crap compared to the avian x ones, but they are pricey. Looking my old ones over, i have some cracked keels, chipped paint, and just wear and tear, that seems excessive for how i took care of them.
What are you guys using?
Looking to buy just a dozen of some good, life like, durable, mallard decoy.
Spend the money on the avians?
Looked at dakotas, and was not impressed. Colors are wrong, and body dimensions, and pose's just didn't look right.

I have a hodgepodge right now. Most of my mallards are older Foiles decoys (this was before his whole ordeal, I'd never give Foiles a cent of my money now). I have a GHG puddler pack, GHG green wings and GHG blue bills too. My divers have held up really well over the last 3-4 years or so. I've only had the puddler pack a year and a half and they're already losing paint. My next set of decoys will be from Dakota or Avian, or if I can't quite spring for them, G&H...you really get what you pay for with decoys

Quack Decoys have the best of everything. Durable, ride like a duck, light enough, and look as good as you need them to.

But I still love hunting over hand carved cork decoys.

Most of mine are GHG right now they seem to be holding up well

My decoy spread is a hodge podge of various manufacturers; I started with Carry-lite back in the late 70's when their quality control and paint didn't suck. When they started going south, I started buying Flambeau and have been generally pleased...my only complaint is that the plastic they use is somewhat stiff and becomes brittle and cracks if it gets too cold.
Lately, I've been making my own out of scraps and garbage(left over 2x4 scaps, styrofoam packing sheets, old surgical gauze, ect). These dekes are great in that they are light, float well, continue to float when hit by stray shot, and were made by ME!

Here are some mallards & blacks that I made a few years back:


Some green wing teal:


One of my home made hens on a pond:


My spread with some of my fakes added; the hen and drake in the front are ones I made:

I carve my own.

Beautiful work Killerv.

Wow! very nice.
How much for one with a hollowed out center that can be resealed so when the day comes I have to put my buddy down I can put his ashes in it and have him still hunting with me?

Urns are very popular... I hope you have many more years with he/she before you have to worry about it. Wouldnt be any more than a standard hollowed wood gunner though.

I am hoping i have many, many years ahead. Both of us!
Shoot me a pm with a price for a drake mallard.
Id like to use it, so it would be a part of us over the years.
Yes i love my dog, but also know i may live longer than him.
See my thread in gun dogs.

Love the Gadwall

Excellent work!

I still use mostly flambeau. A lot of areas I hunt we need to put out 8-12 dozen dekes to run a chance.

If I could get by with 1-2 dozen I'd spend the money on the expensive ones...

BUT then again, we kill ducks over our cheap ones all the time. Limit out most times too if birds are in the area.

So I'm not so sure that its all that important...

Jeff

I have been using Flambeau dekes for the last few years, but just this AM I scored a great deal on a box of FA Mallards so this year will have a mix of dekes. The FA's sure look good.

For ducks, FA brand and Flambeau.
For geese, Dave smiths and avery pro-series.

G&H's that are now probably 20 years old. A good cleaning and some touch up paint every few years and they still look great. For newer ones the GHG with a clear coat sprayed on top are hard to beat. Plus when it floods you don't get as upset losing a $40/dozen decoy.

Still use the older G+H and Carrylite but all our new purchases lately have been GHG..the company has been great with replacement heads and stands.

The only thing I really don't like about older G&H is the removable heads that end up breaking off anyways. The mallard ones especially.

GHG pro grades and oversize. Their paint seems to hold up very well Early season i use mostky hens and most of them are F/A brand.

Goose decoys i use mostly are bigfoots. I have some GHG goose decoys but thier paints are the worst I have ever seenand seem to flake off just from opening the box. I also use about 6 dozen sillo socks and a couple dozen sillouettes. We also use a few reel wings flyers. And I love em

Mostly herters for me mallards, and divers. For the walk in hunts the rest are G&H with rig em rights. Those burlapped herters get heavy on those walk in hunts

I have used mainly Herter's decoys since the 1960's and have only had to retire the few that got soaked in gasoline spraying out of a leak in an old two hose pressurized portable gasoline tank. That was a bad morning. The rest of the Herter's decoys I have seem to be quite durable with reasonable care.

Some of their largest goose decoys painted as swans work wonders on those big birds.

I have used some G&H duck and goose decoys with good success but have had a few of them crumble. I made several dozen out of a Decoys Unlimited mold that will still be around after all the roaches die.

Don't be such a wuss phoneman..

I've used Carry-Lite, Flambeau, Herters, G&H, and GHG. Of these the GHG are by far the nicest. There will always be pros and cons to any decoy that you choose, but for the money, GHG is my hands down favorite. I haven't had any trouble with the paint on mine, I have had a couple of heads break on my full body geese, however. A little Gorilla Glue and they were back in action the next day.

none float like the herters.

Got a chance to lok at the avian X mallards today. By far the best looking decoy i have seen

Currently, I make my own.....in the past I have used Flambeau and Carry-lite. Would recommend Flambeau; carrylites I've used have had paint problems.
I have a friend that uses GHG....they seem like a good decoy.

I have a dozen of the "body language" fully flocked mallards and a dozen "drake" branded mallards that body language repainted for me. they look amazing!
If I went to cabelas to buy decoys, i'd get the avian X - dakota - ghg pro series, in that order.

http://www.bodylanguagedecoys.com/decoys.html


I've used cheap ones and killed ducks, do I think these decoys will help me kill 2x as many? probably not but it can't hurt!

Dakota ducks, look amazing. only downfall is weight in my opinion

Anything with flat or no keel, unless I hunt big water. Movement trumps artistry, any day.

Seems to be a resurrection.

We've got 40+ dozen in our club. Favorites are avian X and Higdon. Your mileage may vary.

Bunch of old threads up tonight, breathing life into this sub forum. Good stuff.

I frequently brought but never once deployed a dozen or more mallard decoys and a half dozen wood duck decoys. All my shooting this season was jump shooting. Never got the dekes wet.

For geese I've been having pretty good luck with a few dozen Divebomb silhouettes. Easy to pack, inexpensive, and they work... particularly if you know where the geese want to be.

I don't know the answer, I'm a rookie duck hunter so to speak, but have always wondered.....

Is the ultra-realistic decoy, the paint, the flocking, the ride on the water, does that really bring in more ducks, or is that just to bring in more dollars for the manufacturer?

I don't know much about duck hunting but used second-hand this year. Left them on the lake for a 8-10 weeks. A few ended upside down. Ducks still consistently came in the last weekend of the season. Not sure of the brand.

Thirty five years ago Cabela's used to sell a Cabela's branded foam filled decoy. They were terrific. I have a few mallards and a few pintails left of those. I also have those cheap Flambeaus and a few odds and ends accumulated over the last fifty years.

I am done waterfowl hunting and ought to sell my duck decoys and goose shells some time.

You'd probably like the 50 year old Victors that I have. A very shallow x-shaped "keel" that won't hold much line. I drilled some holes in them and filled them up with Great Stuff foam, then epoxied the cracks and re-painted. Am not going to spend money on new decoys until Biden reverses the climate and more ducks start showing up here than I've been seeing in the last decade or two.

My buddy has some G & H decoys that have held up well for him.

https://lifetimedecoys.com

None better! I use them in water, on ice, and on Land. Try them I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

I run G&H ducks. Probably 2 dozen puddlers and 3 dozen divers. I do admit there are more realistic puddlers on the market but the G&H still work for me. Their divers are top notch IMHO.

Just sold my old Bigfoot goose floaters. Looking at the Dakota and Hard Core lessers to replace them.

Currently a mix. I bought some flocked head Higdon foam filled that I really like. My full body dekes are Dakota fully flocked. I have a few older GHG and FA decoys but will probably replace them next year. The Lifetime decoys mentioned above look very nice.

Higdon foam filled. We put them out and leave them out all season. The flocked head mallards look great and hold up. Plus if there are cripples in the decoys...... BLAZE AWAY because they are literally unsinkable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZhPzi0TEUw&ab_channel=EmergingMediaProductions

for Geese im a big fan of Bigfoot and DOA decoys. for mos ducks I realy like Higdon and avian x. my diver spread is a mix and match of Avery, Higdon,Final Flight, and a local custom maker that i am friends with. all of my closest divers are Foamers our snowgoos rig is a ix of everything including texas rags. keep in mind my diver rig is 150 decoys. with our entire snow goose rig out we are somewhere around 3000 decoys

I don’t think it hurts.
I have a big mix of everything. The Avian X mallards look great to me but the ducks like Higdon Battleship Mallard, Foam Filled.
Woodies like the cheap flexible cabela’s model about $40/6
For divers (mostly buffies here) I like my tanglefree.

But you’re right, “cheap” decoys placed where ducks want to land will get’er done. And I think your hide is more important.
Then motion, I like a few on a jerk string.

Old School --Wildfowlers

I wish I had more! But nothing rides like a Lifetime.

Here's an old pin hen I carved, wish I still had this one

Very nice work

Killerv ---outstanding!

Switched to Dakota Decoy a few years ago, pricey, but they sure look good on the water!

I have a mix of a lot of different stuff but most are G&H. Down here people will paint 3 liter coke bottles black and use them as filler decoys. I think it really does not take high dollar decoys to kill ducks

I hardly hunt anything deeper than 14inches. I use a mix of White Rock flocked head mallard and canada's
They are LIGHT and CHEAP and you can tote an ass load to far away places... plus the wind makes them move like magic on cut corn/bean fields. If i have to hunt a deeper place, I have tons of old G & H supermagnum mallard that hardly get used...

I'd rather use the SiloSock any day of the week... more movement and easier to handle.

Agreed on the Silo’s, but our lakes and rivers don’t allow it. I have a couple guys I hunt geese with in Eastern PA that use the Silo’s, they make my Bigfoot’s seem like cinder blocks!

Over the last 52 seasons I’ve used many different brands of decoys. Some were real good, some garbage, most pretty good. For the last four seasons, nearly all I use are Avian X. I’ve got about 2 1/2 dozen mallard floaters and 1 1/2 dozen full body field decoys. Adding 3 dozen more this year, 1/2 floaters & 1/2 full bodies. To me, they’re worth it.

These are custom flocked, Tanglefree full bodies. Beautiful work.