Will Highly Detailed Custom Decoys Kill You More Ducks?

By Jeff Cuvelier

Summary: Like many of you who are members of the TakeEm site, we are always looking for new ways to gain a competitive advantage when we head to the blind. And, like many of you, we are also willing to invest our money into products or equipment that we believe can or will help us kill more waterfowl.

About 4 years ago, Jeff and I began researching the theory of "the more life-like and realistic our duck decoys look and are, the more ducks we’d consistently kill." We experienced first hand the benefits of this strategy when hunting Canada geese over expensive ultra realistic decoys and we believed that if it worked for geese, it should work for ducks as well.

When we refer to expensive custom made highly detailed duck decoys we are referring to decoys from companies such as Columbia River, Taylor Decoys, E. Allen as well as custom made cork or burlap wrapped decoys.

In order to prove whether or not the theory worked, Jeff and I invested thousands of dollars in these custom made decoys. We purchased 3 dozen Columbia River Duck Decoys at a cost of $400 per dozen plus shipping and we spent hundreds of hours and dollars hand carving and painting cork decoys and burlapping and painting custom foam decoys.

Did These High Dollar Custom Made Decoys Really Help Us Kill More Ducks And Will They Help You Kill More Ducks If You Purchase Them?

In our opinion the answer is yes (in very specific situations) and no (for most situations that take place throughout the season).

What We’ve Learned Over The Last 4 Seasons Of Using These Decoys:

Unlike geese that are much more methodical and observant when approaching a decoy spread, ducks tend to be much more erratic and less observant thereby making custom made highly detailed duck decoys less effect than custom made highly detailed goose decoys.

With the exception of some very specific situations, adding these high dollar, custom made, ultra life like duck decoys did not produce enough additional success to make it worth the additional cost or time it takes to care for these decoys.

The specific situations where these near life like decoys made a difference were:

  - Hunting ducks that have become stale and have "seen it all".
  - Hunting ducks when they begin to move in small groups of 3-4 ducks or when they begin moving in pairs and/or singles. **This is when these decoys are truly worth their money…when this situation happens these decoys are deadly.
  - Ducks that have been heavily hunted and have become "decoy shy". Typically this happens near the end of the season and once again this is when these decoys do pay off.

When these decoys did make a noticeable difference, we never used more than 18 decoys.

2 out of the last 4 seasons, these decoys never left our decoy storage area.

For the vast majority of the season, these decoys had little or no impact on our overall success and that’s why they were left home.

In conclusion, it is our recommendation that if you are going to spend the money to purchase expensive custom made highly detailed duck decoys you purchase no more than 12-18 of these decoys. Our experience has shown us that this is the optimum number and if you only purchase 12-18 decoys it won’t necessary break your piggy bank. There will be times that these decoys absolutely will help you kill more ducks, but for most of the season they’ll will sit in your garage or decoy storage area collecting dust and may not be worth the investment.

Best wishes and good luck hunting.