Summary: We use widgeon decoys early on in our decoy spread for the extra visibility of their colors and to help us bag a few more of these beautiful bonus ducks. Here's an overview of how we paint our drake widgeon decoys. Because we rarely use hen widgeon decoys we have no painting instructions or colors for hens, simply no real reason to use them.
Remember, if these decoys are going to stand out during the season you have to keep them clean. It doesn't take long with a scrub brush to quickly clean off the dried up muddy water from your decoys.
Also keep in mind there's no reason to go out and buy drake pintail decoys. If you have some hen mallard decoys your willing to convert into black ducks, pintails, or widgeon go for it. I can assure you real ducks are not going to know the difference.