Putting Decoys out two day's before hunt?

[WhitewaterDuck]

What's y'alls' opinions on putting out duck decoys a couple to several days prior to hunting a spot? How about leaving them out there? Private spot, of course. There are very few ducks here now...thought it might be Bessie flaring them out of my spot, but there are just not many around anywhere I usually see them. I think the local ducks here got enough of a taste of a cool front, combined with opening day pressure on surrounding water holes, to move them on out. We have a front coming through here this evening with rain and temps dropping for the next two days. The front is associated with the big blizzard maker that just dumped on Montana. I'm thinking we will get a good push starting tonight through Wednesday am. I will be working all day tomorrow, but will be able to be out there hunting on Wednesday, when the rain is supposed to blow out leaving clear skies and temps in the upper 20's lower 30's. Would you get the decoys out this afternoon when there are few, if any ducks on the water and let them attract ducks tonight and tomorrow for the Wed. hunt, or will a migratory bird figure out that they are decoys after swimming amongst them for a day and shy away? Please opine.

[Kwacker2]

Dekes out 2 days before hunting? It’d educate them is my guess.
I suggest corn for a good shoot.

[Duck cutter]

Temps in the 20s and 30s around the first of October,

I need to move west

[willyworm]

Another vote for not putting them out.

You don't have the luxury of going to the birds, you're left with them coming to you. I'd think a duck would become wary of a lifeless non swimming chuck of plastic and move on. They either want to be there or they don't. Luring them in when you're not there doesn't do an real good.

Right now ducks are likely "here one day gone the next" anyway. They're migratory. Even if you do have birds in your hole swimming around the deeks 2 days prior, will they be there when do you get to hunt? Maybe. maybe not.

I don't think it'll hurt much, but i don't think it's gonna help anything either.

[Rubberhead*]

I agree with not putting them out early but I don't think it'll make a difference one way or the other.

I have a spot that literally only works during the middle of November. I really believe that the birds that I decoy are actively migrating and will only land for a few hours, usually out in the wide open, get a drink of water, preen their feathers, take a power nap and they're back up and migrating within a couple of hours. I've seen this year after year. They are uninterested in feeding - I guess they don't want to carry the extra weight.

[Duck Tape]

Put out fresh every time. Wind direction changes.

Also seen ducks get out of a spread quickly down here.

[cajunwannabe]

My buddy in SE La runs 1500 decoys on his lease with 15 spinners. They're out a week before season and pulled the week after. They kill 1000's of ducks and geese.

[Duckman#1]

Hunting bird that are using the spot/ area then there’s no benefit unless your lazy. If your just running traffic then by all means

[santee11]

My buddy in SE La runs 1500 decoys on his lease with 15 spinners. They're out a week before season and pulled the week after. They kill 1000's of ducks and geese.

Yes but if you put them out early you will not have anything to cus about that morning.

[WhitewaterDuck]

I usually put em out fresh and leave them if I’m coming back the next day...still get out and move em all around most of the time anyway. I’m going to go with throwing them
out fresh. Thanks.

[coot nasty]

What kind of spot is it? Food source? Is it gonna blocked up with the temps? If you have good food I'd say no. I would sleep in go out scout where the birds are and bump them out and set up at wait for them to trickle back in. Only if you have a good food source for them in the spot your hunting. If not a good food source just set up before daylight get the wind tight a hope for the best. And if you can scout it the day before dont go in late go in early.

[coot nasty]

My buddy in SE La runs 1500 decoys on his lease with 15 spinners. They're out a week before season and pulled the week after. They kill 1000's of ducks and geese.

But he's probably sitting on some good groceries!

[GMAC]

Strategizing and placing the decoys is an integral part of every hunt for me. When everything works out and they're hitting that gap like they're on a string is the essence of ducking.

[Mergie Master]

Depends on where you're hunting. In South Carolina I wouldn't leave them out, but if you are hunting where a lot of new birds are rolling through then I would say leave them out. My son has several hundred acres of flooded fields leased in Missouri and he puts his dekes out pre-season and leaves them. Of course he re-arranges them before a hunt to account for the wind and to add flavor and change the look of the pitching hole.

[JCT]

The Cajuns I hunt with in SW LA put the decoys out at the first of the season and pick ‘em up at the end of the season. As the season progresses, decoys get shot and half way sink etc. They get a good laugh at how much it bothers me....we usually kill the chit out of the ducks though so I guess they get the last laugh.

[WhitewaterDuck]

This is a 1.5 acre hole in a grass field. Plenty of volunteer seed bearing plants and grasses in there and they feed there, but plenty of corn and other grains in the surrounding fields they feed on also. Some new birds are arriving and should start arriving in earnest tonight and tomorrow night with this weather system and feet of snow just above here in Montana. Right now, winds will vary direction a good bit from day to day, but in a few weeks, 98% of the wind will have a predominantly western component...doesn’t really matter much, though, as the hole is so small. I like them cupping in my face and coming to me, but if I gotta shoot them as they cup and descend away from me...still close enough to fold em with an IC choke, it’s not going to hurt my feelings too bad. Small spread at this time, so I’ll put em our and pick em up. If I feel like I need to cover the hole up, to get the migrators in there, then I may leave em out for a few days.

[cajunwannabe]

The Cajuns I hunt with in SW LA put the decoys out at the first of the season and pick ‘em up at the end of the season. As the season progresses, decoys get shot and half way sink etc. They get a good laugh at how much it bothers me....we usually kill the chit out of the ducks though so I guess they get the last laugh.

My buddies stretch a 100' rope between two 4 wheelers and drag their decoys to the levee at the end of season. Their decoys are out 3 months straight. Pretty duck decoys are marketed to the hunter not the hunted.

[Mergie Master]

This is a 1.5 acre hole in a grass field. Plenty of volunteer seed bearing plants and grasses in there and they feed there, but plenty of corn and other grains in the surrounding fields they feed on also. Some new birds are arriving and should start arriving in earnest tonight and tomorrow night with this weather system and feet of snow just above here in Montana. Right now, winds will vary direction a good bit from day to day, but in a few weeks, 98% of the wind will have a predominantly western component...doesn’t really matter much, though, as the hole is so small. I like them cupping in my face and coming to me, but if I gotta shoot them as they cup and descend away from me...still close enough to fold em with an IC choke, it’s not going to hurt my feelings too bad. Small spread at this time, so I’ll put em our and pick em up. If I feel like I need to cover the hole up, to get the migrators in there, then I may leave em out for a few days.

Leave them out. And invite me to hunt.

[WhitewaterDuck]

Leave them out. And invite me to hunt.

SC Ducks legends have an open invite any time they want to come out...you, sir, are in that category. This thread should get pretty damn interesting from here forward!.

[Catdaddy]

Having good results with leaving decoys out for the season means you are in a flyway and seeing new birds every few days.

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