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What do you look for when buying decoys?


Bass301gmh
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I went to the Game fair at the weekend to buy some equipment and to be honest I was very unimpressed with most of the decoys on sale. Some of them were **** and gimmicky, the materials and colouring, etc.. were very poor. I know that a real pigeon will always decoy better than a 'Fake', but I don't always have access to a real bird before I go and just want a few decoys to start a session and then supplement with shot birds as they come. Hence, what do you think are the key attributes (shape, colour, markings, etc..) to make a successful decoy?

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  • 4 weeks later...

It really depends on what you mean by, "a few", coupled up with your budget. If you want something that really works, is immune to countless pellet strikes (hit a flocked one a glancing shot and see what happens) and will last forever, then checkout the Flexicoy at Uttings. I have simply no idea how old mine are other than it's way in excess of 20 years and they're still doing the business.

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It really depends on what you mean by, "a few", coupled up with your budget. If you want something that really works, is immune to countless pellet strikes (hit a flocked one a glancing shot and see what happens) and will last forever, then checkout the Flexicoy at Uttings. I have simply no idea how old mine are other than it's way in excess of 20 years and they're still doing the business.

What does happen?

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Ho please tell I'm dying to know. :hmm:

To keep a long story short, last time out because of the bright sun I ended up taking many low birds in the manic last hour when the vast majority of the bag of 65 were shot. When picking up a couple of the flocked shell decoys I got a handful of flock and partially bald pigeons. On inspection, I could see where a pellet had skimmed along the surface. Rubbing the affected area caused more flock to come off. Those with direct hits from previous outings were not similarly effected. I cannot give a reason for this other than perhaps they were defective from new or perhaps as they are far from new and are rarely used and stored in the garage the flock had 'aged' as what did rub off appeared to be 'brittle'. Later, I had a look at a flocked rook decoy which had had similar but smaller damage. Rubbing this I ended up with a completely bald bright shiny plastic surface. Again, I can't explain it but it seemed as though the intact flocking itself was all that secured it to the plastic and once damaged it all wanted to let go.

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The most effective pigeon decoys that I have ever seen that really brought the pigeons in and made them commit were the most rubbish trashy ones that you could imagine. They were on sale back in the 80s to 90s by Sporting developments of Fife if I remember correctly. They were a thin abs shell ( and I mean thin) with a bit of dowel and a plastic sort of triangle thingy that went through a slot in the back. A mate bought some and when they arrived we looked at each other and both of us said that they were cheap tripe and that they probably wouldn’t last the afternoon out. They were just a light grey with a splog of white on the neck. The head was just a blunt rounded extension. There was no beak or eyes or anything. How wrong we were to write these decoys off as junk. I had super duper deeks with all of the detail and the birds would come into his decoys every time and it wasn’t that he was using a better pattern picture because I borrowed them on several occasions and used mine on one side and his on the other side and the birds would favour his deeks every time. I think that his deeks gave a sort of hunched picture with the short rounded head and because they were so light and thin they moved with the slightest breeze. If his deeks were viewed from a distance they just looked like pigeons feeding. From my experience real pigeons don’t necessarily work better than deeks. I remember a post from a long time ago where a shooter was vehement that you had to cut the eyelids off of the pigeons because the ones coming in could see that the decoy birds had their eyes shut. :lol: Yeah right. The times that I’ve had them come in with shot birds on their backs and some that have tried to come in to land ( some have actually landed) when I have been out placing out more shot birds into the pack.

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Anyone remember the drawing in the shooting magazine which could be scaled up and used as a pattern to cut out a decoy from thin cardboard? The were carried flat and when rolled into a 'tube' two tags would overlap which were then secured with a piece of bent wire the other end of which was stuck in the ground. There was a run on LP record sleeves as many were left a drab grey on the inside surface. This in the mid 70s - oh, and yep, they worked!

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I still have 20 of these. They have yellow stickers for eyes, a bit of white for wing bars and black ends to the tales and wing tips.

 

They do shine a lot when wet though.

 

IMO HH decoys were/are the best of the artificials.

 

The most effective pigeon decoys that I have ever seen that really brought the pigeons in and made them commit were the most rubbish trashy ones that you could imagine. They were on sale back in the 80s to 90s by Sporting developments of Fife if I remember correctly. They were a thin abs shell ( and I mean thin) with a bit of dowel and a plastic sort of triangle thingy that went through a slot in the back. A mate bought some and when they arrived we looked at each other and both of us said that they were cheap tripe and that they probably wouldn’t last the afternoon out. They were just a light grey with a splog of white on the neck. The head was just a blunt rounded extension. There was no beak or eyes or anything. How wrong we were to write these decoys off as junk. I had super duper deeks with all of the detail and the birds would come into his decoys every time and it wasn’t that he was using a better pattern picture because I borrowed them on several occasions and used mine on one side and his on the other side and the birds would favour his deeks every time. I think that his deeks gave a sort of hunched picture with the short rounded head and because they were so light and thin they moved with the slightest breeze. If his deeks were viewed from a distance they just looked like pigeons feeding. From my experience real pigeons don’t necessarily work better than deeks. I remember a post from a long time ago where a shooter was vehement that you had to cut the eyelids off of the pigeons because the ones coming in could see that the decoy birds had their eyes shut. :lol: Yeah right. The times that I’ve had them come in with shot birds on their backs and some that have tried to come in to land ( some have actually landed) when I have been out placing out more shot birds into the pack.

Edited by Penelope
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I still have 20 of these. They have yellow stickers for eyes, a bit of white for wing bars and black ends to the tales and wing tips.

 

They do shine a lot when wet though.

 

IMO HH decoys were/are the best of the artificials.

 

I'm surprised that you still have some Because they were a bit flimsy. Do you still use them and what is your opinion of them as a decoy? My recollection of them is that they were a very basic cheap flimsy decoy that was poorly finished and might be good to go for a few times but as a decoying tool they were superb. Pigeon just committed to coming in to the pack without any nervousness at all. From a pigeons viewpoint they must have looked like the real deal. If they were available now I would buy some for the fact that they were so light and the pulling power of them. I don't know how much they were years ago but the cost of materials can't have been more than 50p each.
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They get used very occasionally if I want to bulk out the pattern. Usually use a dozen flocked shells, 10 HH and half a dozen Flexicoys.

 

 

I'm surprised that you still have some Because they were a bit flimsy. Do you still use them and what is your opinion of them as a decoy? My recollection of them is that they were a very basic cheap flimsy decoy that was poorly finished and might be good to go for a few times but as a decoying tool they were superb. Pigeon just committed to coming in to the pack without any nervousness at all. From a pigeons viewpoint they must have looked like the real deal. If they were available now I would buy some for the fact that they were so light and the pulling power of them. I don't know how much they were years ago but the cost of materials can't have been more than 50p each.

Edited by Penelope
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Colour and movement.

 

Half my deeks are dark grey (standard), other half are lighter. Both have carefully and artistically ( ;-) ) upgraded white patches on neck and wings with uv paint, all pegs are spung metal band 'wobblers'.

 

 

My dads old deeks were modelled after the fife deeks above. Cut out from handle side of 1 gallon plastic cans using back of handle for head\beak, swing out tail cut from otherside and riveted to body. coated with sawdust and sprayed with grey undercoat for main colour and white undercoat for the flashes.

 

They worked quite well.......

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all pegs are spung metal band 'wobblers'. Yep done that one with scrap brick banding

 

My dad’s old deeks were modelled after the fife deeks above. Cut out from handle side of 1 gallon plastic cans using back of handle for head\beak, swing out tail cut from other side and riveted to body. Coated with sawdust and sprayed with grey undercoat for main colour and white undercoat for the flashes. I hadn't thought of that one. A nearby service place that does up market car service always has a load of these grey oilcans going scrap. I'll definitely be over and retrieve a few for experimentation. I like the idea of the swing out tail held on by a pop rivet. folded they would be more compact to carry. The thing with the Fifes was that because they were made out of a VERY thin shell of abs that even the slightes breeze would move them and as such the whole pack would be constantly moving. I think that this is why they drew so well. I know that all other decoys are more solid but they dont move at all or minimal.

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