Help with making decoys

[Spara Dritto]

Would like to know how to make some pigeon decoys, could buy them but if its possible to make them let me know!

 

cheers all!

[Beardo]

trim some 2 litre plastic fizzy drink bottles to shape and then paint with primer grey and then overpaint white for the neck and wing bands, details in black and eyes in yellow/black.

cheap as chips.

but you can buy very good cheap decoy half shelf these days, it's hardly worth it.

[Spara Dritto]

i look around for decoys, but il give it a go, if it works il stick wit hthe free bottles! cheers there matey!

[Beardo]

this is the kind of thing (these are antique collectors metal ones), though plastic bottles will have a more natural curve and depth to them

the screw cap end and shape of the bottle lends itself to a pigeon shape

 

 

edit: note the wing bars are incorrectly painted on those - the lines should run parallel with the edge

[Beardo]

the only issue with the plastic ones will be the fact that the blow away easily, so you'll need to spike them or put some kind of weight in them (if you paint the sides/underside dark green on the bottles and don't cut them, then you can put some water in them which will act as a weight

[duncan]

there`s an old boy that shoots on one our farms all he uses is a length of grey plastic guttering cut into 10-12 inch pieces and paints on the markings ,seems to work ok for him as he gets a good mornings shooting

[chrispti]

Cover a shell decoy with cling film.

 

Cover decoy in glue and newspaper (paper mache)

 

When dry, remove from the decoy.

 

Spray/paint, job done

 

Make as many as you need

[Beardo]

you'll need to spary then heavily with lacquer or some such as paper maché won't last long in the field unless fully coated, i like the idea though

[Spara Dritto]

wow, thank you all for your many replys! i will have a look about for some cheap second hand decoys, if nothing turns up i will give the bottle/drain pipe a go!

 

many thanks!

[greg12]

there`s an old boy that shoots on one our farms all he uses is a length of grey plastic guttering cut into 10-12 inch pieces and paints on the markings ,seems to work ok for him as he gets a good mornings shooting

 

Did exactly the same years ago,and had pigeons land on them although not for long! I now use shell deeks from ebay cheap and very good

[Gavla]

I’ve used the plastic milk bottle method for years & it does the trick ??

 

[marsh man]

My very first decoys were Grey plastic guttering , easy to make , can get about a dozen in your game bag , and it also helped working for a builder who often replaced cast iron guttering with plastic and left us to measure up for the job ☺️

[marcel909]

On 09/08/2018 at 19:22, Gavla said:

I’ve used the plastic milk bottle method for years & it does the trick ??

 

 

wow, sounds great

Edited September 6, 2018 by marcel909

[Dave at kelton]

I used sheet plastic cut to shape and rolled over and glued. Spray with grey primer and add white bars etc. They slide together taking no space and are light.

To hold in place get steel brick band and fold the top over to grip the decoy then bend to use as a spike. Done properly the decoy will rock in the wind. You can use these on bottles as well.

 Not sure if I can find the template but if you pm your email address I will see what I can look out and send photos. Once you see the decoy you can work out your own template anyway and vinyl flooring will probably serve as plastic sheet if you cannot get it.

[Vince Green]

Years ago we used to cut  decoys out of grey plastic drainpipe, or guttering. Very common back then when shop bought decoys were out of our price range . Paint them with car primer etc. You could just lay them on the ground but if you wanted to get fancy, drill hole in back for a tent peg and use a wine bottle cork drilled through end to end as spacer to lift them off the ground.

Edited September 12, 2018 by Vince Green