rascal72 Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 Being relatively new to the decoying world having been doing mostly rough shooting and stalking, i have been playing with decoy patterns with some success for the first time yesterday all be it slow, i was wondering how many decoys would be best as a general idea would it be the more the better or just a few i currently only posses a dozen full shell and 2 bouncers and will be shooting a new permission for the first time this weekend any advice would be most welcome thanks in advance Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcusfisher123 Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 What i normally do is go to the permission and have a look at how many pigeons are on the ground and where they are; so if you normally see about 10 pigeons feeding on the ground i would use about 10 decoys and a bouncer if needed. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 What i normally do is go to the permission and have a look at how many pigeons are on the ground and where they are; so if you normally see about 10 pigeons feeding on the ground i would use about 10 decoys and a bouncer if needed. Hope this helps I'm not sure if that's a good rule of thumb. What would you do if you saw 1000 pigeons feeding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosd Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 In the summer you can use as little as 6 decoys to get you started. In the winter months when the birds flock together is when you could probably do with another dozen decoys. replace plastics with real birds as you shoot them, and again, in the winter just build up your pattern with dead birds, the more the merrier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootnfish Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 Just use what you have, if pigeons are feeding there and your in the right spot what you have should do the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rascal72 Posted August 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 Thanks guys this has saved me a lot of money on fancy fandangalled things that i dont really need Just another thought would it be better to use cradles for the dead bird decoys rather than proping up with short canes ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Essex Hunter Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 Just use what you have, if pigeons are feeding there and your in the right spot what you have should do the job. +1 The real trick is being where they want to feed with a good flight line topping up what you kill… I use a minimum of 10 full bodied decoys and up to 30 shells… TEH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 Anything from 10 - 60 depending. A mixture of A1's flocked shells, HH full bodied, Flexicoy full bodied, Pro Pigeon and Sporting Development shells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennett Posted August 5, 2013 Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 (edited) I use 6 fuds, 8 flocked shells and a couple of bouncy poles and have had an excellent summer so far! Edited August 5, 2013 by kennett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rascal72 Posted August 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2013 Hmmm sounds like a liitle more investment in decoys/equiptment needed but will have to see how we get on this weekend cheers all regards neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dead eye alan Posted August 6, 2013 Report Share Posted August 6, 2013 I don't use any artificial decoys any more, I breast fresh birds then wrap the body in 1 sheet of news paper putting about 10 in a carrier bag, then in the fridge or freezer (depends when next out) thy come out fresh and clean set them up in cradles and away you go. Only cost is cradles unless you make your own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCat Posted August 6, 2013 Report Share Posted August 6, 2013 Never needed more than 20. Ever. Had some amazing days. Just get under the flight lines and be where they want to feed. You need to watch them before to plan it. Half hour on the day don't count but if that's all you can do then you'll have to make do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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