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3D printed decoy socks


mikee
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Its been a while since I posted anything on PW

I have just bought 10 of the 3D printed decoy sock covers to smarten up my old coys, I was going to replace them all with new but they seem to be a lot of money these days so I bought the socks but only time will tell if they' re any good does anyone else use them, they certainly look the part

 

Mikee

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I've had some awhile now ( one year)and I really liked them till Saturday, the birds were not decoying very well so Suppose I was looking for any reason why but they just seemed shiny and very pink (very sunny) , I think I've seen another thread that mentions them fading,I took them all in and opted for just my flapper and one dead bird on a bouncer, it took a while but I built a pattern, all that said they have worked great in the past! Certainly better than the decoys under them!

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I tried the new 3D socks out friday afternoon, I had seen in previous replies that they worked best in dull conditions which friday afternoon was, I didnt shoot just set the 10 decoys out on some stubble and sat in my truck and watched, not all the birds that came to the field decoyed but all the birds that came in on the right lines swooped straight in and some even landed for a few seconds, certainly better than before, I sat a couple up in the garden yesterday in the sunshine and they were a bit shiny so they will be useful at least some of the time, well worth the tenner they cost and will be ordering 20 more to do the rest

 

Mikee

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  • 3 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I have some of the ringers originals and have to agree that in bright sunlight the 'elastane' in the stretchy fabric they are made from does make them fairly shiny in bright conditions. However on the whole I reckon that they work pretty well. I have some good bags using them.

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The best by a long way are the sillo sock covers, I have tried 3 different ones , one just reflected light in all conditions especially when wet, one lot were about the right colour when they arrived but after only 2 outings had turned a bright pinkish purple, they all went in the bin, I now have 30 shells fitted with sillo sock covers, they are great, I regularly have birds land amongst them and if the birds are decoying well, they will always come right over the decoys for a good look.

A few already have pellet holes in them from low level shots but they dont tear and retain shape and colour , the oldest batch are now 3 years old and still compare well to the latest 10 I purchased just before Christmas.

I lay out two groups of 15 with a largish gap between the two groups, then stick the magnet right between the two groups but set a short way up wind, the birds will cross from left or right then turn into the wind coming invariably right into the gap with no suspicion that these are decoys.

Before this I would use dead birds or full bodied decoys but the bulk and weight were always a problem if hiking a long way to the shooting area, now I can get 30 shells in my back pack with minimal weight, I have given up using pegs on them, I fashioned a stiff wire mount that extends from the inside back area, up under the head and then down at an angle forwards , held in place by liberal amounts of glue from my hot glue gun,so that when they are stuck in the ground the wind will turn them like windsocks to always face into the wind but still give slight movement and expansion of the sock / cover to mimic a full body.

The white areas on the covers are treated with ultra violet paint which shows up to the pigeons like normal pigeon plumage.

My only variation to this is once I have a few dead birds I will start replacing the shells with birds on cradles as there is no decoy like a real bird. but when birds are scarce they never let me down. :yes::yes:

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I already had 20 of the sillosock covers but needed more, at the time I could not find any more ,

The first lot came from a local gun shop and were made from some stretch material , no idea what make, the second lot from eBay, they are still selling them , I believe they came in from china, again a stretch material but the colour printing was awful , they were made to go over full bodied decoys so I split them underneath and glued them on with a contact adhesive, the colour was so bad if I put them out on the down wind side of the pattern the pigeons would turn away before getting in range, the only reason I kept them was I had purchased 20 sillo sock covers but could not get any more as they were out of stock, then just before Christmas they came back in stock so I grabbed another 10 and binned the others. I got them from ukshootwarehouse.com listed as the following Sillosocks Pigeon Decoy UV Slip Over Jackets x 10 @ £25, seems expensive but to revive old shells without having to repaint + they are so effective I think they are a bargain. :yes::yes:

Edited by lakeside1000
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