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Which lofting hooks


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Make some different ones up yourself out of the old fashion coat hangers or fencing wire , if they don't work you can chuck them away and try some more either longer or shorter than the ones you have already tried .

Far more satisfaction making your own than relying on shop bought ones .

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I have just 3 , which have the lead counter balance on the bottom, a hook about 3 inches in diameter , the full bodied decoy mounts on a large plastic 'peg' which is a tight push fit into the decoy body and is fixed on the top of the hook with a simple screw , my lofting pole is an old 8 metre carp pole, modified with a landing net screw socket on the top section, into which I fit a paint roller plastic handle, the handle has a hollow end which is a loose fit around the counter weight, the only problem I have is retrieving the decoys on windy days , otherwise the setup works well and I can have 3 decoys up to 30 feet up in the trees in a very short time.lots of hooks are available on ebay, which is where I bought mine .😁

 

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1 hour ago, marsh man said:

Make some different ones up yourself out of the old fashion coat hangers or fencing wire , if they don't work you can chuck them away and try some more either longer or shorter than the ones you have already tried .

Far more satisfaction making your own than relying on shop bought ones .

^ this

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On 3 March 2019 at 11:06, lakeside1000 said:

I have just 3 , which have the lead counter balance on the bottom, a hook about 3 inches in diameter , the full bodied decoy mounts on a large plastic 'peg' which is a tight push fit into the decoy body and is fixed on the top of the hook with a simple screw , my lofting pole is an old 8 metre carp pole, modified with a landing net screw socket on the top section, into which I fit a paint roller plastic handle, the handle has a hollow end which is a loose fit around the counter weight, the only problem I have is retrieving the decoys on windy days , otherwise the setup works well and I can have 3 decoys up to 30 feet up in the trees in a very short time.lots of hooks are available on ebay, which is where I bought mine .😁

 

I use shop bought hooks (sorry Marshman, but I do agree using home made stuff gives you more satisfaction) and for retrieving, have made a large (6 inch) wire horizontal ring that I fix into the top pole by doubling over the wire so it stays put and can easily be removed (if that makes sense). This loop then easily 'catches' the weighted end and so can lift the hook, decoy etc and bring it down. Easier done than explained I'm afraid. I also find that resting the poles on a lower branch when getting the weighted end through the loop helps. Others, I know advocate the use of a plastic funnel attached to the top pole to achieve the same purpose, but my loop thingy works for me. 

Alternatively, I sometimes use a standard set of poles with a few lower sections of a telescopic roach pole (the top sections can be too flexible) with a homemade wire cradle that is attached to the top of the roach pole having just two full bodied decoys on. This is then pushed up against a tree and left in position. It allows the decoys to reach a far greater height than a standard set of poles and just two decoys set higher than say five set lower seems to work better.

OB

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41 minutes ago, Old Boggy said:

I use shop bought hooks (sorry Marshman, but I do agree using home made stuff gives you more satisfaction) and for retrieving, have made a large (6 inch) wire horizontal ring that I fix into the top pole by doubling over the wire so it stays put and can easily be removed (if that makes sense). This loop then easily 'catches' the weighted end and so can lift the hook, decoy etc and bring it down. Easier done than explained I'm afraid. I also find that resting the poles on a lower branch when getting the weighted end through the loop helps. Others, I know advocate the use of a plastic funnel attached to the top pole to achieve the same purpose, but my loop thingy works for me. 

Alternatively, I sometimes use a standard set of poles with a few lower sections of a telescopic roach pole (the top sections can be too flexible) with a homemade wire cradle that is attached to the top of the roach pole having just two full bodied decoys on. This is then pushed up against a tree and left in position. It allows the decoys to reach a far greater height than a standard set of poles and just two decoys set higher than say five set lower seems to work better.

OB

The first ones I ever saw were at one of the early game fairs in the late 60s , these were very similar to ones you mentioned , the full bodied decoy had a 18 / 24 inch wire inserted under the body that had a hook on and the bottom of the wire were weighted , these were put up on a branch by a set of lofting poles with a plastic funnel on the end , so you raised them up and then retrieved them with the same gadget .

A mate of mine who used to try something different nailed two decoys, one at each end to a 3ft branch, a piece of string was tied at each end and met in the middle , he then used a catapult  with a long length of string with a nut on the end to haul it up the tree , weathered it work or not , that I couldn't tell you , but no doubt like a things tried during pigeon shooting , some days they will and some days they wont , a perfect example is the pigeon shooters drug , the magnet :lol:

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