Enforcer, flocked and a dead bird

[Yorkshire Lad]

I thought I'd share my findings with some new deeks.

My old flocked decoys were tired so it was time to look for some replacements. I decided on the enforcer decoys, pricy yes but I've had my last set for 5/6 years and they get used most weekends sometimes twice if I get the time so they'll get well used. 

Shooting over drillings the day was slow with only a few pigeons coming for a passing fly-by of the pattern with zero willing to decoy. 4 hours with 2 crows and a pigeon to show for it. Not great. 

The new decoys I'd order had been delivered since I'd left so as home was only a few minutes away and without the risk of missing much action I went home to collect them to give them a go for an hour or two before calling it a day. 

I brought in 20 flocked decoys shown in the picture and set out 12 of the new enforcer shells. The difference was noticeable immediately. I shot 14 pigeons in just under 2 hours with a few misses which for the day was a good result and a far better end to the day than what the start had been. 

I don't know if this is due to the effectiveness of the new or the ineffectiveness of the old but the improvement was noticeable. 

Credit where credit is due they certainly did the job. This could be the added movement of the spring sticks or the colouring, I suspect it's both. 

For comparison here's a photo of the old shell, new shells and a dead bird. 

Makes me wonder how many hours I've spent in the hide shooting over a pattern that wasn't really pulling them in!

 

[motty]

In my opinion, the enforcers are way too dark in the wing area - almost dark brown.

I would suggest it may have been a coincidence that your fortunes improved. If they work for you, though, keep using them!

[kenholland]

15 hours ago, motty said:

In my opinion, the enforcers are way too dark in the wing area - almost dark brown.

I would suggest it may have been a coincidence that your fortunes improved. If they work for you, though, keep using them!

motty you are right , repainted all my enforcers , look much better now.

[clangerman]

given some enforcers still had shine from use moved them on thought by now someone would come up with something close to a dead bird maybe the painters are colour blind 

[stockybasher]

If you've got "tired looking " deeks, with the probability the white paint has worn away, I would get some white UV paint and freshen the neck and wing white bars.

Did it to mine about 2 years back and an immediate improvement !!  You will be able to see yourself how much better they stand out, without looking scarey.  I used UV Paint from A1 decoys (no connections !).

[dad]

On 11/04/2020 at 16:47, stockybasher said:

If you've got "tired looking " deeks, with the probability the white paint has worn away, I would get some white UV paint and freshen the neck and wing white bars.

Did it to mine about 2 years back and an immediate improvement !!  You will be able to see yourself how much better they stand out, without looking scarey.  I used UV Paint from A1 decoys (no connections !).

I did the same with my half flocked shells about 10 years ago and top the paint up every 2 i usually have dead birds but if i havent i am quite confident to use the shells but i always use a rotary with 2 dead birds and i think they fixate on the rotary. Except if they come from behind then i think they have too much time to inspect what you have out.

[stockybasher]

I only have a 6 "flocked" decoys out of a team of around 40 + shell decoys.  I found they faded very quickly to a very light colour and became unrealistic (to me !!).  So, I don't use flocked anymore.