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Lofting decoys


spurs 14
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Hi all hope everyone is safe and well toying with the idea of getting a few lofted decoys for when I’m under tress on flightlines , looking at the brackets which hold the decoy - hook with weight at bottom and a small cross at top to attach the decoy , my question is do you need a special decoy for these as I dont see how my normal decoys will fit this as in peg normally goes through the body and out the top ,  to me looks like the top spike needs to be twice as long ? Am I being dim here or missing something?     Thanks 

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No question is a dim one, imagine not knowing how to make a car go backwards if you didn't know about a reverse gear.

Not all decoys can be lofted is the short answer.

The lofting ones usually come with feet and you simply swap the feet for the lofting weight, from memory I think jack pyke do them and most decoy places sell them to be honest.

If like most of us, weight is an issue with the amount of gear you need to go decoying so would suggest making a hook on one of your hide poles with wire/tape/zip tie to be able to 'loft them' and also worth trying ( a couple of crows too ) on wire fences overlooking your decoy pattern as when you drive around you will see crows perched low as well as on tree tops

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My flock coated decoys have a slot and a hole in the base for the lofting hook to fit into.

They have over the years worked a bit loose (floppy), so I fill the decoy with expanded foam to form a firm fit, if that makes sense.

The lofting hook fits into the hole and cross slot nearest the tail.

Hope this helps.

OB

IMG_1105.JPG

Lofting hook.jpg

Edited by Old Boggy
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I'll pop a picture up later but very basically I cut a thread on top of the T piece. In the large hole in the decoy i gorrilla glue the corresponding nut.

Just holds everything a little more secure.

To get the desired bird angle, just gently bend the arm with the weight at the bottom.

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Thanks for replies , got round problem in the end 

bought some wood dowels 1cm thick ,cut to size , drilled out centre and pushed out top spike on lofting bracket araldited it in place so now can use a normal full body decoy , just need to get out and try them , 

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Hi, sorry only just come across this.  The easy solution I found is just to drill yourself a new hole in the decoy.  I'll stick a couple of pics on when I'm near my kit with my phone.  This changes the angle at which the decoy sits, which is correct for a perching pigeon as opposed to one standing on the ground feeding - more upright.  The distance between your new hole and the existing one is shorter so the spike will now fit through.

The more pertinent point with lofters I've found is trying to stop them coming adrift from the hooks on their way up & down.  @Centrepin I like your innovation to keep the decoy fixed via a thread, however your solution is slightly over-engineered compared to mine!  With approximately 1" of the spike protruding from the top of the decoy, I cut some little pieces of tube and push them onto the spike which locks the decoy in place really securely.  The tube is a syphon tube as used in home-brewing, you can get them from your local Wilkinson's if you have one or just off ebay very cheap.  Cut a 2" length, then cut that in half using about a 45 degree angle, which then fits snug against the sloping back of the decoy.

I tried lofters yesterday in near-still wind conditions, which I've found can help with no wind.  The only time any of the very scarce pigeons came near I was either putting the decoys up, taking them down or shouting at my son to stand still so I never got a shot off! 😂

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I just used wire coat hanger, straight through the back and out through the hole in the base, then bent over to retain the decoy. I attached orange braided fishing line to the coat hanger, lofted the thing into a tree and the coat hanger hook hung over a branch. The line just hangs down. At the end of play, just haul it down by the fishing line. When at home straighten the whole thing out and it's ready to go again. I only used lofters when roost shooting and never when decoying, relying on my decoying skills to bring birds in.

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22 hours ago, WalkedUp said:

Miaow 🤣

It is NOT that I have not tried lofters in trees near my decoy pattern, I have,  but that was pre magnet days. It takes a heck of a lot less time to stick a magnet out than it does to set up 6 lofters . To be honest I found a moving decoy on a magnet, far more effective than 6 static plastic dummies up a tree  !  I used lofters when roost shooting, but again, I use 1 flapper on the top of my lofting poles now and find that works better than the static decoys in the branches. It is all down to movement being the attraction. I have even had success putting a magnet on the field outside the wood where I was roost shooting. I observed birds being pulled from a long way out, then flaring away at the magnet, but by then they were in range over the top of the wood.

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49 minutes ago, Westley said:

It is NOT that I have not tried lofters in trees near my decoy pattern, I have,  but that was pre magnet days. It takes a heck of a lot less time to stick a magnet out than it does to set up 6 lofters . To be honest I found a moving decoy on a magnet, far more effective than 6 static plastic dummies up a tree  !  I used lofters when roost shooting, but again, I use 1 flapper on the top of my lofting poles now and find that works better than the static decoys in the branches. It is all down to movement being the attraction. I have even had success putting a magnet on the field outside the wood where I was roost shooting. I observed birds being pulled from a long way out, then flaring away at the magnet, but by then they were in range over the top of the wood.

I agree with you to be fair. Just stirring the pot. 

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My dislike stems from that I always have to climb the tree to put lofters up. And clamber out onto the very thin branches like a squirrel as I have no poles. Fine at the start of the day full of vim and vigour. Much harder to have the enthusiasm to shimmy up an oak tree when you are tired, hungry and beaten🤣

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12 hours ago, WalkedUp said:

My dislike stems from that I always have to climb the tree to put lofters up. And clamber out onto the very thin branches like a squirrel as I have no poles. Fine at the start of the day full of vim and vigour. Much harder to have the enthusiasm to shimmy up an oak tree when you are tired, hungry and beaten🤣

My "lofting pole" is an old fishing pole that was found in a skip, no top fishing sections but you don't need them. Bottom sections are or where all damaged in some way, but as they're not for fishing easily repaired with gaffer tape or glue. Being carbon weigh very little, but held up vertical with a decoy seem heavy.  If you're strong enough you can loft to about 14 metres. I think it was originally about 17 or so. I've never actually pole fished so know very little about them other than they're mega expensive new and shockingly easy to break.

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1 minute ago, Centrepin said:

My "lofting pole" is an old fishing pole that was found in a skip, no top fishing sections but you don't need them. Bottom sections are or where all damaged in some way, but as they're not for fishing easily repaired with gaffer tape or glue. Being carbon weigh very little, but held up vertical with a decoy seem heavy.  If you're strong enough you can loft to about 14 metres. I think it was originally about 17 or so. I've never actually pole fished so know very little about them other than they're mega expensive new and shockingly easy to break.

Sounds good, will keep my peepers out. 

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Same as @Centrepinmy lofting poles are an amalgamation of two old fishing poles.  I think my poles stop a little short of 14m, maybe 12, but add my height and arms like an orangutan and I'm probably about there!

You don't really want to go any higher than that because seeing accurately to hook them on, and especially to fetch them down again in the fading light is a nightmare at any greater distance!

It's amazing when you stand under what you think is a "small" tree and, at the limits of your lofting pole, you're nowhere near the top of it.  This is one of the reasons why I think people waste ammunition and don't understand why they miss birds - range estimation.

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I have found that lofters work best when placed into branches where they have little behind them, it is the silhouette that attracts mostly imho.

Although I have several of the hooks I find them a pita, retrieval on a day such as today with high winds is not the game I want to be playing at the end of the day.

I have made a 5ft long t bar, sprayed branch colour, that I can put a couple of full bodies on each end, this is then lofted leaving the lofting poles attached. If I am trying to decoy I just use the 2, in a day roost I might use more.

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