Decoy condition

[triton]

I have a million or so decoys here. Give or take. Some of which could use a paint refurbish. Do you guys think it is impairative the dec's are in top notch condition? I was thinking of putting the best ones closest to the blind and the not so good ones furthest away. I thought I would use the older ones just to fill in the spread. Or does it really matter all that much? Is it the colours or the silhouette of the duck that is most important? What do you guys think? Thanks.

Dave.

 

[bronco_mudder]

I would say that the colour is pretty important, just make sure you use flat finish paint, you don't want them shiny. The silhouette is important as well, unless you're dealing with snows

 

[dave_t73]

There's a nice balance that can be reached if you use some armor-all and some dust/dirt. The armor-all will bring back some of the lost color but makes the dekes shiny. Dust them a bit with dirt or mud, but no so much as to cover up the newly uncovered paint....

I'd say color is relatively important. But I'd put the more colourful ones further from the blind as these may get the closest look from interested birds. By the time they notice the lost colour on the dekes near your blind, hopefully it will be lights out for them anyway.

 

[savageshooter565]

For our oldies we paint them flat black(just the body). You use these away from your landing zone. Or we paint them flat white and black like a scaup. Good for filling in numbers and don't have to worry about chipping the paint.

If you go to www.takeem.com the have some good refinishing tips and paint kits. .edit. I see Takeem.com is now a pay site to get the older articles.

SS

 

[M12shooter]

It is fact that duck decoys painted flat black work just as well as deeks painted into breeding colours. Nicely painted deeks make me feel better though!

 

[BBB]

Early season, I'd say colour don't matter much. The birds are still growing their breeding feathers, and look pretty dull anyways. I'd say just hunt over em, then paint em in mid-October.

 

[SuperCub]

It is fact that duck decoys painted flat black work just as well as deeks painted into breeding colours.

X2!! ........ I fixed up a pile of beater deeks a couple of years back. Just painted flat black with OD green on the beaks. I can't see any difference in results.


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[nickr]

When using a lot of dekes, I put my best decoys closest to the blind and on the outer edge. After they are all used up, I just fill in the blanks with everything else!!!