Had good luck with duck decoy J-pattern

[Grouse Man]

Usually I don't give a lot of thought to my decoy setup in the marsh - I put out about 20 or so in a random pattern. Recent reading reminded me that I'm supposed to leave an open area for birds to land in. Sure enough if I just fill the area in front of me with decoys then of course they have to land OUTside of the decoy spread. So this weekend I was set up in a big pond (oval, maybe 75 yards by 100 yards) and laid out a long tail of decoys across the shorter width, and curled it over in front of me to form a big "J". I put a roboduck low to the water right in the pocket of the "J". It seemed to work very well on the few birds that were in the area; they all seemed to be guided in by the long tail and then aimed to land into the open pocket part of the "J". I was able to lay them out this way from a boat, rather than my usual hip waders.

This may help to visualize. No, I am not an artist.

 

[Both Barrels]

Thanks! Good info!

 

[M12shooter]

A classic"J" decoy pattern IMO is most important when hunting divers than any other type of duck.

If the wind is in your favour, place a larger group of deeks in front of your hide...say about 80 percent of your deeks well within gun range. The tail of the J then runs down wind 60 or more yards out into the bay and is comprised of only a few decoys well spaced. Divers will follow this "tail" into the wind and attempt to light amoung the large grouping in front of your blind...or more often just simply do a fly by which still puts them within good range.

Just by watching ducks while hunting one can often see divers exhibit this tendancy. Common to see a large strung out raft of divers out across a bay. New ducks will follow this long raft and splash down in the middle of the largest concentration of rafting birds.

Shot two limits of canvasback mid week using this same trick. Singles and small groups would follow the "tail" and put themselves in good shotgun range right in front of us. Most came in "wheels down" as we were located on a good feeding bed heavily occupied by these fine birds the day before. Good scouting and knowing the marsh put us in a position to enjoy a fine shoot!

When hunting puddle ducks such as mallards I most often split my decoys into two groups and hope for the best.

 

[catnthehatt]

A classic"J" decoy pattern IMO is most important when hunting divers than any other type of duck.

If the wind is in your favour, place a larger group of deeks in front of your hide...say about 80 percent of your deeks well within gun range. The tail of the J then runs down wind 60 or more yards out into the bay and is comprised of only a few decoys well spaced. Divers will follow this "tail" into the wind and attempt to light amoung the large grouping in front of your blind...or more often just simply do a fly by which still puts them within good range.

Just by watching ducks while hunting one can often see divers exhibit this tendancy. Common to see a large strung out raft of divers out across a bay. New ducks will follow this long raft and splash down in the middle of the largest concentration of rafting birds.

Shot two limits of canvasback mid week using this same trick. Singles and small groups would follow the "tail" and put themselves in good shotgun range right in front of us. Most came in "wheels down" as we were located on a good feeding bed heavily occupied by these fine birds the day before. Good scouting and knowing the marsh put us in a position to enjoy a fine shoot!

When hunting puddle ducks such as mallards I most often split my decoys into two groups and hope for the best.

The last time we set up, it was more of "J" than the usual "U" pattern we usually use, and although the geese came in about the same, the ducks were coming in crosswind off a slough and turning upwind at the last second, landing right in amongst the dekes on my left, where , incidently, I had set up my robo-duck!
We had out layouts set up in the bottom of the "J" with a bunch of decoys behind us as well....
I love shooting geese, but if I had to choose only one, it would be ducks, for sure!
Cat

 

[M12shooter]

The last time we set up, it was more of "J" than the usual "U" pattern we usually use, and although the geese came in about the same, the ducks were coming in crosswind off a slough and turning upwind at the last second, landing right in amongst the dekes on my left, where , incidently, I had set up my robo-duck!
We had out layouts set up in the bottom of the "J" with a bunch of decoys behind us as well....
I love shooting geese, but if I had to choose only one, it would be ducks, for sure!
Cat

Yup I hear ya brother!. Puddlers tend at times to do wierd things over decoys. Have many times seen them come in with the wind at their tails only to hook around at the last second into the wind and land. Divers are not capable of such "aerobatics" as their smaller wings and more direct rapid flight make this impossible. Divers will always make an approach into the wind in a long "painstaking" way

 

[catnthehatt]

Yup I hear ya brother!. Puddlers tend at times to do wierd things over decoys. Have many times seen them come in with the wind at their tails only to hook around at the last second into the wind and land. Divers are not capable of such "aerobatics" as their smaller wings and more direct rapid flight make this impossible. Divers will always make an approach into the wind in a long "painstaking" way

Yup, some birds just gotta go with what they got - like geese!
All the ducks we go that day were teals or mallards, BTW, with a Black Duck as well!
We were hunting a pea field BTW, not a water set up, so the chances of getting a diver in there were slim, I'd say!
As a side note, I love shooting Cans and Buffleheads as well!
Cat

 

[M12shooter]

Yup, some birds just gotta go with what they got - like geese!
All the ducks we go that day were teals or mallards, BTW, with a Black Duck as well!
We were hunting a pea field BTW, not a water set up, so the chances of getting a diver in there were slim, I'd say!
As a side note, I love shooting Cans and Buffleheads as well!
Cat

Thats what make duck hunting so much fun. Knocking geese down is much like shooting Lancasters down in WWII must have been like...or simply a turkey shoot!

 

[the spank]

Thats what make duck hunting so much fun. Knocking geese down is much like shooting Lancasters down in WWII must have been like...or simply a turkey shoot!

Uh ya, okay!! I've seen more guys missing geese as much if not more so than ducks because they can't grasp the concept of leading the head instead of staring at that huge wingbeat or because "they are going so slow, how did I miss them?" Ever watch geese coming in with ducks in flight with them, them ole ducks are stroking along to keep up! P.S I'd also like to back 65 years and se if I could hit a Junkers JU 88 from the ground, probably was pretty frustating too, LOL!!

 

[catnthehatt]

Uh ya, okay!! I've seen more guys missing geese as much if not more so than ducks because they can't grasp the concept of leading the head instead of staring at that huge wingbeat or because "they are going so slow, how did I miss them?" Ever watch geese coming in with ducks in flight with them, them ole ducks are stroking along to keep up! P.S I'd also like to back 65 years and se if I could hit a Junkers JU 88 from the ground, probably was pretty frustating too, LOL!!

We had a bunch of about 30 come in, with a mallard leading them!!
The danged duck was probably thinking " I'm winning, I'm winning!!"
And yup, he was in OD, for sure!!

I don't have a problem killing geese, just prefer the ducks because they tend to twist and turn a bit more on final approach.....
Cat