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What would be good duck decoys for a new duck hunter? Don't want really expensive ones until im hooked but what would be good decoys that would last a few years before needing trashed that's not going to break the bank

Flambeau Stormfronts



*greenhorn forum

Green head gear Hot Buys, or Flambeau Storm Front.

What they said. Go cheap, at first, if you don't stick with it then you're not out much $$$.

And you can always use the cheap ones as fillers when your spread grows...

Anything you buy now should be looked at as an investment.

I got started by finding a local guy selling a few dozen of the cheapest used Flambeau mallards for $60 and bought them. The good thing about them was they were cheap and light to carry. The bad thing about them was they all had the same pose and terrible paint jobs. The hens were a flat brown and the drakes had no black on them, just green, brown, gray and the only white was the ring on the neck. I looked at some real birds, got some acrylic paints out, and spent a night or two painting. On the hens I just roughly mottled the bodies with black and dirtied up the tops of their bills, which were solid orange. On each drake I used black paint to darken the top of the head and made a nice contrast where it meets the bill, shaded down the back and blackened the tail area. Then with white I lightened the flanks and painted the tail tips. They need touching up now and then, especially the white tails, but it's easy and I kind of like doing it. I still have a lot of them mixed in with newer, "better" decoys and I think they look more realistically colored, at least compared to our local birds.

I guess what I'm saying is, if you have the time and inclination, you can set yourself up fairly cheap by repainting used dekes. I did the same thing with a few old Carrylight widgeon. Have fun!

If you're starting out new, and on a budget, go the craigslist route. You'll save on the decoys and they'll probably come rigged with weights (sometimes almost as expensive as the decoys themselves) and maybe even a decoy bag.

3legged_lab wrote:If you're starting out new, and on a budget, go the craigslist route. You'll save on the decoys and they'll probably come rigged with weights (sometimes almost as expensive as the decoys themselves) and maybe even a decoy bag.

X2. That was my experience.

Feelin' Fowl wrote:And you can always use the cheap ones as fillers when your spread grows...

Anything you buy now should be looked at as an investment.

And when the paint gets knocked of em too bad, repaint them as divers.

Thanks guys i will be on the lookout for some decoys now.

I missed this earlier. The storm fronts I have have lasted very, very well, and they were cheaper than anything I could find on craigslist. Don't let anybody tell you different, they work just as well as $100 a dozen decoys.


Now if I could only get them to make goose floaters.

assateague wrote:I missed this earlier. The storm fronts I have have lasted very, very well, and they were cheaper than anything I could find on craigslist. Don't let anybody tell you different, they work just as well as $100 a dozen decoys.


Now if I could only get them to make goose floaters.

They do.
http://www.knutsondecoys.com/decoy_goos ... float.html

rebelp74 wrote:

assateague wrote:I missed this earlier. The storm fronts I have have lasted very, very well, and they were cheaper than anything I could find on craigslist. Don't let anybody tell you different, they work just as well as $100 a dozen decoys.


Now if I could only get them to make goose floaters.

They do.
http://www.knutsondecoys.com/decoy_goos ... float.html

I'll just keep picking up the old ones for $10 apiece at Canton and Bowie.

Keep your eyes in the cabelas website. The standard storefronts go on sale for less than $30/dozen on occasion. I run almost all storefronts and they are still going strong after 4 seasons. They did get a new paint job this past summer though.

The Duck Hammer wrote:

rebelp74 wrote:

assateague wrote:I missed this earlier. The storm fronts I have have lasted very, very well, and they were cheaper than anything I could find on craigslist. Don't let anybody tell you different, they work just as well as $100 a dozen decoys.


Now if I could only get them to make goose floaters.

They do.
http://www.knutsondecoys.com/decoy_goos ... float.html

I'll just keep picking up the old ones for $10 apiece at Canton and Bowie.

I don't understand why no one makes a cheap goose decoy. I know they are bigger than mallards, but you can get new cheap duck decoys for $2.50 a piece. I've never seen a goose decoy cheaper than $20 a decoy.

rebelp74 wrote:

assateague wrote:I missed this earlier. The storm fronts I have have lasted very, very well, and they were cheaper than anything I could find on craigslist. Don't let anybody tell you different, they work just as well as $100 a dozen decoys.


Now if I could only get them to make goose floaters.

They do.
http://www.knutsondecoys.com/decoy_goos ... float.html

What the hell you trying to do to me? Talk about a roller coaster of emotion. I pictured a dozen a Storm Front goose floaters for $60 or something.

To the original poster, for some reason, if you get into goose hunting you'll find that there is no such thing as affordable goose decoys. Nothing.

NuffDaddy wrote:

The Duck Hammer wrote:

rebelp74 wrote:

assateague wrote:I missed this earlier. The storm fronts I have have lasted very, very well, and they were cheaper than anything I could find on craigslist. Don't let anybody tell you different, they work just as well as $100 a dozen decoys.


Now if I could only get them to make goose floaters.

They do.
http://www.knutsondecoys.com/decoy_goos ... float.html

I'll just keep picking up the old ones for $10 apiece at Canton and Bowie.

I don't understand why no one makes a cheap goose decoy. I know they are bigger than mallards, but you can get new cheap duck decoys for $2.50 a piece. I've never seen a goose decoy cheaper than $20 a decoy.

Truth. Seems like it would be easy to sell them for $10 a piece. Even if you had to repaint them every season.

assateague wrote:

rebelp74 wrote:

assateague wrote:I missed this earlier. The storm fronts I have have lasted very, very well, and they were cheaper than anything I could find on craigslist. Don't let anybody tell you different, they work just as well as $100 a dozen decoys.


Now if I could only get them to make goose floaters.

They do.
http://www.knutsondecoys.com/decoy_goos ... float.html

What the hell you trying to do to me? Talk about a roller coaster of emotion. I pictured a dozen a Storm Front goose floaters for $60 or something.

To the original poster, for some reason, if you get into goose hunting you'll find that there is no such thing as affordable goose decoys. Nothing.

Be careful what you wish for. For goose decoys, imho, Bigfoot is the best for the $. They will literally outlast you.

That's not what I want. Hell, I could die tomorrow. Storm Fronts will be just fine, and they make paint every day.

I'd pay a $100/dozen for goose floaters in a heart beat. It's hard to find them for under a hundred for 4 though. It's ridiculous. It's the only thing that really keeps me from giving goose hunting a honest shot.

rebelp74 wrote:

assateague wrote:

rebelp74 wrote:

assateague wrote:I missed this earlier. The storm fronts I have have lasted very, very well, and they were cheaper than anything I could find on craigslist. Don't let anybody tell you different, they work just as well as $100 a dozen decoys.


Now if I could only get them to make goose floaters.

They do.
http://www.knutsondecoys.com/decoy_goos ... float.html

What the hell you trying to do to me? Talk about a roller coaster of emotion. I pictured a dozen a Storm Front goose floaters for $60 or something.

To the original poster, for some reason, if you get into goose hunting you'll find that there is no such thing as affordable goose decoys. Nothing.

Be careful what you wish for. For goose decoys, imho, Bigfoot is the best for the $. They will literally outlast you.

I thought bigfoot went to shit here recently. Maybe that was just the B2s but I thought I heard the floaters were shit too.

Cheapest I know of are $190/dozen, sportsplast brand.

From what I've read, it was just the B2's. I haven't bought any Bigfoot awhile, Dakota has become my route.

rebelp74 wrote:

assateague wrote:

rebelp74 wrote:

assateague wrote:I missed this earlier. The storm fronts I have have lasted very, very well, and they were cheaper than anything I could find on craigslist. Don't let anybody tell you different, they work just as well as $100 a dozen decoys.


Now if I could only get them to make goose floaters.

They do.
http://www.knutsondecoys.com/decoy_goos ... float.html

What the hell you trying to do to me? Talk about a roller coaster of emotion. I pictured a dozen a Storm Front goose floaters for $60 or something.

To the original poster, for some reason, if you get into goose hunting you'll find that there is no such thing as affordable goose decoys. Nothing.

Be careful what you wish for. For goose decoys, imho, Bigfoot is the best for the $. They will literally outlast you.

But they are $30+ a decoy. A decent spread would run over a grand. That's just nuts.

I looked into buying a shipping container of them from China a while back. Could get them for about $55 a dozen, but they all had orange bills. Ridiculous. I asked if they could make me some with black bills, and they said no, I'd have to paint them myself. Since I had to buy, I think, 100 dozen, I wasn't looking to paint that many bills.

assateague wrote:I looked into buying a shipping container of them from China a while back. Could get them for about $55 a dozen, but they all had orange bills. Ridiculous. I asked if they could make me some with black bills, and they said no, I'd have to paint them myself. Since I had to buy, I think, 100 dozen, I wasn't looking to paint that many bills.

You were going to spend $5,500 on goose decoys!?!?

assateague wrote:I looked into buying a shipping container of them from China a while back. Could get them for about $55 a dozen, but they all had orange bills. Ridiculous. I asked if they could make me some with black bills, and they said no, I'd have to paint them myself. Since I had to buy, I think, 100 dozen, I wasn't looking to paint that many bills.

You actually considered buying 5k worth of decoys?

The Duck Hammer wrote:

assateague wrote:I looked into buying a shipping container of them from China a while back. Could get them for about $55 a dozen, but they all had orange bills. Ridiculous. I asked if they could make me some with black bills, and they said no, I'd have to paint them myself. Since I had to buy, I think, 100 dozen, I wasn't looking to paint that many bills.

You were going to spend $5,500 on goose decoys!?!?

Haha beat me to it.

assateague wrote:I looked into buying a shipping container of them from China a while back. Could get them for about $55 a dozen, but they all had orange bills. Ridiculous. I asked if they could make me some with black bills, and they said no, I'd have to paint them myself. Since I had to buy, I think, 100 dozen, I wasn't looking to paint that many bills.

Should've painted and flipped em.

Could you imagine what 1200 decoys sitting on the water would look like though?