Vibrating duck decoys *** Pics and video added***

A while back I posted a thread about a homemade vibrating decoy...
http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1607178/Vibrating_duck_decoys
apparently I am an idiot and can no longer remember how to edit my past posts to add pics. Here are the pics of my homemade deke and a link to a short video of it in the water this morning. It was made from a collateral damaged decoy, a Weazel Ball and some expanding insulation foam. Total cost was about $10-12 and 20 minutes work. Video link is at the bottom.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31B_0EE0rOI

Its not the greatest, but you can't beat the price!!!

Way cool I was thinking about trying the weasel ball too!

After seeing it this morning we stopped at Cracker Barrel (the only place I can find that sells them) and bought another Weazel Ball. I figure by the time big duck season rolls around I should have five of those things out working in the spread. The ripples were pretty good for about 15 feet around it and would do better with a few more. Its too cheap and easy not to do!

That is sweet.

Thanks, muddyz.

That looks like it put out a good amount of motion. I like it. I wonder how it would do if it wasn't filled with foam??

kdub, the foam is to keep the ball from rattling around inside the deke and it is ultra light. I also removed the sand from the keel to make the deke a little topheavy so it would wobble easier.

Man Grey that is a really good idea....1 question how do u keep the top on with the it fallen off

It would stay by itself just being back in its original place, because the foam expands the deke slightly and the removed piece fits in rather snugly. But there are two small nails in opposite corners that stick down into the foam, you can barely see the one in the upper left corner of the cut-out part if you look VERY close. I am not too worried about it getting messed up or wet because obviously its only for very calm days.

Great idea...it puts out a lot more movement that I would've thought. It looks to me it puts out more than a quiver butt decoy.

Thanx grey another question thats probably obvious but want to make sure...do u fill the deek all the way up with the "great stuff"?

Judd- Thanks, man.

TXHC- I put some in the front and back first and let it sit for a few hours. Then added more in the middle to where once it expands it would "overflow" out of the top. Once dried I just shaved it down with a pocket knife to a rounded shape consistent with the deke. And feel free to ask as many questions as you like.

Also, it is a lot quieter than I had hoped. It was about 20-25 feet from us and I could only hear it when there were no other noises and even then it was barely audable and sounded like a the hum of a bee or something.

Cool man thanx i am deffinitly goin to give that a try this week if i have any other questions i will just shoot them to you....thanx again

No problem. Hell, the hardest part was finding a Weazel Ball.

Good luck.

sweet. gotta love the genius ingenuity of us duck hunters! that looks like it puts out lots more motion than those crappy quiver magnets sold to put in dekes. good job.

Next I am going to make one that flies from the spread, up and around for a minute while quacking and then lights back into the spread... the Deke-a-rang!

great idea

Thanks, sig.

garret and i should convert a couple of our coot dekes to bring in more coots. Coots like to see movement circling.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that the Weazel Ball is heavier on one side because the motr doesn't sit quite in the middle. So, if you make one be sure to put the side with the motor on the top to give it more wobble. Also, it only needs one AA battery and has run for about 6 hours so far without replacement. I'll let you know when it dies the rough amount it ran, but its so easy to replace the battery takes about ten seconds. I'm just going to keep a spare in my blind bag. PLan on making another deke tonight.

Nice! I'm always looking for stuff like this to add motion to my spread. Recently, I did the same thing but added a small battery powered hanheld fan to the ducks butt. The foam blades barely hit the water and it creates a pretty good ripple and the duck swims around. The weasle ball will be my next project though!

I had been using two of these through teal season and on the last weekend we hunted over water that was about a foot deep as opposed to just a couple inches and the deke made ripples for about 50 feet around it. I am very happy with this token. I now have 3 of them geared up and ready for big duck season.

no kidding, I've been looking for a year! but i picked up two the other day.

Whats the velcro for?

thanks for sharing this

Where did you find your balls?

About the velcro... do you mean the black strap you see in the pic? If so, it was just a small piece of nylon that I put under the ball in order to pull it out of the foam otherwise it would be stuck in there. I have since replaced it by drilling two small holes right next to each other in the very bottom of the ball and ran a piece of gutted 550 cord through the holes with a knot inside the ball so it will both stay in the ball and be reachable to pull the ball out of the foam.

got jokes huh? I found them at the cracker barrel in HH

thanks Grey, I'll be making mine tomorrow

The vibrating thing doesn't sound right for some reason.

its a "duck" thing

I kind of want to put that in my sig!

TreeBass- LMK how yours comes out.

and you guys are nasty!

Great idea, I stopped at Cracker B last night and picked up some balls for myself! For the cost this has to be better than the crappy vibrating duck buts that don't last more than one season.

just be easy on the great stuff

TreeBass knows what he's talking about. I sprayed in just the front and the back and let it sit for about 6 hours on the second and third ones of these I have made. Then fill in the middle and let the expansion overflow.

yeah, i tried one, found out what TB means. i used a cracked deke and this afternoon, the crack had blown out with foam bubbling out of it, oh well, trial and error. thanks for the idea Grey. plan to make a couple more... how much of a can of foam did one deke take you???

If you are going to make more than one, do them all at the same time. I do not know how much of the can I used for the one because I can never get the can to work for more than about ten hours. I would guess that you can make more than 5 with one can, just spray inside the front and the back and let it expand for a few hours then fill the middle. Unless you have experience with it that foam will expand more than you think!!! I guess I could have stated that a cracked deke will not work, but I do know that ones with holes that just happen to mysteriously be the same size as #4 steel shot will work just fine. If the hole is on the bottom of the deke I would recommend putting a tiny bit of silicone in the holes though. Also, I emptied the ballast sand out of the keel too under the assumption that makes the deke wobble easier.

I just picked up a couple weasel balls at the Cracker Barrel in Round Rock. If I get some time, I'm going to put a few together this evening.

Cracker Barrel corporate is going to wonder why there has been such a run on Weazel Balls!!!

hope they don't get wise and market them for hunting, that'll jack the price up to 29.95 each!!

I made a couple of these a week ago. They work great in the pool. Thanks for sharing.
Can't wait to put 'em in the spread in a few weeks. May have to order a couple more balls to really get the spread rockin'.

It was too easy and fun, huh?

Here was my experience when I picked up my Weasel Balls at Cracker Barrel:

Hostess: "Can we help you? Do you need a table?"
Me: "No thank you, I just need to know if you have something called Weasel Balls?"
Hostess: "We sure do, they're right over here."
Me: "Do people come in here often just to get these things?"
Hostess: "Actually, they do. They are really neat. What color would you like? We have several different ones."
Me: "It really doesn't matter."
Hostess: "Are these for a cat, dog, or a kid?"
Me: "They are for a duck."
Hostess: (Sincere corny voice announcing to the other Hostesses) "Awwwww, that is so awesome; Ya'll, he has a duck."
Me: "No, No, it's not a live duck."
Hostess: "???? You have a.... dead.... duck?"
Me: "No, it is for a duck decoy"
Hostess: (Looks very confused.)
Second Hostess: (Loudly wispers and explanation to the gathered Cracker Barrel employees) "He is going to use it to kill other ducks".
Assembled Employees: "Gasp" "Awwwww"
Me: "Thanks"

That is what you get when you buy Weasel Balls in the Austin area.

Freakin Hilarious!!!

lmao! i can just see it

how much do weasle balls cost?

$8 at Cracker Barrel, my friend.

Grapevine had a special of 2 for $12! They had plenty of them.

This thread is greatness!

I used a small can of great stuff and filled 2 decoys (overfilled I should say) If you're doing one, might as well make a few. I cut out a 4x4 square and then made a hinge out of a peice of rubber, A little gorilla glue worked great.
Similar to what Grey did, I cut off most of the keel to make it more top heavy...don't know if it helps or not. I also plan on putting the ball inside a latex glove before it goes in the decoy to make sure it stays dry.

Ok I just bought 2 of them at Cracker Barrel and will start making them this evening. A couple of thoughts: what about using them in smaller decoys like teal? Would that give more motion/ripples, or would it make it have too much motion gyrating all over the place? Also, what about cutting a bigger hole for the ball to sit in so it actually moves around a little in the decoy? Again though, this may make too much motion to be realistic.

Are your balls small enought for teal? I'm pretty sure mine aren't but I haven't tried yet...

Well I will find out when I get home from work. I just assumed they would fit though.

Gengo, I know the cheapo teal dekes I have were too small. And I would guess the ball not fitting snug and moving around would make noise. But give it a try and if its too noisy all you have to do is spray a lil more foam in and re-carve the hole.

BTW- I forgot to say that I used a new fangled legal patent when I made the first ne of these. All of you guys owe me $10 bucks per deke you make... thats the rules... that I just made up, just now.

checks in the mail

I still need to finish mine, sure wish I could have put them in my widgeon deeks

I'm a tight wad so you will have to send collectors to get your money.

My buddy Guido is on his way... ...... ..........

Great idea Grey. Seems like most are having way too much fun with this. Just a couple of observations and maybe you have them covered already. With most cutting out right on top of the decoy will that not allow water to leak down into the hole where the ball is ? I'm talking about an all day downpour. I doubt that the balls are waterproof. Next, if you have one or maybe a dozen like some are planning, how are you going to find them, to turn them on, amongst the other decoys at 4:00 a.m. ? Won't they all look alike ?

The easiet way to turn them on at 4 a.m. is to just let your buddy do it, preferable your buddy named Danny.

I realize this is an old thread but I got a question on youtube about it and thought I'd bring it TTT in case someone new wants the idea for the upcoming season.

Great idea!

Under construction here...saw it a while back this summer...works great in the bathtub!

Post pics when you are done, Astater!

I'm carving foamers and trying to make one for a weasel ball...we'll see. I'll post pics...here's mt very first foamer I finished painting last night!

Wow, you are really doing some cool work. Mine was a bit simpler and not near as cool.

Thanks, this one was actually very simple. I'll be a lot faster with my next ones but it's not hard. Hopefully the next set will be better...Can't wait to finish the weasel ball custom!

Kids I have used weasel balls for 20 years when you could get them from KBtoys. Just use a SOCK!!! cut a U-shap to the back of a cheep deek like a flap. A little water will not hurt.

enough with the foam. just use a sock. it will settle in the front. batteries will last about 4 hours.

Who still carries weasel balls? Toy R Us? Ducks love decoys with weasel balls.

Re-bump for folks who might not have seen this. I haven't been able to hunt ducks since 2010 and I'll be breaking out my homemade deke.

Another variation someone might want to try is to pick up one of the RC submarines from Radio Shack or a toy store for $20 give or take and mount it into the decoy. I have seen posts on an RC forum before where people where filling a duck decoy with foam and mounting the toy submarine into the bottom of the decoy. Some even mounting a cheap wireless security camera inside the front of the decoy. The one I remember seeing, the toy submarine used had three RC adjustable props on it.

That's a pretty high speed idea, John. I'll have to figure that one out next year.