Best Duck Decoys?

Looking for decoys, but don't want to break the bank. Any recommendations? Will probably get a Mojo Mallard, but wanted opinions on floaters. Your thoughts?

this one has some serious potential. lol For me, it would entirely depend on the types of hunting situations and species of ducks in the areas youll be hunting...tell us more

I am hunting in east Central Texas (Freestone/Leon counties). Mostly be hunting on a creek and tanks (stock ponds). Mainly mallards, teal, and canvasbacks.

Best bang for the buck are Flambeau storm fronts in my opinion. They make mallards, Pintail, wigeon, teal and woodies. All very reasonably priced and they last forever. They don't have the realism of some expensive decoys like Dakotas or avian x, but If you're wanting budget decoys those can't be beat. They're super thick plastic, never have I had one leak. Usually around 29-49$ per 6 pack. Rogers usually has really good prices on them.

I think most people will agree that when it comes to plastic decoys, the G&H brand is the most solidly built and will last the longest. There are other brands that offer more realism if that's what you need. The G&H are kind of like a fishing lure designed to imitate a certain bait, they kind of have the right colors and field marks, but they aren't as detailed. Ducks don't notice.

As far as species, if you really mainly see those three, then you'll want mallards and canvasback decoys, whichever you see the most of purchased first. You can build your spread slowly but stick with what you usually see first. Teal will decoy to just about any ducks, nothing wrong with teal decoys, but they wouldn't be my first or only pick.

Anything that floats and looks somewhat like a duck.

Says it all right there. Unfortunately, decoys have become a fashion statement for the $400 Cabelas jacket wearing, 3 hunt a year DU banquet groupies and impressionable folks that assume high cost=more ducks, that a high dollar decoy possesses some special, magical quality that gives them an edge when hunting and that less expensive dekes don't have.

When it comes to build quality and ability to pull birds Storm Fronts are the absolute best value in the decoy market. They're extremely durable even in sub-freezing temps, have exceptionally (UV) tough paint, look good, are readily available from a ton of retailers, and are very inexpensive.

Tastes in decoys are analogous to tastes in watches. $50 Timex versus $14k Rolex Daytona. If the brand of decoys you use is less about practicality and more about materialism, knock yourself out. But if practicality and function are the only requirement, Storm Fronts offer a heck of a lot of value and get the job done just as well as high dollar dekes.

Keep in mind that if you hunt on foot, light weight is good. Hauling solid foam, lead keeled, bolted head dekes is fortunately a relic of the past. Storm Fronts are light, you could easily carry 2 dozen dekes.

If u want some Flambeau hit me up I acquired more than I need thru a few deals, il let em go cheap.

PM inbound

As I replace decoys I buy nothing but
G and H. Tough, swivel head, good paint and will be the last decoys I have to purchase.

Well, I just bought some after reading this. A 12-pack of mallards for the cost of two 30 packs is a great deal on dekes.

That swivel head feature is the shiznit, but I don't play with my decoys enough to pay a premium for decoy action figures with articulating body parts. The exception would be GI Joes. I don't play with dolls but I can see the value in paying a premium for movable body parts.

EXACTLY.. I have mallards in my spread and I hunt the coast exclusively.. we dont shoot mallards here.. Well, it is super rare. I kill my fair share of ducks. I throw around 80 deeks and I mix them all together. I used to put all the pintails together and then all the red heads together and the pintails rarely landed wityh the other pintail deeks and the redheads didnt give a crap who they landed next to. Just get something out there and hang on. As for durability, I dont care what you buy if you shoot it they will sink. lol. I DO like to throw deeks with white in them (just my theory) but they can be seen from further away.

I prefer Avian X.

They have multiple positions in every pack and are top quality. My cousin shot one of my pintails last year because he thought it was real. The real ducks landed a few feet from it. Haven't had a single issue in the 3 years I've used them and the material they're made of is still pliable at temps in the negatives.

G&H guys, do you prefer them based on the company? I've heard great things about the people that make them but, I just don't see them on the same level as AvianX.

If you're hunting smart mallards, you (typically) don't need 250+ floaters, so you can splurge a little and buy some real nice higher quality dekes. Now-a-days, I'm strictly a diver & pintail hunter for 99% of the year, so I buy cheaper dekes. I need a lot of blocks to draw in those big ol' rafts of divers over big water. The best hunts I've had so far have been shooting over 30 dozen. Which, in perspective, isn't that many. It was nothing to set out 150 dozen snow goose decoys. Anyways, my point is, buy what your budget allows. I use some ghg but mostly game winner. When I was in mallard paradise, I used Higdon Battleships for my field spread and foam filled Higdons for my water spread & I LOVED em. Now that I mention it, I don't hear much about Higdon down here. Are they a Yankee brand?

G&H rule.

Not sure about Higdons being a Yankee brand or not but I use the Magnum(battleship)foam filled Higdons also. They are good decoys, heavy though, I would not want to have to carry them very far though. I haul my gear in a boat so weight is not an issue on most of my hunts.
Higdon makes a good product IMO. No matter how many people sit on/fall on or shoot them they are indestructible since they are foam filled.

If u only need 12, buy dakotas.
Most realistic

I am looking at maybe 2 dozen decoys.

250+ decoys would leave no room for the ducks to land where I am at.

Its going to depend on how you take care of them and how many times a year you hunt. If you just hunt a few times a year and you take care of your equipment then go for the Flambeau. However you are going to get what you pay for in regards to life of the decoy and durability. If you hunt hard all season and you want something that will last you several years spend a little more money and get some Higdon Decoys. Not much more than your storm fronts but will last you twice as long and the paint won't chip.

I've got a few of the Higdon goose decoys, and they are pretty durable. I really want a couple dozen of their full body goose sleepers.

Another fan of G&H.

I do all my duck hunting with 5 dozen or less decoys. The difference in money between the good ones and cheap ones means nothing to me. If it did I would not be in the duck hunting business. Not that I don't watch my money cause I do but a couple hundred bucks over 5 years or so.....if that hurts you might want to take up charades at home.

I found some very nice decoys at Academy. Their private brand are comparable if not better than most out there in the same price range. A buddy knows a guy who works there and designs all of their models for them in-house.

Are those the Game Winner brand decoys?

Game Winners are laughably cheap. Junk.

Thin plastic, paint that scratches easily, keels that cracks along the seam at the attachment to the body or snap off in extremely cold weather, the plastic fractures when accidently shot (instead of clean holes). Knowing a thing or two about injection molding and materials science, they are piss poor dekes.

I bought the BPS decoys; mallard, GWT, and BWT.......about half of the mallards have sank......ordered duck hunting goodies from Mack's PW this morning but didn't do decoys.......can't make up my mind..........I like the young mallard Avian's they have on sale and the adult feeders. Anybody got any reviews on these?

Avian X decoys are top notch.

Avian X mallards look good, almost too good. They should for what they cost.

I'm hard on dekes, and durability, value vs cost, and to a lesser degree appearance, are the reason I prefer Storm Fronts. A dozen mallards can be had for $39.99 and I've seen them on sale as low as $26.99. 6 drakes, 6 hens, and I've swapped the majority of the drakes for the hens and use them in the bulk of my spreads. They're a generic looking deke, but look good and seem to appeal to many different types of birds. I've shot a variety of species over those hens.

Flambeau Storm Fronts aren't like the old flambeau dekes. I used GH for years and was suprised at how much better the storefronts looked at the end of the season. Out of the box, they may not look quite as nice as a GH wigeon, but the paint and plastic is significantly more durable. I've hunted over both the last 3 years and by seasons end those pretty GH dekes look a hell of a lot worse for the wear.

I've got a few unused boxes of both GH and Storm fronts, and the paint on the Storm Fronts is so much better there's really no comparison.

Dakotas! Ive shot hundreds of birds over thier decoys!

I have got Avian X, and picked up Dakotas this year! Absolutely love the looks of the Dakotas! They look way better than the X,s! But Avians are durable of a decoy as they come!

Dakotas in left Avians X on right!

Are the Avian Xs the ones that are sort of squishy?

Yeah the Avians have a rubbery feel to them! Really have a good durable feel to them!

Yes the GW Carvers Edge and they have the Hardcore line as well. Bought mine on-line with free shipping.

Oh man those look so much more realistic than my BPS decoys......the ones I have look like a cartoonist interpretation of a duck these things literally look real...........

I like them beefy dakotas as well.
I use slotted bags and take care of em.
They look the most realistic out there.
Now, as a guide, i would not buy them. Too delicate and expensive in bulk

That dakota hen looks like she is playing peeka boo with somebody.

When I checked them out I was leery of them for that reason.

The newer Game Winners are light but they feel very hard like they could just shatter and they are noisy as hell.

I'm the opposite! They just feel like they can take a beating and they can! After 2 years they still look brand new! And that's just throwing them in a bag! Now the Dakotas after spending that much for a dozen, I did buy a slot bag!

Good to know. I might give some a try.

I can attest for the durability of the Avian X decoys. Put through the same amount of abuse, they have held up 100x better than my GHG mallards. Since they use a more flexible plastic, the paint does not chip when they slam together. They are as good as they get. But you do pay for it!

G&H are great decoys and will last forever, I just think there are others that look more realistic.

Totally depends on what you're doing and how much you want to spend.

Intro deeks: Storm Front and Game winners. GW are cheap and flimsy but super light for walking in. Did I say they're cheap and flimsy? I own some of both of these. I'f you're not walking too far, Storm fronts are the way to go.

High-End: Avian X and Dakota are my two favorites. DD are probably the best but I'm a little more rough on mine, so I went with Avian and slotted bags. Please buy slotted bags if you're going to buy high end deeks.

I also spray a FLAT clear coat no matter what brand I get. Two coats helps protect even the cheapest paint.