I know lots of people have suggested going to Lowes or Home Depot and get the sample cans of paint. But has anyone written down the brand and color numbers they found to be the best matches? And if you paid attention and kept records of the colors, would you be willing to share your research with the rest of us?

Print out a picture of a duck and take it with you!

I took some of mine into sherwin williams and they had no problems matching it.

I know we can all do the leg work ourselves and I'm not afraid of carrying a plastic duck into the store. But I was thinking we could put together something like a paint-by-numbers for decoys. We could list what paint colors we found to be the best match.
For example:
"Mallard drake - head - Green - Valspar #12345"
"Mallard hen - body - brown - Sherman Williams #6542

I’m going to the store this weekend and I’ll see what I can come up with.

I have been thinking the same thing. Im about to start painting mine but i dont know where to start. Is a wire brush sufficient to prep the decoy?

Wire wheel on a drill worked great for me...