Decoys?

I take it that most companies are about to start offering discounts, any recommendations?
I passed g&h decoys in Oklahoma on my way home yesterday, and they look like decent decoys.
I'm thinking maybe higdon foam filled if no one can vouch for g&h.

I don’t have any yet, but all I’ve heard is that you only buy G&H decoys once and they last you a lifetime. They sell foam filled decoys as well

Go back to G&H unless you hunt the coast then do to academy and buy a could dozen close outs

I'll buy online, I just saw the place and was curious if what they produced was good or not.

I would of stopped if they would of been open.

I have all sorts but bought 6 canvasback decoys from Higdon last month the Cans rolled into them. I am sold.

G&H, AvianX, Dakota and Higdon....close your eyes and pick one....but I'd take money into account also.

The Higdon magnum foam filled are nice and hold up well but they are really heavy, if you have to carry them at all I would not recommend them.
For weight purposes in a boat or even walking the new Dakota packables with flocked heads are really nice, I have a dozen and they look really nice on the water, way better than G&H.

Just remember, the ducks could care less what kind you buy.

How long have you had the Dakota packables? We've talked about getting some sort of inflatable not so much for carry purposes but movement on the water. Do you have to inflate the packables? Seems like the rubber would crease over a long storage time.

Only had them for a month, once you take them out of the box, they self inflate, you just plug them and they stay inflated just like any other decoy.
IF you want to actually blow air in them to make them a little full you can so they blow around better but not needed at all.

Not sure if they would crease if you tried to deflate them and collapse them but even if you remove the plug they do not deflate, you would have to push them together to remove the air then put the plug back in, once you remove the plug they will return to normal shape. They are large decoys as well, like magnums.

They are soft rubber and really blow around well with a light breeze, I would think they would last a long time.

You can't go wrong with G&H.

Cool thanks a lot. Will keep an eye on them.

Also buy 3 pulsators and 3 swimmers

Thats another $1000

Go BIG or go home

It’s what I have been using for years now and happy the way they hold up and look. I have their mallards, pintails and canvasback, they look great.

Why not right

The pulsators and dang nice but pricey like Guy said. If budget conscious look at the Mojo ripplers. The butt ups are nice and work better than the Mallard rippler.

I still think the best bang for your buck on motion decoys is TheRealDecoy.com

For durability G&H is the standard and they still look pretty good. I don't like having to baby my gear so I rate them as the first choice for duck decoys for my water spread. Field decoys don't take near the beating and tend to hold up better. If you buy into decoys needing extreme realism, field spreads will hold up better over time. The only decoys that I want flocked are full body geese.

Will check those out. Thanks.

After research, my money went with the higdon xs swimmer. It’s more expensive but I prefer the bilge system over a prop.

The real decoy is selling for $55 right now. I’d buy one for the hell of it...opps, I ordered it.

It's really bulky, and currently about 3x the price. Yikes! I would like to see how it does in the field though. Does the battery keep a charge very long?

I'd be curious to know what the actual battery life is on the the Higdon xs.

I did purchase one of the TheRealDecoy "Natural Drake Mallard Swimmers" earlier this year and it does look great on nice calm water! However, the battery life on them is terrible. They are advertised to run for up to 5 hrs on a set of batteries, but the most I got was about 2 hours, regardless of which battery I used (tried Duracell, Energizer, Interstate as well as rechargeables).

Mine ran $150, compared to 80-90 for the real decoy. Battery life is claimed at 7 hrs, never ran for that long. Ran for 4 hrs without issue. Lithium battery.

I

That sucks. Maybe you got a dud? They do have good customer service, bet they’d swap it for you. I haven’t experienced that, most of mine last around the 5 hour mark at least. The flutters I usually don’t have to change all season. Some swimmers Ive had go longer than 5 hours. I do take the batteries out after each hunt though (and put back in the same ones on the next hunt.) I run Duracell.