Need input. Can’t get ducks to come in to decoys

I saw a ton of ducks today but couldn’t get them to come in. There was no wind so decoys didn’t move at all. I had a pretty decent spread in v formation. I’m a very beginner caller. I have killed a lot of ducks on this lake in the past. Any input would be appreciated.

We’ve all had it happen. I would say the most important thing is being where the ducks want to be, you can make a lot of other mistakes if the ducks want in to the spot you’re hunting. Second would be rig a basic jerk string, very easy to make and rig and can make a lot of difference on still days. Third, there’s a big difference in how ducks will react as they fly by based on where they’re going. Is your lake where they roost? If they are flying off roost to go feed, they’re just going to fly by you. If you’re where they want to loaf or water, you have a much better chance at drawing passing birds. Good luck

Were they flaring or just not coming in at all?

Did u scout and see them on top of your location?

Clouds are a Btch. Take sun and wrong wind any day. Being on X key if public or big water. Try calling aggressive vs total silence also. Shrink spread. They have seen a V formation many times- change it up. Got a make adjustments during the hunt

If they’re just highflyers obviously you’re probably wasting your time they don’t want to be there

The way I interpret coming in means you’re in the wrong spot if they’re not finishing that could be cloud cover, they can see you , spread looks bad (no sun) etc.

By the way, it’s also called hunting sometimes birds are just not huntable that day. Don’t skybust- pack it up if they’re not finishing at all and get them next time

Got to have motion when there’s zero wind as well

Be where they want to be.
Hide well. Especially in cloudy weather.
If there is no wind I like a smaller spread. Less ugly for them to look at.

If you're not where they want to be you can have everything perfect and still not get it done. Then again you might not be on the x and shoot their lips off because the guy on x is an idiot.


When you've got no wind cloudy and it's a warming trend the ducks will circle circle circle then go loaf in 20ft of water on the main lake. They just aren't hungry and are tired of getting shot. I've seen birds circle live birds 3 or 4 times and bug out. That's a live flock of birds not looking good enough. Sometimes it just won't happen.

You’ve had a lot of good suggestions thus far. I’ll add that birds get smart. If you don’t have new birds move in, you may be trying to work birds that have been shot at quite a bit on a body of water. Sometimes things get stale and they get decoy shy. You could have all the motion, perfect spread, calling could be on point and it just won’t happen.

I had some high flyers but I had some that tried to come in briefly. They were flying from and to the lake. This is the first time I hunted this spot. My normal spot that was great,hasn’t had any action the last 2 weekends. This is my first season back here in 5 season. Thanks for the input y’all.

#1 be where they want to be
#2 hide really really well
#3 add motion somehow if there is no wind
#4 if there is wind set up with it at your back or cross wind.

If they still flare or just don't give you a look then there's not much else you can do...

You can try moving decoys around but I personally haven't had that ever help with ducks.

Old school stuff:
1 Don’t fight the conditions. Put out a big spread 30-50 yards behind you and setup for the birds to predictably SHORT STOP.
2 Soften your calling way down in calm conditions.
3 Hunt small water where the birds have fewer options.
4 use a couple dozen goose floaters to add motion to your spread. Because of their size they will swim in a very slight breeze.
5 deploy a J set off a corner where the birds only have one direction to slide to. Set up to kill them on the slide.
6 jerk strings

Just my opinion but I have never bought into this "decoys x,y,z formation" stuff.

Go look at groups of wild birds on the water...are they in a J formation? A V formation? No. They are not. Generally on big water they're rafted up in a big group or in smaller clusters at random. Nature is random. Put your decoys in random clusters. Not some unnatural looking letter.

I also agree with this. To me, where the spread is, as a whole, in relation to wind direction is much more important than “formation”. I think some people overthink it.

A skilled waterfowler uses his decoy placement to anticipate and manipulate Where the birds will finish to. It is an art that many do not grasp. It goes without saying that you would set the decoys to look as natural as possible to include small groups or clusters as you describe. It also goes without saying that the overall configuration of your set in combination with the prevailing wind combined with what the birds are approaching absolutely impact, and can be used to get the birds to finish where you want.
It Works in concert with a skilled caller that waits for the birds to line up with where he knows his set will position the birds waning to finish before using the call to turn them, and thus not needing to circle to get in. Thus getting birds to finish on the first pass, in the desired location, rather than circle till they pick you off.
Your comment speaks to what your level of prowess is in the art of decoying waterfowl.

Yep. When it works it's a thing of beauty. The V is used to give them a nice big landing pocket right it front of you. It doesn't have to be a perfect V, but a natural looking spread shaped to put the birds right in front of you as they're landing.

Maybe so, but maybe not. I often kill limits of waterfowl with a 410. Up to and including giant Canada geese. I do that by planning where I finish the birds. (It is a hell of a good time)

Some good advise here, thank guys for sharing.

Cool story. I don’t write the alphabet with decoys and I still manage to shoot birds dropping in and next to the spread ~20 yds. Do what works for you and I’ll continue doing what works for me (hell of a good time).

You are goofy 68A. Nobody writes the alphabet. They put out a set with purpose in various configurations to match up with where they are hunting and the conditions as well as the type of birds they are hunting. They describe it with letters to indicate the general shape of the set when putting out the blocks. That way everyone is on the same page without needing to talk about it.






It’s not new stuff and it’s not rocket science. Not sure what your end game is singling me out but you got the wrong guy.

Scout boat ramps for hunters coming back successful.

Determine their hunting spot.

The next steps can either be performed at the ramp with feigned engine trouble or, for better effect, at their spot about 45 minutes before shooting time.
You will need a son/daughter or someone who can pass as a son/daughter to assist you. Motor to the spot, turn off the engine and have your cohort say, loud enough for them to hear, "Dad, someone's in that spot you and Uncle Harry used to hunt before he passed, well have to run across the marsh to where Jimmy had that accident. We're gonna get you on ducks one last time, don't you worry."

One word of caution, if the target hunters appear grizzled as if they've lived in the marsh all season, this may not have any effect. In that case it's best to substitute an old, crippled lab.

Be sure to not appear to healthy. And, for goodness sakes, make sure the young'un helps pick up the decoys. No sense being a selfish guest.

Recap-you singled me out when you quoted me saying “maybe so, maybe not”, then detailing how you shoot geese with a 410. Now, you’re upset that I don’t necessarily agree with your method. Furthermore, youre the guy posting pictures as if that’s going to drive your point home with me.

Look, I’m happy it works for you, by all means, keep doing you. However, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. I could fill up 20 pages of pictures of hunts and limits, who cares. My method works, and yours works for you. That’s cool.

I’m not upset. I find humor that you are posting that you think somebody actually writes x, y, z with their decoys....
recap-a new waterfowler was having trouble decoying birds in calm conditions. I posted some old school bread and butter tactics that have worked for generations in calm conditions to help him out. You went keyboard warrior and cast dispersions on their effectiveness, by attempting to make fun of advising him to use a simple j set in low wind when the birds are not finishing for the new hunter. My impression is you have not successfully used and do not understand the tactic of a long narrow set down wind, and blocking out one corner with a wider base to entice wary birds that are not finishing in calm conditions, to consistently slide off the dekes and right over your head by anticipating the birds are not going to want inside the decoys, so taking away the routes into the slight wind except the one that puts them on you. So you refer to it as writing x, y, z. That is basic stuff and it is a j, without writing anything in the spread.
And yes when conditions are right I like to use a 410. It is an in your face, heads and necks game with a half ounce of steel and a tight choke. It is a hell of a good time with some guys that can shoot.

Let me go get my ruler and I guess we can measure our dicks since you want to be a condescending [censored]. Unlike you I don't need to posts pictures and speak of my prowess as it pertains to the art of decoying "waterfowl" to make myself feel better.

I never said stand on the shore and just throw your decoys. You still put your decoys out in a way to manipulate and anticipate where you will force the birds to want to land. That is common sense. However, when people tell a new person to put their decoys in a "j" or a "v" - new hunters take that quite literally and I have on dozens of occasions seen people spell out the letter J with their decoys. That is not natural. The fact you feel the need to whip it out and prove to everyone that you're the great white duck slaying hunter tells me all I need to know.

Have fun with your .410 circle jerk!

It's really not as hard as some make it out to be with regard to decoy spreads.

Just use common sense.

You know they land into the wind so set them up in relation to you so that you get good shots...

The only other thing I'll add is I do not like them coming in straight on. I've found a slight cross wind is better so they are staring right at me as they are trying to decoy.

Cochise I think you need to fill out this report, its a new THF rule we are trying to tack all this to better improve the forum. When I do a j hook spread, I like to use a magnum decoy to dot my j.

Apparently neither of us are “skilled waterfowlers”.

Derrick, my apologies for this post seeming to turn into a pissing contest. Was not my intention. Like Brady said it’s not complicated stuff.

68A, sorry we got off on the wrong foot. Was not my intention.

Cochise: no pissing contest intended. Just an old bird hunter using the nomenclature that was used and the tactics passed down to me by my grandfather in the 1960’s back when I was a kid and we still hunted with his old cork decoys, to help out a young hunter who was struggling. Somehow that got changed into writing letters with my decoys by you and I called [censored]. All kinds of faceless people post all kinds of crap on the internet. I put up a few pics so the original poster and you do not see me as faceless. I am just an old bird hunter trying to share some things that work with a struggling hunter.
Insulting me liking to shoot a 410 in my old age is something I can laugh off.

I like to pod decoy set up. It worked for us 2 weekends ago. We actually abandoned our decoys when the sun got up, facing the sun, and birds were landing in them left and right. So no calling, just motion and it worked pretty well. And that hole was fairly small, so the decoys were on the edge and the middle was open water.

The circled x's were the motion decoys, with the one on the right being a spinning wing decoy.

But as everyone says, it's all about being in the right spot. Ducks will sit on each other when there is somewhere they want to be.

No worries. I think a lot can be misconstrued in written word and reading through I probably misinterpreted your original post that I was quoted in. Bottom line, if your method is proven for you, then who am I to say it’s wrong. I have my own methods that are proven for me. We may not agree, but that’s alright. Anyhow, keep knocking them down.

These type of of responses / reply’s is the reason why 80% of old timers don’t post on this forum anymore.

It’s sad that a simple, but common occurrence in duck hunting isn’t just addressed with honesty.

Even the regulars refrain from posting successful hunts these days because of all the BS.

Supposed to be fun, and entertaining. Too bad the trolls have dominated this forum. Sarcasm has dominated. Not for me.

Greek is right, thats why I dont post anymore, not worth the hassle. On top of that all these private land hunters pounding their chest like they are great hunters for a strap of birds. Go do that on public (a few here can, and props to those 3 guys) and get back with me.

I was about to agree with Greek till he went after sarcasm. That's my middle name

It's just ducks. It's not like we're talking about real stuff... Like specklebellies or something

A decoy spread does matter. However, I have found being in the right spot matters more. Here is an example. I was about to set out on the lake for an afternoon hunt. I watched the birds, and observed some of them kept flying into a narrow channel. It was getting late, and I was pressed for time. I set up on the channel, and shot several ducks. No decoys. This does not work every time, but the key is to know where the ducks go, and be flexible. Other ducks were rafting in the middle of the lake. On a more important note, the best thing about hunting is to get out, enjoy yourself, and have a good time. The game harvested is a bonus.

Been doing it for awhile, I’m getting back to you.

This. I am brand new hunter, I'm 32 left the Comiforina 3 years ago and was the best thing to happen to me. I always fished so fishing forums were very helpful growing up and still are now, they won't post their honey holes but lead you in the right direction. I find it very hard to get good solid help when it comes to hunting. One person took me dove hunting from this site back in September and I became hooked, if it wasn't for him I most likely wouldn't have gone out. I now want to learn duck hunting but I know asking for advise is like making a deal with the devil. I plan to get some decoys and go to some public land spots and try it out around central Texas. Im sure I will be frustrated this season and probably won't see a damn duck as I have no idea what im doing lol

Greekangler, I like your style.

Very helpful picture and explanation. Thank you.

I know this sounds crazy but when they don’t decoy well I will put out only coot decoys and a blue heron or two.
Usually about 15 or 20 coots. It seems to put the ducks at ease.

Herons are duck calmers. I don't have heron decoys but I have watched them land near my spread. Seems the ducks give us a better look.

this is my advice checklist in order of importancefor beginner-ish people who ask me questions

Scout
setup where they are or want to be. It's very hard to convince them to be elsewhere (a 50 yard move could make all the difference in birds finishing)
decoy movement (IMO without mojos) jerk rigs work the best in calm conditions if you don't have swimmers or other expensive motion decoys
hide, well (if you can see flying birds very well, they can see you)
if you cant run a call, don't. If you can run a call, don't over call. poor calling and screaming at birds is the best education that they are going to get.

Dont make a V or U or J or any kind of pattern with decoys. Ducks dont spell the alphabet when they are in groups. It doesn't look natural. Throw them out there and hide. They'll come in. You also dont need to call a bunch. You also need some type of motion. You'll get those limits

Curious what the opinion is on whats considered a smaller spread? One guy told me aboit a small spread, and he had 3 doz deeks out. My idea of small is 12-15 on calm days, add a 2-3 bird jerk rig for motion. Thoughts?

That's location dependent really. In the spread I mentioned above, I think we had about 15 total, and I'd call it a medium spread. A small spread for the hunting we do is 6 or so.

A small spread in Kansas for geese can be 500 decoys ya know, so it's got it's obvious variables.

Thank goodness i dont have to store 500 decoys... i have 5-6 dozen split between the boat and a walk-in bag. 3 dozen is a typical spread for us on good days. Low wind and cloudy we will go down to 12-18 with jerk rigs. Hunted with a pulsator decoy a buddy had and didnt care for it. Idk why but it seemed to flare birds. Pulled it and they finished. Inlike the rippler decoys tho.

Here's an example of what I was saying earlier. If you're where they want to be, they will land on each other basically.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5sZ1oenuVy/?igshid=gx1l8az6u8vr

KWood, when you are the guy on the x, spread and calling are secondary to location. That fact is the cause for a lot of the conflict among waterfowlers and why some will forego etiquette to chisel in on the party that is on the x rather than move on. In Derrick’s original post he was not on the x. Instead he was running traffic in an area that had birds around. Different tactics will up his odds for success in that scenario.

I'm curious how you decided the pulsators were flaring birds? I typically run 3-4 in my spread and they seem to work really well on a calm day.

X2 Good advice Smokey

You're right, he wasn't on the X, but that's why you scout, so you can be on the X. Sure, it's not always possible, but you'll typically do better if you are.

The first 3-4 groups that morning turned the corner, cupped a good ways out and then flared and disappeared just out of range. Went out and pulled the pulsator (first time hunting over one), and the rest of the birds that were interested seemed to finish fine. I bet they work fine, i may have had it in a bad placement who knows. I rarely use mojos also, but everything has a place i guess.

As said earlier, being on the x is key. A few years ago I scouted an x on a local lake the was about 300 yards from the boat launch. No one knew about it (or we beat them there). I decided to set up about 40 yards away because the hide was better. It didn't matter. we weren't where they were used to going so they gave us the faintest look and landed there. We moved and started getting birds.

When we were in Kansas we saw thousands of geese. I know why a small spread was 500 decoys. My 4 confidence canadas couldn't draw the crowds in, but we did get some singles to give us a short look. If I hand't lost my canada call we might have had a chance. I drop more calls in the water than anyone I know. Usually they're new and I haven't put them on my lanyard yet. You would think I would learn to do that the night before but now I'm just being stubborn about it. That's why I don't take the expensive ones if we are hunting in water.

You can't kill no giant Canada goose with a 410. Come on man!

You must not have hunted them much....
Their head is the size of a quail. This is the first one ever with a 410 along side my old lab.

I dont see a 410 in that picture.

A 410 has same pellet size and FPS as a 12 gauge, just less pellets. I dropped canada's dead with 12ga #4 shot.

Yep. A half ounce of steel at 1400 FPS with a tight choke is a lot of fun with a 410.

I used smaller steel load and more gun powder, 1560 FPS.

Come on guy!

If anyone thinks that you cannot kill a goose or a whitetail deer with a 410 they need to start over and learn to hunt from the beginning.

Cochise will give you some discounted lessons

If your not shooting ducks with a 410 on public, are you even hunting?

I wouldn't take a 410 hunting. I need all the shot in the air I can. Plus those shells are expensive.

Well some sport you are. I only shoot drakes feet down with a 410 or sling shot for the first split.

That sounds like a nice load Guy.
ducknbass, if you load your own, both the 410 and 28 gauge are very economical to shoot..
Mack’s prairie wings has 3” steel in 410 for $129.99 a case. It is 3/8 oz @ 1400 FPS. Hand loaders can beat both the price and performance.

Yep the old blue heron, I still use that one myself, I've been know to are a couple goose decoys to the spread as well.