Decoy Placement In Rice Field

[bible]

I will be hunting some rice fields in NE Arkansas this season and was wondering how you all set up your decoys. Most of the pits are on a levee between 2 fields. I was wondering if it would help to line the levee with snow geese rags and full body mallards then put the floating mallards in front of the blind or would this hurt the ducks from committing? This is only our second trip out and any help on placement would be appreciated.

 

[Grizzly Johnson]

I'd put any full body decoys on the levee in relaxed or feeding type groups, with some "lookers" scattered throughout.

If you want the sweet spot out front for everyone to shoot, place your decoys off the pit/blind corners and back to the bank leaving the middle wide open for a landing hole (same for the back as I understand your location of the pit/fields). Now depending on the wind you can adjust them putting the larger concentration of decoys on the upwind side if you have cross winds. If the wind is to your back (depending on the orientation of the pit as to the driection that would be the front of the pit), expect to shoot out front and put just a few decoys right in front and if it were me, I would "rainbow" the decoys in back to form a pocket for the ducks to work right in over the blind/pit so you can shoot them right overhead as they work the "hole" you created. Do just the opposite if the wind were blowing the opposite direction. Main thing is to place the decoys in "family" groups and have a relaxed looking setting.

 

[bible]

Thanks for the tip

 

[Grizzly Johnson]

Try a set-up for a while and see how the ducks react... if something needs adjusting, them move the decoys accordingly. But ducks can be funny.... some may fly right on by no matter how good your set-up.... when others might break their necks flippiing in the air to lose enough altitude to land in your spread.

 

[Cache]

Agree with what grizzly said. We almost never get the decoys right on the first try but once you do the ducks will let you know. If they are not finishing right where you want them to, adjust the decoys to where they will. Each day is different so always be ready to pick them up and move them. I don't hunt fields anymore but we always picked decoys up at the end of the hunt. Make sure your blind is brushed good. It is amazing what a well brushed blind can do to increase your bag. Invest in some good face masks to prevent people pie facing. Maybe grizzly can chime in on this but I would steer clear of goose rags near your blind, if at all. Good luck this season!

 

[Grizzly Johnson]

When we hunted a pit, we put full bodies around or on each side of the pit leaving plenty of landing area .... so in actuality, the "hole" that was left around/on top of the pit was the landing zone.....

I'll second what Cache said about covering the faces.... they will shine like the bat signal with a dark background, especially with the sun shining down.

We kinda co-mingled ducks and geese as well around the blind... unless we were specifically hunting geese. Ducks will often decoy in to goose decoys, but geese don't usually decoy well to duck decoys.

 

[Sea-ark]

Whatever you decide to do keep the decoys close. Lots of birds like to finish on the edges.

 

[Bullfrog]

With pits in the levy, you can't go wrong by starting off with a horseshoe on both sides, and adjust accordingly w the wind and how the ducks finish. As far as moon pies go, the sun is your friend. They cannot see down inside the pit when the sun is shining. Cloudy days are the one's that you have to make sure everyone covers up and stays still.