Motion decoys

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Cache

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Joined
Jul 30, 2006
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2,345
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West Tn
Alright guys. We're looking at investing in some motion decoys for next year. Right now we run a mallard machine and some days a few robos. What all do y'all run? We are seriously considering buying a duck thang. Anyone have one?
 
You would be very surprised at what "black balloons" tied to decoy heads will do.

Walmart has small helium tanks and black balloons.

We use 4# monofilament, stagger the line length, and paper clip to attach to decoy heads.

3 to 5 is plenty enough

Inflate to just under the size of a basketball. aka try to keep the as black as possible.

Don't laugh until you have tried this.

Takes very little wind to move them.
 
We run some oversized black pool noodles that move really good in the wind, we also run a ice eater on those days with little to know wind.
 
l run a duck thang. have for four years now. ln my opinion, the best motion you can ever buy. now, l do have electricity run to my blind. l run a converter which converts 110 to 12 volts. before, we ran it on a marine battery, with a battery charger hooked to it. l hunt flooded timber, water does come up and down. we hunt every day. you need to be able to adjust it if water does change. we dont have alot of trash to deal with. not a problem for a dog. expensive but seems to hold up well. ducks land on it. set up right, not many problems. l am a firm believer, water movement is what it is all about. we run three iceeaters on still days, 4 mallard machines on timers, 4 crazy kickers, wonder ducks, splashes, one decoy vortex, multiple robos hardwired with switches. most motion decoys lve tried mite last maybe two yrs. best bang for the buck, old style mallard machines on timers, last forever, and duck thang.
 
I agree whatever you can afford to provide some water motion is the key.

However, I do find that on no wind cloudy days too many electronics especially noisy ones can do more harm than good.
 
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tickweed":3pa3trgf said:
l run a duck thang. have for four years now. ln my opinion, the best motion you can ever buy. now, l do have electricity run to my blind. l run a converter which converts 110 to 12 volts. before, we ran it on a marine battery, with a battery charger hooked to it. l hunt flooded timber, water does come up and down. we hunt every day. you need to be able to adjust it if water does change. we dont have alot of trash to deal with. not a problem for a dog. expensive but seems to hold up well. ducks land on it. set up right, not many problems. l am a firm believer, water movement is what it is all about. we run three iceeaters on still days, 4 mallard machines on timers, 4 crazy kickers, wonder ducks, splashes, one decoy vortex, multiple robos hardwired with switches. most motion decoys lve tried mite last maybe two yrs. best bang for the buck, old style mallard machines on timers, last forever, and duck thang.

How hard is the duck thang to adjust for water depth, or pick up and move? How many decoys will it move? Our water can be anywhere from 3-8 feet depending on the river. Movement is definitely key to success. I'll probably go ahead and build another mallard machine after season and start pinching some pennies for the duck thang.
 
Chaneylake":2ygtd94k said:
You would be very surprised at what "black balloons" tied to decoy heads will do.

Walmart has small helium tanks and black balloons.

We use 4# monofilament, stagger the line length, and paper clip to attach to decoy heads.

3 to 5 is plenty enough

Inflate to just under the size of a basketball. aka try to keep the as black as possible.

Don't laugh until you have tried this.

Takes very little wind to move them.

Never heard of this. Do you use these as floaters? I'm confused on how you keep them upright?
 
Cache":1rzq8xn9 said:
Chaneylake":1rzq8xn9 said:
You would be very surprised at what "black balloons" tied to decoy heads will do.

Walmart has small helium tanks and black balloons.

We use 4# monofilament, stagger the line length, and paper clip to attach to decoy heads.

3 to 5 is plenty enough

Inflate to just under the size of a basketball. aka try to keep the as black as possible.

Don't laugh until you have tried this.

Takes very little wind to move them.

Never heard of this. Do you use these as floaters? I'm confused on how you keep them upright?

Never heard of it either but sounds like the balloon just blows in the wind (light wind) and causes decoys to move since the balloons are floating and tied to the decoys neck...pretty brilliant idea


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Ed B":3vb8sfe2 said:
Cache":3vb8sfe2 said:
Chaneylake":3vb8sfe2 said:
You would be very surprised at what "black balloons" tied to decoy heads will do.

Walmart has small helium tanks and black balloons.

We use 4# monofilament, stagger the line length, and paper clip to attach to decoy heads.

3 to 5 is plenty enough

Inflate to just under the size of a basketball. aka try to keep the as black as possible.

Don't laugh until you have tried this.

Takes very little wind to move them.

Never heard of this. Do you use these as floaters? I'm confused on how you keep them upright?

Never heard of it either but sounds like the balloon just blows in the wind (light wind) and causes decoys to move since the balloons are floating and tied to the decoys neck...pretty brilliant idea


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I bought a small bottle of "helium" at Wal-Mart to fill balloons
 
Chaneylake":33pznecj said:
They are real easy to fill with the Walmart bought helium bottle.

Turn main valve on.

Slide ballon over black fill nipple and push nipple sideways.

I was thinking you had a decoy head paper clipped on to the balloon. I get it now.
 
Cache":suklquiz said:
tickweed":suklquiz said:
l run a duck thang. have for four years now. ln my opinion, the best motion you can ever buy. now, l do have electricity run to my blind. l run a converter which converts 110 to 12 volts. before, we ran it on a marine battery, with a battery charger hooked to it. l hunt flooded timber, water does come up and down. we hunt every day. you need to be able to adjust it if water does change. we dont have alot of trash to deal with. not a problem for a dog. expensive but seems to hold up well. ducks land on it. set up right, not many problems. l am a firm believer, water movement is what it is all about. we run three iceeaters on still days, 4 mallard machines on timers, 4 crazy kickers, wonder ducks, splashes, one decoy vortex, multiple robos hardwired with switches. most motion decoys lve tried mite last maybe two yrs. best bang for the buck, old style mallard machines on timers, last forever, and duck thang.

How hard is the duck thang to adjust for water depth, or pick up and move? How many decoys will it move? Our water can be anywhere from 3-8 feet depending on the river. Movement is definitely key to success. I'll probably go ahead and build another mallard machine after season and start pinching some pennies for the duck thang.

The Duck Thang system pulleys mount to T posts with set screws. You loosen the screw and move it up or down the T post with the water level. They work best in water 2-4ft deep. Only way you can use them in water 8ft deep would be to find some 12ft at posts or weld some shorter ones together.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
we weld t post together. our water runs anywhere from 3 to 7 feet deep. we just watch the weather forecast, if we see a rise coming in the river, we just raise the pulleys and motor before we leave for the day. we have used black balloons on full body geese, and shells. we take a piece of cane bout 3 foot long, put it in ground at a slight angle, tie fishing line with a black balloon, about a foot off the ground. works great.
 
Duck Thing works great go to their web sit and see what it does call the people up who make it and they will tell you every thing you need to know.
 

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