Already thinking about February. Was thinking about flocking my decoys this year and wanted some views of the importance of it. Has any body tried flocking the foam decoys and did it work. I know my plastic ones will look better
If you are going to use a soft body decoy with flocking, I would recommend ditching the oil based paint that comes with the kits and using a black latex. It will be a more flexible coating than the oil and will not be as prone to chipping.
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"If money can fix it, it ain't broke" The great theologian and my crow hunting partner AW.
Never had a bit of trouble getting the vast overwhelming majority of birds to decoy to decoys that are not flocked. I don't see the point, I think flocking crow decoys fools more hunters into thinking they have something better than it does fooling a crow so it decoys. When the decoys get ratty, a can of Fusion flat black spray paint is cheap, easy and fast way to recondition them. Working on making better blinds is better use of time.
I'm inclined to agree with NHC regarding flocking.
I use a homemade 3-dimensional decoy with flat black spray paint. I had so much fun making and using these during the last season that I scrounged more 1/4" plywood over the past few weeks to cut these out two days ago. When I run out of wings, I will use the remaining for simple silhouettes. Cost so far, one bottle of glue.
The best part of cutting these out was using the shop belonging to an 88-year old WWII vet from our church, who used to drive B-25 Mitchells. He later became one of the country's premier architectural model makers, retired several years ago. It was an honor to work with him in his shop--he was so concerned that all of the edges and details were smooth and uniform.
Anyway, three photos. First is the stack we cut up on Friday--plenty now for me to do for a few days. Second is what the prototype batch of five made last February with the wings pinned on using shish kabob skewers as dowels, and third, how the first batch looked in action with one bandit down. I use the largest size binder clips for "feet" as they permit the decoys to stand up on the ground or be clipped to branches or in this case, corn stalks. Plus, the "feet" fold upwards against the "breast" so they don't become tangled up in the bag. Speaking of bags, I think Santa (wife) has found the 6-compartment Avery snow goose decoy bag for me, that a couple of you recommended a while back. Should have room for the entire decoy family and my thermos.
Really? We only have 5 farms/fields to hunt, a couple are less than mile from each other. Our birds get real smart. We get a migration for three to four weeks but the rest of the fall season which is 4 months long we are shooting resident birds. Some get wise but the lack of flocking isn't causing them to flare, it's their previous visit to the setup that makes them flare. When a crow can see the difference in a flocked or unflocked decoy it's in range. It's not a game changer but it does give you something to do when you are bored.
OA, I really like your decoys, old school appeals to me. Nice project, saves money and they work, fun to build, good memories with the old gent, you can't beat that.
-- Edited by nhcrowshooter on Monday 17th of December 2012 09:32:01 AM
It depends what kind of crows you are hunting, and how much pressure they get...........around here, most of the year we are hunting resident birds that get a lot of pressure year round.........you better bet that flocking makes a big difference on those birds...
Yep, he's a Master Craftsman--one of the real ones.
This summer, one of two B25s still flying (I think)--this one out of Willow Run airport west of what's left of Detroit--flew to our little town for a "Fly-in". Couple of other WWII birds as well. Drew a pretty good crowd, as its part of the "National Blueberry Festival." The plane's sponsers/crew waived the $400 fee for him to take a ride. It was a grand experience for him to be back in the saddle. Lots of photos. The one below is the aircraft itself. He presented the crew with his actual 1944 pre-flight checklist, something they lacked. But, they would not accept it, only made a copy.
Oh yes, he had wonderful woodworking tools (i.e., right tool for the right job) in his shop that reduced the time to do the decoy cutout and sanding by about 500% less than it would have take me with my crude saber saw. When we were done, he turned to me and said, "OK. What's next?" Good man.
The B-25 you mentioned is owned by the Collins Foundation I am pretty sure. It came to Rochester NH several years ago with an F-4 Corsair they own. They were giving rides. The Skyhaven airport is small, I saw the Mitchell on final approach and stopped to watch and listen. The pilot was good, real good, putting the main gear down on the very first few feet of runway to get the most length to stop with those big recipricating engines backfiring a bit as he touched down. Quite a sight, tried to imagine what it might have been like with dozens of them coming in after a mission.
The Collins Foundation also flies a B-24 and B-17, they often travel together. Seven years ago I got to go up in the Liberator and spread my father's ashes in flight. He was a nose and ball turret gunner in the 776th Sqdn, 464th BG in WWII.
Their B-17 seems to find its way here once every couple of years also. When they give rides, it always circles over our place, about 7-8 miles from our tiny airfield. It makes a wonderful noise, like all those old radial engines.
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"Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave." -- Andrew Fletcher 1698
. Second is what the prototype batch of five made last February with the wings pinned on using shish kabob skewers as dowels, and third, how the first batch looked in action with one bandit down. I use the largest size binder clips for "feet" as they permit the decoys to stand up on the ground or be clipped to branches or in this case, corn stalks. Plus, the "feet" fold upwards against the "breast" so they don't become tangled up in the bag. Speaking of bags, I think Santa (wife) has found the 6-compartment Avery snow goose decoy bag for me, that a couple of you recommended a while back. Should have room for the entire decoy family and my thermos.
