What kind of paint do you use to paint your decoys? Decoys, the most "looked-at" by crows of any equipment we use, is as important as anything in our accessories inventory. Guns, shells, boots, crow calls, clothing, etc. are used while hunting, but hopefully not seen by crows.
Decoys are used to draw the crows attention from you, and to convince them that it's ok to fly over. Since this puts the decoys front and center in your setup , I feel that its fairly important to get decoys to be as attractive as possible. Most of us probably paint our plastic decoys about 1-2 times a year, depending on how much use they get.
I use Krylon Colormaster black satin spray paint, which leaves just a slight sheen, not a flat, dry look, to paint mine. Close up, my painted decoys looks a little shiny, but at 40-50 yards and further, the decoys look mostly just black. At a distance of 50-100 yards, and more, a live crow looks very black, but close up they look a little shiny, with a dark indigo sheen, as if I'm letting you in on some dark, mysterious secret. Actually, the Krylon I use makes the decoy blacker than any flat-black paint that I have ever used.
By the way...I am not a paint salesman, and I don't work for Krylon.
A year or so ago, I posted a question about the merits of using the "magic decoy paint" that resulted in avian eyes being able to spot the appropriately painted decoys (used the vendor's product) so much better because the paint reflected the authentic spectrum of light frequency that the duckies "knew" was authentic.
If I recall correctly, Bob A. and a couple of others said it was a bunch of hooey and that Krylon flat-black from Wal-Mart, or another $2.50 per can substitute was just as effective. After a couple of seasons, I'm glad I didn't spring for the spensive' stuff.
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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
cannot have shiny decoys out unless it is overcast. Also if you use owl decoys or hawk decoys you can get some clear flat paint that leaves a slight sheen instead of getting different shades of brown to dull your decoys. One such product is called dull-cote but I use a slightly cheaper price. Try not to spray the bills or the beaks however. And don't gum up the eyes. You want them to remain realistic. If they shine like diamonds way out there then you will want to but that is easily corrected afield-turn the decoys' head. And in any case no owl ever looks into the sun anyways. They will always change theri positions. here in the day their eye sight is the weakest, or so I've read.
Often times the best way to rejuvenate decoys is to wash them. Over the course of a season they can get pretty dirty especially when hunting over harvested corn fields. With a good amount of clay in our soil dried mud takes a little scrubbing to get it out of the crevices. When it's time to paint Krylon Fusion (which is made for painting plastic) is very durable and works great. I have used Satin Black and have had no issues with it flaring birds.
