how many decoys do you guys usually set out. I have a dozen Flambeau foam decoys,do you think this is enough and what do you guys think of these particular decoys.
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"The reason a dog has so many friends, he wags his tail instead of his tongue"
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Hi Dave,,,, I didn't look to see what part of the country you are from but around here it depends on the type set you are doing.My general rule is this. I use 8 to 15 decoys. Crows run in what they call murders. A murder is a family that consist of the parents and up to 3 to 5 broods. Young crows stay with their parents for up to 3 years until they are mature enuff to pair up and breed on their own. For a feeding set I use about 11 or so. If the birds have been loading up the field I might use more but if I do I will split them and make it look like 2 murders feeding. It's important to split them good by 30 or 40 yards. For a flyway shoot most of my decoys are in the trees. If I do load the field up with deeks I don't bother to split them up. The only time murders mingle is right before they roost. It's called staging. This is the time right (usually last 2.5 hours) before they roost and is usually fairly close to the roost. This is the time these murders that were split up during the day rejoin and roost together. Any other time these murders fight and steal from each other. Just remember never get closer than 1/4 mile to the roost during a flyway shoot!!! To close and you will disperse The birds n the fun is done. This may confuse you and not make any sense. If you are serious and you get ate up with the disease of crow busting your best bet is to drive around and observe birds. Nothing is more valuable than spending time studying a bunch of birds doing their natural thing. Time in the field is the master teacher. Now it would help tons if you would read past post on this site. Go back a ways and read read read . Thats how I do it here. It may be totally different than where you live. Oh yea!!!!! get good n hid!!!!!!
-- Edited by chip on Friday 21st of February 2014 08:57:21 PM
I do use the foam type and have not had any problems with them besides the clip at the bottom. instead, I inserted a hook into them so that I can hang them from limbs and they work well. I only use 4 as high up in trees as I can get them.
I also have a few flocked foam decoys, and I like them alright. They serve a purpose, but will get damaged if you crush them in a bag, so I either put them on top or in a separate bag to carry. The clothespin clips can be a pain and the definitely blow around and can end up upside down in the wind. I cut a quarter-sized hole just above the clip so that I can stick my finger inside to operate the clip easier. I also like them for my fishing reel system because they are very light to pull up into a tall tree branch. The one thing I don't like is the big fat beak on them, so I trim the lower half on a curve to give them a pointier, curved look. That's pretty picky though.
