Crow Busters Forum

Ghost · Member

Annoying problems

Old Artilleryman · Guru

Ghost wrote:
Hi Everyone,

Some of my common/annoying problems is keeping my decoys clean and not have a conferable pair of hunting gloves for shooting. It comes down to having a (warm hands – bad shooting) or (cold hand - good shooting). I prefer good shooting… Anyone have a thoughts or tricks on keeping decoys clean? As always feedback is welcome.

Thanks,
Ghost

Decoys: Mine are wooden, so I touch up paint once or twice per season, as needed. That's after knocking off big pieces of mud (as needed).

Gloves: As when I was a little kid, my gloves, heavy and light (Mechanic's), each have grommets/loops built in, with which to clip my gloves onto my vest harness so I don't lose them.

Big Honkers · Guru

Ghost,

Decoys: As OA attested to, a spray can of flat black will do the trick. 70% of my decoys are flocked and it works with those too. Just clean them off with a brush and give them a light coat of paint. It really brings the flocking back to life.

Gloves: I have found the best way to keep your hands warm does not involve gloves at all. You need a good pair of bibs that has full length zippers on each leg. Each leg needs two zippers, one at the bottom and one at the top. You use the bottom zipper for taking the bibs on/off. You leave the top zipper open about 8 inches so you can access the pockets to your inner pants. I rarely wear gloves while hunting (although I do during set up/take down) and just put my hands in my pants pockets as needed. For me, this method will due in 90% of winter hunting conditions.

When it is really cold or windy I do sometimes wear a bulky glove on my off hand and leave my loading/safety/trigger hand bare. I have also used shooting gloves similar to these with success when the action is steady and there is little time to put your hands in your pockets or put down your gun:

www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-GORE-TEX174-Insulated-Shooting-Gloves/1381009.uts

Good hunting!

BH

-- Edited by Big Honkers on Wednesday 28th of January 2015 07:15:16 PM

Arkie · Veteran Member

B H , and here all your hunting buddies just thought you really liked playing pocket pool!

Bob

Skip · Guru

Chemical hand warmers... super product! I keep one in each pocket.. keeps hands toasty between shots. Very inexpensive..

Skip

Old Artilleryman · Guru

Arkie wrote:
B H , and here all your hunting buddies just thought you really liked playing pocket pool!

Bob

All the NFL quarterbacks stole BH's tactic and modified it to the cute (we used to call it a "muff" when the girls wore one) version.

Big Honkers · Guru

...the muff, a great invention to solve a common problem. I have one but for some reason do not really use it...kinda forgot about it really. Thanks OA.

Signed,

Pocket Pool Master

biggrin biggrin

nhcrowshooter · Guru

The "quick wash" setting on the dishwasher works great for taking the hard to remove mud stains off plastic not flocked crow decoys. I dont let them go through the heated drying process after the wash. If you are married do not do this without getting permission

-- Edited by nhcrowshooter on Thursday 29th of January 2015 03:13:59 PM

Rook-ie · Senior Member

Ghost Buster (sorry, I'm a nicknamer) -

My decoys are usually in snow instead of mud, so I don't need to clean much, but for cold hands I have to be careful after a frostbitten trigger finger last year.

I have always used hunting gloves with the mitten that folds back with handwarmers in each mitten, but that's how I hurt the trigger finger -- being too ready leaving it out and exposed in single digit temps. I now wear my bow hunting gloves as liners under the glove/mittens so the trigger finger is still protected, and still use the handwarmers. It's a little bulky, but it works for me.

That probably doesn't help since you are a good shooter. It doesn't matter much for me! Hahaha!

Good luck!

Jerry

Ghost · Member

Hahaha.... That is a great idea using the dishwasher! I'll have to check on the dishwasher schedule....

Thanks for all the info provided.