What is the Purpose of a Hole in the Decoys?

[trmichels]

The first of the monthy is when I think about what articles I will send out to the 30+ internet magazines and print publications I write for - one of thos being Hunting Net. I try to send out articles that are pertinent to the time of year, which hunting seasons are open, or will be open, and what hunters are interested in reading about. And hopefully I get it right.

I try to send the articls out about 2 months ahead of when they should be published, so the webmsters and editors have time to critique them edit them and determine when they want to publish them.

As I was thinking about what articles I should send out about waterfowl hunting - I thought about decoying techniques

And for some reason the above question popped into my head. What is the purpose of a hole in the decoy spread? It is not for realism, because I've never seen a flock of ducks or geese regularly sit with a hole in thd middle of a flock. so why do we doit?

One migh answe - because we wantmto force the bird to land in the are so we get a god hot. wll I doubt that you can force waerfowl to ladn wher yo want, but you migh be able to " get" them to land where you want, because - if the geese in small flocks are related to each other (and the generally are) - they do not want to get separated from each other, and they do not want to sit or lnd in the midst of another family.

So - as they approach birdson landor waer, they willlookfofr an opoen ar, big enogh to hole all of the fanily or flock, - o ldn in, whefre they willnt be harassed by birds of otehr familie or flocks. So,psychologically speaking - we may be ableto et them to lsnd wher we want them to land - if we offer them a hole, or a place whr no other birds afre - for them to land in.

Next time you are setting out your decoys, think about that.

God bless,

T.r.

[sharpshooter19]

I think its because people are lazy when huntin/setting decoys. and to get a better shooting angle on the birds. all gese ive seen in a field have been in lines and in small family groups

[cuda67]

Been hunting ducks for years. You can have the best looking spread known to man, but if that's not where the ducks want to be your out of luck.
Rule one: ducks always land into the wind. Instead of putting a hole in our spread, we usually place ours in a "C" shape giving them an open invataion to land. Sometimes we will place two seperate spreads which from the air proabably looks like a hole in the middle. The main thing with duck hunting to to scout and find out where they want to be and what direction the wind is coming from. No matter how good of caller you may be if that's not where they want to be, it will be a long day.

[sconnyhunter]

I have found that a loose "J" form usually works fairly well.
I watched some geese yesterday, and as they were swimming, they formed a line.
I might try that next time, see if I get some Geese to come in along the line.

[blakefrautschi]

j or c is what i do or just have a "relaxed" or spread out my dekes with plenty of room with some space to land, i shoot ducks practically every time i go out and i have them cup right in to the dekes very often.

[blakefrautschi]

and i have seen ducks and geese in a "j" shape flock also