decoys and calls
 

im a relatively new waterfowler, who hunts with seasoned vets everynow and than, but in order to go out with them more i need to pitch in and earn my spot to hunt, so i was wondering wat is a good effective decoy and call ( i can call just dont wanna spend the money on a Foiles) im a college student so spending big bucks isnt really an option unless the deal is worth my wild..

i dont mean to sound like those scammers.. im not asking for handouts just opinions on equiptment :)




" if it flies it dies"

RE: decoys and calls
 

If you can tune a call decently then I'd look at a Haydels DR-85. A lot of them right out of the package are a bit too squeaky or nasally for my liking... but if you can adjust the reeds to your calling style then you can make that thing sound almost exactly like a hen mallard.

What you will find in a call, be it good or bad, depends a lot on your hunting style and your calling style. If you are hunting flooded timber, you don't want a super loud call... nor do you want a swamp bore timber call if you are hunting big open lakes/rivers.

As far as decoys go, as long as they don't shine I don't hardly think it matters. Putting them where the ducks want to be is much more important than having them look exactly like the real thing. I've shot a lot of ducks over some very sorry looking blocks in my life.

RE: decoys and calls
 

what kind of decoys and call do you need? goose or duck and for field or water? As for decoys I lean towards green head gear for ducks and geese. They make quality looking decoys at a good price. I always go for flocked heads on the geese. If you want a good cheap duck call buck gardner poly carb double nasty is nice at around 15 bucks and I also like the poly carb zink power hen 2 I think they run 25 or 30 bucks. They are both double reeds good medium and low end range. Theres plenty more good ones out there those are just a few I like. If you give me some more info on the terrain your hunting I can recommend different calls.

RE: decoys and calls
 

If you are going to invest in decoys I would recommend Magnums. I hunt potholes and creeks/canals and bigger is better for me. I rather have a dozen really large decoys than 3 dozen small decoys.

RE: decoys and calls
 

are these guys you're talking about going to be hunting buddies or just the occasional outing. If you see hunting quite a bit with them, I would talk and figure out what equipment you could bring to the table that will help everybody.

RE: decoys and calls
 

we hunt small farm ponds and open fields.. as in responce to mustads comment.. i dont knw exactly wat to bring to the table so to speak.. we have a 5 man team, with only 2 callers, so another caller would be nice because we wont hunt with only 1 caller, and out spread is only 3 dozen full bodies ( none of which are mine) and 1/2 dozen mallard floaters, and we plan to hunt more water this coming fall becuase we have a dog now..appropriatly named Drake lol

so cheap but effective decoys either floater geese or ducks would be awesome to find

RE: decoys and calls
 

Why would you NOT hunt with only one caller?

Heck I hate hunting with two callers a lot of the time. Somebody has got to be in charge. The term Pitboss didn't coin itself. There are only three or four people in this world that I'll call with (one customer at a time please). If I am hunting with someone that just MUST call.... I certainly don't have to. Calling too much is cardinal sin #1. With geese... sometimes you can't over do it... but with ducks... oh yeah... big time. Quite honestly, if I for some reason left my calls at home and had to hunt without..... it wouldn't warrant a 30 minute drive to go get them in my book. Decoys... yeah without decoys we aren't hunting..... calls..... not the end of the world. Important... sure.... vital.... not in my book. How many times have you just mysteriously had birds dump into the blocks when you never uttered the first note?

RE: decoys and calls
 

i do ALOT of pass shooting and all the calls i take out are a speckle-belly call, snow call, canada call, and a sprig whistle, the sprig whistle covers most every duck i see, pintails, gaddwals, mallards, teal, bufflehead, and spooniesi hunt public land and most people are callers and sometimes it pays just to go out there and sit on a levee and shoot what flys over. and i would suggest Green Head Gear deacs, but if your on a budget and if the guys your hunting with have a few magnum-or super mags then just goto Wal0Mart and see what they have. quite often around duck season i will se deacs going for under $100 a dozen

RE: decoys and calls
 

I was in the same position as you last year when i really got into waterfowling. but I ended up buying 2 dozen greenhead gear "hot buy" mallards for just under 50 buck and as far a a call gose for ducks i blow a Buck Gardner "double nasty 2" and and "illusion double reed call. For geese i saved up the money and bought a foiles migrators "strait meat honker" and absolutly love it. for goose decoys i got a dozen greenhead gear "hot buy" shells and 4 final approach full bodys, but my hunting buddies have another 3 dozen shells and 2 dozen full bodies. And trust me we killed alot of birds. And i cant wait for this fall to give them new dekes a try.

RE: decoys and calls
 

The Duck Commander calls are good calls for 20-30 bucks. Primos also makes a good cheap call.
As far as deks go check e-bay and other places on the internet to find good deals.