"Does Size Really Matter"
December 2006
More than likely this is a topic that has been around since man first inhabited the earth. Joe Nichols sings a hit country song about it and there have been countless times it has been discussed in reference to the human anatomy, and probably several arguments about the topic as well. Apparently the importance of size comes down to an individual's preference. For example: last summer my wife and I spent several days in Florida, where we found an affordable seafood market. They owned their own shrimp boats and everyone in the store wore T-shirts with the picture of a giant shrimp on it and according to the text on the shirt, the size of the shrimp matters. Shrimp or anything else, you might be wondering by now what an individual's preference to size has to do with waterfowl hunting?
In early October I had the pleasure of traveling to both North Dakota and Manitoba, in pursuit of waterfowl for next year's Waterfowler TV show. In preparation for the trip Rod Haydel and Shawn Stahl, both of who went on the trip to ND, and I had plans to do everything we could to get the best footage possible. In discussing our plans, the size of the decoy spread we would use was discussed. We had to come to terms with each other, as it applied to our decoys. Between the three of us there is a vast amount of waterfowl hunting experience, but after a brief discussion on the topic we all seemed to agree; the quality of the decoys mattered, as did the size of the spread.
In years past when I filmed in North Dakota, my group always went to the extreme on our spread. We must have used 150 duck shells, 50 or so full body ducks and at least 100 to 150 assorted goose decoys in every spread. Not only would you break out in a sweat putting that spread out, more times than not we found ourselves making a dozen shifts in the decoys on ever hunt. Normally we could make enough adjustments to provide us with some control over the way the birds worked, but the time we spent adjusting the spread always cost us working groups of birds.
On this trip things ended up different. We decided to use the best decoys we had available and use a spread that was a manageable size. As it turns out, we made the right decision. While it was not uncommon to make some adjustments to the spread each day, I don't remember making more than two spread adjustments any given day in North Dakota this year. More importantly, the birds worked in where we needed them for the camera crew. The smaller spread of quality decoys made it appear as though the birds were willing to die for a few minutes exposure on national TV.
From North Dakota, Shawn took his crew and headed further north and Rod and I went to Manitoba, where we met up with the guys at Cupped Wings Outfitting, north of Winnipeg. Again, it was our intention to have the birds work in close, where we needed them for the camera and let the outfitters know what we were looking for in the way of decoys for our spread. We selected a couple of dozen Higdon duck shells, a dozen Higdon snow goose shells and we threw in a half dozen Hard Core Canada decoys. As we had experienced in North Dakota the week prior, we found ourselves making a minor adjustment or two to our spread depending on wind changes, but again it was nothing like problems with the huge spreads of decoys I used in years past. Once again, it was like the birds were willing to die for a few minutes on TV. One day, with a fresh cover of snow, we cut the spread back even further using two-dozen duck shells and four of the Canada full bodies and that morning's action will definitely be worth watching! Imagine, late season hunting and the birds working in so close you needed an improved cylinder choke.
With the bird control I witnessed on both of these trips, I have plans to change the way I hunt individually in Arkansas. In a state where it's not uncommon for people to use 200 to 300 and at times as many as 500 decoys in a single rice field spread, this season I will dare to be different once again. I'm going to get three-dozen of the best decoys I have access to and go with them. By using quality decoys, with realistic features, I have no doubt I can change the way people think about their decoy spreads in the rice producing states and add proof to the fact the small spread will improve your odds on dirt (dry field) hunts as well.
Imagine the advantages of being able to put out a fresh spread everyday, and then add in how much tighter the birds will work with the smaller spread. Those two factors alone should increase a person's daily take, while maintaining general cost range for a spread. There is no doubt in my mind, the smaller spread will provide me with a significant advantage over the hunters using a huge spread of generic looking decoys, but there's one other advantage I discovered on these two trips. By using fewer decoys in the spread, when we hit one of those tougher than normal days when the birds were more wary than usual and nothing seems to be the answer, I'll have the easy option of spraying everything down with Fool-a-Bird, just in case the UV rays are causing an unseen problem. While important to consider, that option is not even feasible on the spur of the moment with a huge spread.
I'm more than confident I'm making the right decision on the issue of size and quality for this season's spread and I'm committed to carrying out my plans. I now have to determine what brand of decoys I'll be using and the species mix, but I'll be sure and keep you updated on my findings and results as the season progresses. For now, maybe you should ask yourself the age old question one more time … "Does size really matter", when it comes to a spread of decoys?
Charles "HammerTime" Snapp
Email: snapp1@sbcglobal.net
Website: www.arkansaswaterfowl.com
Fool-a-Bird.com
Cupped Wings Outfitting
Higdon Decoys
Hard Core Decoys
Waterfowler TV |
