# A Few Questions- 1st Time Decoy Buyer



## maple lake duck slayer (Sep 25, 2003)

Looking at buying around 40 doz economy sillosocks for this Spring and have a few questions...

Anybody have any stencils for painting the bodies or know of good ones to get? I know prairie wind has them but they seem a little expensive. If that is my only option, which ones from them would you recommend buying?

Is it worth buying the bill/eye stickers, or is it cheaper and just as easy to paint those details on?

Any recommendations on paint? Seems krylon ultra flat is commonly used. Just black and grey?

Already have the place I am buying them from figured out (Thanks Chris, I'll hopefully be calling you soon).

Thanks!


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

For the first ones I did I cut out a few stencils out of cardboard. The next batch I cut out about 5 stencils out of 1/4" plywood. With a rotozip (or jigsaw)

The plywood stencils sucked up alot of paint so it keep the project alot cleaner.

I just painted the bills on mine with some oil paint I had matched at Menards then used a foam brush to put it on. 
I used a black paint pen for the eyes and bill detail. This went really quick. I'm sure the stickers would be a bit faster but I had the paint before the stickers were available.

DO NOT USE KRYLON ULTRA FLAT..It comes off like chalk. I realized this after about 20 dozen. :******: 
I then used the Painters Preffered flat black sold at menards (blue can).. and the 99cent stuff from Walmart. The cheap stuff worked but for how much I got out of a can I think it actually cost me more. I recommend the painters prefferred stuff.

Have fun its a good way to burn up some of the off season time.


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## cgreeny (Apr 21, 2004)

personally I think the eyes and bill detail isnt so necessary. I think it cant hurt, I have about 50 dozen and about half are economy dekes. I didnt paint the eyes or bills and I shoot geese over them so 50/50, I will say that if these are your first snow goose decoys and you have no others, than it may be a good idea to go the extra mile and work the eye and bill details in too. I borrowed the stencils from DBLK and they worked really well, I dropped one and broke it and the other got caked with paint after 15 dozen or so. So have fun with it. :beer:


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## remidog (Oct 15, 2008)

i second on making your own. I also used a roto zip and 1/4 plywood and it worked great! cardboard cereal boxes work good too if you want to use a utility knife to cut out the detail.

I would go with the stickers and not paint but if you do hand paint I would make a stencil to lay over the head witht he beak cut out and another stencil for the grin patch and eye that went really fast for me. so one the beak is painted on you can just grab and can of black spray paint and put the eye and grin patch on at the same time in a matter of seconds!

jake


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## goose_caller (Jul 5, 2005)

I used plexiglass from home depot to cut my stencils, worked good for me. Like others said I used the cheap .99 paint and those worked fine....but I liked tip and volume of the 2-3 buck stuff better.


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

The stencils from prarrierwinds are very good. I think this site has some for sale...(not sure though). Anyway you can use card board if you just want the X look on the tail of the decoy. But if you want more detail just bite the bullet and pay for the good stencil. Especially if you are going to keep painting your own.

Also on this website I posted a thread on how to paint Blues.....i am not sure where it is but you can do a search. It is step by step. Works good. I am in the process of painting some more.

Good luck.

And post some pic's when you are all done.

Chuck

Edit:
Here is the link..

http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/forums/vie ... er+project


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## bluebill25 (Mar 29, 2006)

if these r the only decoys u will be running I would make some blue goose decoys out of them. with the blue goose % getting closer and closer to 50/50 its not going to look right unless u got some in your spread


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## flight cancled (Aug 28, 2007)

amen to the cheap paint. i went to walmart and bought mine from there. for snows you would need just black and gray but if your gonna do blues you will need some black or brown, gray, a little blue on the wings, and white for the feather detail. i cut mine out of sheet metal and it worked well. i ended up wiping it off about every dz. as for the heads i took a head traced it on a piece of plywood then cut off the beak in the shape i wanted. layed it overtop the head and spray painted the beak worked great. hope this helps


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## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

dblkluk said:


> DO NOT USE KRYLON ULTRA FLAT..It comes off like chalk. I realized this after about 20 dozen. :ticked:
> I then used the Painters Preffered flat black sold at menards (blue can).. and the 99cent stuff from Walmart. The cheap stuff worked but for how much I got out of a can I think it actually cost me more. I recommend the painters prefferred stuff.


That is literally the exact opposite experience that we had. The cheap walmart stuff wasn't sticking at all, but the Krylon Camouflage paint's were holding up the best.


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## goosegrinder87 (Feb 1, 2008)

I use rustoleam paint and i make my own stencils out of cora-plast and just run a paint brush over it works well for me. I also paint on the bill with a flat pink paint and then go over it to draw the mouth and eye. Hope this helps Dan


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## Traxion (Apr 16, 2004)

goosebusters said:


> dblkluk said:
> 
> 
> > DO NOT USE KRYLON ULTRA FLAT..It comes off like chalk. I realized this after about 20 dozen. :ticked:
> ...


I had the same experience that goosebusters did. The Walmart .99 stuff did not stick at all, dusted off. The Kryon Ultra Flat stuck well.

I will say though that the blue can stuff from Menards was #1. I used it for everything on my second run of decoys.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Traxion said:


> goosebusters said:
> 
> 
> > dblkluk said:
> ...


I had this conversation with dbkluk not that long ago on painting. I had good luck with Krylok Ultra Flat Black - but it seems like he had a bad batch or something as some people have mentioned it as well.

Of course, I know nothing about paint...just what worked for me.


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

I thought I might have had a bad batch as well..but a few guys I know had the same experience with it as I. Who knows why.. :huh:

Regardless, for the same $$ Id use the blue cans from menards and avoid any doubt.


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## Traxion (Apr 16, 2004)

I've heard a couple other guys say the Ultra Flat didn't stick either. Don't know what the deal is.

Menards blue can was good stuff. I liked the grey color too for my juvies as well.


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## shooteminthelips (Jun 13, 2007)

I did 600 econos last spring and the Krylon worked the best. The cheap walmart stuff didnt work for crab. The krylon goes on darker and sticks way better. The thing you have to rememeber is the temperature plays a big part. Most of us do this as winter projects. You need it to be 40 degrees to have good sucess painting.


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

Krylon will never touch my decoys again.

I will stick with good old flat black Rustoleoum!


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## MnDiver (Oct 1, 2002)

Leo Porcello said:


> Krylon will never touch my decoys again.
> 
> I will stick with good old flat black Rustoleoum!


Same here!! Rustoleoum all the way!!


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

shooteminthelips said:


> The thing you have to rememeber is the temperature plays a big part. Most of us do this as winter projects. You need it to be 40 degrees to have good sucess painting.


70 degrees in a heated shop. Krylon Ultraflat still didnt work worth a damn for me.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

That's what makes a guy wonder about a "bad batch"....when some guys have really good luck and others have downright horrible. :-?


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## cgreeny (Apr 21, 2004)

I talked to DBLK and he told me what to try and I used the blue cans from Menards and had zero problems with my sillos.


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## Madison (Mar 1, 2002)

Krylon Ultra Flat worked great for me on my sillos.. No flaking or fading issues.. Must have been a bad batch for sure, or you didnt put it on right :stirpot:


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## wingshooter86 (Jan 22, 2009)

Do the economy sillosocks come assembled or do you have to do that yourself?


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

Madison said:


> Krylon Ultra Flat worked great for me on my sillos.. No flaking or fading issues.. Must have been a bad batch for sure, or you didnt put it on right :stirpot:


Yeah I probably need more experience with painting and assembling decoys. You donkey...

:lol:

wingshooter,
you have to paint and assemble the econos.. Basically the kits come with a stake, head, support bag and tyvek body. The rest is up to you


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## Madison (Mar 1, 2002)

dblkluk said:


> Yeah I probably need more experience with painting and assembling decoys. You donkey...
> 
> :lol:


Dont be hating  , I'll write a "how to" article, look for it next months issue.. :wink:


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