# divers?



## carp_killer (Nov 24, 2006)

im completely new to diver hunting but finally got a boat so want to hunt them next year. decoy numbers?species?floater mojo? should i set puddlers or geese off to the side or just leave them at home? i havent bought any decoys yet but am willing to spend what i need to to get a GOOD spread my idea was 2dz bluebill 1dz ringneck 6 cans 6 buffs floater mojo bluebill. what are your thoughts on this?


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## WingedShooter7 (Oct 28, 2005)

Check out the GHG Diver combo packs it comes with 4 bluebills and 2 ringnecks, I added 6 just to mix it up a little and have some better visibility with the white on the drakes. Other than that I know nothing about Diver hunting.


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## proagr465 (Nov 18, 2006)

Hunted divers a lot here. You have enough decoys there but may want to add some more bluebills. I have owned about every kind of diver decoy they make and I am really fond of either G&H scaup and cans rigged individually or carrylite bluebills rigged on a line because they are so light-weight. We always use about 100 decoys or so rigged up on 15 decoy lines and a few dozen individual rigged to throw around the boat.

Put a long bulky line of divers down wind of your boat and direct the line to a decoy mass around your boat. Hard to explain but that gives the divers a line of guidance so they can follow right into your shooting lanes. Once divers are interested in your spread they will make a long turn and fly right up the down wind side of your decoys and they will be hauling a**. Awesome shooting, you will enjoy it. Just make sure you are good with in flight ID because of the strict Can and scaup regulations.


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## huntinND (May 1, 2008)

A lot of times you don't need a ton of decoys depending on how visible your spread is and the size of the water. That spread should be fine for most situations. I would consider some larger magnum decoys in bluebill, redhed or canvasback, they really stick out good. A half dozen goose floaters to the side works well if you have them. Sometimes I mix in a bunch of coot decoys since you always find them around divers. It adds to the spread and mixes it up a bit. Are you going to build a blind out of your boat or hunt off of points?


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## Madison (Mar 1, 2002)

huntinND said:


> I would consider some larger magnum decoys in bluebill, redhed or canvasback, they really stick out good. ?


To add some confidence to your spread, consider adding a couple snow goose decoys or a swan decoy.. Divers seem to be attracted to white objects.


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## carp_killer (Nov 24, 2006)

a snow in mn? might alarm them more then lure them in or dont you think it will scare them.


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## Madison (Mar 1, 2002)

How about a swan rather than the snow???

I grew up hunting LOTW and Cass, so I know that it works... :wink:


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

trapper_2 said:


> a snow in mn? might alarm them more then lure them in or dont you think it will scare them.


A big white bird will never alarm waterfowl. :2cents:


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## carp_killer (Nov 24, 2006)

well i guess im going to pick up a 4 pack of snow dekes then. can i just mix them right in with the rest of the divers? is there a special way i need to set the dif species up in? all these dekes will be GHG so the cans and buffs will be oversized everyhing else life sized. thought about buying some hot buys and painting them all black to look like coots and not have much $ into them as well. im not going to build a blind on my boat just hide it well in the weeds/shoreline structure. then if i want to set up any of my canadas mallards pintail or teal i should set them up off to the side?


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## huntinND (May 1, 2008)

It looks more natural to me if you set your puddlers close to shore and divers out in front. The goose decoys could be put off to either side or out along your line running downwind. You want to pull them in off the main water so make your spread visible. There is no set way, just experiment and adjust the decoys to what the birds want. Hunt points that stick out into the main lake, or islands that you see birds cruising by or landing near. If you really get into it layout boats are the shiz for divers.


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## snow (Dec 7, 2007)

HERE IS AN INTERESTING STORY about divers;

From Mn outdoor news~

Researchers satillite implanted two hen scaup in ND last summer,on 11/04/08 they left Devils Lake,81hours they landed in Cuba 

Man,thats haulin.

FYI


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## Aythya (Oct 23, 2004)

I generally use J set with 12-18 cans on a long line as the shank of the J. I set 18-30 puddle ducks in the hook and about 12 bluebills at the tip of the hook. Off to the side of the hook I set 6-12 floating Canada goose decoys and 2-6 swan decoys. The swan decoys are really excellent confidence decoys and if you hunt in an area where swans are legal as I do, it also works great for swans.

This set is large by ND standards but when I lived in northern MN years ago we would regularly use many more decoys. But you can be very successful on divers with much smaller set ups. Six cans or bills on a long line, 6-12 puddle ducks will work just fine too.

On other tip. I put 4-6 bufflehead decoys on the outside of the cans. This seems to keep birds from landing on the outside of the J and headed into the hook.


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