# Flambeau Decoys!!??!!??



## Forstner (Aug 29, 2006)

Hey I am looking at my decoys getting them ready for this season and i was wondering if anyone else hated the color on the mallards heads!!!!!!!!!!?? to me there to shinny and purple!!! dont look to realistic to me!1 i plan on getting non-glare spray paint and re doing them!!! just wondering what u guys thought! thanks!


----------



## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

Either your 1 key is sticky, or you really confused and very excited about it.

Do whatever makes you feel comfortable with your decoys. If there is some correction you think you can make to improve your chances, go ahead and make it. If you don't it's just going to drive you crazy every time you go hunting.


----------



## HATCHETMAN (Mar 15, 2007)

Hey Forstner....Here's what I did to my decoys, and it's worked much better for me. Look at a real mallard drake from a distance and you will see that in most sunny situations, and especially cloudy situations that the heads on mallards look black. I took 6 dozen old flambeau decoys and did the following:

2 dozen: Nothing but matte clear coat over factory paint:
2 dozen: Painted all of the drake's head FLAT black, except the bill, then clearcoated matte.
2 dozen: Painted all the decoys completely flat black then matte clear coat.

when set in 3 different locations on the river, the ducks far preferred the solid black decoys until the sun came up. After the sun came up, or it got lighter, they mostly preferred the black heads & solid black. What was most interesting of all is that the dekes right out of the box were the least effective. I tried switching positions in the river thinking that the ducks wanted to be in one portion of the river, but they still went into the dekes in the same preferential order they exhibited before the move. Now 80 % of my decoys are flat black, with the remainder the black heads. The only thing I can think that would be any better is to flock the decoys completely with black flocking....THAT'S NEXT!! GOOD LUCK!!
HM


----------



## Forstner (Aug 29, 2006)

Hey thank you for the great info!! i think im gunna maybe to half black and the try theother just a really dark green!!! thanks again for the great info! i really appreciate it!!! thanks


----------



## HATCHETMAN (Mar 15, 2007)

Hey Forstner.... Wildfowl just posted some awesome pics above this thread that illustrate the very black look of the mallard head. These pictures are close-ups, but just imagine being a little farther away...you would not be able to distinguish the green at all. Let me know how it works out for ya!!

HM


----------



## Wld Fowl (May 29, 2006)

There heads change color in the sunlight.
Ryan


----------



## OBSESSED (Nov 23, 2006)

yup


----------



## IOWAFOWLER (Nov 30, 2006)

So if there heads change color what if you got some of that Kamelon paint that changes color from say green to blue to black. Maybe that would give off the real look.


----------



## Danimal (Sep 9, 2005)

Like the paint that Ford used on the 04? Cobra mustang??? changed from green to purple


----------



## Architect414 (Nov 9, 2006)

That color changing paint isn't cheap stuff. I had a friend look at buying some to paint his decoys with it but the price turned him away.


----------



## HATCHETMAN (Mar 15, 2007)

Darken 'em up a bit so they stand out from a distance, and when the ducks get close enough to tell the head doesn't change from purple to blue to green KILL THEM!!!

Ask Wildfowl if you can snip a copy of his duck pictures posted above and place it next to almost any factory decoy head, and you will see that all of them are WAY TOO LIGHT to be realistic. The obvious exceptions are the GHG flocked heads (close) and full curl mallards (closest).

The only time you will really notice the irridescent sheen on a real mallard is Directly from the side, slightly front facing. If the bird is puffed up like most resting mallards are when they're content, the green almost completely disappears. This observation comes from the fact that I have pen-raised mallards right here in the yard. If you have access to mallards, stand on a ladder above them and take pictures from a duck's point of view....Almost solid black in any lighting condition.


----------



## Forstner (Aug 29, 2006)

Hey thanks guy for all the info! i ended up painting them a very dark green since it was cheeper then black! i put them about 30 yards ahead of me in the yard and they looked black either way untill u were within 10 yards! thanks again. Forstner


----------

