# Would you be upset if spinners were banned?



## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

I was wondering what you guys think. I have used them and shot ducks over them but I could really care less if they were banned.


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## GooseBuster3 (Mar 1, 2002)

Now I really dont think it matters if you are hunting birds that have been in an area for awhile so I will say no.


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## 870 XPRS (Mar 12, 2003)

not upset at all, used one for a total of about 45 minutes in the 2 years we've had one.


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## sneek_em41 (Aug 9, 2004)

Am I the only one who would be mad. Those things in fields work so great on ducks. I have noticed a huge advantage with them.


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## jhegg (May 29, 2004)

Nope!


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## Ryan_Todd (Apr 11, 2004)

i could care less if they were banned. although i will agree that they work wonders in a field. if they were banned it would create a level playing field again. and i wouldn't mind that at all.


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## Drakekiller (Apr 3, 2002)

I love them!Better early in the season.Gives you good shots which means less crips.They also give you alot better look so you can pick out drakes better.I could live without them but I would rather have them.


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

I'd be upset only if I didn't sell mine before they did.  
Seriously, I think they used to be very effective but, its just one more thing to maintain... me and batteries... and charging... and little pieces to assemble in the dark.... when I'm tired.....Darn I'm getting crabby just thinking of those mornings!

My advice to anyone wanting one, save the money, and put it into the gas tank of your favorite scouting vehicle!


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## Nodak Duke (Oct 14, 2003)

I would like to see them banned... Personally, I think they are ugly and too many yahoos kill birds with them and the art of calling and decoy placement has been even further lost.


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## SJB (Jul 2, 2003)

Personally, I don't have a problem not using spinners. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.

I do have a problem adding more laws to an already laden system. Do we need more laws and regulations? What if all decoys were outlawed? Would that be good? I love the challenge of scouting out a lake or pond and then selecting a place to make my spread (of decoys) work. For me, it is one of the fun challenges about the sport.


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## GooseBuster3 (Mar 1, 2002)

Nodak Duke, I like you style of thinking. :wink: :wink:


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## 870 XPRS (Mar 12, 2003)

SJB said:


> What if all decoys were outlawed?


Would that include tires and trash bags? :idiot:


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Wouldn't bother me a bit. That reminds me...I've got some to fix. :roll:


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## fishhook (Aug 29, 2002)

i say good, cause i don't have one, and then i wouldn't feel the need to buy one!!


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## Goldy's Pal (Jan 6, 2004)

Well I just bought one last year so I'd like to get some more use out of it that's for sure. The effectiveness is hard to tell. In my own opinion, Ive mentioned before that I think they do help, but that could be like asking a drunk person if their drink tastes ok. How do you really know if the birds would have come in with using one or not??? I think personally it's more of a mental advantage you may think you have more than anything else. One concern should be if they ban these, what's next??? I've got no problem with going back to the regular decoy spread but are the new and improved paint jobs and more realistic body types next to go on deeks?? How many use the old wooden decoy blocks?? (I know one 8) ) A guy could be out some serious money if they draw the line further than this. Certain duck/goose calls?? Blinds?? I won't even mention automatic vs. single shot or pump action. I don't think very many hunters are as old school as they claim to be. Leave the law as it is, nobody put a gun to anyones head and made anyone buy a spinner.


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## drjongy (Oct 13, 2003)

That's why hunting upland is the best...no decoys, no calls, no blinds.

:run:


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## Dan Bueide (Jul 1, 2002)

Nope. Everyone back to equal footing and one less thing to mess with.


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## BenelliBlaster (Mar 17, 2002)

I like using them because they add realism to the spread, but could I live without them, of course. Purchased a remote with mine and that works great when hunting geese if you get it turned off in time. :lol:


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## Scatterwood (Mar 15, 2004)

Equal Footing...I'd beg to differ we all have differing incomes and not everyone can afford a 6x10 trailer and enough Decoys to fill it. There will always be someone with better equipment and more of it.


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## Dan Bueide (Jul 1, 2002)

SW,

That's true to a certain extent. But spinners are (were) one of those things that really made a difference. A few years ago, a handful of blocks and a spinner often outdrew much larger/better conventional sets. Now, I don't see many sets without them, and at least my experience is they are much less effective than in the past, especially mid-season on. And they're a pain in the kiester. So long as they're legal, I'll keep using them "to keep up with the Jones's", at least early in the season, but I'd just as soon we all scrap them.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

Too much technology has crept into all aspects of hunting.....We hunters need to police ourselves better before our image is ruined. Pick up a Bass pro catalog and look at the hundreds of gadgets designed to give us an edge on these animals. Our technology advances will always outpace animals ability to adapt. The predator prey relationship estabished in nature over the millinea has not done that until lately. 
A good example is scent containing clothes how is a deer supposed to handle that their nose is their best defense, I see a lot of this stuff as taking unfair advantage and just plain wrong. I would be ashamed to use this stuff personally. I don't know exactly where the line should be drawn but I do sense we are well over it, and so do you or this question wouldn't even of been asked..


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## Ryan_Todd (Apr 11, 2004)

good post bob. although i still think that the big bucks still have the upperhand!!


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## drjongy (Oct 13, 2003)

I don't hunt waterfowel that much, and am not very good at decoy spreads or calling. I need every advantage I can get!! What's the purpose of having decoys if you can't use one becuase it's too good? I thought that was the idea. If you want to ban one, I say ban them all!


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## MRN (Apr 1, 2002)

Yes, I would mind that someone makes that choice for me.

Like them, dislike them. Work/don't work. Whatever. But bannning something on a whim is a very very bad thing from fundamental principles.

I think pump-action shotguns are an abomination, they balance and swing like 2x4's - they are the worst example of what a shotgun is. They probably make people shoot much worse than they could with a decent shotgun. Should we ban them so folks would shoot better and cripple/lose fewer birds? Doubt it.

M.


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## DeltaBoy (Mar 4, 2004)

I think spinner's should only be used in areas where population control is needed. For some of you, this might feel like it's everywhere. If people want to use them and no laws are passed.... MM.... Come on people are going to use them if they want too.


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## dlip (May 16, 2004)

if people want to use them thats fine with me, but i wont ever use those motorized decoys, i dont need them, people say you need every advantage you can get, well, to me, you have enough of an advantage when you have a call, a gun, and some plain plastic/wood decoys, if you need more than that, you need to do more scouting and get more advice on it, im not saying im a perfect hunter, i just dont need them, so it doesnt matter to me if they are banned, but you also have to think that if they ban those, maybe they can get enough momentum to ban all of our decoys, and like someone else said, maybe banning pumps and autos, but we cant let them do that, i dont remember who said it, but someone said 'they bring them in closer, so less crips' well, first off, if they are that far out, you shouldnt be shooting at them, so i dont buy that one bit, you shouldnt take shots that you know the birds are out of range, wait for em to lock their wings, and drop their feet, if you are hunting mallards, wait til you see the white in the ring on their neck, when you are hunting canadas, wait til you can see the white bar clearly on their face, you are hunting snows, wait til you see the pink on their bill, and so on so forth, thats what i wait for, then i know they are in range :beer:


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## Nodak Duke (Oct 14, 2003)

Well, I have yet to see a 2 by 4 so precisely knock one bird out of the air after another. -Perhaps I got a specially treated piece of lumber!! :lol: :lol:

I personally absolutely hate the slippery slope idea that many try to fuse into this topic. We as hunters need to protect our resources and see through this. "They" are not going to take our guns away, our calls away, or our decoys away merely because we choose to self-regulate a practice that is leading to a greater amount of juvenile ducks dieing every fall. Just look at our history. I am pretty sure that punt guns and live decoys were abolished. It seems as though the integrity of hunting has remained up until today?!


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## DeltaBoy (Mar 4, 2004)

I was reading an article in my 1976 DU mag. and it talked about "live" decoys and how they were pets, etc. They would tie a piece of string around the leg, this way other's would know that it was someone's decoy. Mm... I wonder how this would go over today? Makes a guy think about what people are going to think or what's going to change 20 years from now...


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## passshooter (Aug 25, 2004)

I don't use any decoys. I don't use a boat. Nor a call. Nor waders. Just field boots, a dog, & a SXS. BUT! I would never try to tell you what you should do. The laws in general are all just feel good, superficial, politically correct, apeasement bull. I shoot a 2-shooter, but I think the fact that they make you put a plug in your repeater is ludicrous. Did you know that at one time dogs were outlawed for the same reasons that people want to outlaw spinners. Some time just go out & hang around duck country & just shoot at 'em as they go by- it's a blast. That said: lets get rid of all the laws that are just there to keep hunters from breaking other laws; lets just tell the hunter how many days he can hunt & how many he can kill on any day (I'll take more days over higher limits) & then lets just get out of his way & let him hunt. It's not hunting that is limiting the waterfowl #'s anyway; So let's have a lot more days!


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## MRN (Apr 1, 2002)

It is your concept of "so precisely" that is at question. You might be surprised that the 2x4, while lacking only little of the dynamics, at least puts the balance between your hands. If you think you shoot good enough - good for you.

Who said slippery slope? I say bugger-off and leave my choices to me unless there is sufficient reason to interfer with my choices. Consider what passhooter proposes - give a lower limit but more days - freedom and choice. In this case we KNOW that harvest depends mostly on number of days, and very little on the particular daily limits. That's because a small number of hunters is responsible for harvesting the majority of ducks. If every hunter took even 1/4 a limit every day of the season, there wouldn't be a duck alive.

As for spinners - they may help, they may hurt, they may redistribute the harvest. What is the reason for banning them? Juvenile ducks have always been more succeptible to decoying than more experienced birds. The traditional opposition to spinners came from folks who invested in big spreads, invested in good calls, learned how to use them, and didn't want the prols killing THEIR birds. The impending doom they predicted has not come to pass.

M.


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

I used to skin out a few honkers and drape their hide's over my shells and use a clothes hanger to support the head. Probaly not to good for an early season tho...might be a little smelly. 8)

Let them have their toys, I doubt it makes much difference in the overall duck numbers.


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## 870 XPRS (Mar 12, 2003)

That is hardcorin it Buckseye, those must have looked almost as nice as bigfoots then huh :lol: :lol:


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

Actually they worked to good, took the fun out of it. That was when we had a two bird limit, I would get my birds immediatly at sunrise and be home before breakfast. 8)

I know some people who use their old goose mounts for decoys, they work to good too.


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## MJK (Oct 29, 2003)

Quite new to the wonderful world of waterfowling. However, I can even see the diminishing returns. My first trip up to your wonderful state last year, we ended up turning it off in our field hunts.


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## Sprig (Sep 10, 2003)

Duck hunting is a gadget sport, it's been that was since the first indians made mud decoys. And as we all know some gadgets work and some are better off tied to a brick and left in a slough. I personally use a motion decoy and some days they work and some days they don't. Just like any other gadget out there.
I know with or with out I would still get my birds. I've called in birds without motion decoys that were bee lining it to a group of hunters that had a motion decoy. (Welcome to high pressure WI waterfowling). But, I don't believe there has been any studies that prove that the motion decoy really gave that much of an advantage. I know there was a study done in Minn but it was inconclusive.
I like mine but if I was not allowed to use it I'd still be a hard core waterfowler.

Just enjoy hunting, be save and more then anything respect the game, the people and the land so our kids can enjoy it in the future.


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