# FB Decoy Advice



## Goose Guy350 (Nov 29, 2004)

Guys I'm running about five dozen GHG FB's and a few bigfoot and Higdon FB's also, well needless to say the GHG FBs haven't help up to the test of time like I'd hoped so I won't be purchasing anymore. I'm thinking about adding a dozen hardcores and a dozen more Bigfoots but I'm wonder what you guys would think is the better addition. Mix of hardcores and Bigfoots or strictly Bigfoots? I can probably only afford one dozen hardcores and one dozen foots if I mix them and three dozen if i go just with foots. It comes down to numbers or realism and thats where I need advice. How is the paint scheme on the 2005 hardcores compared to the 2004? Thanks for any advice.


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## sportsman18 (Jan 18, 2005)

Personally I dont like the look of the hardcores. BIGFOOTS all the way!


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## Snow Hunter (Nov 16, 2004)

Go with all bigfoots. I have 4 dozen and love them, I also have one hardcore and one dave smith. I would never pay what either company wants for a dozen of these when I can get more foots for the same price. If you really want to improve the look of your decoys, spend some time repainting them and flocking all the heads. I have done this to all of my foots and they look awesome. You can beat the crap out of the bigfoots and the worst that will happen is you have to touch up the paint, whereas hardcores and DS decoys can break very easily. Just my 2 cents but I say go big foots.


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## Scatterwood (Mar 15, 2004)

If you don't like the durablity of your GHG's than don't waste your time with hardcores. Our group of guys has a dozen Hardcores, 3 dozen Hunter Series GHG, 2 Dozen GHG Elites, and 6 dozen Foots. You know you can abuse a decoy when the company makes both the decoys and the poly bags to put them in for protection.


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## bullocklabradors (Oct 18, 2004)

All I will buy from now on are BigFoot, my GHG have held up like $hit.

Take Care,

Travis R. Bullock


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## greenheadhunter (Aug 26, 2005)

yeah big feet all the way!!!


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## Fireman1217 (Oct 14, 2004)

I just bought 4 dozen GHG fully flocked full bodies.....whoa is meeeee....


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

Yeah, the leg/turny thing on the GHG sucks... Ive used mine twice and 1/3 of them dont work already + i'm not rough on them at all.. If only bigfoots could look that good. Side by side the BFs just dont compare..


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## ADN (Sep 27, 2005)

Side by side they don't compare, but Bigfoots kill geese. I've seen geese just as close over a spread full of bigfoots as I have over a spread with GHG. I'm a fan of having geese close and I have yet to see the Bigfoots having any trouble doing this.

Talk all you want about which one looks better in the store. Hunters don't keep their deeks on the shelf all season. If it puts birds feet down, it works. I sometimes use just shells and sillo's to shoot geese.


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## Draker16 (Nov 23, 2004)

definately buy bigfoots, i have put mine through a beating and they still look great, aside from some blood spots that i havent washed off yet


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## don835 (Nov 8, 2005)

I used to hunt over a spread of 240 BF. Sure, I killed Geese but as the season progressed it became more difficult to finish educated birds.
Out of frustration I bought 48 customs and set them in the hole. I placed the BF upwind and behind the pit. Man did that make a huge difference. 
I was finishing late season reserve Geese and just pounding em'.

I sold my BF and went with all customs, sleeper shells and RG Pros. The last 2 years I have shot more Geese out of my pit than I thought possible.
Many times setting the Geese on the ground in the hole. I didn't decoy every flock but far more than I did when using BF.

I admit, custom decoy's aren't for everyone. They must be bagged individually and require extra care. Some of my 04 HC's had paint and movement issues but I resolved those problems. HC replaced my decoys and I installed Decoy Dancers on 24 feeders. (What a difference that made) I reflocked the heads and glassed the eyes on all 60 of the HC's as well. I didn't have to do all this but felt I needed to. 
I have yet to set out the DSD's but I will later in the season. I didn't need to do anything to them...they are Awsome right out of the box.

The bottom line here is movement. Realistic movement in a decoy that has realistic body posture. Decoy's that make your spread come alive.

Some hunters have a "Natural" spot and could kill Geese with anything they set out. But for the rest of us, we have to work for our birds. I prefer to use decoy's that Geese haven't been conditioned to for the last 20+ years. Am I advocating selling all your BF and buying custom's? No way!
What I'm saying here is...if you must hunt BF then install a movement system on them that will make them come alive.

All I can tell you is that I have cut my Canada spread in half and I'm harvesting 10 times the birds using customs as opposed to BF.
To each his own when decoy's are concerned but for me...it's custom's all the way. 

Murph :beer:


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## Gary Bottger (Nov 24, 2004)

My GHG full bodies get tossed in the back of the truck each weekend and tossed out at the pond. Same thing with the oversized floaters and so far other then a few scratches here and there I haven't had any problems with mine. Hell if they can see a scratch of paint on the side of one of my GHG's, we all missed. lol

I have to agree with Murph on movement. I sure wish I would have went with the motion bases instead of the feet but the FB mallards should help out in that department.


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## kaiserduckhelm (May 26, 2005)

Once bigfoots come out with there new fullbodys, are GHG's will go up for sale, I just hope the POS's will hold up that long.

Are foots have got over 5000 miles worth of trailer time and look just as good as the day they were bought. Bought 7 dozen GHG last year and have not been to impressed with anything but the way they look.


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## Gary Bottger (Nov 24, 2004)

> Are foots have got over 5000 miles worth of trailer time and look just as good as the day they were bought.


They look that bad do they? Sorry bud, I just couldn't pass that one up. :beer: To each his own I am sticking with GHG until I see a reason not to.


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## turkishgold11 (Oct 25, 2004)

Sorry guys I am with NOA on this one, the GHG have gotten alot of miles and a few abusive blows to em since I have had them and needless to say they don't look as good as they did when they were new but they sure have endured alot from me and they still look good. GHG all the way IMO.


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## FACE (Mar 10, 2003)

Just got back from Gander with another several dozen of their Final Approach dekes and they seem to look really nice! They were an additional 30% off their clearance price so I figured that can't be too bad plus they look virtually identical to the Canada geese that I have on the wall so that might help plus I figure I could always touch up the paint if that were to become an issue. Then if I'm in the painting mood then all my decoys can be all painted to match.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

I've used most decoys available and they all have their pro's and con's. I can't say I'd recommend a perfect decoy. Without a doubt, Bigfoots are the most durable decoy around. I've seen them take years of abuse, trailer rolls, semi drags', etc. and they still look like new. They have the soft body which allows the body to give and not the paint. If you're worried about looks then custom paint them and there's nothing more forgiving.

I bought the first year GHG's without the locknuts so I had to spend a lot of time fixing. The paint held up better than the bases, but I'm starting to hunt with a lot of guys with the 12-decoy Avery bags....they are a must for GHG's.

My trailer has 7 doz. foots with flocked heads, 3 doz. GHG's, 3 doz. Higdon stackables and 8 doz. silhouettes with RealGeese ( if we ever get a cloudy day ). I run 2 dozen windlife's and a dozen decoy dancer's. I have another 5 doz. canada shells for hunting in the snow. Usually I hook up with dblkluk or 4curlredleg (or both) so we run around 25-40 doz. decoys for migrators.


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## bratlabs (Mar 11, 2005)

Chris Hustad said:


> Usually I hook up with dblkluk or 4curlredleg (or both) so we run around 25-40 doz. decoys for migrators.


Thats a [email protected] big spread.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

> Tongue kiss your same sex hunting buddy for 3 minutes





> Usually I hook up with dblkluk or 4curlredleg (or both)


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## GooseBuster3 (Mar 1, 2002)

GHG 's suck, and I dont care about " How good they look". If you cant kill geese over bigfoots you have got problems.


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## Goose Guy350 (Nov 29, 2004)

Chris,
I hear they can see 40 dozen decoys from space, or close to it :lol:


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## purepower (Sep 11, 2004)

personally from what ive seen if GHG didnt stand ur test neither will hardcores!!! they take way more TLC than most decoys


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