# Full Body Decoys



## mallardhunter (May 15, 2004)

I was wondering what kind of full body decoys you guys prefer. I was thinking about getting some herters since they are cheap. I was thinking maybe some bigfoots. I want some that are cheap, but still look good and will last for a long time


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## CheapHunter (Sep 24, 2003)

Here is my take on selecting the Herters full bodies. First you gotta ask yourself how serious is your goose hunting? I for one enjoy it , but I also enjoy upland, bow hunting, big game hunting, and fishing. So I tend to diversify my funds over all those aspects of hunting. I decided to research the Herters myself since this was my choice based on the price at $135/doz. I read just about every review I could find on the net from many different forums including this one. It seems people tend to like them for the same reason... cheap. I have read both good and bad takes on their performance and I realized its more of a personal preference of how you are willing to deal with their quality. Some people complained the paint was poor, while others swore it was indestructible. I guess its going to take your actual experience with them before you can decide whether they are for you or not. As far as effectiveness? I can't possibly see how they wouldn't perfom well as a decoy. A lot of people swear by Bigfoots and Hardcores, which are very nice decoys, but then you are going to have to reach into your pocket a little more for a setup like that. Most of the goose hunters on this site have thousands invested. Now thats serious goose huntin'  , I would give my left nut for half the $h!t these guys own. But hey, it all takes time and with that you can decide how serious you are going to be with your goosehunting. Ill be using 3 doz. Herts this fall, so I'll keep you updated on how they worked for me. :drunk:


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## GooseBuster3 (Mar 1, 2002)

Yeah we may have alot of gear but Im broke most of the time. :wink: Its what you gotta pay for when you want ALL the toys!!! I think that those herters will work just fine, Candas a dumb anyways. I might buy acouple doz, they are smaller then the bigfoots, so they look like the lessors. It wouldnt be a bad idea if a guy had 5-7 doz of the herters mixed in with the foots when you are wack'in lessors in the fall.


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## Canada_Hunter (Mar 21, 2004)

We have a few dozens,they look great for the prices...They come with fiberglas stakes and they seem to hold up pretty good.The body have no feather details so it makes the paint easier to scratch when they are banging around in the trailers...You may have to do some touch up after a couple seasons.If shipping cost wasn't like 80$ i would order a couple dozens more


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## Guest (May 19, 2004)

I've got a dozen for early season. Imagine this, mixing a pair of Bigfoots with six or seven "baby" herter's, should pull the young birds right in!!! :lol: I know it sounds kind of unfair, but anyone ever thought of this before??? I can't wait, only 3 1/2 more months!!

Oh yeah, try custom painting them to add feather detail. It only takes a brush and some modeling paint, I've been using enamel modeling paint mixed with 1/2 paint thinner outta my airbrush, works awesome.


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## CrahNX (May 7, 2004)

That would be fine and dandy except for the fact that geese dont have depth perception and more or less cant distinguish size between decoys. Herters arent a horrible deke and will prolly decoy ya geese during certain parts of the season. However, when the pressure is on, I would personally like to have something else-except, perhaps, if they are custom painted. Except for the 7 Herters SOBs we have, Ill stick with my HCs and GHGs and not have to doubt my spread. Just one more thing that ya dont have to worry about, and that is always a plus when it comes to goosin.


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## dunkonu (Apr 27, 2004)

Possibly an old topic but I was on ebay and noticed the Dave Smith decoy. Talk about a nice lookin decoy but wow for expensive 269/6 plus shipping. I was just wondering if anyone has any of these decs. As real as they look 6 of these would be better than a dozen of most. well anyway was just curious if anyone had any. I guess i didn't go through every forum so it may be an old topic but was just curious if there as good as they look.


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## CrahNX (May 7, 2004)

Yeah Ive got a few DSDs. Really awesome looking dekes but kinda brittle. Not for those that like to chuck their dekes around, thats for sure. Id say prolly more brittle than last year's HCs. Nevertheless, will prolly get a dozen more next Spring. Hopefully will keep us ahead of the game for a few years.


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## Guest (Jun 12, 2004)

You can never get ahead of the game!


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## CrahNX (May 7, 2004)

#1, I disagree with that to a point. If ya got top of the line equipment, are a better caller, and have better spots; you are ahead of the game(other hunters) in a given area. Not a single time out last year we felt like we had to worry about the other 10 hunting groups within a mile and a half of us....and everytime but once, we shot more birds too, regardless if they had the hot field/s or not. Nothing quite like having a hypnotized feeding flock lock up on the spread across the road and power calling em off the other guys to have em walking in your dekes, or finishing birds when the other groups are happy just to get em within 40 yards. When it comes to the geese themselves though, theyll screw ya somehow just about every time. Hopefully everything adds up for this year and is enough, we've got a new spot right across the road where a party last year killed out at 120 honkers in 3 hours on opening morning of early season...I want in on some of that action. :lol:


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## Guest (Jun 12, 2004)

Killed out 120 birds on opener of early season? Is that correct?? 
Yeah, I agree, it's awesome having birds get shy'ed away from another group and then having them sail in to ours. That's when you know you have the pulling power, or are on the X. 8)

Anyways, those geese sure do screw ya, and that's what I was talking about!!! :lol:


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## CrahNX (May 7, 2004)

Yep 120 birds, like 24, 25 guys out there. Theyd have flocks of 30 birds come in and clean em completely out. I guess it was just unreal. Thing is, the group in the next field over limited out at 40 and the guy in the field we will be hunting shot his 5 birds in like 15 minutes with 6 standard Flambeau shells and no calling as well. All those groups only hunt that area opening morning though and then dont hunt there again the rest of the season-prolly cause there arent any geese left. Drove past it the other night and there were a couple hundred honkers chillin there. Think that is crazy? there is a roost pond in the general area where some of my buddies hunted...300 birds on there the night before opener, figure all but 40 got wiped out on opeining morning by them(25 and 45 birds for the 2 groups) and the surrounding firing lines...thats carnage. The one group hunting right on the roost said they watched over 150 birds die before they even made it past the shorline. NONE of that is too suprising though, cause insane pressure tends to do that.Needless to say my hopes are extremely high for this upcoming season; as we all know though, nothing is a given, and with my luck we'll prolly get skunked.


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## mallardhunter (May 15, 2004)

Hey guys I was also wondering how do you guys set up your decoys?


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

mallardhunter said:


> Hey guys I was also wondering how do you guys set up your decoys?


As a general rule, smaller spreads in family groups ( 4 - 8 ) in September....large spreads more concentrated for migrators and lessors during the regular season....and a mixture of the two for late season.

EARLY:










REGULAR SEASON:










LATE:


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## greenhead (Jun 1, 2004)

Are Higdon full bodies good for the price you pay for them?


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

They're good decoys. I'm adding a few dozen for this fall myself.


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## mallardhunter (May 15, 2004)

Those are the ones at the nodak outdoors store, right?


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## greenhead (Jun 1, 2004)

Ya


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## FACE (Mar 10, 2003)

Chris,

Weren't you able to get BFs in the store?


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

FACE said:


> Chris,
> 
> Weren't you able to get BFs in the store?


They won't deal with online stores, and I can respect that. When the brick and mortar is up in the future they'll be stocked for sure.


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