# Silhouettes...who uses them?



## chasin tail (Mar 31, 2010)

I have a couple dozen, damn good looking, but have never used em. Hunting a cut corn field tomorrow morning and debating


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## daddyduck (Nov 2, 2001)

You got them, use them.


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## Highball28 (Oct 17, 2014)

They don't work... I'll take em off your hands and save you the trouble! *wink*

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## StiffNeckRob (Apr 19, 2007)

Not me


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## duckcommander101 (Jan 14, 2003)

chasin tail said:


> I have a couple dozen, damn good looking, but have never used em. Hunting a cut corn field tomorrow morning and debating


Use them often hunting fields


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Nothing but.


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## Cork Dust (Nov 26, 2012)

Far Beyond Driven said:


> Nothing but.
> 
> View attachment 460951
> 
> ...


Far more portable, add numbers and area to a spread, "come and go" from the bird's perspective, imitating movement in a spread ( I don't do well getting geese to finish with a spinny wing, usually turn it off when they turn to work-in because I have had so many flocks spook.

I started with a simple black and white pattern. We discovered that the birds worked preferentially to their location in the spread. So, over a three year period I cut and glued my own patterns and used a dozen Real-Geese as a painting guide reference to lend them a 3-D illusion paint job. Man do they work well.

I am a decoy carver. I have around a hundred Bigfoots that I hand painted to break-up their cookie cutter appearance when deployed, they look good and don't shine. They work well. That said, I generally use my 94 silhouettes with two dozen Avian-X Axp goose decoys in the immediate area of the layout blinds. I don't have to bother with a trailer in the dark in wet fields, and I don't advertise where I have been goose hunting when I first get on the road and away from the field. Luckily most of the farmers aren't standing around with their auctioneer nest to them trying to get the best price for hunting rights in the U.P. Slowly, the "Duck Commander" wannabe army is changing that...


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## AaronJohn (Oct 18, 2015)

It's all we use. Killed 120 geese over them this year. they land right in them.


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## Far Beyond Driven (Jan 23, 2006)

Black and whites really pop in crop fields where regular decoys blend.


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## Outdoor Gal (Sep 9, 2008)

For you guys that use silos, what's the minimum amount you would recommend to still be effective? That's a question with a lot of variables I realize. I'd heard once that 3 dozen silos was similar to running a dozen full bodies, but I have no idea if that's the case. 

I have 2 dozen FFD full bodies but have been thinking some silos would be nice for those couple times a year we field hunt.


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## Fowl Play (Nov 30, 2014)

When we hunted the Todd farm, we ran 150-160 black and white solos with 36 super mag shells and a dozen big foots. The silos would turn our zone black. We ran all feeders as the other decoys had the other positions covered.


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## chasin tail (Mar 31, 2010)

Thx for the ideas guys! Ran them tonight. Nothing doing though, not a goose within a half mile. We will see what happens. Only have 24, but they are easy to set up and look good with the big foots and mallards


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## Deadeyedeek (Jan 7, 2019)

chasin tail said:


> Thx for the ideas guys! Ran them tonight. Nothing doing though, not a goose within a half mile. We will see what happens. Only have 24, but they are easy to set up and look good with the big foots and mallards


Have used them as fillers for years..GHG 3d silos are the best, they really pop and are real looking, hunt geese about every day, they work, at 70 cant hump all the fullbodys anymore, easy carry in Shoot em in the lips!!


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## AaronJohn (Oct 18, 2015)

Deadeyedeek said:


> Have used them as fillers for years..GHG 3d silos are the best, they really pop and are real looking, hunt geese about every day, they work, at 70 cant hump all the fullbodys anymore, easy carry in Shoot em in the lips!!


Yeah if you're wealthy, those GHGs aren't cheap! we do awesome of Big Al's Decoys, *Made in USA*, $85 for *14 decoys*.


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## AaronJohn (Oct 18, 2015)

Outdoor Gal said:


> For you guys that use silos, what's the minimum amount you would recommend to still be effective? That's a question with a lot of variables I realize. I'd heard once that 3 dozen silos was similar to running a dozen full bodies, but I have no idea if that's the case.
> 
> I have 2 dozen FFD full bodies but have been thinking some silos would be nice for those couple times a year we field hunt.


The attached photo holes 20 doz silhouettes. 








Personally I wouldn't feel right running less than 5 dozen silhouettes. In regards to value either dive bomb or *Big Al's Decoys* give a discount at 5 dozen. I think the ratio is off, the silhouettes appear to be 1/2 or more compared to running the same amount of fulls. And if your spread is large enough the over head view will never be lost, it is for a very small amout of time geese are directly above you for that to matter. 

the Big Al's are better quality but you'll spend slightly more. 

Big Al's also sells an X14 pack that is 14 total decoys. So you end up with almost 6 dozen if you buy 5 packs. 

I run both brands, I wont be buying any more dive bombs, they shatter when cold and the printing quality is sub par. Also the wire stakes are flimsy. 

for just a couple hundred bucks you have a big hitter spread.


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## Outdoor Gal (Sep 9, 2008)

Thanks! That's very helpful.


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## BFG (Mar 4, 2005)

Been running RG Pro II's for a loooong time. Do not fall into the trap that all of the decoys need to be head into the wind. Put 'em however you want, and rotating them adds realism to the spread anyway. My RG heads and tails are flocked. They really, really stand out from a distance. 3 dozen per hunter is a good start. I've hunted in fields where we stopped putting them out at 20 dozen. Blind placement is very important, and I rarely put the blinds directly upwind of the shooting hole. I prefer the birds at an angle on the approach, but that's just me. 

Buyer beware here...the discount decoys that so many rave about are sold at a discount price for a reason. RG are made in Ohio, and will last a lifetime with minimal maintenance. I would much prefer to spend my money once, and that's why I bought RG. Different strokes for different folks I guess, but I've held the others in my hands, and I cannot see how they can claim that they are any better other than they do not cost as much. RG been killing geese for a long time, and will into the future.


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## Highball28 (Oct 17, 2014)

1 doz silos= 1doz full bodies except they weigh about as much as 1 full body

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## Outdoor Gal (Sep 9, 2008)

I hunt a lot of loaf ponds so typically run a mix of full bodies and floaters. However, my hunting partner has been scoring permission on some fields the last couple years. After an epic slog through a muddy cornfield last year I realized how nice silos would have been. Lol. Limited storage space makes them appealing as well. Still figuring out the decoy strategy for fields, especially later in the season.


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## Highball28 (Oct 17, 2014)

Lot of misconceptions about these decoys spread by the big companies. There are some cool videos on youtube from people who fly drones over silo spreads and you can't really tell the difference... let's see $450 for 5 dozen flocked silos or $400 for half a dozen full bodies. Tough one.

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## Rockydawg (Dec 8, 2019)

BumpRacerX said:


> Actually completely incorrect per the google. Shame away and carry on.
> 
> Bumpracerx, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.


I don’t think it’s that geese don’t see well, I think it’s that they see different. I’ve heard they see about 6 times magnification of what we can see. The amount of rods and cones in their eye doesn’t allow them to see color that well, and they can’t differentiate between sizes well either. Hence why 48” long shells worked back in the day. What they can see much better than us is movement. Wiggle a finger when a 20 pack is deciding whether to stick their feet out, and see what I mean.


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