# Layout shooting decoy spread



## fsamie1 (Mar 8, 2008)

Here is what I put together after doing some reading, I have 5 dozen decoys, 6 Canvasback singles, and three floating mojos. BH is bufflehead, RH is redhead, BB is blue bill, GH is goleneye and one man layout boat. What do you guys think?


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## ThumbDweller (Aug 2, 2007)

I do not have enough experience to pass judgement on your decoy choices, but I am duly impressed with your graphics skills!! Very nifty.


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## gooseman (Jul 24, 2006)

You got the right idea. Make sure you leave an open path to run your tender through though.


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## cornfieldbill (Jun 6, 2009)

fsamie1 said:


> Here is what I put together after doing some reading, I have 5 dozen decoys, 6 Canvasback singles, and three floating mojos. BH is bufflehead, RH is redhead, BB is blue bill, GH is goleneye and one man layout boat. What do you guys think?


Were you have wind put the boat there on center. Put the G E it line G B all so Mojos juat a head of boat . You do not want to hit them. They will all ways land in to the wind . Head on shot . From the side you have to look out for your decoys not good . You will get s**t on a little LOL have fun stay safe


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## N.E. Outdoorsman (Sep 18, 2006)

Spread looks like it's worth trying. Makes me wish I still had a layout!


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

Recipe for having a bunch of birds landing behind you. IMO


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## integritybob (Mar 10, 2009)

TSS Caddis said:


> Recipe for having a bunch of birds landing behind you. IMO


Kinda what I was thinking. Does it really take almost 6 dozen decoys to kill a limit? 


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## slwayne (Aug 27, 2009)

Layout hunting is big water hunting. Big water equals big decoy spreads. I would argue that 6 dozen is a bare minimum. We typically run 8 or 9 dozen on LSC and I can tell you there have been times when we wished we had more. Since you have 5 lines I would run 3 on one side and 2 on the other. I would also move your lines further down wind so that the majority of your dekes are downwind of the layout. We usually toss about a half dozen single buffies in front of the boat, not behind it. This seems to work well for us on LSC and Erie.


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## cmueller302 (Jan 30, 2007)

Like said with that layout you will get too many birds behind you. All your buffies will land on out side by decoy. I like to set up a big v shape with boat at the narrow end of v. Just enough room to get tender through. Bigger decoy at far edges, single drops in middle and a few behind to break up boat. 
Good luck,
Casey

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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

slwayne said:


> Layout hunting is big water hunting. Big water equals big decoy spreads. I would argue that 6 dozen is a bare minimum. We typically run 8 or 9 dozen on LSC and I can tell you there have been times when we wished we had more.


Bob's joking around, note the "wink" smiley. Last year, most days we used a total of 9 decoys out of the layout. 18 on the tough days. IMO, if your on the X 9 can be plenty.

Flock of bills coming into 9 decoys.


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## lastflighttaxidermy (Jul 12, 2010)

Spread size for me goes both ways. we normally hunt over about 130-150 dekes, but i also agree with Caddis. there have been times when weve been in the right spot and hussled to set up and only put out one line with like 20 on it and shot the crap out of em. if your in the birds it doesnt take much sometimes.


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## cmueller302 (Jan 30, 2007)

Nice picture caddis I would have said one decoy would be enough! True story when your on the x a handful of decoys is good. I don't know how many times we would get one string out and birds would be landing before we got boat turned around. But half the fun is seeing what kind of master piece you can make with 9 dozen decoy in the middle of Nov with no one to see it but your crew, ducks, and that one gull that almost got shot because he caught you off guard.

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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

Poor quality since we had the short lens on and no sun, but here on some white wings that kept working a spread of 9 over while we were in the tender trying to pick them up. Juvie drake and hen, so they were both safe even if we didn't already have a limit.


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

18 decoys out this day.


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)




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## Bellyup (Nov 13, 2007)

Are you right or left hand shooting ? This is just my opinion, and Caddis and others have a lot of experience over me, But I think you should position your boat a few rows north if you are a right hand shooter. It is REAL difficult to come up and rotate to the right to shoot if they come in on your right. With more dekes on your right than your left, I feel you should consider it. If you are a lefty, game on. 

I think your mojos should be at least equal to or behind you, or just in front off to the side. They are gonna get shot if they are out there, and trust me, they don't hold up to well to it. Like somone else mentioned, I think you should move your boat further back, don't leave enough dekes behind you for them to decoy to, just enough to keep their attention off you. 

Looks like you are on your way to a great season !!! Have fun with it !


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## hankrt (Nov 7, 2007)

That spread would be Awesome for me...........but I'm a lefty. My Bud's all righty's might not like it so well.....
Center your boat a little more between both sides, move them a little further into the wind side and you will be good to go IMO.


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## lewy149 (Apr 19, 2007)

hankrt said:


> That spread would be Awesome for me...........but I'm a lefty. My Bud's all righty's might not like it so well.....
> Center your boat a little more between both sides, move them a little further into the wind side and you will be good to go IMO.


Its for a right hander, the wind is at the back of the layout. The decoys are on the left side of the boat.


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## deadduck365 (Nov 5, 2010)

lewy149 said:


> Its for a right hander, the wind is at the back of the layout. The decoys are on the left side of the boat.


Big birds will land on your head or to the right, buffies and ruddies will land on the left. We tried what you have there last year but comple oposite with right handers. It worked very well. If you move the boat just behind the floater cans you can make both shots. My dad is left handed, so we set a universal spread most days.


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## fsamie1 (Mar 8, 2008)

Thanks for all good replies. I made the following sketch based on some comments about putting decoys on both sides or v-shape. I am right handed shooter and cannot turn more than the shaded area (back problem). So if ducks decoy to right side, I will not be able to shoot. There were also comments about a few decoys. We all had those good days that no matter what we did wrong, they decoyed. Here, I want to establish a spread for those difficult days that they flare, land outside decoys, and etc. I also like to keep back of the boat clear so it is easier to get tender boat in and out. Cannot wait to get out there.


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## fsamie1 (Mar 8, 2008)

Divers Down said:


> Your absolutly correct. You're not Mallard hunting here. Most big Divers love to glide up the spread and land up wind of it or dump right in the middle of it. Dont put decoys behind you unless maybe 1 string of blockers right behind the boat, I use black ducks. These graphs are cool on paper but here on DR an Erie with the waves an current, somedays u get what you get. It all works out if ur sitting up wind of the majority of ur blocks.


 I have shot many bufflehead layout shooting and they all decoyed to the left of the decoy spread. Also got a few blue bills when decoying across the spread. If big ducks decoy to middle or upwind of the spread, then, they have to go by the layout boat and I can take a shot at them. Splitting decoys will not work for right hand shooters if they decoy to the right of the decoy spread. I tried that when I started and I could not take a good shot to my right. Soemof you see problem with this spread but do not offer any solution. I like to know how solve the issue you are raising. This year I am getting out of Anchor Bay and hunt farther south for big duck and may give lake Erie a try also. Thanks for all your comments and have a fun season.


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## TSS Caddis (Mar 15, 2002)

fsamie1 said:


> I have shot many bufflehead layout shooting and they all decoyed to the left of the decoy spread. Also got a few blue bills when decoying across the spread. If big ducks decoy to middle or upwind of the spread, then, they have to go by the layout boat and I can take a shot at them. Splitting decoys will not work for right hand shooters if they decoy to the right of the decoy spread. I tried that when I started and I could not take a good shot to my right. Soemof you see problem with this spread but do not offer any solution. I like to know how solve the issue you are raising. This year I am getting out of Anchor Bay and hunt farther south for big duck and may give lake Erie a try also. Thanks for all your comments and have a fun season.


Divers will decoy into the spread when, where and how they want. Time spend getting cute thinking your are going to put them on an exact spot is wasted IMO. For Divers, we bascially run the exact same spread every day, and invariably, the birds come in different every day. A lot of that is the wind direction vs the direction the birds are traveling that day.


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## WoW. (Aug 11, 2011)

fsamie1 said:


> I have shot many bufflehead layout shooting and they all decoyed to the left of the decoy spread. Also got a few blue bills when decoying across the spread. If big ducks decoy to middle or upwind of the spread, then, they have to go by the layout boat and I can take a shot at them. Splitting decoys will not work for right hand shooters if they decoy to the right of the decoy spread. I tried that when I started and I could not take a good shot to my right. Soemof you see problem with this spread but do not offer any solution. I like to know how solve the issue you are raising.


While shots to the right of the layout boat do present problems for righthanded shooters, they are not insurmountable problems although they are a little trickier than in a goose field where you can spin your feet out of the blind when need be. First off, it takes proper placement of the layout so that it is not too deep in the spread for birds working outside and to the right. Secondly, you have to know when to sit up to take the shot. Waiting too long will wind up with a gunner corkscrewing himself in the layout or...just not being able to swing on the bird and not wanting to go one handed. 

Where the birds work will be dependent upon decoy placement (and weather) so, the key is proper boat placement to afford the maximum number of shots on targeted species. With buffies, who cares...they can be day savers but...

The vast majority of the time, I do have decoys out to my right to obsure the view of the layout boat. That said, I have hunted just outside the curve on the long sid of a j spread and done quite well too. The u in the j jus has to be smaller so I can still reach across the kill hole to hit birds flying outside the shortside of the u on the j.

Again, moving the gunners position if need be is the key to being in the right place to gun finicky birds.


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## WoW. (Aug 11, 2011)

TSS Caddis said:


> Divers will decoy into the spread when, where and how they want. Time spend getting cute thinking your are going to put them on an exact spot is wasted IMO. For Divers, we bascially run the exact same spread every day, and invariably, the birds come in different every day. A lot of that is the wind direction vs the direction the birds are traveling that day.


 
Yup, get the layout out, set the dekes, and get a guy in the box. THAT is the key (along with being where the birds wanna be) is the key to diver success. Some days the birds want to die so badly they will start landing before a guy is even in the layout. Other days....well....that is why they call it hunting.:lol: or....thank goodness for buffies....


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## D-Fresh (Feb 8, 2005)

fsamie1 said:


> I have shot many bufflehead layout shooting and they all decoyed to the left of the decoy spread.


ALL of them landed to the left of the spread? Wow, if it were only that easy...:lol: 

There are so many factors that come into play as others have stated, making it very difficult to say that they will land "left of the decoy spread." So many guys get worked up over what there spread looks like, when it really boils down to 2 things. 1-Scout and take note how many birds there are and how they are sitting in the area you will be hunting. 2-Match it.



fsamie1 said:


> Soemof you see problem with this spread but do not offer any solution.


1- Leave the mojos at home
2- Don't put that many dekes behind the boat


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## Sea Duck (Jul 9, 2001)

TSS Caddis said:


> Divers will decoy into the spread when, where and how they want. Time spend getting cute thinking your are going to put them on an exact spot is wasted IMO. For Divers, we bascially run the exact same spread every day, and invariably, the birds come in different every day. A lot of that is the wind direction vs the direction the birds are traveling that day.


Caddis is on the money.

Setting longlines with wind and current makes it a little tricky to get those decoys all lined up real pretty like in the diagrams. I think the most important points are 1. keep the vast majority of the blocks downwind of the layout, 2. make sure you leave room to get to the layout, 3. make sure your mother line anchors aren't going to drag, 4. toss out some singles into the spread to help fill in the gaps between the lines, and 5. learn to sit up and shoulder the firepole fast, so you don't have to rush the shot.


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## KLR (Sep 2, 2006)

d-fresh said:


> 2- don't put any dekes behind the boat


fify


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