Post by Ron Kulas on Sept 24, 2013 18:25:04 GMT -6
Every bowhunting season I try something new in regards to technique or gear. This year I am hunting completely new property since my uncle sold the family farm and these new properties that I am bowhunting lend themselves to something I have been wanting to further explore and that’s deer decoying so new lands and decoying is the focus for this season.
I had made a homemade buck decoy about 25 years ago but the old family farm was mostly river bottom and cedar swamp too thick for the sight lines required for effective decoying. So the homemade buck decoy has been sitting in the chicken coop at my parent’s farm for the last 25 years. I knew I would return to decoying at some point but I didn’t think it would take 25 years. Last week I bought a used Flambeau boss buck decoy off Craigslist and after reading about decoying during the rut I will add a bedded doe decoy to the set . FYI, everything I have read says leave antler off the buck to make him look weak and the more dominant buck will approach the decoy from the missing antler side. I plan to test that theory.
So I retrieved the old homemade buck decoy from the coop and set about doing a sex change operation to convert the standing buck decoy to a bedded doe. Over the years this decoy has deteriorated quite a bit. The homemade ears are gone and the body is pretty dented up but its still repairable. Like most ladies, Dolly has many facets and layers.
Back in the day I tried my hand at taxidermy so I made the front half of that old decoy with a shoulder mount, form from Van void’s Taxidermy supply. I added glass eyes and painted it with latex paint. I made the body from several layers of 1 inch thick, blue construction foam and wood and then carved it with my mother’s electric turkey carving knife. (oh the memories)
I needed to turn this heavy necked foam form into a skinny neck doe so I upgraded my tools and employed a sawsall with a long blade to take several inches off the neck of this form. Then I sawed off the bottom of the body and added a plywood base since it is supposed to be a bedded doe.
Then I painted her with flat brown paint, a little black and some white paint. For the ears I used an old plastic Easter basket that I cut apart and made wooden bases with a wire inserted into it so I can add and remove the ears as needed. I painted the ears brown, white and black. Not bad for an old Easter basket.
To add motion to both decoys I cut out a tyvek house wrap tail since its nice and white and thin and waterproof and will flap in the breeze. I then covered the tyvek with a smaller tail cut out of brown fabric. I added tyvek to the ears so they move in the breeze. The ear tyveck is held on with a Velcro patch. Here is the tail moving is a very modest breeze.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnxXlOjHL8Y&feature=youtu.be
Dolly the Doe
Oscar the imposter and Dolly the doe.
I had to wait for Dolly to get rid of that new doe smell by leaving her out in the sun and rain for 3 weeks as I waited for the pre-rut and then set the video camera out during some field hunts.
This the “Come Alive” Tails wagger device I bought to bring motion and realism to my deer decoy. Come alive is a WI based company that makes the deer tail wagger and a host of predator motion decoys. It turns out the company is only a few miles from my house. The package was delivered in 2 days and comes packaged well is a pretty small box.
The open box.
The box contained the motion unit, the power pack, two tails, instructions, and extra wire (should you bend the one suppled) and a spacer block (should your decoy require it) The unit will be powered by 4, C batteries (not supplied)
The instructions (very clear and well written) tell you to drill 2, 3/8 dia holes 1 inch apart. (the smaller, upper hole was one I put it earlier because I was going to use a wind activated tail and that is where I mounted the hook)
Here the motion unit is installed with a single large bolt that snugs the motion unit to the tail end of the decoy.
The instructions say to spray paint the entire rear of your decoy with white paint (prior pictures show the brown and white tail the decoy came with) This increases the contrast and visibility of the wagging tail.
Here is a video of the tail wagger on a bench wagging the faux fur tail. The unit make no noise whatsoever.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ4dkpD5H14
Here is a video of the flexible/painted foam tail.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QIzW5T2uy0
A video of my homemade (tyveck and cloth) tail that will move in the breeze, pinned to the foam tail.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WtYL1urNzo
Here is a video of my homemade tail on the decoy while outside. There is only the slightest of breeze and you can see the additional motion the wind creates in addition to the wagging motion of the device.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t3bnC95J_w
Here is a video of the faux fur tail supplied with the unit.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwz8ae5cyfM
Video of a quartering view
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2s20G_TgcQ
Another rear view video from a little further away.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pYKNJLfJtk
Im impressed with the unit. Its small, lightweight and seems robust enough for the rigors of the field. The company claims one set of batteries will last 200 hours which seems like longer than I will spend on stand decoying deer in any one season. Field trials start in about a week and I will follow up.
The unit cost $59 with shipping and handling and WI sales tax.
A video supplied by the folks at Come Alive.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQGB7n7Tk1A
Here is my first time out with the decoys.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcEW6NRF8u0
I had made a homemade buck decoy about 25 years ago but the old family farm was mostly river bottom and cedar swamp too thick for the sight lines required for effective decoying. So the homemade buck decoy has been sitting in the chicken coop at my parent’s farm for the last 25 years. I knew I would return to decoying at some point but I didn’t think it would take 25 years. Last week I bought a used Flambeau boss buck decoy off Craigslist and after reading about decoying during the rut I will add a bedded doe decoy to the set . FYI, everything I have read says leave antler off the buck to make him look weak and the more dominant buck will approach the decoy from the missing antler side. I plan to test that theory.
So I retrieved the old homemade buck decoy from the coop and set about doing a sex change operation to convert the standing buck decoy to a bedded doe. Over the years this decoy has deteriorated quite a bit. The homemade ears are gone and the body is pretty dented up but its still repairable. Like most ladies, Dolly has many facets and layers.
Back in the day I tried my hand at taxidermy so I made the front half of that old decoy with a shoulder mount, form from Van void’s Taxidermy supply. I added glass eyes and painted it with latex paint. I made the body from several layers of 1 inch thick, blue construction foam and wood and then carved it with my mother’s electric turkey carving knife. (oh the memories)
I needed to turn this heavy necked foam form into a skinny neck doe so I upgraded my tools and employed a sawsall with a long blade to take several inches off the neck of this form. Then I sawed off the bottom of the body and added a plywood base since it is supposed to be a bedded doe.
Then I painted her with flat brown paint, a little black and some white paint. For the ears I used an old plastic Easter basket that I cut apart and made wooden bases with a wire inserted into it so I can add and remove the ears as needed. I painted the ears brown, white and black. Not bad for an old Easter basket.
To add motion to both decoys I cut out a tyvek house wrap tail since its nice and white and thin and waterproof and will flap in the breeze. I then covered the tyvek with a smaller tail cut out of brown fabric. I added tyvek to the ears so they move in the breeze. The ear tyveck is held on with a Velcro patch. Here is the tail moving is a very modest breeze.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnxXlOjHL8Y&feature=youtu.be
Dolly the Doe
Oscar the imposter and Dolly the doe.
I had to wait for Dolly to get rid of that new doe smell by leaving her out in the sun and rain for 3 weeks as I waited for the pre-rut and then set the video camera out during some field hunts.
This the “Come Alive” Tails wagger device I bought to bring motion and realism to my deer decoy. Come alive is a WI based company that makes the deer tail wagger and a host of predator motion decoys. It turns out the company is only a few miles from my house. The package was delivered in 2 days and comes packaged well is a pretty small box.
The open box.
The box contained the motion unit, the power pack, two tails, instructions, and extra wire (should you bend the one suppled) and a spacer block (should your decoy require it) The unit will be powered by 4, C batteries (not supplied)
The instructions (very clear and well written) tell you to drill 2, 3/8 dia holes 1 inch apart. (the smaller, upper hole was one I put it earlier because I was going to use a wind activated tail and that is where I mounted the hook)
Here the motion unit is installed with a single large bolt that snugs the motion unit to the tail end of the decoy.
The instructions say to spray paint the entire rear of your decoy with white paint (prior pictures show the brown and white tail the decoy came with) This increases the contrast and visibility of the wagging tail.
Here is a video of the tail wagger on a bench wagging the faux fur tail. The unit make no noise whatsoever.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ4dkpD5H14
Here is a video of the flexible/painted foam tail.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QIzW5T2uy0
A video of my homemade (tyveck and cloth) tail that will move in the breeze, pinned to the foam tail.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WtYL1urNzo
Here is a video of my homemade tail on the decoy while outside. There is only the slightest of breeze and you can see the additional motion the wind creates in addition to the wagging motion of the device.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t3bnC95J_w
Here is a video of the faux fur tail supplied with the unit.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwz8ae5cyfM
Video of a quartering view
www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2s20G_TgcQ
Another rear view video from a little further away.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pYKNJLfJtk
Im impressed with the unit. Its small, lightweight and seems robust enough for the rigors of the field. The company claims one set of batteries will last 200 hours which seems like longer than I will spend on stand decoying deer in any one season. Field trials start in about a week and I will follow up.
The unit cost $59 with shipping and handling and WI sales tax.
A video supplied by the folks at Come Alive.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQGB7n7Tk1A
Here is my first time out with the decoys.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcEW6NRF8u0