Coot and Mud Hen Decoys
Coot decoys are a great way to trick those wary ducks into thinking that everything is fine and dandy, oh and by the way, there is tons of food down here! The coot is a confidence decoy at its finest, as so few hunter utilize them.
The beauty of coot decoys is that not only do they work great, but they also are not utilized by many waterfowl hunters. Think if you had a trick to set your decoy spread apart from every other hunter on the lake. Wouldn't you take full advantage? Of course you would. Coot decoys afford you that opportunity. And let's be honest, there are tons of lakes, reservoirs, streams and rivers that are teeming with coots. They seem to multiply simply by going into the bullrushes in many places.
Truth be told while the coot is widely panned in waterfowling circles, they are a great harbinger of where the food and therefore the ducks are (or will be). Ducks and coots often are seen in the same spots, especially during high pressure parts of the season. I have often witnessed flocks and flocks of ducks sit within a great expanse of coots. Of course all of us hunters were none the wiser until we motored back to the landing and the coots looked at us dumb founded and the ducks took off for safer places. It was at that point that I first thought that coot decoys could work wonders in your spread.
Let’s face it, very few hunters even shoot at coots, let
alone target them while they are out hunting.
The coot often gets a free pass through the decoys and can even sit
amongst our decoys giving us a “live decoy” so to speak. By using some plastic buddies of the coot you
are able to give off the appearance of all is well in the world and the ducks
will take note. The name of the game in
waterfowling is high quality shots. If you
can get the ducks in close, your bag will increase exponentially. Close, high quality shots are simply that
important. And a decoying duck is a
great shot for hunters of all ages and abilities. If you can get a duck to come in close simply because
you have some mudhen decoys in amongst them, wouldn’t you make a point of doing
it?
Add
some coot decoys to your spread and begin seeing the benefits today!