Decoys and short sighted people!

Half-cocked

I recently left hald a dozen mallard decoys on a newly dug pond in an unsuccessful attempt to get the released birds on the main pond to start using it. Wasted a lot of barley too feeding the pond hard. I gave up and recovered most of my decoys but left a few behind. Our landowner was accosted by a panicked lady walker looking for help to free some poor ducks stuck in the ice on the very same pond. Seems my decoys can fool humans but not ducks!

It reminded me about the DSPCA inspector who was called out to Bray Harbour a few years back to rescue a goose that had become entangled in a mooring line. Turned out to be a Canada Goose decoy being used as a buoy:D

Has anyone else had any similar experiences?

Pkiernan

I had 2 wild turkey decoys that ended up in strange situations in California.

A golden eagle took one and flew off with it. I was powerless to prevent this, as the penalties for shooting one of these involves prison time! It was funny enough anyway to make the loss worthwhile.

An inflatable replacement (that had wonderful detail) was burst by another tom turkey that attacked it.

At our duck club, we would often have many birdwatchers come along once the season had closed. I remember once coming in with about 300 decoys in the back of the truck, right past the bird watchers. I felt a little guilty to be honest!

gripp

once had a perigrine hit one off the decoys i had set out on barley stubble a few years back,i watched it just stand there looking around in confusion for a good 2-3 mins before taking off

foxshooter243

A lad up here put out some deeks on the foreshore and got himself into a good spot to try and lure in some duck one morning, after a while he suddenly heard two shots in rapid succession which sprayed his Deeks with lead shot:eek:-turns out one of the lads who wears glasses as thick as jam jars thought he had struck feathery gold and emptied his double barrel into the pattern:D:D-he never lived it down.