# diver spread



## duckhunter6 (Jun 16, 2012)

Trying to work on my diver spread this off-season, I'm a college student who has a short budget so before i invest i wanna make sure im getting what i really need.  what are some important things to consider when developing diver spreads. I know divers decoy there own species. What worked well for yall?  Are quality of decoys a factor? motion? any info would be appreciated.


----------



## Golden BB (Jun 16, 2012)

Where are you hunting? Different areas require different spreads.


----------



## Vmarsh (Jun 16, 2012)

duckhunter6 said:


> I know divers decoy there own species.



this is not absolutely true. they'll decoy to pretty much anything most days if  its where they want to be. if you aint got money to burn start painting old decoys black like coots. it gets the job done. throw in a dozen or so blue bills (or whatever you are targeting/whatever is using the area) and you should be good to go.


----------



## emusmacker (Jun 16, 2012)

I have seen ringnecks decoy to mallard dekes. The only diver I've ever seen that seemed to prefer their own species is bufffleheads, but that's not always the case.

I have a mixture of Blue bills, redheads, ringers, and buffleheads. I took some old hen mallard dekes and painted em into redheads, and some cheap game winner gads and painted them into buffys.


----------



## Larry Young Jr (Jun 16, 2012)

The cheapest driver deks are old used deks. You can find them in yards sales,graiglist,etc. Paint 1/2 of them black and the other black and white. Use flat paint. 4 doz would be a good start. 1 floating mojo Bluebill.
Now if you have a little money you can buy new Bluebills deks. I like GHG deks for divers. They are around $69 a doz. But there are cheaper ones out there. Now there we be people on here that will change this post to what is the best decoy. So over look this. Get what you can afford, because you need to have money lefted over to go hunt. Check out Diver video by Jerry Russell. We made this video to help people like you out.  I will Find it and bring up to the 1st page. If you Have any questions you can pm me.
Good luck and besafe
Larry


----------



## dukslayer10 (Jun 16, 2012)

We have a range of Ringnecks, Bluebills, Buffleheads, Magnum Redheads, and Coots. We usually put these out all together in one tight wad. Sort of Like Larry's spread. We will put them kind of tight and sort of in a line. We also take a mojo and put directly in the middle of the spread. Keeps the birds from landing off to the side of the spread and brings them directly in front of us. Used this set up the last three weekends last season and killed 14, 18, and 27 Ringnecks.


----------



## WOODIE13 (Jun 17, 2012)

And don't forget some goose dekes, adds a lot of viz to any spread.


----------



## rnelson5 (Jun 17, 2012)

Make sure you have some good white in your spread. The GHG Bluebill decoys as mentioned above are a good addition to just about any diver spread. I use them every where from farm ponds to lakes to the coast hunting a variety of different divers. With divers visibility and numbers is key for me.


----------



## Bdub (Jun 18, 2012)

http://higdondecoys.com/products.asp?cat=1 

This website has some pretty cheap ringneck decoys if your trying to buy decoys without painting them. If you dont mind painting decoys, then academy has 12 mallards for 30 bucks online and if you can get to a store right you might be able to get them for 20 bucks on sale. I paint mallards into ringnecks, mostly because they are bigger decoys and the wing patterns on the decoys make them easier to paint. If you do decide to paint your decoys let me know and can tell you exaclty how i painted mine.

O and rodgerssportinggoods.com has some pretty good deals on decoys.


----------



## Bdub (Jun 18, 2012)

One more thing, mojo's are pretty good until the ducks get used to them but a jerk-rig is a must have all year long. I have also heard using a flag works but never tried before.


----------



## king killer delete (Jun 18, 2012)

If you wana go cheap pick up as many sea worthy decoys that you can find. Go to wall mart and buy the 99 cent cans of flat black and flat white and go to work. You will have a nice spred for almost nothing.


----------



## Larry Young Jr (Jun 18, 2012)

killer elite said:


> If you wana go cheap pick up as many sea worthy decoys that you can find. Go to wall mart and buy the 99 cent cans of flat black and flat white and go to work. You will have a nice spred for almost nothing.



Man Killer, I thought you would tale him real old school. 1 gallon bleach bottle. Painted black and white..... LOL Hey all joking a side they do work and people still use them to day. If you go by your local coin washer place or get your college buddies to save 1 gallon bleach bottles or 2 liter drink bottles in no time you will have 4 to 10 dozon deks. some string a couple anchors, 5 or 6 can of flat paint. A 120 deks for under $25, ok $35.  Paint the top and buttom Black and the middle white and they will look like Bluebills.


----------



## waddler (Jun 22, 2012)

Make sure the bottles never had any substance in them that could be considered a pollutant. Especially not a chemical.


----------



## frydaddy40 (Jun 22, 2012)

*Awesome*

This hole post is awesome.
  Great looking diver sets, great decoys, and great advice.


----------



## Boudreaux (Jun 22, 2012)

Bdub said:


> I have also heard using a flag works but never tried before.



Our guide in MD used a few small black flags when we were hunting divers on the Potomac.  They seemed to pull them in closer as they cruised up and down the river.

We didn't wave them around, more like a few quick up/down motions and then stopped.

I agree that jerk rigs are good on divers.


----------



## king killer delete (Jun 25, 2012)

Larry Young Jr said:


> Man Killer, I thought you would tale him real old school. 1 gallon bleach bottle. Painted black and white..... LOL Hey all joking a side they do work and people still use them to day. If you go by your local coin washer place or get your college buddies to save 1 gallon bleach bottles or 2 liter drink bottles in no time you will have 4 to 10 dozon deks. some string a couple anchors, 5 or 6 can of flat paint. A 120 deks for under $25, ok $35.  Paint the top and buttom Black and the middle white and they will look like Bluebills.


 LOL/LOL/LOL/LOL/ It works. LoL/LOL


----------



## Wild Turkey (Jun 25, 2012)

If you hunt where there are a lot of coots, seminole, go 90% black and drop in some others. A j shape spread works best for me. With the j closer to you but not too close. The top way out there 60-70 yds.
They line up on the tip and fly into the hook.


----------



## killerv (Jun 25, 2012)

You need to add one pied billed grebe decoy


----------



## chet1725 (Jun 25, 2012)

My advise on a tight budget is the 2liter bottles painted black and white and 1 floating bluebill mojo in the center of the spread. I have had ducks almost knock mine over trying to land next to it.


----------



## Larry Young Jr (Jun 25, 2012)

More diver pics.


----------



## duckhunter6 (Jun 30, 2012)

thanks for the help fellas, its greatly appreciated.


----------

