Polyurethane on decoys

[Drylok9]

Has anyone ever sprayed polyurethane on their decoys to harden the paint and prevent them from chipping. I was also told that they stand out and are more visible from the sky when done this way. The reason I ask is because I recently hunted with an ol timer that says that he has done this for years with great success. I'll admit that the birds did seem to respond to them pretty well.

[Johnboy114]

A high gloss poly will make the green on the heads shine like they are suppose to. Dont know about making them last longer but that would make since.

[Wildfowler]

I cleaned my plastic decoys this year and then wiped them down with Armour All. Also touched up the white paint on them.

They look very "lively" after doing this.

I hunted with some guys in AR one time who did this with their decoys. And individually wrapped them in plastic bags before bagging them up together. (keep them from scratching) I must say that their spread of 5 year old G&H's looked awesome, but man was it a lot of trouble individually bag them up like that.

I'm not doing the individual bags thing, but I thought I would at least try the Armor All trick. So far, so good.

[MAG]

The poly does work. It makes the Greenheads shine like new money and protects the paint underneath.

MAG

[gadwall2]

I used the spray on poly after repainting them and it does make them shine on the water. I have seen that it does protect the paint on them also. A can of that stuff cost about 5 bucks and will do about 20 dekes.

[hillhunter]

do you paint the whole duck or just the head?

[Drylok9]

The person I hunted with had the whole decoy sprayed, but I think Johnboy114 was talking about just spraying the heads.

[Bama Duck]

I don't believe that making a decoy shine would be a very good
idea, if you think about it how many natural ducks put out a shine, none that I know of....But to each, his own; I will stick to my flat latex paint and just touch them up every year.

[litlhitch]

you watch a greenhead on the water, he's got a shine to him.
I sprayed polyurethane on my G&H greenheads last year and I havent had any flair because of the shine. I think it has kinda helped actually. Only spray it on their head and maybe the blue patch on their wings.

[gwall]

do it every year makes the paint last longer for sure and makes dull colors come alive

[judge jb]

i think too much shine is a bad thing.... that is why i dunk dekes that are frozen over.... ask Wingman how they look from the air.... i took a trip with my flyboy brother and the dull dekes looked great.... what you think Wingman ???

judge jb

[skygazer]

tire shine works pretty well. costs a littlte more than armour all but lasts a little longer

[Dutch Dog]

We totally re-painted 76 decoys this year. I mean we painted the entire decoy...not just the white, or the blue patches or the green heads, but the entire decoy. We also sprayed the decoys to protect the paint. I have been spraying them with the poly stuff for about 3 years now and it does make them look better. I have had ducks come in and light right in them and they didn't spook because of the shine...they spooked when we shot the last group of ducks to come in!

[TN Duck Daddy]

There is a spray on semi gloss poly. I had used some to seal the camo job I did on my sons' shotguns and decided to try the remainder on some repainted dekes. I think it's a good compromise. Some shine but not a lot and protects the paint.

[mississippi_duc_htr]

Anybody have a preference on which kind too use. I have tried amour all and it seems like it only lasted a couple of trips.