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Sold all my old ghg duck decoys and gonna try to start over. Planning on downsizing. Question is which do you guys prefer... Higdon battleships foam filled flocked heads or Dakota??? Pros/cons of each? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Foam filled battleships w/o the flocking…

Pros: they'll never sink & you won't have to keep reminding everyone to be careful w/ your Dakotas.

Cons: you're not going to be walking in anywhere with more than 6…they're big & heavy

That being said... I use G&H...


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Trip wrote:you're not going to be walking in anywhere with more than 6…they're big & heavy

There's gotta be a joke that can be made with that sentence....

Dakotas with painted heads. I'm not careful with mine. If they get shot oh well. They have held up great over the last few years. No paint issues. They are heavy also

I don't have any firsthand experience with Higdon battleships. My thought about them is: they would be no heavier than Dakotas.

My wife bought some Dakotas a couple of years ago. We used them for a while and went back to the G&H Magnums we've had since 1995. Here's why.....

• Too heavy - they don't move in the wind unless it's howling
• The decoy line comes-off the line adjustment hook - wind or no wind. I can't stand decoys bumping each other or 20' of line stretched-out in shallow water where the dog can get hung-up in it. While putting them out, if your boat drifts away from the spot you were going to 'place' the decoy and you can't get the line to stay on the hook long enough to put a simple half-hitch on it......then you have to move the boat. If it's a #1000 mud boat, that's a big deal when you're running out of time.
• I don't like stuff I have to pamper - i.e., flocked heads. We carry them in slotted bags and they NEVER sit-up straight.
• Hens are not as lifelike as several other decoys on the market. I've never understood injecting decoys with testosterone supplements and don't care for the 'cobra fixing to strike' head position. Consequently we quit using the hens altogether and mixed G&H hens with Dakota drakes
• After that, the drakes (even though they 'stand-out' from a distance) were shelved because of the take-up hook issue. If we hunted deep water where I could let the line all the way out (20' of it) they'd be fine.......but forget rigging them for use in variable water depths - the line will slip off the hook. If you have to spend more time 'tying' it off securely, then you have to fight it when you pick-up. If that's in cold weather, it just makes for an unpleasant hunting memory.

One other comment: It's OK if our guests occasionally put a pellet in a decoy particularly if that's the only shot you had and you called it. But if it's obvious someone has little regard for your equipment, and makes a regular habit of shooting the decoys, they need to get their own boat and decoys. We have been known to swat a decoy a time or 2 ourselves....it happens......especially with cripples. But I wouldn't buy a foam-filled decoys just so they could take continued abuse. A little butyl, silicone, or hot glue will plug holes fine and keep your decoys light enough to move around in a slight wind.

So, out of your 2 choices listed, I would recommend G&H Magnum Mallards.

Thanks for all the help guys. the flocked heads look great, I'm assuming the majority is against using them due to a lack of durability? Do they not hold up as well as painted heads over the long haul ?

Our flocked head Dakotas are holding up well. They are heavy, we don't baby them and they are all holding up well!

We use about 4-5 dozen Dakotas and 10-15 dozen battleships, and the rest are GHG. I like the look of the Dakotas but the battleships can take and shot. We leave our decoys out 60 days and the heads look fine. I think I am on year 4 with the Dakotas. I have a buddy that is using tangle free and he really like his. Do not be scared of the flocked heads, you can abuse them, and the Dakotas come with both flocked and painted so you can use whatever you want to.

I hunted all of January with a half-dozen foam filled and flocked Higdon Super Mags I received for my birthday last year. First of all, they look great on the water. They aren't light, but most of the time those were the only ones I carried so it was not an issue. Though they have more weight, they provide much more movement on the water than a standard decoy. They move in the slightest breeze, and displace more water than a non-filled decoy which produces some ripples on the water.

I didn't baby them other than using a slotted bag, and they held up just fine this season.

I'll end up purchasing more of these.

You will eventually end up with G&H. Trust me. Save yourself some time and go "quality" early.

The Higdon decoys can be damaged from shooting them. I had to pull four of them out that took a full blast and just did not float correctly. They didn't sink but they became partially submerged. The fully flocked bodies look really nice when they're new but will get dingy with any significant usage. Especially if you leave them out all season like we do. Not worth it to me. Carrying them back-and-forth in your boat each trip will definitely preserve their looks longer.

I personally think the Dakotas look better I like the higher profile when they are on the water. The Higdons are definitely tougher. I like the flocked heads for both brands.

Not sure of the current G&H models, but I've got a few older G&H is in the spread that have better paint on them then my newer Dakotas or Higdons. Paint has held up longer.

The Higdons have the easiest line adjustment that I've seen. I just got mine last season and only used them a few times. I can't really speak to the durability. Mine are not flocked.