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I was not able to see this special on spinning wing decoys.
Just curious what was said about them.
Thanks

They, (the biologists) said that if you use them you are, on average, 5 times more likely to decoy ducks. The manufactures said that they had lost a great deal of effectivness. I agree with both...kinda....

When was the study itself conducted? It could have been done three years ago and the TV show just aired last night. Just something to consider.

The good scientist think your 5 times more likely to decoy ducks (which is stupid cause that can't be statiscally possible), and the guys that make them say they are loosing effectiveness. Why in the hell would you say your own product is loosing effectiveness? Sound they are both full of crap to me.

I wish they outlaw the peices of crap so we could sit around and moan about them. Really, its been years since we've had anything to maon about... steel shot moan has been going on for like 20 years, and we got moaning about that on people that werent alive now. Thnink about it, if they'd outlaw spinners, we could sit around and say, yeah, if we had a moto we'd killed them ducks today. It breath new l;ife into duck blind conversations for the next 20 years!

I think we should get to use them every 4th year. That way, all the ducks that get scared of them would be dead.. so a whole new crop of battery ducks. Kill the poop out of them for a year, and gripe for 3! Itd be a win win for everyone. Cept the ducks. Heck, Im mad at them anyway. travis

The first spinner decoy that I ever saw My friend owned. The owner
of a big outfitter store gave it to him, saying that it would never work.
We call the decoy BABY it is the original Wonder Duck. We had this decoy
two seasons before anyone else in our area. We absolutely Murdered
ther Ducks no duck was to far to bring in. But know you can have 5 and ducks might not decoy. I am for sure that they are losing their effectiveness, but I will not go to the water without at least 1

and I bring a extra boat paddle. We all bring what we think we will need.

Here is the study that led to the CBS story:

Effects of Spinning-wing Decoys on Flock Behavior and Hunting Vulnerability
of Mallards in Minnesota

Alan D. Afton, U.S. Geological Survey-Louisiana Cooperative Fish and
Wildlife Research Unit, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803;
225-578-4212; FAX 225-578-4227; aafton@lsu.edu

Michael L. Szymanski, School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State
University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803; 225-578-5747; FAX 225-578-4227;
mszyma1@lsu.edu

Waterfowl managers in Minnesota and other states are concerned that
increased kill rates associated with the use of spinning-wing decoys ,SWDs,
may negatively affect local breeding populations of mallards. We conducted
219 experimental hunts to evaluate the hunting vulnerability of mallards to
SWDs during the 2002 duck hunting season in Minnesota. We placed 2 SWDs
within traditional decoy sets of 367 volunteer hunters and turned SWDs 'ON'
or 'OFF' during alternating 15 minute sampling periods within each hunt.
Mallard flocks were 2.68 times more likely to respond i.e., flew
within 40 m of hunters, to decoy sets when SWDs were turned 'ON' than 'OFF'.
Additionally, size of responding mallard flocks was 1.30 times larger when
SWDs were turned 'ON' than 'OFF'. Mallards killed per hour per hunter per hunt was
4.38 times higher, which is significant statistically, when SWDs were turned 'ON' than 'OFF'. However,
mallards killed per hour per hunter per hunt were similar, which is not significant statistically, between the
first and second halves of the duck hunting season, regardless of SWD
treatment. Despite increased kill rates when SWDs were turned 'ON', less
than 6% of volunteer hunters actually achieved daily bag limits of mallards
during experimental hunts. Finally, we are using stable isotope analysis to
identify local hatch-year mallards that were shot during experimental hunts
and will discuss management implications regarding effects of SWDs on local
breeding mallards in Minnesota.

Those guys suck... 4.38 times increased kill, and 94% of them still didn't kill a limit of mallards? How the heck can you kill 4.3 times as many ducks, and still not kill a limit (which is 4 mallards) of mallards 94% of the time? Whut, where they killing like .4 of a mallard before? travis

goosebruce, i think it was more like .43

They where killing .43 of local raised mallards per hunt... like I said, they suck. They shudda sent some rednecks to mn to do the study. But then again, who wants to go to mn? Come to think of it, .43 of a mallard per hunt is arkieland numbers this season! bwhahahahaha. travis

You shouldn't assume the study's results are true across the length of the migration. That is Minn. and part of the upper tier that sees the yearling birds first. They are shooting the yearlings to get those numbers, a study has already been done that said the yearlings are most succeptable to them.

All of the older ducks have seen them for years now and know what they are. I think you hurt your chances in the south with them, you flare any duck that has seen them before and lived longer than one year.

In short they work great up north but they stink in the south, and they specialize in one group of birds, the young. They target our new egg producers and they dont work in the south because they have cleaned out an aweful lot of the young with them, the rest are flying with birds that know what they are, or were lucky enough to survive the mistake.

The TV show was a joke, I wish they would do more research on something before they broadcast it. It also makes you wonder about their other stories, if they can't do any better than that with decoys, how lousy is the rest of thier reporting?
The manufacturere said like anything else the ducks get used to them and they loose their effectiveness. He didn't bother to say that is after they have toasted a significantly higher percentage of the young of a given year.