Dealing with Decoys - written by Butch Goodwin of Northern Flight

efore I moved to Idaho from Colorado, I rarely used decoys. I owned a couple-dozen duck and goose decoys and hauled them along when I traveled to another area; but when I hunted my local spots, the bags of decoys generally sat in the shed, collecting dust. Most of my goose shooting was pass-shooting - hiding in the willows on an island and scratching down a goose or two as they pitched up and down the river, following their flight paths.

The alternative to pass-shooting on the river was jumpshooting the numerous warm-water, spring-fed ponds that dotted the area. These ice-free ponds held tremendous attraction for ducks, but the geese avoided these small ponds in favor of the protection of the bigger water that the rivers provided. And on clear, cold days, the geese would fly very high and well out of range above the river; even the best spread of decoys or silhouettes couldn’t cause them to take a second glance, so what was the bother with decoys anyway?

It can be something that is easily overlooked in your enthusiasm to work a new pup, but short retrieves among decoys in the yard will teach your pup that they are no big deal.

Honestly, when I moved to Idaho, I couldn’t figure out why everyone seemed so enamored with shooting ducks over huge rafts of precisely placed duck decoys. Heck, to my way of thinking, geese were "big game" and ducks were just a nuisance!

Maybe, like the description of my hunting, you never hunt over decoys and all you do is jumpshoot or pass-shoot, or maybe you only upland hunt - but that’s no excuse to not acquaint your dog with both duck and goose decoys on land and in the water. Mark my words: If you don’t, there will come a time when you will be humiliated, because your well-trained gun dog either tucks his tail and runs back to you or makes a stunning retrieve - dragging in a decoy. And, it will happen in front of your hunting buddies - you can count on it!

If you doubt this wisdom, let me tell you the story of a Junior-level hunt test that I ran a couple of decades back. In the early days of the hunt-test program, it wasn’t uncommon for the judges to put out large spreads of decoys - on land and in the water. In this testing scenario, the judges had placed a tight set of super-magnum goose shells in the field at the bottom of a hill. The line was at the top of the hill, and a dead bird mark was thrown about 100 yards out in the field, beyond the goose spread. The dogs couldn’t see the decoys from the line - actually, the dogs couldn’t see the decoys until they were well down the hill and crested a little rise at a full run - where they came eyeball-to-eyeball with goose decoys as large as they were.

It will happen: Your dog will get tangled up in a decoy anchor chord. As he learns to deal with that, it helps to have the decoys in shallow water where you can go out and help if the need arises.
Mike Gnatkowskie Photo

Fully half of the dogs slid to a stop and "spooked" away from the decoys, heading back to the line. As I remember, one ran around and barked at the decoys, and another hit the brakes so hard that he did a full somersault in the air, crashing right into the middle of the spread! The dogs that were accustomed to working through goose decoys were quite obvious - they never broke stride, flying over and around the spread without a sideways glance.

here is no reason not to take the time to teach your gun dog to ignore decoys. And the very best time to start the training is while you are doing early leash training at your side. Toss out a couple of decoys in the area where you practice your "heeling" drills and walk your youngster up to them, around them, and step over them. If he stops to sniff the decoys, give him a sharp snap with the lead and tell him, "No!" or "Leave it!" and walk on. Continue this training every time you practice your obedience drill until you can walk around the decoys without him even glancing at them. And don’t forget to use a combination of both goose and duck decoys while you’re working on this.

Once you are satisfied that he will ignore the decoys as you walk among them, put out a spread in your yard or field where you train, and have someone throw a mark beyond them. At this stage, it is best to leave a corridor or path through the decoys for him. Let your youngster drag a short rope as he goes for the retrieve. If he stops and shows any interest in the decoys while on the way to the mark or on the return, run out, grab the rope, and give him a sharp, "No!" along with a snap on the rope. Then encourage him to continue the delivery of the mark back to you and praise when he gets there.

After several successful trips down the path through the decoy spread, step up the level of enticement by eliminating the path, and have the mark thrown so that he has to go over and around the decoys to get to it. Again, have him drag a short rope so that you can catch him to make a correction if he is tempted to go for a decoy rather than the mark - or if he drops the mark in favor of the decoy on the return. By tying a large knot onto the end of the rope, it will also teach him not to panic when a decoy possibly gets tangled in the rope and tossed around as he runs through them. This is a very good intro for when you eventually take the entire scenario to the water, where he will, at some point, likely get tangled in a decoy string and be forced to drag a decoy (or a whole flotilla of decoys) behind him.

When he will consistently fly out and back through the decoys, totally ignoring them, it is time to increase the temptation once again by throwing a mark into the center of the spread. If he gives in to the lure of the decoys, correct him as you have in the past, and be sure to praise him when he pays them no attention.

Once you are satisfied that he will retrieve from a spread of decoys that are close to the line you’re running him from, try this test that I use to "separate the men from the boys."

Remember the Junior-hunter test mentioned above? I put a spread of decoys at a distance out in the field or hidden beyond a stand of cover and have my helper throw a mark directly into the decoys. The idea isn’t to make the mark difficult; the idea is to increase the enticement level. Some dogs will ignore the decoys when they are immediately in front of you or when they can see the decoys; but when they are at a distance or are surprised by them, they seem to forget their training. If your dog doesn’t pass this test, repeat the drills, gradually increasing the distance and the visibility of the decoys.

hen your decoy training in the yard and field is very solid, it’s time to move ahead to the water. As with all training, it is imperative that you work out your problems on land before heading for water because unless you have access to a shallow pond where you can walk but your dog must swim, introducing your dog to a new concept in the water presents a whole additional set of problems.

If your land training has gone well, the transition to training through decoys on the water should be a snap. The one thing that you can’t really replicate on land is a dog getting tangled in the strings and dragging a decoy. If this happens and he panics, he might get tangled with other decoys or turn to get away and swim out, dragging the decoy into deeper water. We did the best we could by having him drag a rope through the decoys on land, but this doesn’t really come close to emulating how a novice dog must feel when he gets tangled for the first time in the decoy lines while swimming.

Also socializing your pup around decoys - such as in and around the boat in the yard - will help her learn that they are just tools and are not to be objects that need attention.

For that reason, until your dog has become familiar with this scenario without panicking, it is probably best if you always place your decoys in a relatively shallow area where you can wade into the water to free him before terror sets in. Also, until your dog is experienced, try to avoid placing your decoy spread where the bottom is rocky or there is a lot of underwater cover for the weights to get snagged on. And certainly avoid a fast current until he is very familiar with dealing with decoys and their strings.

One last thing for you to consider: It is pretty common for hunters to use heavy-weight fishing line, about the weight of string-trimmer line, to attach their weights to their decoys. This is great line for hunting decoys, but when training a youngster to deal with decoys, take it off. Use some actual decoy anchor cord, preferably the "tangle-free" stuff, which won't cut through the dog's skin quite so quickly; you can always replace it when hunting season arrives, especially if you have the line and anchor attached to the decoy with a snap swivel. A dog that panics and gets tangled in fishing-type line is much more vulnerable to getting sliced up.

And while you're changing the line on your training decoys, substitute any mushroom anchors used for hunting in rivers or where decoys are susceptible to getting blown around will likely get hung up on whatever is on the bottom of the pond if the dog panics, just creating even bigger problems.

As with most things when it comes to your young retriever, think ahead to everything your dog will encounter during his days afield, some of which may be easy to overlook, such as his becoming familiar with something as simple as decoys. It's much easier to deal with it early and in the yard than when birds are flying.