Hunting & Fishing painting duck decoys - most common NE PA ducks

[TOP PREDATOR]

i've got 2 dz mallard decoys that i've picked up on clearance sales and such.

i'd like to keep 8-10 of them mallards, then paint up the rest to match the types of ducks around my area rather than specifically buying decoys for that type of duck.

if you couldn't tell, i'm a somewhat newbie to duck hunting, i know we have mallards, woodies, black ducks. are there any others that frequent NE PA enough that painting up the rest of the decoys makes sense?

if it does what other ones do you think i should go with?

FYI, i'm mostly interested in geese, but when ducks open, i wouldn't mind switching gears a little when the honkers are slow.

thanks for any tips on this, or if this is just a stupid thing to do.

 

[Wyfox]

Just use the Mallards, all species will land in them including divers, I've killed sea ducks offshore with mallard and canvasback decoys. As you get into it more add a 4 pack of teal or Woodducks just to add more confidence. I've killed limits of ducks with 6 decoys just as easy as I have with 300 decoys on long lines, I normally use a dozen mallards now. Painting decoys is very time consuming work, I use to hunt with hand painted E.Allen decoys for years.

 

[Guest]

Gadwalls are another good choice. Late season in heavily hunted areas, the ducks have see way too many mallard spreads, so something different sometimes looks good to them.
You may want to consider making a jerk rig out of some of them as well.

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

yeah, i was thinking of a jerk rig, i like the idea of having that movement going.

we also get some black and white ducks mid to late season, not sure yet if they are buffleheads, ring necks, goldeneyes, or scaup. again being a newer duck hunter and having ducks as a side show to geese, i hafta confirm what the hell they are this year. while still a side show, while i'm there i might as well make the best of it.

we also got a smaller sized duck vs. a mallard / black duck that's pretty constant in the ponds i'm frequenting, they do a little dive and stay under for about 30 seconds and pop up 10-15 yards away from where they went under. have no idea what they may be, they are a buff brown color.

though chomping at the bit to get em painted and rigged, perhaps i should just hold off dicking around with the painting until i can figure out what the other regulars actually are, rig up 10-12 mallards as wyfox suggested, and then give a couple a similar paint scheme just to catch the eye of whatever else is around.

on a side note, cabelas is having a waterfowl sale, i got a 6 pack of Canadian goose floaters a few weeks ago elsewhere and just ordered 6 more yesterday at cabelas. they are final approach, all upright heads, but w free shipping & tax are just over 70.00, which is a pretty good price for floating decoys.

the 6 i used looked really good on the water, lots of detail.
Final Approach® Standard Canada Goose Floater : Cabela's

another side note, being a newbie to floating decoys to any other newbie waterfowlers, texas rigging is pretty simple and quick to do, very easy to deploy and pickup the decoys. for the geese decoys, i put them into a bag anyhow as they made a thunderous noise when getting into the spot as they flopped against each other using the "over the shoulder" carry. hooking the caribiner to the backstrap kept the lines from getting messed up.

 

[Super91]

Do not shoot that little brown duck that dives.It is a Grebe and will get you a hefty ticket.