Dressing Up Your Decoys
You know that your decoys, battered and faded after years of use, should be repainted or replaced. Until now, you’ve had only those options.
Now you’ve got a third. You can cover your decoys with stretchable, polyester covers on which are printed photo-exact replicas of real ducks and geese.
Your decoys will look better than they did when you bought them. Not even ducks and geese, especially the floaters, will be able to tell the difference between their live relatives and the decoys fitted with the tough, long-lasting covers.
For two years, the folks at Outlaw Decoys, N624 Fancher, have been experimenting with various fabrics and ways to create decoy covers that would be durable and deceive all but the most decoy-shy birds. At the same time, they knew that the covers must be priced low enough to attract waterfowl hunters who might be considering buying new decoys.
They’re satisfied that they’ve solved the problems and the firm is now producing and shipping thousands of covers, dubbed FotoFeathers, to wholesalers and dealers throughout the United States.
They’re also convinced that the creation of photo-perfect covers is a significant step in the evolution of decoy production and that the FotoFeathers make the best and most effective decoys since live decoys were banned many years ago.
Jim Cripe, the firm’s president and creator of the first and most successful photo-exact silhouette decoys, said he believes duck and goose hunters everywhere will buy the covers.
Most assembly line decoys shine, especially when they’re wet. FotoFeathers covers won’t shine even during a rainstorm.
As they began exploring ways to manufacture covers for decoys, the company’s staff quickly encountered problems. They had to decide which of numerous fabrics would be best for the covers, how to print the covers in such a way that the simulated feathers would be in the right places once the covers were pulled over the decoys and how to cut the fabric and sew it.
Cripe said that a stretchable polyester fabric, similar to that used in stretchable bathing suits, proved to be the best material. It’s strong, durable and can easily be printed with photo-perfect feathers. The covers can be washed when they become dirty.
A big problem proved to be getting the feathers exactly right, according to Kurt Markson, Outlaw’s general manager.
“That involved color and correct anatomical registration,” he said. “When the fabric conforms to the body, all the feathers have to be in the right place around the decoy.”
The sewing had to be special inasmuch as the covers would take beatings in hunters’ bags, in the field and on the water, Markson said.
“It took us a lot of time to find the right sewers because the stitching is so important,” Markson added. “We wanted to produce covers that would last a long time.”
The pre-production problems took more time than Cripe and his staff had anticipated. However, the first of the duck and goose decoys were shipped to dealers this month. The company’s latest catalog, to be distributed in September, will list the covers available for the coming waterfowl season.
Although field decoys fitted with the FotoFeathers covers will be almost-perfect replicas of the geese and ducks they imitate, they won’t be as effective as live birds at decoying flying birds. That’s because they don’t move.
Floating decoys fitted with the photo-exact covers will move around when there’s a breeze, fooling the most discriminating ducks and geese. They’ll be the next best thing to live decoys.
Hunters can buy covers for large Canada goose and mallard decoys. Next year the company will market covers for pintails and perhaps canvasback, redhead and wigeon decoys and for small goose decoys.
A hunter who buys covers for Canada goose decoys can convert the decoys into a snow goose simply by turning the cover inside out and threading a white head and neck tube over the decoy’s head. The white snow goose heads are ordered separately.
The company is producing FotoFeathers covers for both magnum and standard decoys. The magnum cover fits ducks that are 18 to 22 inches from beak to tail. They retail for $79.99 a dozen. Standard covers fit ducks that are 14 to 18 inches and retail for $69.99 a dozen. The Canada goose cover fits Big Foot, Flambeau, Persuader, Higdon Full Bodies and other similar-sized decoys. Retail price for a dozen covers is $159.99. Twelve snow goose heads for converting a Canada goose decoy into a snow goose decoy retail for $12.
Considering the fact that prices of high quality decoys are considerably higher than the FotoFeathers covers, thousands of waterfowlers likely will invest in the covers for their old decoys rather than buy new ones.