The first time I saw silhouette decoys I was quite skeptical; I mean surely the birds are smart enough to see that these 2D pieces of plastic aren’t real. I was quickly proven wrong.
The realistic printing and variety of positions these decoys come in really caught the eye of the incoming geese. Almost every hunt I’ve been on in the past seven years both here in Ontario and in Saskatchewan has included some use of silhouette decoys, whether the 2D version or the silhouette socks.
What are they?
These 2D decoys are incredibly realistic, thanks to modern HD printing technology. The lifelike patterns are so convincing even coyotes and predatory birds have been known to take a swipe at the skinny imposters. Most silo decoys are made of a water resistant, tough corrugated plastic material. This provides increased decoy rigidity while still staying only a few millimeters thick.
The decoy stakes are generally made of spring steel and are two-pronged ranging in length from 20 to 36 inches long and are two pronged. Steel will not deform when being inserted into hard or frozen ground. As we know in Ontario we can get some really frozen soil later into the hunting season, in that case a rubber mallet can come in handy for driving them into the ground.
Who makes them?
For decades, crafty waterfowl hunters have been making flat decoys out of a variety of components and materials and have had success. In the past 30 years there have been more and more companies creating their own signature silhouette decoys for the hunting market. Dive Bomb Industries, Reel Geese Silhouette Decoys, Final Approach, White Rock decoys, and Cabela’s brand Northern Flight are the most common brands seen in the field today. All of them with slightly different designs and price points and they use very similar materials. Dive Bomb is the industry leader, thanks to successful marketing and social networking, and is the most used silhouette decoy company with Canadian outfitters.
Why use them?
Two reasons: lightweight and affordability. A bag of five dozen, easy to stack silhouette decoys weighs in at just over 50 pounds. The way they stack so easily together making cleanup after a hunt a breeze. I’ve seen guys roll up to a hunt with all the decoys in a Honda Civic. That’s how compact and portable these decoys are.
Now to affordability; the average cost for a dozen silo decoys can be between $100-200, and for a pack of five dozen, the $450-500 range. Some companies include a bag and some charge extra, around $100 for the bag, and trust me it’s worth it.
Decisions, decisions
Choosing which silhouette decoys are right for you is simple. Determine which type of migratory bird species you want to target and buy the right kind. Canada geese, snow geese in white or blue phase, speckle belly geese, sandhill cranes, and a variety of ducks are all available in silhouette form. There are original, flocked, and fully flocked. The problem with the original is they tend to glare when the sun is rising and can cause birds to flare. The solution to this problem was to “flock them” which is a process where they adhere a coating made from nylon industrial fibers to the decoy. This creates a realistic looking texture that helps reduce glare.
Flocked decoys are where the head is coated but body remains original. Fully flocked is where the whole decoy is covered in this material. Another popular decoy is the silhouette sock, commonly called socks. They have the same corrugated plastic head but are equipped with a Tyvek body and 28–36 inch single steel stake. The hollow fabric body catches the smallest amount of wind and inflates the decoy giving it a realistic look and life like movement.
These extremely compact decoys are super lightweight and easy to deploy. They have a hinge that allows you to fold the stake in with the body so you can fit up to 10 dozen decoys per bag!
Setting the spread
The beauty with using 2D decoys is the ability to setup a huge spread in a fraction of the time it would take to set an all-full body decoy spread. That being said, I have been on many successful hunts where we mixed full body decoys with silhouettes but the same goes for hunts where we used silhouettes only. I found that using only 2D decoys works great with hunts that see smaller flocks coming in sporadically. The massive snow goose spreads we set in the spring were much more successful when we used a mix of silo’s, socks and full body decoys.
Whether you buy high-quality silhouettes or make them yourself, you’ve save a bundle of money, and some garage space for that off-season storage. Give them a go.
DIY Angle
You can give inflation the middle finger even more by making your own silhouettes. Former OOD editor, the late John Kerr, would gather unwanted lawn signs after an election. He’d cut out simple goose shapes, give them a matte black paint job and add stiff wire legs. Please don’t go ripping off people’s election signs during an election, though.
Originally published in the July 2023 issue of Ontario OUT of DOORS
Leave A Comment