Anyone have a Homemade Decoy Idea

Dmcgee

Dmcgee

New member
I thought about buying a whirling woodpecker, then I had the Idea I could probally make something simular. Does anyone have any ideas for a smaller decoy that can be clipped to a tree branch. I have a predator supreme but I think I have had a few yotes shy away. Also a lot of the places I hunt are pretty thick with mosquite trees and brush. So something simular to the woodpecker would be perfect.
 
Get yourself one of these and wire it up to two AA batteries.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=273-258

You can even wire this up to your e-caller if you have remote ability and control the thing. Then for a decoy, just use one of these tightened down around the shaft gear
http://www.nelcoproducts.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?pid=88&cid=39

Then you just need to tape some feathers onto that wire tie and it'll spin around and look like a dying motor....lol..

Use one of these to clip it to tree branches
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=270-343

Or better yet, I just use a piece of rebar tie wire and then you can wrap it around large branched if you want. It works pretty good and looks great spinning around. I'll post some pictures of mine when I get a chance.
 
Easy to do. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

Either scrounge or go to Radio Shack and buy one of those 1.5 volt motors ($2?), a rheostat*, an on/off switch*, a spool of wire, a battery tray that'll hold one "AA", "A", "C" or "D" battery. The larger batteries last longer. Go dumpster diving behind any shopping center for a piece of poly foam. If you find a sheet of plastic or coroplast, grab that for the wings, otherwise cut a plastic lid off coffee can, butter container, old sign or whatever.

Cut the foam to any shape you want.
Cut a hole or holes for the battery tray, motor, switch* and rheostat*.
Wire battery tray, rheostat*, on/off switch* and motor.
Glue the parts inside the foam body.
Glue a makeshift wing to the motor shaft.
Paint the thing if you want too.

*These pieces are optional*.

Here is a rabbit I made:

Rabbit_with_power.jpg


The rheostat is nice because you can control the speed of the motor with it. You don't really need an on/off switch if you don't mind taking the battery in and out to start and shut it off.

I placed my battery tray in a box and it uses four "AA" batteries for weight. Without the extra weight, I'd need to clamp it to a tree or tie it down to keep it from taking off into the next county. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
If you know of places where people illegally dump stuff, you could probably find nearly everything you need. Old broken toys often have battery trays, switches and motors. Toys, TVs, various electronic junk will have wire and other parts that you can use. I'm a real scrounge. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Even if you have to buy everything, I doubt if it'll cost $10 total. If you don't mind scrounging and dumpster diving you could build it for nothing. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
Nice one there Weasel. We think alike considering we have the same motor and battery pack. Nice decoy there. I'll post photos of mine. I have it on a dowel that I can stick in the snow and let it spin.
 
After reading Predator Hunter magazine I came across this foam lifesize dove decoy at Sportsmans Warehouse. It is a shell(hollow) with a clothespin glued on the bottom, and weighs near nothing. I saw a hawk & magpie fighting so I shot the magpie to use the feathers but the hawk took it. Seemed to me the magpie is easy to see and goes hand in hand with coyotes. Even have magpie on the Foxpro. We rarely save any money on these projects with gas and rising costs. It can be theraputic, satisfying, or something to be proud of. However I do have a few original projects that exceed current products available. Oh the foam decoy was about $2.50+tax.
16ec9f2d.jpg
 
Here's a decoy that I put together this summer. It started out as one of those cheap lawn ornaments that has wings that move in the wind. I opened it up, put in a RS 1.5 V. motor, a battery holder and a switch. I clipped the wings in half and placed one side of the wing on the gear from the motor. It's very similar to the whirling woodpecker decoy. Total cost, including the bird, was under $15. Since the lawn ornaments were being closed out, I grabbed two bluejays and a robin. MI VHNTR

Bluejay.jpg
 
Picked up a very realistic 18" stuffed jaguar toy from the supermarket for $12 the other night. Just now it's sitting about a foot behind my monitor as I type, it's soulful glass eyes glaring at me. Of course the rosettes are all wrong--and the eyes are brown not blue--but the silouhette is just about right for a ML cub. Planning is to de-stuff it and build an armature to swish/ or flick it's tail with an R/C servo. Maybe another servo to toss it's head back and open it's jaw.

I'm operating under the assumption that a decoy with motion can be more "representative" than a dead-ringer one with no motion. (From having called critters that missed seeing decoys with no motion.) But I certainly wouldn't mind any suggestions as to where I might find a more realistic ML cub to begin with, though.


LionHo

PS--Interestingly, first time out with the jaguar two nights ago, I had it propped up on a stump 4 feet off the ground, and was playing a gravelly voiced jackrabbit, when I called a forkhorn blacktail buck to 25 yards. Which bolted when I switched to rattling antlers. (Bucks often do silly things this time of year, no?)
 
I wasn't picking on you, but normally if there is a leaf turned someone sees it. This is just behind the woodshed and the background is coyote territory.
 
Believe it or not, but a black trash bag blown about a quarter of the way full and loged in a sagebrush or mosquite looks like a raven or crow from only feet away. The nice thing about this method is that you probably have a black trash bag laying around the house that you can use
 
Have you guys seen those annoying little white battery operated dogs that yap and bounce on there front feet and do back flips at the toy stores in the mall? If it was painted a light brown or grey and set on a piece of plywood so it can flip, would it work or not?
 
mr. wiggles is his name.

Unfortunately no pic to share but I can be descriptive. Toy stores sell plastic balls with usually a fur type material tail attached. On flat hard ground they roll around and I guess that is interesting to toddlers. Anyways, they don't roll in the field so you drill a little hole in the bottom that a welding rod (crumble all the crap off the rod) goes into. The other end of the rod you stick into the ground. Cover the ball with some type of fur (rabbit, fox, etc., doesn't matter). This is a low ground decoy so it does not work well in high brush.

This little guy shakes around on the rod and gives a quivering effect. There you have mr. wiggles. A few coyotes have rolled him but he is still hanging in there.
 


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