homemade decoy

S

skandiaman

New member
I read an article last year about hunters making moving decoys with a mechanically vibrating ball inside a stuffed animal. Does anyone know the name of the ball. It seems to me it was something like "magna or moto" ball. Thank you.
 
It's the weazel ball. on sale at KB toys for 7.99. Unless you are hunting flat close cut pasture or open dirt fields, the yote or fox will have problems seeing them... the ball is about the size of a base ball with a "tail"...a little grass or a few weeds will hide it. We did some field tests with them and even contacted the manufacturer (DY Toy) to buy case lots direct. The price was right but the quality of the "moto ball" sucked in my humble opinion. it will hang up on small rocks, soft dirt, grass etc and not make any movement. Decided to pass.
 
I went to Wally Mart and purchased a BUMBLE BALL, 4-6 bucks and they come in two sizes. The larger size uses 4 AA batteries and two AA batteries for the small size.

I then went to a fabric store and bought some fake rabbit fur but I think something in a bobcat fur will work as good or better. I wrapped the fake fur around the bumble ball and left a small opening so I could switch the thing on and off. You can hold it together using some safety pins or stitch it together.

I tie it to some brush with some nylon string next to my caller and sit tight for awhile. This has worked on several coyotes.
 
I just bought a bumble ball at walmart and have it inside a stuffed animal(rabbit). The motion is great it's just that I don't know how I'm going to attach it to a stick. I've seen a commercially made one that was attached to a sick but there was aspring between the ball and the stick, for added motion. As soon as i can figure out that one I will be in business.
 
When I first heard of the weasel ball, I had my wife go to town and buy me two that night. But I couldn't figure out how to mount them either. I went to the decoy heart website and called the guy. His comes with or without a spring which fits onto a 3/8 dow rod. I think they cost about $15. I would recomend just spending the extra and getting the decoy heart.
 
Just rigged up two at thanksgiving.You can use anyting round and close to 3/8 dia ya want. we used a white fiberglass fence post from the local farm store.Should be plenty there for 2 or 3 different lenghs.If ya have a grinder grind a point on them.Then go to your local hardware store and get a spring. Ya need a compression spring at least 3" long and about .060-.080 wire dia.. Get 2 you'll screw up the first one.Make sure the I.D.is close to your stake Dia.Slip stake inside of the wire.Then take a pliers and start gently sqweaseing the wire down to the stake dia. while going up the wire.Useing the stake as a mandrel. Crimp the first 3/4 -1' of the spring this way.The last little bit you may have to remove the stake to get a tight fit. Take the other end of the spring and crimp it down to size for a small screw to just fit thru.Drill a hole in your ball and turn in screw with spring attached.Slideing spring down on the stake untill you get the right action.Spring and post might cost 3 bucks. Good luck.
 
Umm, while Rumple's idea worked well it seemed a bit too much effort...

How 'bout some 5 minute epoxy...
Take the spring (the size Rumple mentioned sounds perfect) and dip one end in a generous amount of the glue and stick it to the ball (roughing the surface with some sandpaper first would help), after that dries well, take one end of the dowel and dip it in the glue, and glue the dowel inside the spring. Now you have a weasle ball permanantly mounted to the dowel.

The other way one could do it is to glue the spring to the ball, and get a piece of rubber hose that fits on the dowel (glue it in place on the dowel) and the spring can be shoved down inside this piece of rubber hose... now you'd have a weasle ball not pemanantly mounted to the dowel (and you could use a long dowel in deep cover and a shorty for stubble fields... the weasle could then be put away in a pocket or pack, and the stick rubber banded to the side of your gun barrel, and then your hands are free to do whatever between stands.

I hope this helps,

Jeff /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
A Decoy Heart. JB weld a 38 shell cassing to the bottom. Go to the local Hardware store. Find a spring that fits into the case,some stock rod that fits into the spring, ( tight )Then just use your imagination on what to put on it.
 
SKANDIAMAN: i've never tried a battery-powered decoy, but i often hang with fish line a couple strips of skin from a brush branch, hoping the wind will move them around some and that the coyotes will be distracted for a moment by them. i need just enough distraction time to get my crosshairs on 'em.

here's a photo of the skin strips.
coyotemink
 
Go to Wal-Mart in the pet dept and they have these cat toys that are a small fur covered ball with what looks like pheasant or chicken tail feathers attached to it. Hang that from a branch with fishing line and the slightest breeze gives it lots of movement, it moves almost as much as anything electronic you spend big bucks for. I tried the weasel ball on a spring but I haven't had much luck, I think it's because it's noisy.
Anything with fur or feathers that makes movement should work. The guy in the post who just hangs up rabbit skins on fishing line looks like a simple but obviously effective method. Also,if you know anyone who has a pet rabbit or guinea pig or hamster,try storing your decoys in a zip loc bag filled with the wood shavings or whatever they use for bedding in the cage. The decoys get saturated with the smell of the animal and it adds to the lure of the decoy.
 
I made a decoy by taking the weasel ball and stuffing it into a stuffed bear. To mount on the stake, I took two pieces of a dowel rod and glued the spring between the two dowels (connecting the pieces)then I took cable ties and attached one dowel rod to the bear and the other end in the stake.The hole in the bear is just below the neck and allows me to place the bear in the ground, turn on the ball and drop the ball into the bear.
 
Take your foam rabbit decoy, put it on the stake, back up to around 50 yards, and shoot it dead-center with a 2-3/4" magnum load of copper-plated BB's. (I did this originally because there was a bobcat sitting directly behind my decoy one evening. The results were spectacular, but that's another topic.) Anyway, glue a "down" feather in every entrance and exit hole in the rabbit. The slightest movement of air makes that thing come alive. I used wild turkey breast feathers on mine, but I think that white goose feathers would be even better.

What's even funnier is that it works.

ScottD
 
I picked up a moto magnet two this afternoon it is for goose and turkey deoys. I adjusted the linkage and added some fake fur and it looks like it will work pretty good. Since water fowl season is all most over I found mine on sale for under 20 bucks. I will let you know if it works plan on using it later this week.
 


Write your reply...
Back
Top