How to Store Duck Decoys So They Last

Storing decoys between hunts

In season, decoys usually live wet. The single most useful habit is to let them drain before they go in the truck, which is why every good decoy bag is built around water getting out rather than staying out. GHG publishes a quick-drain mesh bottom panel on its 12-Slot Duck Decoy Bag; Rig'Em Right publishes a mesh bottom on the Recon that drains fast and, in its own words, “keeps this bag afloat while you're picking up decoys.” A bag that drains is a bag whose contents are dry by the next morning.

What you are avoiding is not rust — most of a decoy is plastic — but two slower problems. Standing water in a sealed bag grows mildew that stains paint and smells, and a wet decoy stacked under three others deforms at the contact points over a weekend. Neither is dramatic. Both shorten the life of a spread you paid real money for.

If you hunt back-to-back days, leave the bag open in a garage overnight rather than in the truck bed with a cover on. If you hunt below freezing, a wet decoy bag left outside turns into one frozen block by morning, which is its own argument for bringing them inside.

Why slotted bags beat a loose sack

A loose sack puts twelve painted bodies in direct contact with each other for every mile of truck vibration, and the paint on the high points — the crown of the head, the top of the tail — is the first thing to go. A slotted bag puts each decoy in its own sleeve, so bodies touch fabric rather than each other. GHG states the purpose plainly on its 12-slot bag: the mesh sleeves are there to protect decoys from weight damage. The published slot size on that bag is 6.5 inches wide by 6.5 inches long by 13.5 inches high, which GHG says fits all sizes of floating decoys.

The trade is volume. Slots are efficient per decoy but they cap the count: a 12-slot bag holds twelve, full stop. An open-mouth pack with cinch straps holds whatever fits — Rig'Em Right publishes approximately 18 to 24 decoys for the Refuge Runner and 12 to 18 for the Recon — at the cost of decoys riding against each other. For a hunter with one dozen, slots are strictly better. For a hunter carrying two dozen into public marsh, the open pack with a padded backrest and waist belt is the only realistic option, and some paint wear is the price.

Our best decoy bags roundup ranks the whole category on published capacity, material, carry system and drainage if you want the full comparison.

Off-season storage

Six months of summer does more damage to a spread than six months of hunting, and almost all of it comes down to heat and weight.

Heat is the real enemy. A closed attic, a metal shed or a trailer parked in July sun reaches temperatures that soften plastic decoy bodies. A softened body that is sitting under the weight of two dozen others takes a permanent dent at every contact point, and a soft keel can sag out of true so the decoy no longer self-rights. Store on a garage floor, in a basement, or in a shaded shed — somewhere that stays within the range a car interior does not reach.

Weight is the second. Do not stack totes of decoys four high. Whatever is in the bottom tote spends the summer under a hundred pounds, and the deformation is slow and invisible until October. If you must stack, put the heaviest-bodied decoys at the bottom — foam-filled bodies resist this far better than hollow ones — and keep flocked decoys on top, because crushed flocking does not recover.

Dry first, always. Put decoys away wet and you have sealed a damp container for six months. Spread them out for a day, then bag them. If you store in the bag rather than a tote, leave it unzipped.

Check the paint and heads before you put them away, not in October. Spring is when replacement parts are in stock and you are not in a hurry. Avian-X states that broken or missing parts such as decoy heads and clips are replaced through customer service case by case, Higdon sells Battleship replacement heads separately, and Dakota sells replacement bases for its Signature Series in four-packs — all of which are much easier to order in May than the week before the opener. Which brand supports which parts is covered in Avian-X vs GHG decoys and Avian-X vs Dakota decoys.

Lines, weights and tangles

Keep lead away from paint. An anchor weight resting on a decoy body for six months leaves a gray mark and, on a soft body, a dent. Weights go in their own bucket or in the bag's outside pocket, never loose in the main compartment on top of the bodies.

Lines are a tension problem. A rigged dozen stored clipped on a carabiner, with every line the same length, does not tangle, because nothing is free to move. The same dozen tipped loose into a tote is a knot by spring. If you rig Texas style, store the dozen on the carabiner it came on and treat that bundle as the unit. Full detail on lengths, weights and swivels is in how to rig duck decoys.

Silhouettes and stakes are their own case. The bodies stack flat and take almost no space; a dozen loose steel stakes in the same tote will scratch every one of them. Dakota, GHG and Higdon all publish stake handles on their Canada silhouettes, which makes bundling them easy — band the stakes together and store them separately from the bodies. See best goose silhouette decoys for the dozens themselves.

The four ways decoys get ruined in storage

One: attic heat. Softened bodies, sagged keels, permanent dents. The cheapest fix on this page is moving the totes to a floor.

Two: stored wet and sealed. Mildew stains on paint and a smell that does not come out of bag fabric. Dry for a day, store the bag open.

Three: lead against bodies. Gray marks and dents on the exact surfaces that are supposed to look like a duck. Weights live in their own container.

Four: loose in a pile. Paint off the crown of the head and the top of the tail, which is where a duck's eye lands first. Slots or sleeves if the count allows it; cinch straps and a padded pack if it does not.

None of this is expensive and none of it takes a weekend. It is the difference between a dozen that still looks right in its fifth season and one you quietly replace in its third. For what you are protecting, see best duck decoys and best goose decoys.