I was excited when these arrived, but unfortunately, that was in mid-summer and the wait to use them was months away. I kept them boxed up until early September, strung them up with some new four-ounce lines and as I do with all my decoys, put them in a 12-slotted bag. The decoy line attachment points are solid and will not rip out. You can attach lines to the front or back.
My first impression was these are durable decoys. Nothing about them indicates they are not going to make a long run in the decoy spread. Perhaps as advertised, they might be a throwback of sort in style but really, these are incorporating all the newest ideas, innovations and technology out there for decoys. Consider just the plasma-treated paint adhesion technology.
Your first look shows a rounded bottom unlike most on the market. The keel weight as well jumps out at you as something not typical. Decoy line attachment points are provided in front and back with a slot to secure lines of the appropriate length. The bodies are molded and representative of some great carving work by Tom Christie, with an upright swimmer and surface feeder hen, one upright swimmer drake, one low-head relaxed drake, a surface feeder drake and a preening drake in each half-dozen.
Color is excellent and of course, Flambeau’s U-Vision paint is present to make each decoy naturally pop. The detail is well intended with head color, feather shading and accents, bill detail and color, and eyes. The speculum patch really stands out on the wings.
The bottom design is the key feature and anyone using these great decoys will want to know if the design really works. Old wooden decoys used a similar design as the bottoms were rounded too, and after all, a duck is not flat on the underside! There are several advertised characteristics including live duck performance on the water, gliding in the current, auto-correction in response to waves, floating in very shallow water. I opened the season with these in my spread so here are my thoughts.
The Gunning Series decoy rides high in the water. Think about that rounded bottom and how quickly the decoy can respond to wind, waves, and current and I assure you these look and behave differently than my other decoys. I noticed, as the wind picked up the movement was bouncy, but balanced. Each time the decoy reached the length of the decoy line, it responded. I attribute this to the keel and bottom, but also the lightweight body design. These are easy to pick out in your spread especially when the wind is blowing. They are indeed very realistic.
The new Flambeau Gunning Series is an appreciated differentiation to any decoy spread. Give yourself the advantage of decoys that look great, ride with attitude on the water and provide excellent action in light and heavy wind, wave, and current.
Gunning Tech Video:
MSRP – $99.99/six