It's 6:30 a.m. mid-August, I slowly make my way across a small lake that I frequently hunt during the waterfowl season. Sweat pours down my face burning my eyes. Mosquitoes attempt to close in but the heavy dose of muskol holds them at bay. My mission, to check on the condition of several shore blinds after their nine month abandonment and make necessary touch-
ups. My 10' Jon boat serves as both a walking stabilizer and small barge hauling wood, real grass panels and tools.

The early morning silence is suddenly broken by the clattering of Canada geese near one of my gunning locations, a shallow water point with exposed flats. After standing motionless for several minutes the birds become silent. I abandon my boat and go into stealth mode, quietly creeping along the shoreline hoping for a glimpse at my favorite fowl. The rising sun projects enough light to silhouette what appears to be a dozen or so Canadas standing in the shallows. After a few moments my eyes began to focus on numerous bird species resting on the water. My decision to slowly move away from the area in an attempt to leave the birds undisturbed fails as I stumble on my retreat. All hell breaks loose as the 50 or so geese become airborne and quickly depart from the area. I use my hands as a visor from the sun watching them as they disappear into the eastern horizon. I continue to dredge on toward my blind's location and when arriving I find a shoreline littered with feathers, droppings, and imprints of webbed feet. It was obvious that the birds like the past preferred area of the lake.

Shallow water areas allow fowl to dabble, preen, feed, drink and rest; call it the best of all worlds. Dryland waterfowlers would refer to this area in a field as the X spot, the exact location they witnessed birds feeding, for them finding goose excrements is like finding gold. Whether you hunt the farm ponds of Ohio, shallow rivers of Nebraska, coastal marshes of Maryland, cattail sloughs of the Dakota's or flooded rice fields of Arkansas, a duck is a duck and a goose is a goose, their behavior is consistent. Not unlike dryland feeding areas where birds use the exact spots in fields year after year only given areas within a body of water are found appealing by waterfowl. This isn't to say that you can't experience fantastic gunning if you're not on the X. As much as we strive to always be where the birds were yesterday, today may bring changes in weather or feeding habits that make yesterday's X today's S, S being the beginning letter used in a common English word to describe how one feels when prevalent winds make a 180 degree turn overnight.

What separates great hunters from good hunters is their ability to adapt quickly to changing conditions. Since man first began waterfowl hunting, decoys and calling have been used to emulate live bird activity in attempt to lure ducks and geese to an exact spot that they naturally may not have chosen on their own. While calling brings vocal life to our spread, our decoys must be both coaxing and convincing on their own. Exacting bird anatomy, individual body postures, placement and the element of natural motion should all exist and play a role when purchasing decoys. As much as one would naturally associate keeled floating decoys in a water setup, one should also include standing full bodies. Not that every situation will allow for full body decoy use, but more often than not it will. Anytime you have barren flats, sand bars or short grassed pastures adjacent to the water edge that allow for the use of decoys on land, full bodies should be placed in the water to represent birds walking to shore. Their placement shouldn't be restricted only to water depths that allow them to stand securely on their stock foot bases or stakes. Who's to say that full bodies can't be standing in three feet of water, that they can only be placed on the levees in flooded rice fields? Why can't we use them in marshes where water borders shoreline cattails? Do we even need accessible dryland? After all, we're attempting to create an illusion that fowl find irresistible. Do the ducks and geese know that the water depth is too great to stand in?

As swimming fowl close in on shorelines they eventually bottom out due to shallow water depths.   At that point they will instinctively choose to sit or stand.   In this transition area you'll find an overlap of both standing and sitting birds, beyond it all the birds will be sitting and inside of it standing.   With varying water depths and bottom contours this transition area could be very broad.   In flooded croplands like rice, corn, and wheat, the depths may allow birds to stand throughout the entire body of water.   By adding a staking system to our full bodies we're not restricted to using them in only inches of water therefore we can create the transition zone in depths up to three feet.    This allows for their use in a broader range of conditions and expands the usable area in which they can be placed.   In situations where I could previously only set 10 full bodies using their standard foot bases I can now use 30.   This increase in numbers translates into a greater variety of head and body postures in our spread and magnifies it's visibility considering that only 65% of a bird's body mass is visible at rest.

With a little creative thinking every full body duck and goose decoy on the market can be fitted with a staking system that allows for their use beyond the depths of most shallow waters. This modification may require drilling holes in foot bases, foot base removal, or cutting cavities on the underside of the body.   With the exception of a true stretched neck goose, I want the balance of my duck and goose full bodies to be non-static.   By using Greenhead Gear full-body duck and goose decoys with their Real Motion staking system, we can randomly place moving decoys throughout our water setup bringing life to the entire layout.   Unlike a keeled decoy that encounters the resistance of water the Real Motion stakes allow their feeder and active postures to turn freely in the lightest of winds.   With no functional modifications to the bodies or Real Motion bases these decoys can go right back to dryland hunting without reverse alterations.

For all staking purposes I use 5/8" hardwood dowel rods, smaller diameters are too flexible and larger overkill.   By purchasing 4' dowels you can get two stakes from each by cutting them into lengths of 1', 1.5', 2', 2.5' and 3'.   Along with using the full 4' length you'll be able to cover a wide range of water depths. If you frequently hunt the same body of water and it maintains consistent water levels, you may learn that two or three different lengths will suffice.  

Using a rasp, file, or grinder bring one end of the stake to a rounded point, this allows for easier penetration into the lake or slough bottom.   Finish by spray painting the upper two-thirds of the dowel flat black.

Static Stakes
For Greenhead Gear static goose lookers I use only 3' and 4' dowels considering that it takes 14' of stake to cover the distance from the foot base to a solid point in the back of the decoy.   You'll also loose about another 5 inches when securing the stake in the pond, lake or slough floor.   Using a 5/8" spade bit drill a hole dead center in the bottom of the body 1 ¼" ahead (toward the chest) from where the foot base locks on.   Stick a 1' piece of dowel through the hole and push it into the body about 8".   After attaching the foot base pull the rod down until it rests vertically on the base.   At this spot drill a 5/8" hole.   This exacting alignment assures that your decoy will stand level and erect.   The same procedure should be used on all static decoys.

Motion Stakes
After securing the length of a dowel rod horizontally in a vise, use a nail or punch to make a pilot hole centered in the end.   Using a ¼" bit drill a hole straight into the dowel 2 ¼" deep. Next, take a fiberglass motion stake and measure down 2" from its transition into the stake head.   Using a hacksaw with a fine toothed metal blade cut the stake at that point.   If you rough cut the stake it will splinter and be difficult to insert in the hole.   To secure the motion stake head into the dowel rod, force a strong epoxy like PC-7 into the hole.   When pushing in the stake twist it side to side to assure good adhesive coverage.  

Setting Stakes
When setting your full bodies, stake the dowel first and then place the decoy onto the dowel.   If any depth adjustments need to be made, remove the decoy and push or pull the rod.   Slap the dowel to assure that it's securely staked.   For more precise depth placement when setting the dowels, put each style of decoy on a stake and make a notch on the rod at a point where the water level should be.   Keep in mind that the foot bases on static decoys should extend two inches below the water surface and legs on motion decoys two inches above.   Once you've marked one dowel transfer the notch measurements to balance your stakes.   When removing the stakes grab just the dowel and twist it while pulling upward.   For storage and transportation of the stakes purchase a "stuff sack" like one used for tents.

As our quarry becomes conditioned and increasingly difficult to decoy we need to "raise the stakes" for that added edge.