A Look at Rig'Em Right's New BLACKOUTS

Years ago, on a windy day, while hunting divers on Lake Erie, I ran into a group of seasoned hunters at the boat launch. Upon starting some conversation and discussing the day’s hunt, our rigs, and other hunting rabble, I noted that almost all their decoys, regardless of age or brand, had been dusted or totally painted flat black. One of the gentlemen noted my inspection of his decoys and quickly stated, “All you young hunters like the looks of them fancy painted decoys, but all we care about is they stand out.” They had more ducks in the boat than we did, so who was I to argue?

That brief conversation piqued my interest in investigating how decoys “look” on the water. No, not how realistic they are or how they move, but how they stand out under different light conditions. My observation was that on sunny days, dark hens stood out more than most drakes, and on overcast days, both light and dark decoys stood out, with the darker decoys having a slight edge. Not wanting to bastardize my flock of highly realistic painted decoys completely (like everyone else, I enjoy realistic decoys,) I started to pull drakes from the rig and replace them with darker hens further noting that the more I transitioned, the more my rig stood out from a greater distance and seemed to have more “pulling” power. That led me to buy new decoys, sell the drakes, and keep the hens until I switched the script from 75-25% drakes to hens to the exact opposite. I even went as far as dusting some of the divers with flat black to darken them up a little.

When I heard about Rig’Em Right’s introduction of their Mainline Series BLACKOUTS, I was very intrigued. Dating back to the early days of goose hunting on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, cut car tires and essentially solid black silhouettes were commonly spread across every field, and they worked. I am old enough to remember that this type of decoy was all we had, low on details but solid on color. Heck, even floating duck decoys were basically painted with many trending towards dark paint schemes rather than light. That all changed as manufacturers started creating eye-appealing fakes that captured our interest, not the birds’. I am not saying that pretty decoys don’t kill ducks, that couldn’t be further from the truth, but what I am saying is that there is some ideology around dark decoys that all of us should remember. They work for a reason, because they stand out, and in many cases, drawing them close enough to our hide is precisely what we are going for.

I must not be the only one who either A) remembers this or B) realizes that the drawing power of dark decoys should not be overlooked because, at the time of this writing, they are SOLD-OUT on Rig’Em Right’s website! Though they are available at retailers.
 
Available in a puddle duck form, Rig’Em Right’s BLACKOUT decoys are the perfect compromise between being pretty and also having a specific function. They look far more like ducks than old decoys, but they are simply painted black. While I am not suggesting that you immediately change your entire rig to BLACKOUTS, though I am also not recommending against it, I am suggesting that you broaden your palette. I have seen the draw of all-black duck decoys hunting puddlers over black duck-like silhouettes on the Great Salt Lake, and these are far easier to deploy.
 
Each six-pack of BLACKOUTS includes two upright and two low head drakes, and one upright and one low head hen—though I struggle to tell the difference. What matters is not the sex of the decoy, but the color. Whether you sprinkle a few into your current rig, try a full-rig in the late season, or simply buy in without fear of getting laughed off the lake by your millennial friends, these decoys will add a draw you can’t achieve conveniently elsewhere. Couple this without having to paint your current rig, at the prices these decoys sell for you owe it to yourself to give them a try. You can dip your feet with a six-pack, but I am betting you will have a few dozen before all is said and done. You can thank me later for the heads up, as it took me far too long to figure it out own on my own!

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