Silhouette Decoys

Shop related gear

• Goose decoys, full bodies, shells and floaters to anchor the spread the silos extend
• Duck decoys, floaters and motion decoys for water sets
• Decoy rigging, stakes, weights, anchors and line
• Decoy bags and storage, slotted and self-standing bags
• Turkey decoys, hard body hens, jakes and strutters
• Waterfowl blinds, layout and A-frame cover for the field you set them in

How to choose silhouette decoys

Why silhouettes work

A bird looking down at a field sees outline and color, not depth. That is the whole premise. A silhouette gives you the same outline as a full body for a fraction of the weight, which is why a hundred silos travel in one bag while two dozen full bodies fill a trailer. On a walk-in field, a public spot you have to hike into, or a hunt where the birds moved overnight and you have to move with them, silhouettes are usually the only way to put a big spread down at all.

The honest weakness is the edge-on view. A flat decoy disappears when a bird gets directly over the top of it, which is why hunters who run them badly say they do not work. Setting them at mixed angles and running motion stakes both fix it, and both are covered below.

Standard, motion and flocked

Standard silos are a flat body on a fixed stake. They are the cheapest bodies per dozen and the lightest thing in this collection, and they do the job in a decent breeze when the spread has enough angles in it.

Motion silos sit on a stake that lets the body rock with any breeze. That rocking is what holds the illusion through the part of the approach where a static silo goes edge-on and vanishes. A dozen motion Canada silos ship at 10 pounds against 6 for the standard version, so you pay for it in pack weight as well as price.

Flocking is the third step, and it is a specific answer to a specific problem rather than a default upgrade. Flat panels throw glare, and glare flares birds on bluebird mornings and in low sideways light. Flocked heads and necks kill that shine, which matters most on the head and neck because that is where a committing goose looks longest. If you hunt overcast timber country, standard bodies will not cost you birds. If you hunt open ground under hard sun, or late-season birds that have already seen every spread in the county, flocking earns its money.

Canada goose silhouettes

Canada silos are the backbone of most field spreads, and the three versions here map to three budgets. The standard twelve pack ships at 6 pounds in a 29 by 15 by 4 inch box, which tells you most of what you need to know about hauling them. The motion version adds the rocking stake. The flocked motion version adds the glare control. Most hunters build a base of standard silos and mix a dozen or two of motion through the landing hole, which is cheaper than running motion across the whole spread and puts the movement where birds are looking.

Snow, blue and juvie silhouettes

Snow goose hunting is a numbers game in a way no other waterfowl hunting is, and silhouettes are how a small crew gets to five hundred decoys without a second truck. The standard twelve pack mixes snow, juvie and blue bodies, and that color variation is the cheapest realism available in a white spread. Juvie coloration is the part people skip and the part that makes a spread read as a family group rather than a field of white plastic. The motion version runs snow and juvie bodies on rocking stakes for the same reason it works on Canadas.

Specklebelly silhouettes

Specks decoy to small groups, so the math is different here. A dozen moving speck silos is often closer to correct than fifty static full bodies, and it is a lot less to carry. Running a pack of specks on the upwind edge of a Canada spread also gives you a second species to work with when the specks come through first, which happens more mornings than most hunters plan for.

Mallard and duck silhouettes

Duck silos are underused. In a dry field, a picked corn field with ducks working it, or the muddy edge of a drawdown, a dozen mallard silhouettes give you the footprint of a much larger spread for the weight of an empty decoy bag. The standard twelve pack ships at 4 pounds, which is less than a single full-body goose decoy. The motion version rocks on its stake with any breeze and stays visible through the turn, and the flocked motion version handles the low-sun mornings when a shiny spread will flare birds before they commit.

Turkey silhouettes

The same logic carries into spring. Two flexible turkey silhouettes weigh less than one hard-body decoy, which is what makes them worth carrying on a run-and-gun hunt where you may set up four times before lunch. The tom and hen pack gives you the pairing that pulls a gobbler in, at 26 by 16 inches for the tom and 21 by 10 for the hen, and the upright tom and feeder hen let you build the setup you want one piece at a time.

Stakes and setting the spread

The stake is what makes a motion silhouette a motion silhouette, and stakes bend, get lost and get left in frozen ground. Replacements come twelve to a pack in tall for geese and short for ducks.

Setting matters more than any spec on this page. Face the decoys in mixed directions rather than all downwind, so the spread is never edge-on to the whole flight line at once. Vary the spacing. Give the birds a landing hole and set the highest concentration of motion silos on the upwind edge of it. In soft ground push the stake in until the body sits at natural head height; in hard or frozen ground, carry a screwdriver or a length of rebar to start the hole rather than bending stakes on the first one.

Carrying and storing them

Silhouettes are only an advantage if you can move them, which makes the bag part of the system. The FLATS silhouette bag holds 36 motion silos, 60 standard silhouettes or 200 headless socks, and it stands open on its own while you load it, which matters more than it sounds at five in the morning. It measures 30 by 20 by 25. Load bodies face to back rather than face to face so the paint on one is not rubbing against the paint on the next one all season.

Silhouette decoy comparison

Shipping weight as published by the manufacturer, so it includes packaging. Use it to compare packs against each other rather than as a decoy weight.

Silhouette decoy FAQs

Do silhouette goose decoys actually work?

Yes, and they have been killing geese since long before full bodies were affordable. Birds read outline and color from the air, and a silhouette gives them both. The reason some hunters say they do not work is that a flat decoy disappears when a bird looks straight down the edge of it. Face them in mixed directions instead of all one way, and put motion silos in the landing hole, and that problem mostly goes away.

How many silhouettes do I need for a field spread?

For Canadas, four to six dozen will finish birds in most fields, and the packs here are twelve apiece. For specks, one to three dozen is often better than more, because specks decoy to small groups. Snow geese are the exception. There you are trying to build a feeding flock, and hunters routinely run several hundred silhouettes because it is the only way to get those numbers into a truck.

What is the difference between standard and motion silhouettes?

The stake. A standard silo sits fixed. A motion silo sits on a stake that lets the body rock in any breeze, which keeps it visible through the part of the approach where a static decoy goes edge-on. The bodies are the same idea; the stake is what changes. You can also buy motion stakes on their own if you want to convert part of a spread.

Is flocking worth the extra money?

It depends on your light and your birds. Flocking cuts the glare a flat panel throws in hard or low sun, and it matters most on the head and neck. On overcast days in timber country you will not miss it. On open ground under a bluebird sky, or on late-season birds that have been shot at over shiny spreads all fall, it is the difference between working and flaring. A practical middle ground is a flocked dozen in the landing hole and standard bodies out on the edges.

Can I mix silhouettes with full bodies and shells?

That is how most good spreads are built. Full bodies and shells go in the landing hole where birds get their closest look, and silhouettes extend the edges and the back of the spread where the extra bodies are doing volume work. It gives you a big-looking spread without a big-looking trailer.

How do you keep silhouettes from disappearing when birds circle?

Angle and motion. Set the decoys facing several different directions so no single approach line sees the whole spread edge-on at once, and cluster your motion silos where you want the birds to finish. Some hunters also run a few pairs back to back at ninety degrees to each other for the same reason.

Will duck silhouettes work in a dry field?

They work well, and dry fields are where they earn their keep. Mallards feeding in picked corn are looking at outline against stubble, which is exactly what a silhouette gives them. A dozen mallard silos ships at four pounds, so you can carry a real spread into a field you would never haul floaters to.

How do you store silhouettes so the paint lasts?

Load them face to back rather than face to face so the painted sides are not rubbing against each other, and let them dry before they go in the bag. A self-standing slotted bag holds them upright and takes most of the abrasion out of the trip. Stakes go in their own pocket or a separate bag so they are not scratching bodies on the drive.

Waterfowl guides

Time the season with the Missouri duck season guide and the Missouri teal season guide, see every date in one place on the Missouri hunting seasons hub, and build the rest of the kit from the duck hunting gear guide.