The majority of Canada goose decoys, and several varieties of Mallard decoys, available for purchase today already have their heads and sometimes tails flocked if not the entire decoy. But buying those decoys pre-flocked comes at a premium. Flocking your decoys yourself helps with getting rid of shine and glare and really helps your decoys stand out and pop.
I buy most of my decoys used off online market places, whether Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. I don't mind if they're a bit beat up or the pre-flocked heads are wearing. They're usually cheaper that way and gives me a bit of bargaining power.
This head has the flocking worn off from several season of use and you can see the glare off the fluorescent lights.
This head has the flocking worn off from several season of use and you can see the glare off the fluorescent lights.
There are several flocking kits available for Canada decoys. I bought my flocking from a seller on ebay.com. It came with a couple ounces of black flocking for the heads and tails and an ounce of white for the cheek patches. So far I have flocked 4 dozen silhouettes and re-flocked a dozen Canada floater heads. I recently sat down and flocked the tails of the floaters and wow did that those really stand out! I've still got plenty of flocking left and its a good thing because I just picked up another 30 Canada floaters that need re-flocked.
I chose to flock the tails of my floaters and my silhouettes. Notice the glare on the head and tail of the decoy on the right and the lack of glare on the left decoy (Don't mind the dirt on the rest of the decoy. I did clean the heads and tails before flocking.)
Flocking silhouettes helps add depth along with reducing glare.
First of all. Wear a dust mask and be prepared to have the little flocking fibers everywhere! I flocked my decoys in the garage and used a plastic tote to catch the extra flocking. Even with doing everything directly over the tote I still had a mess on the floor and my clothes.
I've tried a couple different "adhesives" to apply the flocking to the decoys. The best I have found so far is to use a flat acrylic paint of the same color as the flocking. Stay away from the Scenic Cement It's not worth it. I was tempted to use Gorilla glue spray adhesive but determined that the black paint is the better direction. Some people use Rustoleum oil based paint and have had great results.
It is much easier and you use much less paint when starting with heads that are not flocked. Painting over old flocking uses a lot of paint as it tends to soak in. Power washing is a common method to remove old flocking but I chose not to. Do be careful, to much pressure can damage the plastic heads.
I bought black paint at Hobby Lobby, foam brushes, and a couple standard small paint brushes. I spread the paint on thick and once the paint is on thick, but not runny, sprinkle the flocking over the wet paint. I cover the paint with flocking a couple times and tap the head periodically to help set the fibers into the paint. After all the paint is covered with a thick coat of flocking I'll give the decoys a final dusting of flocking and I allow the paint to dry. After a day or two I'll take the decoy and tap it over my catch basin to recycle what flocking I can. I try to allow my decoys to cure a two weeks before putting them to use, especially my floaters. It's probably a little to much cure time but it doesn't hurt to allow them to sit a couple extra days and it helps as an excuse prepare for the season earlier. With the new lot of floaters I picked up, if I get the chance to re-flocked them this season, I'll be lucky to get a week of cure, just as long as they have a couple days to fully dry. The cold weather doesn't help either since it needs to be over 50 degrees for the paint to dry its best.
It is much easier and you use much less paint when starting with heads that are not flocked. Painting over old flocking uses a lot of paint as it tends to soak in. Power washing is a common method to remove old flocking but I chose not to. Do be careful, to much pressure can damage the plastic heads.
I bought black paint at Hobby Lobby, foam brushes, and a couple standard small paint brushes. I spread the paint on thick and once the paint is on thick, but not runny, sprinkle the flocking over the wet paint. I cover the paint with flocking a couple times and tap the head periodically to help set the fibers into the paint. After all the paint is covered with a thick coat of flocking I'll give the decoys a final dusting of flocking and I allow the paint to dry. After a day or two I'll take the decoy and tap it over my catch basin to recycle what flocking I can. I try to allow my decoys to cure a two weeks before putting them to use, especially my floaters. It's probably a little to much cure time but it doesn't hurt to allow them to sit a couple extra days and it helps as an excuse prepare for the season earlier. With the new lot of floaters I picked up, if I get the chance to re-flocked them this season, I'll be lucky to get a week of cure, just as long as they have a couple days to fully dry. The cold weather doesn't help either since it needs to be over 50 degrees for the paint to dry its best.
I haven't used any of the white flocking for the cheek patches, and honestly I'm not sure I will do very many. I plan to experiment on a few and see how they turn out but I have read that the white flocking stains easily and isn't worth the hassle. The consensus seems to be to just paint the patches and call it good.
Flocking your decoy heads to an easy way to help get rid shine and glare. If you're not flocking or re-flocking your decoys after a couple seasons you should be.
Flocking your decoy heads to an easy way to help get rid shine and glare. If you're not flocking or re-flocking your decoys after a couple seasons you should be.
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