DuckSouth.com

I bought two dozen of the new avery life size mallard dekes this season, used them only about five or six times and the paint is already going bad on many of them. Have any of you noticed similar problems with them. I never hunted with avery dekes until this year, but I have heard that they had the same problems with them last year and told their customers that they resolved the problem. I have hunted with some cheep flambeaus for years and their paint has stood up better over the course of five years than the averys have in five hunts. I cleaned them up this afternoon so to store them until next season and noticed that the heads were missing quite a bit of paint. I know that they are inexpensive, but when a company claims to have resolved the issue and they havn't it gets under my skin. Just curious if any other avery users were having problems with the paint.
Bryan

Contact Avery and they should replace your dekes. They made a statement a couple of months ago about the bad dekes that got out of the factory and their plans to replace them.

Like GH22 said....call Avery. They will send you UPS shipping labels to return the decoys at their expense. UPS will recieve a pick-up tag and come get'em.....so have your decoys boxed-up and ready to go.

I got BW Teal replacements in one week.

Bryan,

I work for Avery and I am sorry that you have had some problems with our decoys and I would be very inerested to see these decoys. Is there anyway you can post a picture to show how much paint is coming off and where?
I used the Life-Size decoys this year and had no problems with the paint and used them more than five times. We did have some Hot-Buys that had some paint problems and we have made good on these decoys.
If you have not already contacted the office, please PM me or post the picture and I will help you out with this.

Thanks,

Scott Moates
Territory Manager
Avery Outdoors.

I HAVE ABOUT 1 DOZEN OUT OF 6 DOZEN HOT BUYS THAT THE PAINT CAME OFF OF, SOME THE HEAD OTHERS WHOLE BODY I WILL SEND MINE BACK ALSO.

I have found if you spray them with poly, they have a little better shine, and the paint does not peel. The top of the head is the culprit area, and a little poly seems to solve the problem.

i tried repainting mine and then sprayed with poly, they still peeled-will be sendin' 'em back...

I sent Avery an e-mail explaining that I bought 12 dozen hot buys and paint is coming off of all of them after only useing them a few times. I did not even get a reply. Maybe I sent it to the wrong person or maybe they are tired of hereing that the decoys suck. I have found some of thier goose decoys on sale twice but bought flambeus instead. They got me once and I won't give them a chance to get me again.

While we are on the subject of Avery and decoys, I had another Avery problem. About 3 years ago I switched over from the "Tanglefree" brand of decoy line and went with Avery's version due to Avery's new product and the crimps that made their line easier to attach to the decoys. However, when I picked up all our decoys from our 5 fields two weeks ago, I had many, many of the Avery tanglefree type decoy lines snap (break) with almost no tension applied. The result was broken lines and lost lead weights. I did not have this problem with decoys I rigged over 7 years ago which were the original "Tanglefree" brand lines.

This leads me to believe that the Avery lines aren't the same as Tanglefree. Perhaps Scott Moates would care to comment on this. Let me say I own a lot of Avery products and like them a lot, including 3 dozen of the new decoys.

I had the same trouble with the avery line. I then bought the green head gear braided string and it was not any better. I lost over a dozen weights throughout the season due to lines breaking. Next year I will have some heavy nylon string.

The Greenhead Gear decoy line was the source of much profanity in my duck camps this year. It is too stiff, has a "memory" and keeps kinks where it is wrapped around the keel, and breaks at the crimp no matter how you apply the crimp since it is so brittle. Avoid it like the plauge.

bought some of that line last year also..... will be throwing it away and using reg. string this year. HEY AVERY MAN YOU THINK THAT THE THE BIG WIGS UP THERE WOULD CONSIDER GIVING US POOR FOLKS DOWN IN MS SOME MORE LEAD WEIGHTS THAT WE LOST BECAUSE OF THAT WONDERFUL TANGEL FREE LINE THAT BROKE IF YOU LOOKED AT IT!

Skuna,

Where and when did you purchase these decoys? If you have access to a digital camera, would you please take some pictures and e-mail them to me and I will be glad to help you out. But, I need the pictures to be able to help you on this. We have had way too many people just sending decoys in that are scratched and have normal wear and tear. You can e-mail them to scottmoates@aol.com.

Quack Fiend, please do the same and I will be glad to help.

GC and Jebster,

I know what you are talking about on the Quick-Fix, several years ago, antifreeze was left out when producing this line and when it got the least bit cold, the line would break. If you still have some spools of this, please take it back to the dealer that you purchased it from and we will replace it.
Skuna, you are the first I have heard of the braided line breaking, is there anyway you still have some of that? I am in Mississippi all the time and I would be glad to come by and see that. Also, what size weights were you using?

Man I am with you guys about the GHG tangle free line. Over the past season I must've lost close to 2 doz. weights to that junk. I'm not trying to bash Avery b/c I see the reply from Scott M. but if you replace a product that I have NO interest in using agin that doesn't seem to fix the shortage of decoy wights that I now have... I could care less about getting new line. I just want some weights (new or used) to replace all of the ones I have lost b/c of (self admittedly) defective line.

Sounds to me Avery is doing the best to satisfy(sp) every complaint. Makes me want to buy more decoys from them. I bought several dozen bluebills for long lines all were treated with the clear coat and they were hunted hard this year. They take shot a hell of alot better, no paint missing on mine, worked great. You can't send back decoys with scuffed up bodies b/c you and your buddies were playing basketball with your decoys. If you take care of your decoys with washing, handling, storing, and transporting, there is no way the paint should be coming off. Oh I know some people are cursing me now, but it is the truth. The only complaint I have is the keels are not weight friendly, and there heavy as you know what.