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Greenhead Gear Wigeon Decoys Field Test
By, Avery Pro-Staffer Jeff Wallis
Arizona, February, 2004
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The author, Jeff Wallis with a nice pair of Canada geese. |
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Waterfowl hunting on the Colorado River in Arizona is "unique" to say the least! I can understand that most people don't think that Arizona would
provide good duck and goose hunting opportunities - well, I'm here to tell you that thinking could not be further from the truth…
I hunt a section of the Colorado River that starts around the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, which is located on the Arizona side of the
river. This stretch of river continues southward through the Imperial NWR, which has countless bodies of water on both the Arizona and
California sides of the river. South of there you encounter the Imperial Dam, which is the second to last in a series of dams that
control the mighty Colorado. The next big body of water is created by the Laguna Dam, and this body of water continues south until it hits Morales Dam on the Mexican Border.
This stretch of river from the Cibola NWR to Mexico has countless lakes and backwaters on both the Arizona and California sides of the
river. In a good year, Cibola will hold in the neighborhood of 20,000 Canada geese, 5-6,000 ducks and 5-600 snows, white-fronts and
Ross' geese. The species of ducks vary from divers to puddle ducks with a good mix of both types on many of the lakes and backwaters
of the Colorado River. Other wildlife that can be seen while hunting along the mountainous terrain bordering the river includes desert
bighorn sheep, desert mule deer, burros, bobcats and coyotes. This area that I love to hunt offers a unique comparison between
yesterday and today as you can see the ruins of deserted mining camps from back in the gold rush days while experiencing occasional
flyovers by today's most advanced military aircraft stationed at the US Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma.
The Yuma, Arizona area of the Colorado River is home to the US
Army's Yuma Proving Grounds and Marine Corps Air Station Yuma. The Yuma Proving Grounds is the winter home to the Army's Golden
Knights Parachute Team and to a major weapons test facility. The Marine Corps Air Station Yuma is one of the busiest military air
stations in the country, and it provides some of the best flying and bombing ranges in the west. It is also the winter home for the Marine
Corps Silent Drill Team and the Marine Corps Band.
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A beautiful backdrop with the volcanic rock
banks on the Colorado River. |
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Now let's talk about duckin' on the Colorado River! My favorite duck to hunt is the American Widgeon, hence the name "Widgnwhacker" that I
use on several talk forums as well as my website, www.widgnwhackers.com
. Many of the areas that we hunt hold large numbers of widgeon with a mixture of gadwalls, mallards, pintails, teal and assorted divers. By
the time our ducks arrive here on the Colorado River, they have been called at and shot at all the way down the flyway so decoys and their
placement become very important. This season I had the pleasure to hunt over
Greenhead Gear's new "wigeon" decoys (I have tried my best to teach these guys how to spell widgeon correctly, but they
just won't listen!) Because I am the world renowned Widgnwhacker, I knew that I had to get my hands on some of these decoys as soon
as I heard about them. Well, after viewing them online and seeing how realistic they looked, I knew that if they held up to the abuse
that I give my hunting gear, they would be the future decoy of choice for the whacker of widgeons!
I immediately ordered a couple dozen as soon as I could but soon
found out they were on backorder everywhere. What now? Then I heard that Autolife Sporting Goods in Northern California was expecting a container load within a few days so I called and
cancelled my backordered decoys, and placed a new order with Tom Lucas at Autolife. When they arrived at the house, I tore open the
box like a kid on Christmas morning and was blown away by the realism of these decoys. I immediately took a dozen to my duck
hunting partner so he could see the quality of these decoys, and he was also very impressed! I left a dozen with him so he could hunt
over them, and I went back home to rig up my new decoys because I was ready to go whack some Widgeon. I hunted the early season
with just one dozen Greenhead Gear wigeons and had good results! I continued to hunt over just one dozen until late in the season when
the guys at Avery saw a post I made on their message boards under my name "Widgnwhacker", and they contacted me to see if I was
truly the King of Widgeondom. When photographic evidence proved my royalty beyond any reasonable doubt, they shipped me an additional two dozen decoys and asked me to be the official GHG wigeon decoy tester. I readily agreed to offer any insight I could, and
this is what got us here today!
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Author's lab and hunting partner, Wyatt,
after a great day in the field.
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Well, the last week of our 2003-2004 duck season we spent hunting over 3 dozen GHG wigeons with a mix of coot decoys. We finally got some weather
here with a bit of rain and wind, and for two days, three of us shot limits of 21 Widgeon over our GHG decoys! It was amazing watching these awesome birds coming into the
decoys all locked up and whistling like crazy! We continued to hunt over the GHG wigeon decoys and ended up shooting limits every day for the rest of the week. The hunters in my
group were amazed at the effectiveness of these decoys compared to other widgeon decoys they had used in the past. As our season
came to an end on the 25th of January, my partner and I sat on the Gila River hunting with a small spread of our GHG wigeon, and we laughed about many stories from the season that had gone by too
quickly. One story in particular was, while doing a float hunt trip on the Colorado River, my hunting partner called me on the radio and
asked if that was my setup on the bend. He said if it weren't, he was gonna' whack him some widgeon. I responded, "Do not, I repeat, DO
NOT whack those widgeon!" So, as you can see, not only do they fool the wariest of ducks but they also fool seasoned duck hunters as well.
In closing, I would like to say that the arrival of the new GHG wigeon decoys last season was a great surprise for those of us who love to
hunt these great little ducks. The bottom line you ask? Okay, the only widgeon decoy that the Widgnwhacker will use from now on will be the GHG wigeon!
"Get Whacked"
Jeff Wallisllis
Aka The Widgnwhacker
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