The Decoy Spread Field Guide
This page is a collection of duck decoy spread patterns I’ve collected over the years from magazines, articles, videos and other sources.
Ducks land into the wind. Everything below is a way to leave an open hole where you want the birds’ feet to come down — into the breeze, inside 30 yards, with the decoys doing the steering.
How to read these maps
- The amber arrow is the wind direction
- The green dashed pocket are the holes ducks should land in
- The box with the red light is where you setup your boat/blind/hide.
- The faint rings are ranges
I’m still new in my waterfowl hunting journey and so while the concepts in these patterns are likely obvious to experienced hunters I like having a guide I can review.
Open water — the geometry
Flat, featureless water. No bank to hug, no point to use, so the decoys are the structure. These are the spreads where the shape does all the talking.
The Open Circle
A ring with the downwind side left open. Birds slide down the wind and settle into the middle. Drop two or three loose birds in the hole so it doesn’t read as a wall. The all-purpose puddle-duck set when nothing about the spot tells you to do something smarter.
The Wide-Angle V
Two long arms opening into the wind, blind at the point of the V. The arms funnel birds straight down the throat to the pocket. Wide angle for relaxed, local birds; pinch it tighter when they’re stacking up short.
The Split
Two walls with a lane of open water down the center. Reads as a runway. Good on a steady wind where you want one clean line of approach instead of a free-for-all.
The 3-Way Split
The Split with a third hole carved right off the gun. Gives indecisive birds three places to commit and keeps a pocket inside 20 yards for the ones that finish.
The J-Hook
The fish hook. A long shank running upwind, curling into a hook around the landing zone. Birds follow the shank down the wind and the curl tucks them into the pocket. If you only learn one open-water spread, learn this one.
The J-Hook in a Crosswind
Same hook, wind coming across instead of straight in. Lay the long leg along the wind and let the curl sit on the downwind end. The hole opens on the upwind side of the bend, which is where birds will work to.
The Gapped J-Hook
A J-Hook cut into two segments. The gap stretches the landing zone into a long ribbon instead of a single pocket — useful on big crosswind water where birds want room to slide before they sit.
The Side Spread
For pressured, decoy-shy birds. Shove every block off to one side and leave the landing zone naked. Birds that have been shot at all season won’t drop into a crowd, but they’ll cheat the edge of one. Quiet, sparse, off to the side.
The Split (Pressured Birds)
The Split’s finesse cousin. Two separate holes with a wall of decoys on the far outside of each and a clean lane left open up the gut. Pressured birds that won’t buy a single committed pocket will cheat one of two smaller ones, and the open middle gives them a way in that doesn’t read as a trap. Sparse on purpose — same logic as the Side Spread, just split in two.
The classics — J, L, U
Three letters that predate every branded spread on this page. Tight, packed sets — old-school diver and big-water rigs.
The “U”
A horseshoe with the mouth facing the blind. Acts as a wall on three sides so approaching birds funnel into the cup. Sit at the base of the U with the wind at your back. Old, simple, and it works more often than it doesn’t.
The “J”
The diver rig. Tightly-packed drakes on a long shank angled about 45° off the blind, hook at the top. The white of a packed mass of bluebill or canvasback drakes pulls birds from a long way off. Always set downwind.
The “L”
A long upwind leg and a short crosswind leg meeting at a corner, blind in the elbow. The long leg works like a wall that keeps birds from overshooting; the short leg shrinks the spread as it angles back to the gun.
Shoreline, points & coves
Now you’ve got structure to use. Where the spread sits relative to land and wind matters more than the shape. These come straight off the Blind9 wind-decoying diagrams — each comes in a wind away and a crosswind version.
Shoreline — Wind Away
Blind on the bank, wind blowing off the shore out over the water. Two pods along the bank with the hole in front of you. Birds come in off the water and finish toward the shoreline, feet into the wind, right in your lap.
Shoreline — Crosswind
Wind running parallel to the bank. Stack the mass on the downwind end and leave the hole upwind, so birds drift down the shoreline and pull up into the opening on your gun side.
Point — Wind Away
A point is a gift — it puts you out in the water with birds working both edges. Wind off the point, decoys wrapping each side, hole just off the tip. Birds use the point as a handrail straight to you.
Point — Crosswind
Wind across the point. Short arm on the upwind side, the mass on the downwind side, hole on the upwind edge. Lets birds work the lee of the point and slide into the pocket out of the wind.
Cove — Wind Away
A cove is a natural funnel — protected water birds want to sit in. Tuck into the back, wind pushing out the mouth, arms along each wall. The calm pocket in the middle is the whole reason the birds came looking.
Cove — Crosswind
Wind sliding across the mouth. Bias the decoys to the downwind wall and leave the upwind corner open. Birds round the point into the cove and find the calm hole waiting on the sheltered side.
Big water & layout boats
Open lakes and rivers, big rafts of birds, hunters laid out in the spread instead of on a bank. Numbers matter here.
Big Water
Blocks on four sides, layout boat hidden in the middle, landing lanes top and bottom. You become part of the raft. Built for diver hordes and open-water mallards that won’t commit to a small spread.
The Gauntlet
Two long walls with a lane between them and the boat off the downwind end. Birds run the gauntlet straight down the lane and finish right at the gun. A meat spread for high-volume water.
The Pile-Up
A big lazy S of decoys with three pockets stepped through it, hunter tucked at the upwind edge. Reads as a contented, sprawling raft. Multiple holes mean you don’t need birds to pick the one perfect spot — any of three works.
The Wildcat
Two hunters, two landing zones, decoys massed around each. Doubles your odds on a crossing flight — whichever zone a flock favors, somebody’s on it. Spread the guns out and cover twice the water.
Finesse & pressured birds
Late season, educated birds, bluebird days. When a big spread gets you flared, you go small, you go quiet, you go weird.
The Glory Hole
Loose confidence pods scattered around one obvious open pocket. No walls, no hard lines — just relaxed-looking groups with a glaring hole in the middle that says land here. Works when a tight spread looks too staged.
The Cold Bath
A tiny knot of decoys and acres of open water. Late-season birds have seen every 24-dozen spread on the flyway; a half-dozen blocks on dead-calm water reads as safe. Minimalist on purpose.
The Shore Slayer
A long diagonal raft raked along the bank, hole on the open-water end. Birds trade down the shoreline, hit the line of decoys, and slide up it into the pocket. A travel-route spread more than a destination spread.
The River Slash
Two hunters in the bank reeds, decoys slashed across the current with a landing lane between. The river does half the work — birds follow the channel, see the break in the slash, and drop into the seam.
Moving water
Current changes everything. Decoys ride and swing, birds use the flow as a runway, and the wind is only half the story.
The Stream Spread
Small water, two blinds, species pods set in the soft water behind structure — mallards up top, wood ducks and teal in the lower pocket. Read the current, set your holes in the slack water where tired birds actually want to sit.
The Open-Water J-Hook
The fish hook again, scaled up for a big open bay and a quartering wind. Long sweeping curl, shank running back to a blind on a point. Same logic as the small-water J — just more water and more decoys to make it read from distance.
None of these are my original patterns — they come from a variety of sources I’ve pieced together over the years and I wanted to render them all in a consistent style in one place.
Credit to who drew them first: DecoyPro, Blind9, Outrigger Outdoors, and Wildfowl.