[goosehuntinman]

I have been making some new silouettes out of corrugated plastic.
So far i think they will work great, they are so much lighter than the plywood i used to make them out of.

Anyone have a suggestion as to what to use for the stakes.

I have been thinking of a steel rod about 1/4inch in diameter. but havent figured out where to get them.

Someone suggested the aluminum nails that you use to put rain gutter on your house also.

I have also thought of cutting them from heavy gauge coathangers.

Would love to hear what has worked for you guys or what you think may work.

Thanks in advance, Goosehuntinman

 

[zcooper]

If you're looking for 1/4 inch round stock for your silos, try Grangers or if you don't have one near you, they have an extencive catolog. Home Depot or a Lowes might carry what you want.

 

[honyok]

Use welding rods. Just heat the end of the welding rod up, then insert it (hot side up) into the decoy. The plastic will melt and when the plastic cools it will harden and bond to the welding rod. Hope this helps you!

 

[nr_gooseslayer]

Just got some of those stakes and the corrugated plastic today. So far, I have only made one wing for my mojo mallard that I lost last year. Anyway, we got 16" Metal H Stakes with a 4" stabilizing bar. You can make 2 silo stakes out of just one of those, or you can use the H stake for added stability. They can from Hunt Manufacturing in Statesville, NC.

Also, just interested in what type of silos you made and if you have a pattern for them. We tried to make a copy of an outlaw.

Matt

 

[goosehuntinman]

I have three different patterns, two feeders and a sentry. They were hand drawn by my better half on newsprint style paper. She looked at pictures I had taken of real geese to get the dimensions right. I then cut them out and transferred them to a plywood pattern. Having the patterns this way, it is easy to just trace around them with a marker. Originally i tried the 4 x 8 sheets of particle board that cover paneling skids. While this material was super cheap. (About a buck a sheet) It just doenst hold up when it gets wet, and breaks easily in the decoy bag. I then went to 1/4 inch plywood, these make some nice silos, but 3 or 4 dozen of them are very , very heavy to lug into the field. Hence the idea of the corrugated plastic.
I picked up two different thicknesses of it from a local gas station. Some
were soda signs and cigarette advertising signs. I have found you definately need to sand the surface on them for paint to adhere well.
After stacking the signs together, i clamp them together, trace around the pattern with a marker and then cut them out with the rotozip tool. I've found that 4 sheets together works nicely. Make sure you have a sharp bit or it will tend to melt the pieces together. You could also cut them out with a big pair of industrial scissors if you dont have the rotozip or similar tool, It just takes longer to make them. As for painting them, I made different templates out of cardboard. After painting the whole silo black, I lay each template on and add the appropriate color gray or white, I usually mix in some brown or black on the upper half to make it a darker more natural color. I went to the local recycling plant the other day and picked up some stiff heavy gauge wire, about 1/8 inch diameter i think, it seems heavy enough for hard ground and fits in the plastic nicely, so that is what i am going to try for now.

While I would still love to have a spread full of fullbodies and real geese, outlaws, what have you, These will work until I can afford to buy some.These silos help fill in my spread of shells and floaters at very minimal cost. Not to mention the fun and satisfaction involved of decoying birds into your own handmade decoys.

Good Luck !!! Goosehuntinman

 

[Chessieboy]

Any pics of the hand made silos. Sounds great. Little $$ with buying a house this year. Any $$ saved makes the better half happy, happy, happy.

 

[nr_gooseslayer]

Are these snow goose silos? If they are, I would like to see a pic. We traced outlaw canadas and have primed and painted them white. One view is the profile of the feeded. The other is looks like you were looking at the feeder from behind and the head is slightly off to one side. Need to know where to paint the black wings.

 

[goosehuntinman]

These are canada silos, painting them for snows im sure would be easier. I do have some pics around. But i dont know how to post them on here, I will see if my son can get them on tonight when he gets home.

Goosehuntinman