by Matt Soberg |
Flambeau’s exclusive UVision technology brings real science to your decoy setup.
Is it waterfowl season yet?
I swear . . . I can’t stand this time of year. Mother Nature tempts us daily with these cool, damp mornings. The leaves are already turning up north, believe it or not, and I’m seeing more wildlife moving through the fields and skies too.
I’ll be brutally honest . . . I’ve been staring out the office window dreaming of endless flocks of ducks and geese dropping from the sky, silhouettes floating towards me as the sun rises in the distance.
As I sit and stare, instead of type and talk, my dreams bring back sweet memories of the good ol’ days . . . and some bad ol’ days too.
I like to think I pick the rights ponds, strategically set decoys, camouflage and call well. Over the years, we’ve enjoyed some epic days of decoying ducks, one in particular when I couldn’t catch up to the blue bills, but they kept coming back for more. Other memories come to light of watching flock after flock just simply fly by us, wingbeats seemingly waving good-bye as their tails disappeared on the horizon.
What sets these days apart?
A myriad of reasons are cause for my frustration, I’m sure. But, after some deep thought, the devil is in the decoy’s details . . . and here’s why . . .
You’ve heard the term ‘a bird’s eye view’, right? Birds migrate many miles and spend their travels a’sky searching for either food or safety with sight being their most important sensory ability. Waterfowl can see fine detail up to three times farther away than humans according to Kurt A. Anderson, Joshua M. Unghire and John Coluccy, Ph.D. in their article “A Bird’s Eye View” published by Ducks Unlimited. It seems ducks can detect you blink in the blind, so no wonder the slightest movement or off-colored detail sends them the other way.
Their sensitivity to light is also far superior to humans with their ability to see ultraviolet (UV) light through an extra set of cones designed specifically for this purpose. Have you ever hunted over a bad decoy paint job? Trust me, it matters.
Undetectable to the human eye, waterfowl feathers naturally reflect UV light to produce a living signature that inflight ducks and geese use to evaluate the authentic "safety" of a potential landing zone. Since UV light is prominent at dawn, during the prime time for waterfowl hunting, the differences in UV intensity from waterfowl feathers influences attraction of flying ducks overhead, oftentimes determining cupped wings versus disappearing tails.
Flambeau Outdoors takes this science and applies it to waterfowling at the next level. To specifically combat a bird’s superior vision of UV light, Flambeau has developed the exclusive and patented UVision paint technology which replicates the UV reflection of live waterfowl plumage to use avian biology in the hunter’s favor. Approaching waterfowl come to trust these natural light conditions and feel safe to land. Decoys without UVision can trigger danger responses in waterfowl, and we all know what happens next.
“Ducks see things in a different light. I have to admit I thought I was a better caller than the other guys, but it was probably the UVision and Flambeau decoys that made the difference,” said Kim Norton, Flambeau Outdoors director of new product development and marketing.
Founded in Wisconsin in 1947, Flambeau has built a waterfowling legacy through decades of dedication to providing waterfowlers realism that gets results. Exclusive to Flambeau decoys, nothing outperforms the science of UVision technology to decoy more birds season after season, hunt after hunt.
Let science seal the deal.