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Mod for DSD strutter

Hardcorehunter

UL Shelter/Stove Geek
I made this over my lunch hr. 1st, the bolt that is provided is too short for my liking. No way will the bolt work on a full fan, like mine puctured here. A stripped down, bare fan, like another one I have, will work, BUT, this attachment system is better for me. These are two hercules hooks, with the hanger part clipped off, then shaped into a fish hook shape. The new A.C.E. Technology is self healing, and it REALLY grabs these hooks. Fan is installed easily and quickly, regardless how thick it is, just push hooks over fan feathers.
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Patent that Chit and sell it to Primos and DSD, that looks 1000 times easier than their crappy setups.

Kratz
 
A quick heads-up: guys, please do NOT modify you're strutter or make any guesses about what the attachment is like until you attach one tailfan correctly. We have tested the crap out of this and the tailfan attachment got more praise than the decoy itself.
Harcorehunter: your tailfan has the covert feather group still attached to the tailfan. That group is on the sculpture already and at the correct angle for a strutting Tom. That group hangs down at a 45 or so degree angle while strutting. Strip those feathers off your tailfan and you'll see that the bolt is plenty long enough.
Please refer to our website for a video showing proper tailfan attachment

DS
 
Dave, I see you got my email. I have a fan that is stripped, and the bolt is just barely long enough. I like the looks of both of the fans, but this one looks better
Imo and my gf's. Regardless of what fan I use, my method is faster and simpler then using your nut and washer method, FOR ME. Others may agree. Others may not. I just wanted to show an option. Imo your dekes are awesome, and in no way would I be more impressed with a nut, bolt, and washer for tailfan hook up over your actual awesome deke.
 
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HCH......The only guy out there that will go and buy a $200 deek then poke holes in it:)

You like having stuff the way you want it. Nothin wrong with that:way:
 
Hey Dave did you take a look at my wing thing to see of you guys could come up with a wing setup that you could fold the wings up for carrying in the field? There are plenty for tails but it would be great if there was one for wings. What would be sweet is if the wings folded up in the decoy for carrying then just had a string on the wings to pull them back out. Just a thought.

I have a mock up but havent got my decoy yet so I could get it fine tuned:rolleyes:
 
HCH......The only guy out there that will go and buy a $200 deek then poke holes in it:)

You like having stuff the way you want it. Nothin wrong with that:way:

Lol...yea. I have seen the videos of guys shooting these dekes with a shotgun, and how they heal themselves, so two teeny tiny holes in it's unseen shelf area, will not cause any stress in my life.:D I did trim some covert feathers back, like Dave suggested, so that it looked like images of rear of strutting birds I found on the net. I think that if a guy specifically dries a fan perfect, trimmed, and flat for his DSD strutter, he should be fine. Problem is, most of us just have dried fans laying around, that are WAY too thick to fit under that short bolt. Plus, dealing with a small black washer/ nut, that can be dropped in the timber leaves, never to be found again, could be a drag. Not to mention trying to do it with gloves on. These hercules wires never leave the decoy, just position fan over them, turn the hook over the feathers, and push into the decoy. The deke material grabs the hooks well, and I am done. Nothing to lose either. I will get a couple more for the wings.
 
Im going to try and go with a folding tailfan apparatus so mine wont be that thick.

With the measurement you gave me the Edge Ex fan holder is not going to work.:( But Im not giving up on it yet. I seen a guy on AT used a Primos one and they fit fine.
 
Cooter said:
Im going to try and go with a folding tailfan apparatus so mine wont be that thick.

With the measurement you gave me the Edge Ex fan holder is not going to work.:( But Im not giving up on it yet. I seen a guy on AT used a Primos one and they fit fine.

Looking forward to seeing your setup.
 
Well, I decided to try a Primos Mobile series tail holder, https://shop.primos.com/pc-1059-95-mobile-series-fan-holder.aspx, after a buddy showed me his, and Cornfed killer on AT showed me his too. It takes a full size fan down to 1/4 for packing. Seems to be a good way to get these easier to pack. Alright, when using one of these on a Dave Smith Strutter, only two feathers are held with the washers, and as you can see with any wind, the fan is not going to work, as it folds in, without using my fish hook shaped wires. Pics below are with my wires and what happens when you have no wires and just the factory setup. Wire makes the washers and nut optional. Photos taken today in a pretty decent breeze.

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Fish hook Wires in place
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Fish hook wires removed

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Fan before folding for transport with Primos fan holder
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Fan folded for transport with Primos fan system
I noticed that either way I used it, it will fold up on me. If I flip it around, the sides cave in. If you flip it around too, you get a bare, can see all the way to the feather root look, which looks weird and like a diseased bird would look imo, I made mine like Cornfed killer on AT, as Primos crappy directions show nothing. O also added a lighter color to mine as you can see in the next post below.


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http://www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1423492
 
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Hardcore, I do not have a DSD yet so I may be wrong but I just can't see those wire clips holding in place in windy conditions. Do they really hold that tight? Do you use the nut attachment also along with the wire clips?
 
Went to scheels today to get my bullheads and victory arrows, and while there, I bought their last submissive hen dsd to complete my 5 bird dsd flock. Anyway, while there, I talked with the sales associate about the dekes, and noticed their display deke, had covert feathers on theirs too. Sales associate said the bolt is too short, and it was a hassle to put the fan on. Said it took several of them to put the fan on. One to put weight on the fan, and another to get the washer and bolt on. :D:D I informed him of the much trimming that the fans are supposed to have, before using a real fan. He agreed that not everyone wants to trim a fan down to nothing, so the bolt will be long enough. Lol, glad to see that others just have fans that don't work either.:D

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He agreed that not everyone wants to trim a fan down to nothing, so the bolt will be long enough. Lol, glad to see that others just have fans that don't work either.

Your first mistake was to talk to a sales "expert" at Scheels... It is a surprise they could figure out how to get one on with just two of them.

While I understand where you are coming from Don. I really don't get your argument. You spend countless hours piddling for the perfect set up yet you won't spend 45 minutes fleshing and gluing a turkey fan? I could have three fleshed and glued in the time you have spent trying to re-create the wheel... :D

I like the way Dave has done this because It is a correct representation of the bird and it really isn't that difficult. I appreciate you trying to push the envelope and trying to simplify a task or product but this one has me scratching my big melon. :way: I will take pictures tonight of mine. I just don't understand what all the fuss is about the washer and bolt.
 
I to dont understand why you are goin on about this if you are going to use a primos fan holder???
 
Your first mistake was to talk to a sales "expert" at Scheels... It is a surprise they could figure out how to get one on with just two of them.

While I understand where you are coming from Don. I really don't get your argument. You spend countless hours piddling for the perfect set up yet you won't spend 45 minutes fleshing and gluing a turkey fan? I could have three fleshed and glued in the time you have spent trying to re-create the wheel... :D

I like the way Dave has done this because It is a correct representation of the bird and it really isn't that difficult. I appreciate you trying to push the envelope and trying to simplify a task or product but this one has me scratching my big melon. :way: I will take pictures tonight of mine. I just don't understand what all the fuss is about the washer and bolt.
Let me explain...Many(prob 90%) of us just have fans laying around, that were just cut off, a little borax put on the meat, tacked and dried on a sheet of plywood. They just hang in a garage or shop, now we are trying to use these shop fans on the new strutter, and they won't work with the short bolt. The guys that have taken the 45 minutes to flesh, glue, and make all pretty, have them on display in their home or office, on a nice walnut plaque with the beard attached. Most people are not going to take their pretty trophy fan off of the wooden plaque, and drag it out in the woods, and put on a deke and possibly have it get ruined or damaged. Many of us either left too much meat on the fan, it didn't dry perfectly flat during the drying period, or we left covert feathers on it. Now we have have this petrified fan, that we must somehow get on this new deke. It won't fit, what do we do? Well, we can cut some feathers off, try to trim the petrified meat off(feathers will probably all fall out)...or just use two hercules wires and be done with it, since the bolt is too short for other then perfectly done fans. Make sense? Now, if you have a DSD strutter, and you make a kill this year, then a strutter owner knows what he needs to make a fan work for the deke. I want to use stuff I already have. I cut the covert feathers back off of the one fan I had, and it still wouldn't attach right....so, it was time to try a Primos fan holder. Without the wires I use, a Primos fan holder will not work with the DSD method.
 
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