Motion decoys can definitely help you kill some more ducks and geese if used correctly. Yes, I said geese . This means honkers and specks ( I will not get into the white devils).  Let's define the motion decoy categories. There two basic categories:

1. Winged decoys- These have wings than spin or flap

2. Water motion decoy- These swim or agitate the water

You can see in this image the winged decoy (spinner) is mounted on the pole and "swimmer" decoy is creating water motion and mimicking a live duck swimming around.

As you can see in the images we have two kinds of water motion "swimmers" and "splashers". I like both styles and use both regularly in conjunction with the "spinners".

 How do I choose what to use for each hunt?

I have a few base rules with motion decoys:

Water hunts- If I am hunting an "X" body of water I mostly choose to hunt with no spinning wing decoys. The main goal on an "X" location in my opinion is to be as real as possible and not get in the way. I feel a spinner could be just a little to bold for this situation

Now if I am hunting traffic or a "soft X" body water I want a spinning wing decoy 100% percent of the time.

 (Remotes are a must. Lucky Duck offers remote styles that control an unlimited amount of decoys on different channels)

Water motion- These style of decoys never hurt your hunt. The only factor I use is the wind. If its calm I want the water moving. 

What about motion decoys on geese?

Geese hate spinning wing decoys. If you are hunting ducks and geese out of the same spread you need to have the spinners on remote control so you can shut them down when its time to finish the honkers or specks. 

I do use the Lucky Duck goose flapper. They are in my opinion superior to a flag because I can place the goose flapper in the spread and away from the blind. It is remote controlled so I can choose to leave the flapper running or just bump the wings like I was flagging. 

Specks love motion like a rag decoy blowing in the wind or a flag waving. The goose flapper is super effective on finishing specks.