Sources
Where the spread rules come from.
The spread generator's rules — count bands, decoy spacing, the pattern library, the late-season pressure preset — are compiled from the published sources below. Where experts genuinely disagree, both positions ship with the disagreement stated.
Rules ship only once they're sourced. Field reports and single-account tips stay out of the generator until they're verified — the same bar the regulation cards hold.
Count ranges by water size; 2–4 ft decoy spacing on small water, 5–8 ft on big water and fields; raft-and-satellite late-season sets; loafing pods.
Confined-water counts (6–36), "as many as practical" on big water and fields; late-season spinner caution.
The 12–36 versatile starting range.
"Seven or eight sells as real without movement — more than that needs motion"; scale back on pressured, stale birds.
The two-group classic; real snow-spread scale (Hamre).
The shoreline clump set.
The loose W; jerk-cord rig, drake-heavy timber, timber counts.
Timber edges-open-center correction; field family-group structure; big-hole timber counts.
Diver long-line mechanics: big water only, mainline spacing, lines run downwind.
SOURCE: Heartland LodgeMainline rigging and spacing.
SOURCE: Rokslide — longline threadLong-line rigging.
SOURCE: duckboats.netDrake-heavy diver spreads — white shows farthest.
SOURCE: Project UplandFamily-group size and spacing with the landing hole inside gun range; the U/crescent.
SOURCE: GooseHuntingChatEdge horseshoe (river/timber guidance); early-honker group looseness.
SOURCE: Split ReedThe timber-dozen benchmark.
SOURCE: Whitetail PropertiesSeasonal group spacing — loose and matched-to-scouting early, tighter and bigger late.
SOURCE: White Rock DecoysReal snow-spread scale (500–1,500 with a teardrop); sock-motion caution for Canadas.
SOURCE: Prairie’s Edge Outfitting
A half-dozen or fewer carrying small water late; the oversized-spread account.
SOURCE: American HunterThe go-big school: run 100–300+ on big water when every other spread is two to four dozen.
SOURCE: Mossy Oak — late seasonFresh-migrator advice — different from the local norm is the variable.
SOURCE: Lucky Duck
Every pattern in the planner carries its own source line under the why-copy. Patterns from the original DecoyPlanner library are marked as house patterns until a published source backs them.