Carrylite Decoy USA Division Has Closed It's Doors

[ctwny1]

Just confirmed that the US division of Carrylite Decoy Company that was at one time #1 in the USA has closed it's doors because of very poor management. Hope somebody buys them and puts them back to becoming a major player again.

[Old Gobbler]

Carrylite at one time in the 1980's made a very competitive product , but over the years  many of their competitors slowly produced better decoys , recently a whole plethora of companies exported the production or.... Contracted Chinese decoy factories for their work  or just threw their hat in the ring and took another slice out of the pie , and that was the nail in the coffin for the low price waterfowl domestic decoy industry

On a separate note -----Quality control issues and long turnaround is killing some of the folks that got into the high end import Chinese decoy business , what you see in the catalog or decoy website doesn't necessarily mean that's the decoys you will be getting in the mail , I won't drop any names but several well known incidents where hunters spent big bucks on the latest and greatest Speck goose or Pintail decoys come to mind , and are sadly disappointed , best part the company basically told the customers to ram it - and they got stuck with the product - so buyer beware 

[coyotetrpr]

Why not mention names so the rest of us may have a heads up?

[Old Gobbler]

Why not mention names so the rest of us may have a heads up?

Dakota


its more of a waterfowl decoy issue this time around , with the waterfowl ( import- china) decoy business , companies will sometimes circulate photo shoot quality images on  pre production special decoys , because the pictures need to be distributed to the catalog companies months before they are in the distribution cycle .... The contracted decoy factorys that most companies use to farm out the work pretty much got you by the you know what's --  they decide to use paint that fades to a off color hue , it's too bad for you, they decide to speed up and cut corners on quality , it's too bad .... And that happens more often than not, and it happened this time - it's the same company that made the Chinese jake decoy , that was a blatant knockoff / copy

If you buy a product from a American company you can pick up the phone and talk to a person who is willing to hear your feedback and assist you in most manners -

If you buy a product from a company with a misleading American sounding name , lets say , they name it after a western state , but have everything made in the peoples republic of China ......and they fail to comply with trade laws and stamp the decoy with a Made in China , like they are legally obligated to do ( by law) ,but that's another story ....... Then you are probably going to get stuck with so e lavender colored pintail duck decoys , with nobody to fix it ---

But anyways back to the original post of carry light decoys, they are no longer in USA production , i think they may have the  dubious distinction of manufacturing the very first production Turkey decoys ? I may have some of them around my place that were from the early 1980's ---     The   last I heard they were owned by Pradco incorporated , they are a huge hunting industry conglomerate , and operate several successful companies -  I think the pretty boy strutting decoy was made in Mexico , that was a very popular product a few years ago and looked to pump life back into carrylight --- but I see now they are having a hard time

[busta biggun]

I will go even further and say that Dakota should be charged with patent infringement for STEALING the DSD jake decoy body design and covering it in lead paint. I would personally never buy or use one because I would feel like I would if somebody gave me a new TV but I knew it was stolen. I would feel guilty every time I watched it. To each his own though, as I know that technically they aren't breaking the law. I still feel they are unethical.

[nativeks]

I can't imagine G&H will hang on much longer with their prices and outdated molds. I used to buy a lot of them 15 years ago. Last ones I bought a few years ago had paint adhesion issues so I returned them. Also emailed them asking if they were going to redo molds to stay competitive. Got the response "If you don't like them don't buy them".

PS I have 3 of those old hard body Carrylites in the basement. Found them at a yard sale for $5.

[Old Gobbler]

I'm in no position to tell another company how to run their operation , but with G&H I think they would do well to contract out a carver to do a few molds , getting steel injection molds made is a pricey option , people would like  a green head mallard mold , because that would probably be their biggest seller? But perhaps they have more business than they know what to do with , and they are just doing quite well , with what they have - I wish G&H all the best , it's a solid made USA product

That Chinese decoy company , with the name of a western state ..... They will be back at in 2014 with yet another nauseating knockoff , this time it will be a hen decoy  that looks ridiculously similar , hope for their sake that when they bust the seal of the cargo container from the china factory, that the decoys were not botched yet again , but who are they to care , they can always do what works for them in the past , and just do nothing

[cuppednlocked]

I don't think G&H is in that much trouble.  Unlike some, their product is quite durable and has a strong following among waterfowlers.  They are expensive and have some funny head/body positions but are worth the money when you only have to buy once.

[nativeks]

I don't think G&H is in that much trouble.  Unlike some, their product is quite durable and has a strong following among waterfowlers.  They are expensive and have some funny head/body positions but are worth the money when you only have to buy once.

I used to be one of them. A couple years ago bought some mallards that the paint literally fell off of. They took them back and sent me another batch which promptly did the same thing. They blamed it on our water. I have 15 year old G&H gwt and won't buy any more. I know a lot of folks that won't give G&H another dime. Heck when I asked if they would offer flocked heads with their goose shells they said its not what hunters wanted. Be interesting to see how they fare. Wish them the best, but when you don't evolve you die.

[cuppednlocked]

While I haven't searched for problems with G&H, yours is one of the few (if any) that I have ever heard.

At least they stood behind their product and sent you replacements.  I had some GHG canada shells that split along the seam and had not even been out of the box.  I was told to pound sand.

[savduck]

I really hate to hear this. Despite them not keeping pace with the other decoy companies with more realistic molds, they still made the BEST shovelor decoy. My friends, that was my secret weapon. Ducks will land feet down on drake shovelor decoys down here in the south.

That isnt a joke.

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Dakota decoys is not a highly dominant player in the waterfowl market and certainly did not put carry-lite under.

Greenhead gear, Avian X, Dave Smith, hardcore and many other producers are making a more realistic, higher quality decoys.  I don't know a single person running Dakota deeks....