From the Jersey County Journal. Kicking up mud; Duxtrac puts new spin on waterfowl hunting 10.27.14 3:01 p.m. By Robert Lyons With duck season upon us, area hunters have a unique tool at their disposal, thanks to Grafton man Carl Mager. Mager created Duxtrac, a submergible machine that puts a decoy spread in motion, emulating the tendencies of real ducks. Decoys are attached to a line, which is driven around a system of pulleys by a motorized mechanism. Mager said his system creates a vortex under the surface of the water, which stirs up mud around the decoys. It makes it look like theres ducks feeding, Mager said. All the duck hunters know thats what you want, because ducks dont like real clear water. They like it muddied up. Theyre like hogs, they get in there and root. Kicking up mud is just one of the advantages Duxtrac has over similar products, Mager said. Portability is another key advantage to his machine. It folds up in a nice little package and you can lay two or three of them in your boat without hardly taking up any room, Mager said, noting the whole system weighs about five pounds. If you want to pick up and move to another spot, you can. Its not youve got to go out and pull up stakes and reroute everything. Since implementing the Duxtrac into his hunting routine, Mager said hes noticed his ability to attract ducks has improved tremendously. It seems like the ducks will finish a lot better to your callings on these, more so than the spinning-wings, because, its more of a natural look, he said. Its not a magic potion, that if you just stick one in your decoy spread ducks are going to eat you alive, but it definitely does help. The first Duxtrac prototype was built in Magers garage, where work began about three years ago. In August 2013, he began marketing the product at trade shows. He also sells the Duxtrac at Outrageous Outdoors in Jerseyville. All Duxtrac products are still built by hand in Jersey County by Mager and a host of help. He said several friends and a stepson all help in various ways. There are two basic starter kits for the Duxtrac system, one is battery operated and the other can be hard wired into duck blinds that have a battery in place. The power source is also interchangeable, so hunters can go from hardwired to battery powered any time they choose. Once at a desired location, Mager said it takes no time at all to put the Duxtrac system in place. Most of the products along this line involve putting in poles and monofilament line, and different things like that, he said. This thing is all self-contained and comes fully assembled. The hardest thing you have to do is judge the depth of the water youre hunting in, and adjust your decoy strings to that depth. The product was developed to accommodate puddle duck hunting, which is most common in this area, Mager said. The product works for hunting any type of duck, including mallards, pintails and wood ducks. Mager said his interest in developing his own product came from a lifetime of duck hunting, and seeing where techniques and products could be improved upon. The motion decoy was the area he felt had the most promise. I tried some of the other products on the market and they were just so cumbersome to use, he said. Duxtrac has a patent pending, and Mager said he hopes in another year or two the product will be mass produced. Were just a small company trying to get started, Mager said, noting he intends to keep the product local. Mager is a native of Batchtown, who now resides in Grafton.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 03:03:19 +0000
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