They may be ignorant, but early season geese aren’t stupid. Try these tips to see better success when shooting early season resident Canada geese.

1. Less is more. Use fewer decoys and place them in small family groups of five or six.

2. Identify the highest point in the field you will be hunting. Geese like to land on the highest spot, so leave that area free of decoys and place several family groups around it.

3. Location. You’ve gotta be where the geese have been feeding. Unlike migrators that are looking for big numbers of geese to key them into good feeding areas, resident Canadas know the area and where to go for food.

4. Call sparingly. Resident Canada geese at the beginning of the season are still in the family way, meaning their calls are more to warn than to attract.

5. Concealment is key. Residents see the same land day after day and if there’s anything out of the ordinary they’ll know it. Mud your layout blinds and use plenty of natural foliage to conceal them.

6. Scout in the evening. Your mornings will be more productive if you spend your evenings scouting for feeding birds.

7. Don’t hesitate to make changes. Whether it’s to another area of a field or to a different field, if the first four or five flocks pay you no mind, make a change.

8. Realism makes a difference. Not only do you need to match the number and patterns of decoys that early season geese like, but the decoys also need to be very realistic to fool them, especially a couple days after opening morning.

9. Don’t get stuck in the same old rut. Resident Canadas will feed on grass seed and other pasture crops, so don’t think that you’ve got to have a freshly cut wheat field to be successful.

10. Confidence decoys work for early season geese too. If there’s a puddle or small lake in the immediate area, a few duck decoys or a heron decoy go a long ways to providing that “all safe” look.