Well-Placed Goose Decoys Make Goose Hunting Trips Far More Successful
Sweat trickled down the side of my face. For the last hour I'd been listening to the occasional honk of resting Canada geese almost a half-mile distant as the afternoon sun beat down on my laydown hunting blind. Now it sounded like they were getting restless.
Four laydown hunting blinds were positioned in the wheat stubble hillside - three in a row toward the top of our goose decoy spread and one about 40 yards behind at the back end of the spread. I was in the single blind to film the action for Knight & Hale's Ultimate Hunting television show. In the blinds in front were The Flagman Randy Bartz, Knight & Hale goose call designer Richie McKnight and good friend and Minnesotan Bruce Starkey, who had begged, bartered and stole to get us permission to hunt this incredible plot of land.
Our hillside sloped to six lakes that held several thousand geese. "Every year they use these lakes," Starkey said as we were putting out the goose decoys in the hot September sunshine. "I watched a bunch of them head to the lakes this morning, and the farmer said the geese have been flying out of the lakes and right into this field every day around 4."
Normally Starkey scouts the mornings while we hunt. Scouting is a key to any goose hunting, but is more important when hunting resident geese who know their home range. Once they've been hit a few times coming into their favorite feeding area, they're not coming back and goose hunters must move with the geese.
Resident Canada geese change from ignorant to seasoned in a couple of days, and your hunting style must change too. If you've done your homework prior to the opener and learned where the birds have fed for the past two weeks you should have no problem on opening morning.
"Here in Tennessee," said Knight & Hale pro staffer J.R. Adkins, "resident geese are feeding on grass in the early season because it's not time to harvest the corn or beans. I watch for freshly cut hay fields along creeks, rivers or reservoirs."
Adkins terrorizes the resident Canada geese near his home every year, and actually starts scouting them in mid-June.
He says that once you've located a field the geese are using, look for high-spots or humps in the field because geese often prefer to land on these rises. "It's a safety thing for them," he said. "It lets them scan the field right after sitting down, and is a runway for them to get off the ground quicker if there's danger."
Scouting is even more important after the geese have been hunted a week or two. When you locate a flock, take the time to note the lay of the land and the way the geese are patterned on the field. Residents usually stay in family groups of three to six and your goose decoy spread should reflect these family groups. Look beyond the family groups to look for patterns. Are there four or five family groups feeding together in one area and another four or five groups feeding in another area? Also, take into consideration the total number of geese.
If there are fewer than 300 geese total on a field and you plan on hunting that field the next morning, you'll want to keep your number of goose decoys down. These same geese fly in the next morning and there are already 300 geese (decoys) sitting on it, it's like sounding an alarm to the incoming geese. On the other hand, a dozen or two decoys is far more realistic. If, on the other hand, a huge stubble field has 1,000 or more geese spread across it, feel free to put out six or eight dozen decoys.
"Look at how the geese are coming into the field," Adkins said. "Are they in groups of three to five or in flocks of 40 or 50? It's much harder to coax larger flocks into smaller spreads. In the early season, your decoy numbers can be fairly small, like two or three dozen. As the season progresses and the birds continue to bunch up, bigger spreads become critical to success."
Adkins understands that many hunters can't afford a dozen full body decoys and admits that it's easy to mix in cheaper decoy styles like shells and silhouettes. He uses his realistic full bodies at the front of his spread and mixes in four to six dozen shells or silhouettes to fill in the middle and back of the spread.
"If you use rags or socks," he said, "I put them toward the back of the spread because they are not what I want my birds looking at when they're closing that last 100 yards and their landing gear is down."
Goose decoy spread patterns should reflect what you've seen the live geese doing while you were scouting, with a few minor adjustments to aid your shooting and to guide the geese where you want them. Remember family groups, and locate the high spots in the field.
In the early season, Adkins uses two or three bunches of goose decoys. The center flock contains the most goose decoys, and it's flanked on both sides with smaller groups. "Be sure to leave holes on each side of the center flock. Your callers will be positioned in the center flock and the focal point for the geese is the holes left on each side. The end layout blinds should be angled outward to give room for shooting and so they can clean up those hard-twisting birds escaping once the carnage starts."
Adkins might use the classic J-hook if the wind is blowing hard. Place your layout blinds angling toward the top of the J with the wind quartering to your back. Use full bodies up the side going to the top of the J to take the focus off the blinds. Hook the J with full bodies and fill in the back with the shells or silhouettes.
"Place the callers at the bottom of the J and make sure the guys up front show patience to let the lead birds get by them for the callers to have a chance of getting in on the action," he said.
The other classic pattern is the crescent moon shape with the wind at your back. Just make sure to put your most-realistic decoys at the front of the spread. Regardless of your pattern or number of decoys, Adkins says it's important to change up often so the geese see something different every time they hit the field.
Your calling also must adjust for maximum success with late-season goose hunting. Consider that when goose hunting earlier in the season, the territorial characteristic of these geese was still strong. Watch geese on a field prior to the season and often they will be silent until an incoming flock is directly overhead, then multiple birds honk loud warnings. These geese aren't inviting the incomers to dinner, they're trying to keep them away. Family groups flock together more as the season goes on and may become more vocal.
But, the geese also have been called to more and have become educated, so calling becomes a double-edged sword.
"The biggest mistake I see hunters make in the early season is calling too much," Adkins said. "They got a new call during the offseason, practiced all summer and right out of the gate, the first flock that comes over is blasted into orbit by five guys blowing as loud as they can.
'I will start with the basic hail call to get their attention and then try to be as subtle as I can while trying to bring them in," Adkins says. "If they're cooperating, I'll just hit a series of fast clucking as they approach. Also during the early season, try to keep the number of callers down. Have one person start and the others should only join in if the birds pose a problem after the first pass or two."
Later in the season Adkins calls less frequently and relies more on his goose decoy spread to be the main attractant. "I'll still get their attention with some loud and fast clucking, but when they've started my way I'll get off that horse real quick and start doing some soft clucks, moans and growls," Adkins said.
Regardless of what part of the season you're in, Adkins advises callers to start with basic calls and leave something in the bag in case the birds aren't working. Hold off on the fast double clucks and hard comeback calls until you really need them.
The early resident goose season is a great time to be out in the field goose hunting. It's usually warm, so remember the mosquito spray, and it's an excellent time to bring kids along to get them hooked.