Getting Started with Canadian Goose Decoys

[CHSD]

I am in the process of trying to get some decoys for Canadian Goose hunting. How many decoys do I need to get. I am looking at getting some Divebomb silhouettes. Should I spend the extra money and get the flocked or does it not matter much? Any advice is appreciated!

 

[MallardSX2]

Get you 4 dozen flocked FFD's and 4 Dozen shells with flocked heads, and 2 layout blinds. It will take an hour with 2 guys who know what they are doing to set all of that. If you cant kill a 2 man limit off of a spread of that size then something is wrong.

Oh and get 1 buddy who arrives on time. Not 6 unreliable friends.....Been there and I now prefer to either hunt alone or with just 1 other person.

 

[dtrkyman]

Depends on how good your spot is! Had an amazing field for years in Illinois, we killed limits of geese every day for a month straight with 8 big feet, not even flocked. Normally we used 4-6 dozen mostly full body and some type of motion decoys in the pocket.

If you are trying to pull fly by flocks you can not have enough!

Flocked dekes are a plus.

x100 on good hunting partners!

 

[KurtR]

I would start with 5 doz v2f I like the flocked heads the ff are really nice as they don’t frost. How many I set up depends on time of year early season is less more in family groups latter we will run up to 20 doz on big feeds. I am done with full bodies all together . The bag with 5 doz decoys is so much better than trailers. Get a flag and learn when to use and a good call

 

[dtrkyman]

Absolutely get a flag.

We had a whole crew back in the day so trailers with full bodies is what we used. Definite pain in the arse.

The new silo dekes are much better than they used to be no doubt!

 

[Biggie]

Canada goose. We run anywhere from 5-40doz. Unless you're going fully flocked I don't think the head makes a bit of difference. It's a sheet of corrugated plastic.

 

[CHSD]

Thanks for the input guys!!

 

[Mikido]

Keep it simple. The 5dz deal at dive
Bomb, the basic silouhettes. Add a black flag, and you’re set. Learn to call. Nothing crazy. Basic clucks and honks. Any mid range call will do, don’t need a lanyard full of calls. The real thing that matters is concealment and location.

Don’t buy into the hype that you need a trailer full of full bodies. I kill geese all season long with a layout blind on my back and 60 silos under my arm in an ikea bag.

 

[Jvick23]

I personally like the V2F better. If you’re where they want to be it doesn’t matter as long as you’re hidden.

 

[KurtR]

I added the black and whites last year and the geese always wanted to land where I had them. Started putting them in the kill hole and it was like a magnet

 

[Banded_spooney]

Honkers are kinda dumb.
It doesn't really matter. I say get 18 nice full bodies stick them in the kill hole in little clusters of 4-6 and backfill from there with dive bombs or Big Al's, Whichever is on sale. They both work great. -- Honestly, the Tanglefree flocked sillos are pretty nice too. I care more about the stakes than anything. Real geese suck for that reason (plus way too expensive). -- the comment about ikea bags is a good one. I use the stretchy reusable grocery bags. No need to get fancy.

Hide and flag are 1a and 1b late in the year. Early in the year, reverse that. Flag and hide in that order of importance. Decoys and good calling are a bonus.

Specks are a different story all together.

 

[CHSD]

Thanks for the information. Does a Yonex have a suggestion for a call for a beginner? Or will any call work?

 

[Slugz]

PM sent

 

[Banded_spooney]

You can’t do as much with a poly call as you can with an acrylic but Sean Mann express calls have killed a lot of geese from every different species. Lot nicer ones over a 100 but for $50 they are hard to beat

 

[207-12A]

Got a cabelas nearby? Grab dekes every time they’re in the bargain cave. I’ve built up 5 dozenish field dekes for probably about 50% off this way

 

[Banded_spooney]

Got a cabelas nearby? Grab dekes every time they’re in the bargain cave. I’ve built up 5 dozenish field dekes for probably about 50% off this way

Lots of guys also seem to sell them right after season so they don’t have to store them all spring and summer. Criagslist and Facebook are your friend in this regard.

 

[KurtR]

I have a Drc life sentence I really like and was pretty easy intro to short reeds. Can’t go wrong with grounds I have a bill Saunders speck call that was 35 dollars I have friends that use his honker calls and like them. Biggest thing is knowing when and when not to use it . Lots of times for big geese less is more.

 

[kparrott]

We exclusively use Real Geese silos. I’ve lost track between our group but I think we have 22-25dz. Half of their economy series, and half series 2. We started with 6 dozen and have built up over time.

Biggest advantage is 1 person can bring several dozen(6-10 depending on bags) decoys out in the field.


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[Cseaman91]

I am in the process of trying to get some decoys for Canadian Goose hunting. How many decoys do I need to get. I am looking at getting some Divebomb silhouettes. Should I spend the extra money and get the flocked or does it not matter much? Any advice is appreciated!

It depends on how many geese are in the area and if you are on the X. I would say 3 dozen could be enough in a good spot. I used to hunt in an area where every club had over 1,000 Bigfeet with flocked heads in their fields. It didn’t take the geese long to figure out they were not welcome in those spreads. I found after the first week, I would see spreads of 3 to 4 dozen shot more birds than the big spreads. Especially with all of the sky busting in the area. You will soon find the worst part about having a big spread is the storage… The decoys have to go somewhere when they are not in the field.