Snow goose advice

[midwestkilla]

Hey guys, i am just looking for more information about my snow goose spread. I have 26 dozen decoys (a smaller spread) and was wondering what i could and should do to make a better spread? i am looking to stay cheap but not buy garbage. I have a 2 speaker e-caller and hand call, the main idea i’m looking for is what should i do with what i have to get birds in the spread and what else could i implement? thanks for the help in advance!!!


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[Laramie]

Sell your 26 dozen decoys and buy 8-10 dozen floaters. We shoot twice as many geese on the water with smaller spreads. We also started shooting a lot more old birds when we made the switch. They come into the water pretty dumb sometimes. Late season, I seriously only take out 3-4 dozen and a mouth call and slay them. I'm actually getting kind of tired of shooting them or I wouldn't post this lol.

 

[WCB]

Above would be an idea. Another is get really good at scouting. I have killed thousands and thousands of birds over around 300 decoys. IMO it is more about location than spread. I have spots that every year birds congregate in or directly around. Spots where they loaf around midday and are consistent every year.

I would say keep your decoys add a few dozen floaters...hell save yourself money by old canada floaters and paint them. Set up on loafing ponds and shoot away. I did the 1500-2000 decoy crap for a long time and honestly since I concentrated more on finding the right field and just not a good field i've done way better.

 

[midwestkilla]

Above would be an idea. Another is get really good at scouting. I have killed thousands and thousands of birds over around 300 decoys. IMO it is more about location than spread. I have spots that every year birds congregate in or directly around. Spots where they loaf around midday and are consistent every year.

I would say keep your decoys add a few dozen floaters...hell save yourself money by old canada floaters and paint them. Set up on loafing ponds and shoot away. I did the 1500-2000 decoy crap for a long time and honestly since I concentrated more on finding the right field and just not a good field i've done way better.

Thanks for the input guys! i have hunted a lot of lakes when they come back to load and had decent success but struggle to have a spread with enough floaters, do floaters really add that much realism?


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[Laramie]

Thanks for the input guys! i have hunted a lot of lakes when they come back to load and had decent success but struggle to have a spread with enough floaters, do floaters really add that much realism?


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I believe they do. We have been shooting piles of geese for about 7 years hunting over floaters. You don't need anymore than you can fit in a pickup bed imo. We rarely had huge number days in the fields, even hunting a very scouted X. Full disclosure though, I never had a giant field spread and never used more than a few motion decoys and one ecaller.

 

[midwestkilla]

How do you usually set your floaters? are you on big water or loaf pond type deal?


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[spur60]

Floaters are an underrated option, but in the spring, you'll quite possibly have to set/reset daily, or risk dealing with a cold front and ice/wind messing up the spread. That is unless you're running an ice eater. Personally, I've killed plenty of birds over 300 dekes. My current spread is around 600. It's enough I can run traffic on flightlines and migrators, or hunt an X feed. Some days I'll join up with other guys and we'll put out 3000 dekes. Had a day this fall where we shot 35 snows over 250 socks.

Focus on using quality recordings and speakers for your e-caller. I'm a fan of Juvie Jukebox ecaller tracks; maybe a little biased though as I got to demo some prototype tracks and know one of the owners. After you've built your spread up to that 500-600 decoy range, then you can maybe start investing in motion, fliers, flappers, rotaries, etc. Some days they are the difference, some days they are the first thing to get shut off/tore down. Focus on the hide and location first and foremost.

 

[Laramie]

How do you usually set your floaters? are you on big water or loaf pond type deal?


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I hunt both but as mentioned above adjust with the wind/fronts. 90% of my snow goose hunting is in the spring. I only put decoys out for 2-3 day stretches- as my work schedule allows. I usually have more birds than I care to clean after a couple days.

My best spot is on what I would call medium sized water (Just over 100 acres) when I have stronger south winds. That piece of water has a fairly high bank on the south side so there is nice wind block that really is attractive to them. There is also a long mud/sand bar that extends out in the water about 100 yards. It makes the perfect spot to hide in the floating spread. I also place a dozen or so on the dry land point of this bar. One other aspect that makes this spot so good is it is long enough that the birds don't always leave when we shoot. Many times parts of the flock will land on the far west end of the lake, creating even more of a draw to large flocks passing by. Some eventually end up in our spread when hawks or eagles get them up periodically throughout the day.

My second best spot is a marsh that is grazed by cattle- very flat with about 3-5 acres of water depending on moisture that year. Multiple corn fields surround it. This spot has attracted geese, and other waterfowl for as long as I can remember. Layout blinds are helpful when hunting this spot as the cattle have the cover beaten down.

The real keys are timing when you hunt to match the migration and setting up where the birds want to be.

Hope some of this helps.

 

[midwestkilla]

Thank you all for the advice! i’m thinking about getting a few more socks and invest in floaters, i have a spot on a sand beach on a larger lake that hopefully hold birds as it did in the fall with traffic fields as a back up option


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