first thing i do is depending on the wind i set my decoys some on my right and some on my left leaving a big hole in front of me for them to land and i usually spred my birds about five feet apart from each other so their not hitting each other but close enough to look real realism is the key to waterfowl hunting spend you summer and spring watching the bird and see how they set on the water and how they talk to each other also the colder the temp the closer the birds will be to each other and the warmer the temp the farther apart they will be the most important thing you can do though is learn from each season and have fun happy hunting