tombosley

Hiya folks,
My good buddy has been on the honkers before and i have done plenty of good duck hunts but both of us have never been the master of our own domain.

We would like to get involved on our own so we can go when need be, and not at the desire of the more experienced guys we go with.

We've talked with them a bit about stuff, but they are reluctant to let us spread our wings.

1) what is best place to start?
Land? Decoys? Coverage?
2) how do we know an area is a good area?
Scouting? Door knocking?
3) How much is bare minimum for decoys?

any help would be great... seasons coming up and i feel like were just gonna be "winging" it, wasting money/time.

thanks again

SecondChance

If you both have waterfowl hunted before, then you have a basic idea of what's going on.
1. The best place to hunt is where the geese are. You can't make them go to an area they don't want to be, no matter what.
What do you mean by, land, decoys and coverage?
2. Again, the geese will tell you if its agood area or not. They will either be there or not. You have to find the fields they are using to feed and loaf in. Watch where they land to determine the EXACT spot they land for there is a reason they prefer it over the rest of the area.
3. Bare minimum as to how many decoys or cost? We hunt with from 6 full bodies to over 1000 full bodies and shells, depending on where we are and if we are going to moving it or not. Our property and pits or are we using lay-out blinds and picking up after each hunt.

skiftcky

I'd have to agree with secondchance. Geese go where they want to go. When I do my duck scouting I look for places where geese are hanging out at, note the time weather, food sources. They love corn fields but will also nibble on winter wheat sprouts while loafing. Also take the time to notice available cover and concealment. Geese have probably the best eye sight of all the waterfowl and you will know when something is wrong when they flare 70 yards out for no apparent reason. A lot of areas will not let you dig a pit (these are awsome if u can do it) one way I have hunted is to pick up a hay house blind but make sure you conceal it with tall grasses and corn stalks to the best of your resources. I cant really do lay out blinds due to back problems but they are the warmest option if you ask me. One time we went out and dropped our deeks with snow on the ground sat in chairs with a white sheet drapped over us and did pretty good. Also All hunters go back and forth about how many deeks you should have out. I've hunted over a thousand deeks and as little as 2 dozen but the main thing is making sure you get to the spots where the birds want to be.

SecondChance

Something I forgot to add in addition to watching where the geese are landing is to go out after they leave and we place a stake with reflective tape/tacks on it so we can find it back in the dark upon set up. Makes finding the "X" spot so much easier.

coon_trapper135

I am from wisconsin and this is how i do it
1. The best place to start is right here. As for decoys I got 11 doz avery FFDs, pricey but they work wonders. we only set out as many decoys as we need as second chance mentioned above. It depends on how big the flocks are your hunting and how educated they are. scouting is the biggest pain for us because theres alot of hunters were competing with and private land can be hard to get permission from. over the years you will start to notice patterns and fields were they land in year after year. as long as you be respectful to land owners you shoudnt have a problem getting fields year after year.
ill take a ride at about midday before the season starts and see were all the flocks are sitting on water and then watch were they fly in the evenings and mornings. i carry a plat book and a phone book in my truck, but most of the time i go door to door until i find the owner in person. as for the bare minamin for decoys start with 3 doz and work your way up. It took me 3 years until i managed to get 11 doz and a trailer.

TheMASTERBlaster

Anywhere where theres water is a good place for beginners. If your hunting geese on water you only need a few decoys. I would reccomend a game refuge for waterfowl. Wheres theres water theres gunna be geese.

SecondChance

A game refuge?!?!?!?! Do you realize what you said? If it is a REFUGE, that means you can not hunt it, it is a refuge for them to sit and feed, prean and loaf WITHOUT being bothered. And just because it has water does not mean geese will be there.
I have ponds/lakes here that I have never seen geese on for the 15 years I have lived here, even during the migration period. 1 of those lakes are around 5 acres and totally overgrown with cattails and brush up to the edge and geese won't sit on a pond like that if they can't get off the water and go to land to clean, rest and loaf. I bowhunt just off that lake.

TheMASTERBlaster

I ment a (WMA) wildlife managment area, which you can hunt. And I don't know where you live but i live in northern minnesota and were in a pretty good fly zone especially for geese and yes, pretty much anywhere theres water (where waterfowl sleep) with cattails, there are geese. especially the past few years with the drought. Obviously the water needs to be near a field for a spot for them to feed. Just about every large water hole around with these features has geese by the thousands. But to answer your question if your gunna be field hunting then the more decoys the better.

SecondChance

I live in a straight line between Horicon Marsh in So. Wisc., Crab Orchard Refuge and Cairo Il. Which in the old days when we used to really get geese, was the goose capitol of the world!!!!!! I was hunting Colin Kains "Black Hole" goose club back in the lead days as well as Art Mueths goose club back before Tim Grounds had a club down there.
So I feel that I have a bit of knowledge of what geese prefer or not. Maybe up where you are they have received less pressure than by the time the reach us. Down this way, they want wide open areas to loaf and sleep.