sumwhatnew56345

Hi readers, I am from minnesota and this is my first year as a lone goose hunter. I can not seem to find a pattern to set up my decoys that work. I have a dozen feild deeks but zero ideas on what patterns I should use. Everyone I try seems to bring em in but they flair about 75 yards out! VERY FRUSTRATING......Please if you can give me some advice on what I can do so I can get at least one so my g/f can finally taste the goodness of geese!!!! I am also wanting to figure out on how to call em in too.....seems i pretty lost when it comes to geese!! DOH!!!

JimPic

WIth only a dozen,I'd set them up in small groups of two's and three's.Give them a place to land and as far as calling goes-that's something that comes with practice.

skeeter 7MM

Well I replied to your calling question. I also see you answered some of my questions as well. A dozen dekes is tough, but like it was said set them up in small almost family type groups. You can try making some homemade dekes to add to the spread, plywood painted (a little expensive) or tar paper (cheap). We would cut oblong shapes and place them as feeders (put a little white non glare paint on tips as wings...assuming Canada's are the target). If snows use white bed sheets and tie in some rocks to hold them down. Just some ideas for increasing the spread.

Why Flaring, well many reasons-here are some thoughts.
Blind is not natural, to much movement, glare from dekes, face or gun, to much calling, decoys are placed unrealistic, location of setup is unnatural & hunting pressure.

Ways to reduce flaring: don't over call (when they are coming stop and listen to them), make sure you are well concealed but it is natural and the lower profile the better (place blind in a wallow or higher natural grass area), stay still, try not to look directly up at them or use a camo face net to reduce face glare, rap gun or keep out of sight, decoys are to far apart or to many lookouts to feeders and setup where they last were or in areas they typically land (middle of fields, etc. not right tight to a bush or fence...especially if you have only 12 dekes)

Calling is practice and practice makes perfect...well you get the drift.



Edited by - Skeeter 7mm on 09/15/2002 00:56:05

genek

Skeeter has a good point about glare and the worst is a untreated gun barrel or glasses. The best way to unglare a barrel is to have it sand blasted to give it a matte finish. Almost all the new field guns are matte but not the older ones. I wrapped mine originally in stick-on camo tape but was told by a gunsmith that rust will develop under the tape so I went for sand blasting. Also you may not have to worry about frost but if set up decoys in a sub freezing morning in about 30 minutes frost will form on them and create glare when the sun hits them; kiss the geese goodby. Good Luck.

kolb7

hey if u only have a doz decoys i wouldn't set them up in any formation i would just spred them out a little and set them facin every witch way but most in the wind if u try a v or a u or j then with only 12 decoys it looks stupid with alot of decoys it dosn't stand out so much