How many snow goose decoy spreads have you driven past over the years? Seriously, think about it. What did you notice? I swear most snow goose decoy spreads are close to the same. They consist of 300-600 snow goose decoys (usually windsock type), around a 4-12 flyers and maybe a circling machine or two for motion snow goose decoys. And did you notice the blinds? More often then not you do, and believe me more often then not; so do the birds. When planning your snow goose decoy spread, you need to be different. It takes planning and of course, your wallet (not always the easiest to swallow either). But truth be known, I think successful snow goose hunters are the one’s who think outside the box. Here are a few things that are worth thinking about when looking to build a snow goose spread or starting over.

First off, when I say “starting over”, it’s really not tough to do. Snow goose decoys move FAST in the classifieds on various forums, so it’s not like you’re really stuck with what you have. Put up a price that you think is a bit high and expect to settle at a price you’re comfortable with.

Second, when building a snow goose spread you should consider going small and VERY realistic or to go big. I’m one of the latter myself. I can never have a big enough snow goose spread. I add to my spread every single year whether I like it or not. I always admit I have a snow goose decoy addiction but I hunt snow geese enough where I can sleep with the cost. So with that being said, let’s take a moment and ponder the difference between going small and going big.

If you’re going to go small, try going the full body route. I’m not a full body guy myself but I do hunt with a lot of people who’s opinions I respect who swear by their effectiveness. When I ask about what they notice I tend to hear the same thing, “birds simply finish differently over full bodies”. Let’s face it, they are the most realistic looking snow goose decoys. One of their biggest draws, in my opinion, is you can have them facing all directions. With windsock style decoys, in any wind they all end up facing generally the same way. That’s a drawback for sure. If you scout a field of snow geese, you’ll notice they always feed in a certain direction but they aren’t robots either. They will move in any direction as long as it involves finding food. Also, you can control the movement of full bodies in HIGH winds where windsocks tend to move too much. If I were to go with full bodies, I’d probably keep my “trinkets” to a minimum as well.

If you’re going to go big, build as fast as you can afford. If you have hunting partners, build together effectively. Have one guy buy X amount of decoys while you do the same. Having a good, reliable hunting party is invaluable if you want to go big. Let’s face it, with snow geese it is USUALLY a numbers game. Snow geese feed in big flocks and a big snow goose decoy spread is the only way to mimic that flock. Grow as you can, and make sure you can get that snow goose spread into the field in an effective manner. This year, we’re going bigger then we have have (in our group). We’re going to be running between 1200-3000 decoys, depending on the day. And we’re going to have around 15 rotary machines, 80 flyers for motion snow goose decoys, and around 100-150 floaters. Sounds like overkill? Maybe, but we’ve been building for this for years and want to give it an honest effort. If we don’t notice a difference expect a lot of stuff going into the classifieds this off-season. But in reality, this is what we feel is the most realistic representation of real geese as we possibly can attempt.

Blinds, I flat out hate them. They are bulky, they are uncomfortable, they are tough to hide. And just when you think you’re all set and ready; the birds do something differently and you end up having to move. And when you’re moving blinds during the heat of the action it means moving, restuffing, resetting, reorganizing and so on. So what’s a good way to get away from blinds? Go old school! Our group is running whites this year. We used them a lot when I was younger but the introduction of field blinds changed everything. But I think snow geese are darn good at spotting them so we’re going back to the basics. Whites are great and I don’t think geese can pick them out as good as blinds. If you’ve ever used whites you know what I mean. When we pull up on geese, they don’t immediately flare like a line of blinds doors opening. That means better initial shots and less cripples. You can buy white tyvek suits for as cheap as around $4/each or you can buy white coveralls. Get a pair for each of your hunting buddies and give it a try this spring, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

I’ve been saying this for years – floater spreads kill a lot of geese. Get your hands on some used floaters, paint some duck floaters, or think outside the box on building your own. Find a pond with minimal cattail cover such as a pasture pond or slough and give it a try. Leave the field decoys at home and just roll with the floaters. Spend some time on quality concealment and get covered up. It works – trust me.

I say this all the time to my customers who call to buy decoys from me when they ask about snow goose decoy spreads. If you ask 100 snow goose hunters what they recommend you’ll probably get 100 different responses. So my opinion is just some food for thought. Try something different this spring and see how it works. You may be surprised at it’s results.

Snow goose hunting has been a love/hate relationship with me. Growing up in North Dakota we are invaded by these white devils each spring and fall. As a young hunter, I always marveled at the sheer numbers of snow geese that seemed like an endless string of white and blue specks from one horizon to the next.

My first encounter was on a late fall afternoon in a blizzard. I was out pheasant hunting with my father and brothers. You couldn’t see more than a hundred yards in front of your face. This, along with monster snowflake’s hitting my face, almost made hunting impossible. That’s when I saw a field loaded with snows. They were flying 15 feet off the ground over a mile away from a roost to a cut corn field.

I just so happened to have a few boxes of steel loads for duck hunting and figured I had to find a place to pass shoot these beautiful birds. My brother and I crawled out to the end of a tree line the birds were flying close to. We spread out about 50 yards and sat on the frozen cold ground, praying one of these white ghosts would fly within range.

We were hunkered down blending in the tree line as best we could. Then it seemed out of nowhere a flock of 5 snows came down the pipe. I could hear that high-pitched bark and it sent shivers down my spine. I closed my eyes and ask the good lord above just to send one my way, in range.

At this point in my hunting career, at 15 years old, snow goose hunting was something people talked about, but rarely did I ever see a spread set up let alone a pile of birds in the back of a pick-up truck.

As I thought to myself how tough it was to shoot these birds, reality quickly set in as I looked overhead to see 5 big old snows hanging in the gusting winds and snow storm. I leveled my trusty 870 and let 3 shells loose in a blitzkrieg fashion. To my amazement I clipped the lead bird in the wing and watched him sail 50 yards down in the corn field. I ran out of the tree line as if my life depended on it, eyes watering, tripping over corn stalks, then I spotted my bird walking away. On the fly I slipped a round in the chamber dusting that snow for the final time.

My brother made his way over to me and as I held my snow high and proud ‑ we just stared at it, taking in all its beauty. Its feathers were bright white, whiter than any fresh snow I have seen. As we were admiring and taking in all of this, another flock of mixed blues and snows started towards our location. After an hour or so we had 7 birds on the ground and a new addiction that would sure to keep us up at night.

Since those days we have added 500 Sillosock decoys, feeders, uprights, flyers, goose calls, vortex machines, and e-callers for the spring. My spread is on the small side, too. Many hunters use, and I have hunted, 1,500 decoys spreads or bigger.

In the last few years my decoying techniques have come together and I have killed quite a few snows at 10-20 yards feet down. A far shout from the days of hoping a snow would fly by for a passing shot.

Snow goose decoy spreads seem to differ from one group to the next. I know some guys won’t hunt without 1,000 decoys plus several vortex machines. I like to see what I can get away with for smaller spreads. I usually get together with a buddy of mine, Matt Diederick, for 2-man snow goose hunts in the fall. We set up 300-500 Sillosocks with 9 flyers, and I have spent the time learning how to sound like feeding snows with my goose call.  All these things together have made some great memories for Matt and I each fall in North Dakota.

It seems those old days of pass shooting, and crawling on snows is a 100 years removed. We all start somewhere though. Most of us end with good snow goose decoy spreads enjoying birds that we have worked into close range. However you choose to kill snow geese be respectful of others, and have a good time. That’s what it is all about.

The formation of the decoy spread and how the pocket is positioned contributes tremendously to how birds approach and drop into the spread.  Hunters as a rule worry about or place a heavy emphasis on many details that aren’t nearly as important as the shape and size of the landing spot which needs to be adjusted accordingly to different situations that arise.

Many hunters are familiar with the traditional horseshoe or “V” formation that creates a nice open pocket.  There are many variations of this basic concept and what is most important is a hole or runway for approaching birds to land.  A nice open pocket pinpoints where finished birds will attempt to land which creates a shooting opportunity but also, birds that have an obvious destination to land don’t have to look harder or make multiple passes attempting to find a spot to sit down.  The more birds have to swing around you and the harder they have to look, the more that can go wrong.  Success at pulling in birds within shooting range increases dramatically when the spread is set up in a fashion where the birds drop into the pocket without swinging or circling multiple times.

Several factors can influence how this basic spread formation can be adjusted.  There are some basic rules of thumb many hunters follow.  Some hunters routinely stress placing the decoys in family groups for example.  Some hunters stress facing the decoys into the wind.  I like to mimic with my decoys what I see in the field while scouting.  If birds are scattered with lots of open space between family groups, I will set up decoys accordingly.  If birds are packed shoulder to shoulder or leap frogging towards the edges of the field, I will try and copy what I see with the decoy spread.  As far as what direction to place decoys, I do like the concept of placing a high percentage facing the wind if the wind is strong but I believe the spread is much more realistic by not being predictable.

Family groups often seem to walk in one general direction when active and feeding but they often walk down wind or cross wind.  Canada goose decoys for example are sometimes more visible to approaching birds by facing some of the decoys downwind as the lighter breast is easy to see against dark fields.  I like to face the decoys in a variety of directions just to make the spread look real but on the upwind edge of the pocket where I want to finish birds, I believe birds finish and drop in better if the birds in that area are facing upwind, the same direction as finishing birds will land.  For some reason, birds have a harder time dropping down and landing next to decoys that are facing them.

What direction the birds are approaching the field combined with wind direction and how high or far the birds are traveling really fine tunes everything else.  For example, say the roost is upwind behind you and the birds are flying with the wind towards the spread.  In this situation, the birds get a really good long look at the spread because they have to either fly over or past the entire spread before flying downwind and hooking around to approach the pocket.  In this situation, I have had tremendous success simply turning the blinds and shooting at the birds on the upwind side of the spread as they were traveling with the wind but you can also move the pocket in such a fashion where the birds are flying over fewer decoys and turning over the top of the pocket to descend against the wind.  This can be accomplished by exaggerating the size of the pocket and rimming the downwind side of the pocket with a few more decoys.

How high the birds are as they approach the spread also can dictate a much larger and exaggerated pocket where the hunter can be more successful by scattering more decoys downwind of the pocket.  Birds that have to travel from further distances or come at you high need a big pocket because as they loose elevation, they often don’t drop fast enough and miss you, when this happens, the birds are often at their lowest behind you on the upwind edge of the spread and at that point, the birds have to circle.  This is when good calling can shine but you still have to make it as easy as possible for birds to finish.  If birds are missing the pocket and dropping down behind you, stretch and exaggerate the pocket and scatter loose groups of decoys further down wind of you.

This exact same spread however will backfire if most of the birds are coming at you really low.  When you are in a situation where most of the birds are coming at telephone pole height across the horizon, a high number of decoys down wind of you are going to cause birds to finish short of your blind or they are going to eventually flare off the spread outside of shooting range.  Again, good calling can sometimes keep birds moving up the pipe but you will be much more successful if you match the spread to what most of the birds are giving you.

One other aspect to consider when placing decoys, creating pockets and hiding blinds in the spread is that birds will often key and focus on the largest bunch of closely placed decoys in the spread..  Thus you don’t want to have decoys down wind of the pocket really stacked together tight.  Keep these birds loose.  Typically, the upwind edge of the pocket is where you want the most bodies, placed closest together.  Now traditionally, this is also where people will generally position their blinds or pit.  This is going to be the location and angle to get the best in your face shots.  There are times however with worked up fields or situations with frost where concealment has to be adjusted because birds are flaring off hunters because they are looking right at you the entire final approach.

Hunters can sometimes create some success by repositioning the blinds so that they are off the attention zone where birds are focusing and these shots will often be cross wind.  Another top strategy is to position the blinds and pocket in such a fashion where the birds are always looking into the sun when they look towards the blinds.  Even when using flocked decoys, frost creates a tough situation because our own body head will melt or warm whatever we are using for concealment whether we are using natural cover or a layout blind.  Thus it is very hard to hide so certain situations also require the hunter to reposition the spread so that the birds aren’t concentrating on our location.

Editors Note: The author, Jason Mitchell, host the outdoor television program, Jason Mitchell Outdoors which airs across the upper Midwest on Fox Sport North and Fox Sports Midwest.  Find out more information on air times at www.jasonmitchelloutdoors.com.

From the DOJ website:

Professional Duck Hunter Charged with Guiding Illegal Waterfowl Hunts in Central Illinois
WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury in Springfield, Ill., returned a 23-count felony indictment today charging Jeffrey B. Foiles with conspiracy, wildlife trafficking, and making false writings in connection with the illegal sale of guided waterfowl hunts, the Department of Justice announced today.

The indictment charges Foiles, 53, of Pleasant Hill, Ill., with conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and the federal false writings statute, 12 substantive violations of the Lacey Act, and ten counts of making false writings in a matter within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Lacey Act is a federal law that makes it illegal to knowingly transport or sell wildlife taken in violation of federal law or regulation. The act defines the sale of wildlife to include the sale of guiding services for the illegal taking of wildlife.

The indictment alleges that from 2003 to 2007, Foiles conspired with others to knowingly transport and sell ducks and geese that had been hunted and killed in violation of federal laws protecting migratory birds. In particular, Foiles is alleged to have sold guided waterfowl hunts at the Fallin’ Skies Strait Meat Duck Club in Pike County, Ill., for the purpose of illegally hunting and killing ducks and geese in excess of hunters’ individual daily bag limits. Foiles and his associates are also alleged to have falsified hunting records at the club in order to conceal the excesses, and to have filmed the illegal hunts for inclusion in commercial hunting videos.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

The maximum penalty for a felony violation of the Lacey Act or the federal false writing statute includes up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the government of Canada. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois and the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section.

The duck club is currently up for sale online.  You can see the listing here.

When Buck Knives approached me with the idea months ago, I was quick to jump at the opportunity to help create such a knife. After all, who produces more quality than Buck Knives? After experimenting with many different knife styles, we came up with a design that I feel is second to none for cleaning waterfowl and upland game. The knife features a black Alcryn® Rubber no-slip grip that fits perfectly in your hand. There’s no discomfort even after cleaning a large bag of birds. The blade is short, only 2 1/2” long that makes it ideal to get into tight spots. It also allows you to put a lot of force into your cutting which is ideal for fast cleaning. As to the sharpness? It’s made from Buck Knives so you know it is lazer sharp. And it’s also made with quality right here in the USA and at an affordable price.

I’ve had a lot of feedback from fellow hunters on this knife and it’s been nothing but praise. This is something to get for those have-it-all waterfowlers this holiday season.  You can find it at:

http://www.buckknives.com/index.cfm?event=product.detail&productID=3663

By Chad “diver_sniper” Haabala

Ahhh Spring time. It’s wonderful isn’t it? The birds are coming back, the kids are able to play in the yard again without getting frostbitten, Gramps can finally get back on that lawn mower that’s been teasing him for months now. But if you’re like me, there’s really only one thing on your mind, early goose season. Sure, there’s fishing to be done and vacations to be taken, but for the die hard waterfowler the next season always seems to be one if his/her primary thoughts.

So what can be done at this time of year to prepare for the season when it still seems so far away? The answer to that is simple; practice on your short reed goose call. From the first timer to the expert, everyone should be fine tuning their skills and developing new ones all year round to be sure they give their best performance come opening day.

The topic I want to go over with you right now is how to tune that call up just right so that you are getting maximum effectiveness out of it. I must say one thing first though. There are three reasons for you to ever take your goose call apart. First, because it is dirty and is no longer preforming properly. Second, it has been thoroughly used since you purchased it and is no longer in tune. And finally, because you are getting better on the call and you think that you can improve the sound you get out of it by re-tuning it. If you don’t fit into any of these categories, I urge that you leave your call be. A call will always come to you from the manufacturer tuned. If you are still learning, it is most likely you that needs tweaking, not your call. With that said, lets begin.

The first thing to remember is what each piece of your call is called, and what it does. The barrel is the tube that you blow through. The insert is the other tube that holds the reed assembly in place, and slides into the barrel when fully assembled. The reed is the thin plastic piece that is responsible for the noises that come out of the call. The tone board is the longer plastic piece that the reed sits on. The wedge is the shorter plastic piece that helps hold the reed tightly in place on the tone board. Each part is just as important as the next, because if one of them is broken or not doing it’s job, the entire call is practically worthless.

If you have never taken a call apart before, you may want to use a marker to mark where all the of the individual pieces are before you go any farther. By doing this you can avoid a lot of head ache if you have trouble when it comes time to put it back together.

The first step is to get all the pieces separated. And remember, this is the point of no return, you must be confident that you really want to take your call apart. So, to do this, take the insert into your hand so that the reed assembly is pointed up towards the sky. Now take your thumb and place it on the top of the tone board. Gently press down with your thumb, pushing the parts down into the insert. They should let loose and be easy to pick out of the call.

Next you will want to take all of the parts and thoroughly wash them in warm soapy water. Note that if your call is made out of wood you will not want to wash the barrel and the insert in water. Doing this could cause them to absorb water which could jeopardize the call going back together correctly. Once you have done this, allow the parts to dry.

Now the tricky part, putting it back together. Place the reed on the tone board so that the tip of the reed can freely dip down into the tone channel. This is very important, if the reed cant dip down, the call won’t break over when you blow it. The closer the reed is to the beginning of the tone channel the more responsive the call will be. But as I said, it can not catch on anything, or you will have problems. It is also crucial that the reed is perfectly centered on the tone board. You don’t want it to be able to dip farther into the tone channel one one side than the other.

Now place the wedge so that it is the same distance back from the front of the tone board as it was when you took it apart. Be aware that one end of the wedge will be tapered downward slightly, this is the end that will go into the insert. Now clamp the wedge tightly into place with your thumb and your pointer finger and begin to slide it back into the insert. Once you’ve done this, finish pushing the reed assembly in by turning your hand over so that your thumb is on the reed and your pointer finger is on the bottom of the tone board. Now slide the insert back into the barrel and see how it sounds.

It may take a few tries before you get it to sound just right, which is ok, it’s a very sensitive thing. If any piece of the reed assembly is off even a fraction of an inch it could cause the call to sound “off”.

Now, if you’ve got everything under control so far, we can take a look into a few of the more advanced tweaks to make your call preform differently. To get your call higher pitched, you can push the reed and the tone board slightly deeper into the insert. This means that less of the reed will be visible. Another thing you can do for a slightly higher pitch is to simply push the whole reed assembly a little bit deeper into the insert, this will cause the reed to be held in place more firmly, making it a little bit more responsive.

If you’re looking for a deeper sound you can do just the opposite of the last paragraph. Expose more reed, and/or loosen the reed assembly. However, remember that doing this will make the call a little harder to blow. It will take more air and will be less responsive. A deeper call may sound better, but it won’t quite be as fast, it all depends on your taste.

Still not satisfied? Ok, lets talk about reed shaving. This is another one of those things you will want to be very very careful with. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to shave their reed unless they have extra back up reeds laying around in case the one being shaved gets ruined. The tools used are typically a razor blade if you want to take a decent amount off of the reed, or a fingernail file if you are just trying to get a very small finishing detail. Only shave the side of the reed that does not come into contact with the tone board. If you want to make the call break easier you can shave the part of the reed that reaches out the farthest from the wedge. To make the call harder to break over shave the area back by the wedge. If you decide to shave your reed please be sure to only do it tiny bits at a time. It’s easy to take more off, but you can’t un-shave it.

On a final note, the best idea for any goose caller is to not take their calls apart any more often than they really need to. Every time you change the tune you have to re-adjust to the call, which basically means you have to re-learn all of the things that you could do before the call was tinkered with. You will progress much faster if you keep practicing on a call that operates the same way every time you pick it up. With that said, if you do plan to take your call apart, well before season is the best time to do it, because in the event that you can’t get it tuned in correctly, there is time to find someone who can help you. You can also send most higher end custom calls into the call maker along with a few bucks and a description of how you want it to sound, and they will take care of it for you.

Hopefully this has been a helpful tutorial, if you ever have any problems try jumping on the goose forums for help. Just describe your issue and I’m sure the guys and myself will offer any and all advice that we can. Thanks for reading and good hunting!

My phone rang late last summer and my good friend Lyle Sinner was on the other end. His call was straight to the point, “Hey Chris, are you interested in heading to Montana to goose hunt?” While it took all of about 2 seconds for me to decide, my decision was an obvious YES. Anyone who knows me well knows this isn’t something that takes a lot of convincing. While this is something none of us had ever done before, researching some goose hunting in a new area is something that is not foreign to anyone of us. Lyle had been out in Montana for some Elk hunting years prior and already had a good area that he wanted us to pursue. So with that phone call starting the planning on a new goose hunting adventure.

We had planned on heading out to Montana over Thanksgiving weekend. While normally Thanksgiving is tied to turkey and family, this year I cashed in a family rain check and we were going to be experiencing webbed feet for our Turkey Day. After a few phone calls and a few hours studying some maps on Google Earth, we had our initial plan of attack down. All that was needed was some good old windshield time scouting to put the hunts together.

Everywhere you go is fantastic scenery

We left on the Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving from my home in Bismarck and put the cruise control at 78 mph heading due west. We were hoping to get there with plenty of time to scout east of our hotel. Our anticipation was high, but we knew we were getting to the area early in the season and we weren’t quite sure how many geese we’d find in the area. The fall had been relatively warm which for waterfowlers, it typically meant it was going to be a late migration; not the best of conditions. But once we started seeing good numbers of geese over an hour before we reached our area we knew we were going to find something to hunt. After a brief stop at the hotel and unhitching our trailer, we were on our way out of town to hit some gravel. We saw quite a few bunches of geese on the roost sandbars and we were out just before they started flying out to feed. In the distance we started seeing strings of Canada geese heading out over our back highway and were locking up into some distant fields. The wild goose chase was on. We scouted around 1,000 geese in a field and stopped by a nearby farmstead, which granted us permission. So far the trip was going off without a hitch.

Another quick morning on Canadas

The following morning we were out the door ahead of time as everyone was full of anticipation. We got to our field with around an hour and a half of setup time which was more than enough to get the blinds well stuffed and our decoys setup like the birds the night before. We were a bit up a hill and as the sun started to creep over the horizon it gave view to one of most beautiful sunrises I’d ever seen while in a stubble field. We were surrounded by endless bluffs and buttes, casting various shadows into the surrounding valleys. It was truly something that could inspire even the most seasoned of wildlife artists. The moment was quickly cut short by the sounds of a couple honks across the side of our field. We were caught off guard by some early-comers, something that every goose hunter knows well. We hid in our blinds and let off a couple of greeting honks in our calls, coupled with a couple short flickers of our flags. It didn’t take much convincing as 4 Canadas came on a string right down the landing zone. A couple of volleys and we had 4 geese in our bag. Soon after, the strings started coming and each followed suite like their predecessors. Either we were doing everything right or the birds weren’t expecting a thing, either way the morning was over in a hurry with a 3-man limit of honkers.

Hunting Canada geese around cattle

Little did we know, this was the way the whole trip went. Each night we scouted a different area, and each night we were greeted by more than friendly landowners. Most of them wanted to know why we wanted to spend our holiday chasing geese, and each time we explained our infatuation with cupped wings and our enjoyment of the scenery. The first 3 days we hunted private ground, and each time we scouted a whole new area and a new flight of birds. On our 3rd day, we even encountered something that I rarely experienced, and this was a field full of geese and cattle. Typically, we don’t even bother asking since farmers rarely want any shooting around their livestock. But this farmer was more than happy to not only let us on his land, but we could hunt right up next to his cattle…assuming we don’t shoot in their direction, of course. The geese didn’t seem to mind committing right over their cattle and to do a side swing into our decoys. I think the cattle were more curious of what we were doing rather than to be spooked. At times we had to shoo the cattle away as they wanted to feed right into our decoy spread. That was a bit odd, but we got those comical experiences on film.

A typical day hunting geese in Montana

The final day went off like the previous 3 and that involved plenty of committed geese and a relaxing hunt. After I quickly harvested my 4 geese, I spent the rest of my time taking as many still shots of approaching geese as possible. I had a videographer with me on this trip and we had captured the entire 4 days of hunting on film. The many shots of cupped wings really complimented the footage and it is something I look forward to reviewing well into the future.

Montana is really one of those marvels in the waterfowl world that you rarely hear about. While typically their season is best in December through January, there was still plenty of geese in the area in late November and even more arriving daily throughout our trip. We ran into a couple small groups of hunters in the hotel but other than that we never encountered another hunting party in the field. This is what I enjoyed most about Montana; plenty of peace and quiet and breathtaking scenery around every corner. Our annual goose hunting trip to Montana is now in the books and I look forward to returning there again this year. It is something every goose hunter should experience.

There are moments of waterfowling that you can’t really put into words. An explosion of geese on the horizon that just keeps growing and growing until it’s all around you, literally. Instantly, childhood memories of hunting snow geese had reappeared. And I’m sure some of those same geese I hunted when I was a kid are still flying around enjoying the morning with me. The good old days were in the now. This was my first of what will be many trips to Saskatchewan, and this is how it started.

We witnesses 6 to 8 inches of snow fall on the area we planned to hunt. With a few phone calls and emails, we were all pointed in another direction. We decided on a new base camp off of a few tips, and thought it was a good starting point. With the Suburban and the trailer loaded, we were on our way. In Saskatchewan, it’s illegal to hunt on Sunday so that was the day we chose to leave.

After getting a good night’s rest, we headed out onto the horizon to start our scouting. This was everyone’s first time hunting this area, so we planned to literally do a 360 degree rotation around our base camp. I would have to say one of the most exciting moments of every trip, is seeing your first tornado. I always find scouting to be half the fun of hunting, and clouds of snow geese are my favorite kind. We find some decent feeds of snows, and accidentally stumbled upon a roost of canadas, but kept moving on for whiter pastures. We started to turn back when a large cloud in the distance caught my eye. We decided to pursue it and sure enough, we lucked out. Within an hour and a half of scouting we found the mother load, with strings of birds engulfing the sky in every direction. There were so many birds that they had to spread out for 10 miles. We never left this area the next 4 days.

With the complete lack of hunting pressure, and next to no road hunters, I can see why the birds hold up there as long as possible. We only saw one other hunter all week that wasn’t decoying, and he was pass shooting a few off the flight path. The birds aren’t threatened from vehicles, as it appeared nobody hunted off the roads. In fact, we had to constantly slow down to avoid running over geese. This is a luxury to decoy hunters. And with all the land in the area wide open for hunters, it makes scouting easy. We used Rural Municipality maps and asked every landowner we could find for permission. They were all extremely nice and helpful, and amazingly enough, nobody had ever tried snow geese?

We found our spot for the morning by 11 a.m. We decided to go back and eat, and try an easy evening shoot. All day hunting up there had just started and we couldn’t hold our anticipation any longer. We picked a field that was holding birds, and was at the tail end of the flight path. We set up 100 rags, and lay in the decoys in whites. We’re ground blind fanatics, so I haven’t done this in years. The weather was relatively warm, in the middle 40’s (remember, North Dakotan writing here). Birds came consistently for the next hour, and we got our first taste of decoyable birds. 23 birds hit the ground that night, and probably double got a good laugh on their way to the next field. We picked up early, and caught glimpses of a great Saskatchewan sunset disappear behind the neighboring abandoned farm house. We never saw another hunter or heard a shot all night.

The next morning we set up in a barley field a couple miles down the flight path from us the prior evening. There were so many birds we didn’t worry about disturbing a few the night before. We put out about 400 decoys, a collage of windsocks, shells, rags, and goose magnets. We got into the blinds this morning, and spent a long time making them disappear. At first light, the scout flocks started to make their runs. With the help of a couple ecallers, small flocks of snow geese started appearing from the south of us. There wasn’t too much wind, so I expected a lot of circling by the geese in route to our landing zone. Boy was I wrong. Juveniles don’t have the patience or the knowledge to check out a decoy spread, to them the dinner bell is ringing. The birds would “shuck” into the spread so fast you had to let them circle. And once one started shucking, it’s like it turned into a race as to which goose would land first. This made for mostly clean harvests, with an occasional cripple which we ran down. As the morning ends we start picking up the spread, only to be bombarded with yet more geese. At this point I can only laugh, is this goose heaven or what?

Wednesday morning brought us our first competition of the trip. We chose a wheat field, and a mile between us and the roost was a group in a pea field. On the other end of our field a trailer pulled up, and started preparing for the morning as well. It just so happened that the few decoy parties of the area had all chosen the same flyway. But that’s hunting so we thought we’d give the morning a go like every other. It just didn’t matter. We had probably 3 times the numbers in the flyway that morning compared to the morning before. There was pretty much circling birds over us at 50 yards for 2 hours straight. Singles and doubles would swing at 10 yards…than land, only to bring the rest of the flock. They were working the landing zone we chose perfectly. The birds would bank over us in their final approach. I was wearing ear plugs and the screeching sound of thousands of snow geese was unbearable.  A few hours later we were lying next to 76 geese. A warden made his way into our spread that morning and everything as clean. We chatted with him for awhile and he spoke of a grim future for Saskatchewan waterfowling. The words he spoke kind of spoiled the morning, as he told tails of poaching and blatant breaking of the law. We headed back to the hotel for a long period of cleaning, and literally fell asleep the second we hit the pillow

Thursday turned out to be our final morning of the trip. We had planned on staying until Saturday, but after the morning hunt, we had experienced enough. We were pretty tired that morning, as 3 days straight of hardcore hunting can be pretty draining. We chose to only set out a fraction of our decoys that morning, and keep the spread more manageable. It was a very cold morning, with temps in the teens. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, and barely a breath of wind.  The birds were late that morning, as we didn’t see any geese until almost sunup. The first scout flock of four came over our spread, only to take a circle and exit. In most mornings of snow goose hunting, how the first birds react can foreshadow the patterns of the morning, but not on this day. The strings started coming at us in every direction. It appeared that there was another roost that we didn’t anticipate that was feeding into our field. The first approaching birds started shucking, and then birds from all sides started doing the same. We let dozens fly over at 20 yards, only to reassure the birds in the back of the flock to come lower. We pull up on a group of 6 that mistook our blinds as a place to land. From that moment on, I swear it’s a blur.  Not 30 seconds went by where there wasn’t a bird with it’s feet down in front of us. It was incredible! And as I looked off into the horizon, there was just no end to the approaching birds. After about 45 minutes of hunting, we called a time out. We collected our game and figured out the cushion of our limit. It only took another 10 minutes to call the morning. The birds continued to dive bomb the spread as we picked up for 30 minutes. What a rush! We knew right away when we sat and looked at our 81 birds (1 canada), that the week was over. We were about 30 shy of our possession limit, and felt that there was no need to take home that many birds. That hour of hunting will always be a story. In 15 years of hard hunting, I’d never had an experience like that. I don’t think I could’ve shot another goose, I was all goosed out. 

The memories that will always stick with me are the vast tracks of open land, the amounts of geese, and the peace and quiet atmosphere of hunting that we seek out every season. When the opportunities are endless, you can only wonder why the amounts of resident and nonresident hunter numbers in the province are declining. It’s a goose hunter’s paradise.

This is another classic article on choosing a snow goose decoy spread.

I think snow goose hunters spend the most money out of all species of waterfowl hunters (excluding what some duck hunters pay for their boat/accessories). It seems that no matter how many decoys one owns, it’s never enough. Ask anyone who hunts with me and I’m sure they’ll agree that I kind of have a problem with this. I quit fighting it years ago, I’m a decoy addict so I just roll with it.

Getting snow geese feet down into your decoy spread is easier said then done

Here’s a scenario for you to ponder. A couple springs ago, we were setup in a flooded cornfield in South Dakota with about 500-600 decoys. The following weekend, there was 10,000 decoys setup in the exact same spot with about an equal number of birds using the area, and we ended up shooting more with 500 decoys than the other group with 10,000 decoys and far more shooters. Sure a lot of other variables come into play besides just the decoys themselves, but when you think of a spread that large you would assume they would all just barrel right in. That just isn’t the case.

Often there are restrictions on decoys - in Saskatchewan, you cannot use any non-snow goose decoys in your spread while using an E-caller (changed in 2009).

One of the most common questions that has come up in the snow goose forum over the years is, which decoys should I buy? The answer just isn’t the same for everyone. Here are the questions I like to ask when this question comes up.

How often do you hunt snows, or how serious do you take snow goose hunting? What is your budget?

I combined the 2 questions together because I feel they are related. Obviously the more serious you take your snow goose hunting and the bigger the budget, the more options you will have. For those on a limited budget you have to consider buying used decoys, buying cheaper decoys, or building your own. I also feel one of the most important things you have to keep in mind is as follows. Are you trying to build up your spread for the short term or are you buying decoys that you hope to be using 10 years from now? I am one of those who’d prefer to spend extra up front to ensure I’m doing it right the first time. I have owned pretty much every snow goose decoy on the market for the past 15 or so years, and many of those are broke and disposed, sold, or given away. I rebuilt my spread from scratch 2 years ago and I feel confident in my decision.

Do you hunt snow geese in the spring, fall, or both? Do you have an ATV or will you always have access to one when you hunt snows?

I ask this because you typically have different conditions to work with in both seasons. In the fall, we almost always can drive into the field to setup our decoys. In the spring, I assume it to be the opposite. Those where I can drive in I consider a bonus. I combined the question on ATV’s for those who hunt the spring a lot or all the time. I spent most of my spring hunting years without an ATV, therefore I always had to be efficient in how I transported my decoys. I have spent as much as 7 hours setting up a decoy spread. With that experience in mind, I do not recommend doing it, nor do I want to go through that again. As a result of trial and error, we can get my entire spread out in 1-2 hours.

Do you have a trailer?

With large flocks and feeds come the need for large decoy spreads

This is a key question because you are limited in how many decoys you can actually take with you on each hunt. In my trailer, I have almost all of my snow goose decoys hanging on the wall and tucked away in the front. The amount of space you can save with some of the modern decoys is amazing compared to the older days. On the other hand, I know some people who fill their 20-foot trailers with full bodies. If you plan on purchasing a trailer, you need to parallel that decision with the decoy spread you are pursuing.

Do you have room to store your decoys in your garage, storage shed, etc.?

This question is kind of related to the previous question about owning a trailer. How much room will you have to store them all? Are they going in an attic, staying in a trailer, or are they just piled up somewhere? You also have to consider how many dirty looks you can take from your spouse, because if you stack up half of the garage you will get many (I know from experience).

How comfortable are you spending time doing maintenance on your decoys?

This can be huge when it comes to decoys. Let’s face it, in the manufacturing market of today, most everything is made as cheap as possible. They have to make a buck, it’s the American way. So with that being said, there are a lot of weak decoys in the market. Anything that is plastic is really just begging to break. Even when you think you know exactly how NOT to break the decoy, you end up spending a weekend hunting with 5 guys who seem to be really good at it. It happens so don’t lie to yourself when you want to drop money on a decoy you know is flimsy. Do as much research on the Internet as possible, there are A LOT of opinions available. If you’re patient, I recommend purchasing a dozen or two of various decoys and test them all throughout a season to judge for yourself. I did this with the decoys I use now and I’m glad I did.

Is the time it takes you to setup important? I guess the question related to this is, how much do you value your sleep before hunting?

There has been quite a decoy craze for snow geese the past 5 or so years. There has been quite the bandwagon on stacking up as many full body decoys as possible. I don’t blame someone for making that plunge, there are some really nice looking decoys on the market today. I’m also hearing that many of these full body hunters are spending between 3-5 hours to setup on average spread, often more. Now I’m not going to hate on anyone for doing it, my hat’s off to you. I could do that easily when I was in high school and college, nowadays I just don’t have that kind of time. I know a snow goose hunter who used a large full-body spread for an entire year and then sold them all. For the work, he claimed he just wasn’t seeing any difference in how the birds decoyed. Opinions will vary, and so will decoy choices every year. But I often feel setup time is overlooked when buying decoys which I feel is a big mistake.

Here are 3 scenarios I find for a snow goose hunter:

1)Snow goose hunter who doesn’t actively decoy much, or wants to give it a try. The budget is generally pretty low so the cheapest he/she can get into a decent spread the better. Space is fairly limited and should usually fit in a truck bed.

2)Snow goose hunter who does pursue snow geese often. This hunter likes to be mobile and is without an ATV, and space is limited for both storing and transport. The budget is low to medium.

3)Snow goose hunter who does pursue snow geese often. This hunter has plenty of space, has access to an ATV, and the budget is the highest of the 3.

Keep in mind these are 3 common scenarios, and there are many. I also included the ATV part for those who hunt snow geese in the spring.

For the guy in option 1, you’re looking at windsock or collapsible type decoys. Forget the shells or the full bodies, unless you foresee yourself getting richer down the road. My first suggestion is to go to the classifieds, and seek out various windsock style decoys. There are a lot of windsocks that sell on the net from classifieds such as ours. Of course there are also big sites like Ebay. Also DO NOT overlook your local garage sales or classifieds, I found some of my best deals there over the years. And if you want to buy new on a budget, there are a lot of manufacturers that offer a cheaper or “economy” version where you can paint and construct yourself. These are usually good deals if you have the time. Texas rags are the cheapest of all snow goose decoys, and require quite a bit of assembly. Personally, I did the rag thing for years and I ended up throwing them all away. See what happens to your spread in high winds in a cornfield, it’ll get torn to shreds. But in some areas this is still a heavily used decoy for various reasons, to each their own.

For the guy in option 2, you need to look long term with your buying decisions. I would put myself in this category. I’ve often heard the phrase, “your decoy spread is only as good as your worst decoy.” I would have to agree. With this being said, buy what you’re the most confident with. I was just in this situation when I rebuilt my decoy spread from scratch a couple years ago. I had what I called a “mutt spread” that was full of various styles and brands. My most common decoy was a windsock, and they were loaded in large plastic tubs. They worked, but there was often drawbacks such as weight (steel stakes get heavy in large numbers), mud/blood/rust getting on the decoys, and transport. So when I purchased my new spread I went for the most realism, movement, and portability. I went that entire route with my spread and it’s proved to be a good decision based on how I hunt. Since many ask, I mostly use Sillosock feeder decoys on carriers and Deadly Decoys for my sentries. If I want, I can move the blinds and around 900 decoys all in the back of my truck if needed (although usually in the trailer). To be honest, they are both sponsors of the site, but regardless, if I did it all over again I still would have bought the same spread. It’s always easier to support products you are confident using by choice.

For the guy in option 3, the sky is the limit. It appears that these are usually the hunters who run the larger full body spreads. If that is you, here is what I recommend. First and foremost, get a system to your transport and setup of your decoys. If you can afford it, the slotted decoy bags are awesome to store/transport/set out. I use these for all my Canada full body decoys. Second, I would have plenty of friends to help you set them out. If you’re running hundreds of full bodies, it will take a long time to setup no matter how you slice it. I know some groups where everyone pitches in on the spread and they all hunt together. Great, just make sure that you’re not moving in the near future otherwise you’re stuck with a small full body spread yourself.

Let’s face it, the old days of sticking out paper plates, old homemades, or even diapers (one of my favorites) are gone. Nowadays we have decoys that move and look exactly like geese, with real flying decoys circling overhead. While in the background is a 4-system, 16-speaker surround sound e-caller system, boasting enough snow goose sounding volume that would make a rock star jealous. And while the effectiveness has come and gone, like a black jack table at the casino, the house will always win in the long run. As the old saying goes, “We will never win the war on snow geese, God just won’t allow it.” But it sure is fun to try……

Keep your eyes to the sky.

This goose hunting tips article is almost a decade old but not much has changed since.

Resident Canada goose populations have exploded in recent years. It’s like night and day comparing the amount of Canada’s I witnessed last year to 5 years ago in my favorite areas. As a result, there’s more and more hunter’s taking the field each September, and for good reason. If you’re new to the season or a veteran, I have a few tips that can hopefully increase your success in the field this upcoming September.

First of all, just like any season, scouting is the key. You could set up your spread in literally any field and you’ll probably get some visitors, but being on the “X” requires a little more than luck. For me, scouting starts in early August when the first fields of barley are starting to get harvested. This early in the season I’m doing nothing more than prospecting. I’m trying to find what roosts the geese are using, where the favorable crops are located, and if possible, where the flooded areas are located. Geese do a lot of goofy things early in the year. You’ll find a lot of times that geese will feed out one way at night, only to head out the exact opposite direction the next morning. With that said, you can understand the reasons I like to start my scouting as early as possible. As the season rolls on, I take notice to the fields and flyways that are used most often and I’m also keeping my eye out for wet areas. Barley fields that are wet around harvest time will produce “grow-over”, and the green shoots are very tempting to resident geese. I’ve hunted the same field 3 days in the row, only to have what appeared to be even more coming each day. The birds had used it for 3 weeks, and they saw no reason in stopping at that time. Get some good optics, and take a few trips out into some favorable goose areas. The more areas and roosts you scout, the more options you have as the season rolls on. I usually hunt different areas every time I go out, so I don’t overpressure the birds in a particular area. My personal scouting maps are loaded with roosts that I can be able to scout in a moment’s notice. Keep good records while scouting and it’ll pay off as the season rolls on.

Canada’s will roost in any type of water, as long as they feel safe. And during mid-day, you’ll find a lot of geese loafing in shallow sloughs with next to no surrounding vegetation. In some areas, you’ll see hundreds of geese hanging together on the roosts early on. And in other areas, the families all segregate themselves from others on their own sloughs. I prefer the latter of the two. This gives you more chances at different families, rather than an “all or none” possibility if the hundreds of geese go out the other way. I can’t stress enough how important it is to leave the roost undisturbed. On normal slow years, when there’s no pressure on a particular roost, it can hold birds all season long and makes scouting so much easier. When the roost gets shot out, the birds will be gone with little chance of them returning. Although it might make for a good hunt that day, you’re only shooting yourself in the foot if you were planning on hunting that area again. If you like to hunt geese over water, target them on the shallow flooded areas where they like to rest for a short period of time. You can hunt these areas just like fields, and you’re not pressuring the roost.

You can pretty much get away with any type of decoy early in the season. We normally use nothing but full bodies, because they’ve proven over and over again their effectiveness. I tend to stay away from silhouettes on sunny days to eliminate the possibility of shine. You don’t need too many decoys, 2-4 dozen can usually be sufficient. By the end of the early season, we don’t stick out less than 4 dozen as the birds start grouping up. We normally place the decoys in families of 4-8, and keep the families at least 5 yards away from the other families. As the season rolls on, you can start bringing families together into larger groups.

I’ve found that early in the season, the old birds don’t like to land the young right into the other birds. They do a lot of “short-stopping” which can be quite frustrating at times. I’ve found that a little craftiness in your decoy spread can bring them over you in most situations. While scouting a field that you plan to hunt, always look for the chance at natural cover before deciding where to set up. As much as I love my field blinds, they take the back seat to a weed patch or small slough every day of the week. Play the wind and put your decoy spread a little upwind of your position. I don’t necessarily mean you should put the decoys 100 yards upwind, at that point you’re just pass shooting. If you want feet in your face, you have to expect the birds to slightly short stop the rest of the birds, so a 15-25 yard hole should be sufficient. Use a crescent moon or “U” shaped spread to help filter the birds into your landing zone. And always be prepared to relocate your group if the wind shifts. Goose hunting can be hard work, but having a family land at your feet can make the whole process worthwhile.

A setup that is deadly for me is to have 2 large feeding groups upwind of a few small families (see diagram). When the birds come towards the spread, all eyes are straight ahead checking out the two large groups. If the field is flooded that tends to be where I put these two large groups. The two blue circles are the landing zones that I want the birds to key in on, and the family group I circled is where I’ll stick the hunters. I’ll use this setup whenever possible, and I’ll use this when I can use natural cover by replacing our position of decoys with the weeds. Off course, don’t depend and use the same setup over and over again, especially when hunting the same area. Give the birds a different look, and stick to the patterns that the geese had been using the previous day scouting.

Goose calling in September is great because they’ll respond very well. We consistently get the birds in close either way. Remember though; always try to use as little calling as possible in all situations. A few sour notes will only hurt you as they make their final descent. In the month of September, I tend to favor a deeper call. Out of the calling vocabulary, I tend to use more deep moans than any other pitch in September. When the birds are coming in, I want to give them the relaxing sound of an old goose giving the “okay”. Throw in a few clucks with the moans and you’re in business. And I especially stick with the moans over clucks for the final 30 yards. This is my personal preference, and it works for me.

Some miscellaneous tips that might give you an advantage are quality camo, flagging, and a few other wacky ideas that goose hunters come up with. I see concealment as one of the most important elements while in the field. I mostly use Skyline’s Fall Flight or Farmland Gold and occasionally use Mossy Oak’s Shadow grass. Whenever possible I put stubble over and all around me to help blend me in when I’m not in my blind. Flagging can be just as deadly as quality calling if you do it properly. Use something to extend the flag like bamboo and a pole kite to keep the flag away from your body so they don’t pick you out. Try to imitate a bird coming in or shifting around in the spread. Use the flag just enough to get their attention, and don’t overuse it. Remember that you’re imitating a goose, not trying to land a plane. I do a lot of other small things to help give me an edge early in the year as well. I’ve been noticing a lot of scattered snow geese in my goose areas early in September (I’m assuming they were spring cripples). And I see a lot of groups that have one or two snows or blues mixed in. So with that said, I like to stick a snow goose or two in the spread at times. I only do it if I’ve seen them mixed in, in that particular area. The snow goose sticks out from long distances, and helps for the visibility factor. Another little trick I use is to put a few pairs of crow decoys downwind and off to the side from my spread. Old geese respect the judgment and weariness of crows. So for that reason, I always keep a few pairs with me for the tough decoy situations.

I  hope you learned something from this article, and that you’ll be able to have as much fun as our crew does in September. The surrounding photos were mostly taken in September last year, and this year (2003) went extremely well. Remember, before you head out in the field this September; bring plenty of fluids, wear lighter clothing and don’t forget bug spray. The bug spray can be easy to forget when you’re not used to swatting mosquitoes while hunting. And with the whole West Nile scare going on, it’s another incentive to help you remember. Good hunting everyone.