No wind day.

[Geese Gone Wild]

How do you guys set your decoys on a windless day in the field? Its hard to set a landing zone up without wind. Are there any tricks that you know of or do you change anything and just hope they land in the pocket.

[Lonegoose]

No wind can be tough to control where the birds finish. I persoanlly just spread them out more so if the birds come in any direction they have room to land. I still like to leave some bigger pockets hoping they will try to land there. I'm personally not a fan of the U's and V's shape spreads. I don't think it looks natural and I think some birds catch on to set ups like that. Just make it look natural, especially in the late season.

[DSM16428]

On no wind days or where the wind is constantly changing, I will actually use for lack of a better term, an "X> shaped spread. I still use the natural blobs of decoys but I will set them so that ther are 4 kill holes, one on each side of the blinds with some decoys around the blinds if possible too. While I do not trust in those letter shaped spreads either, on windless days, giving the birds options to land give you options when they start flying. Once you start to figure out where the birds are setting in from, all you gotta do is rotate the blinds and kill em.

[tornadochaser]

Sun to my back and lots of space between each decoy. the small flocks will usually try to land right amongst the dekes, while larger flocks seem to setup on the edge of the spread.

[JN204]

I don't even leave much of a "pocket" on those days, just a "blob" spread with more space between decoys than normal so they can set down right in the spread. I also sit back further from the spread than normal, rather than hiding IN the set. If you are set back a ways, even if they land on the edge of the set closest to you, they are still in front of you. I see too many guys hiding in the spread, so when they land on that edge of the set, they are right behind the blinds. Move them back 15 yards and they would be right in front of you.

[fisherhunter460]

I use a triangle. That's right something different. The basis is 3 blobs of decoys. The big lead blob at the head where the wind is supposed to be coming from according to the weatherman. Then the other two smaller blobs supposedly down wind about 25 yards with 25 to 30 yards between them. This leaves plenty of room for the birds and to me is a little mor natural to how groups of birds land and feed.

[goosechaser125]

I don't even leave much of a "pocket" on those days, just a "blob" spread with more space between decoys than normal so they can set down right in the spread. I also sit back further from the spread than normal, rather than hiding IN the set. If you are set back a ways, even if they land on the edge of the set closest to you, they are still in front of you. I see too many guys hiding in the spread, so when they land on that edge of the set, they are right behind the blinds. Move them back 15 yards and they would be right in front of you.

Like above or even the triangle, but space your decoys in the middle about two or three times the spacing of your birds on the outside of the spread. They should drop into the loosely spaced areas, you may want to even shape it like an hour glass. We are expecting snow Thursday and will be hunting from a pit and the hourglass is what we will use with the pit being the center of it.

[Geese Gone Wild]

Thanks for the tips guys. What i would do for a good cold front and 10 to 15 mph wind on days i can hunt. Guys at work think I'm crazy and I've pretty much lost the ability to say I'm cold at any time. They just don't understand! It better stay this nice after the season, we only have 1 month left .

[fisherhunter460]

There are two options in my opinion depending on the number of decoys your are running. If you are running 6 dozen or more then I would make 5 feeding groups. Place 4 groups of varying numbers spaced 10 to 20 yards apart in a loose U shape. I don't leave a lot of space between decoys. Then place another group of 6 or so in the pocket off to one side or the other. This to me simulates birds that are searching for food and birds that have just come in. Probably a lot of guys do this.

The other option is to create a blob type spread with a pretty tight upwind side and a very loose down wind side. Leave more space between the decoys the further down wind you go. Stretch this for 30 to 40 yards long. If its real cold or snow then stick some sleeper and rester shells out in groups through out the spread.

Of course these are my 2 cents.