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Your "Ace in the Hole"

3K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  Rick 
#1 ·
You guy's have an Ace in the Hole that you save for Field hunting? Is your "ACE" a specific spread formation or type of decoy? Maybe a mid to late season tactic? Orrrrrrrr...a specific flavor of schnapps? You can PM me if you don't want to divulge your secrets :rolling:
Let me be the first to " Spill the Beans" with one of my Ace's. I like to change up the spread later in the season and leave a LANE or space between the decoys in the hole at the top of the spread. So many times have I had Geese pull through the lane that were just curious. I started doing this when I noticed Geese would pull to the hole and then gain altitude as they approached the decoys. I opened up the spread and Geese would fly through the lane and afford us with an excellent passing shot. After all, not all flocks are going to decoy. I REALLY like to make the opening in the spread on my side of the pit or lay downs...mum's the word on this deal! :beer:

Murph.
 
#2 ·
Not really an "Ace in the Hole" but I always have to put a pair of decoys waaaaaaay off on their own. Everytime i see a group of birds in a field there is always that pair of birds or a loner thats just off by themselves like 75 yards away just chilling on there own. So, thats my big secret.
 
#3 ·
I don't mind sharing my "ace" for decoying geese because precious few folks have whatever it takes to try it, let alone make it work.

I should begin with the preface that I regularly employ it effectively on SW Louisiana speckle-bellies, have found our Richardson's Canadas at least as susceptible, if not more so, and sometimes even trip up light geese when conditions are right - but I was of a very different mindset when living in big Canada country and never dreamed of trying it there.

That said, my decoying "secret" is using either no decoys at all in places where we can hide well and it's not readily apparent that nothing's there to be calling, such as rough plowed ground or weedy water, or only two or three top quality decoys where we can hide well but it would be readily apparent if nothing were there to be calling, such as on open water or greened up turf.

Our geese are under intense pressure, and even back when I moved here in the mid '80s, I quickly learned that just repainting my very successful Ohio Valley Canada rig of a dozen G&H standard shells, three dozen of the old one-piece, full-bodied appearing Carrylite shells and seven dozen home spun silhouettes wasn't going to cut it with the specks here. To the surprise of this "more is more" Canada hunter, ditching the big show of flats helped a lot, and finally leaving the fat-necked Carrylites at the house in favor of just the more true-to-the-bird G&H shells was the ticket to finishing a great many more birds. Later even the early first (and then for a while abandoned) run of Big Foot speck full-bodies proved themselves less effective finishers than the standard sized G&H shells, presumably because their larger size makes it easier for wary birds to see they're manikins.

So while a big spread can initially help draw more birds than a call alone, it also offers the wariest birds more opportunities to smell the rat. And the only time I'll still use more than a handful of decoys is as the lesser of evils to help take the eyes off of inadequately hidden guns.

Will also admit to at least using that handful of top quality decoys, even where I believe we'd be better off with less or none, when most paying guests are along, just to keep from being the "dumb arse who forgot his decoys" or was "too lazy to carry decoys" on a day when there's little or no opportunity to prove I know my business. But that doesn't mean I won't try to "hide" them by placement where they'll not stand out and/or by widely scattering them.

Naturally, success is most often going to depend on effective hides and calling, but it's a whole lot neater to watch geese come low with their heads down and necks craning to find the source of a teasing call than circle high and push off what they've decided are foolies.
 
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