Goose decoy placement

I think the best way to put a spread with this amount of decoys is to take the shells and arange them in a circle and put the full bodies in the middle of the circle. This is called a circle spread and it gives the geese a target to look at when they are coming in to land. :roll: :lol:

With that little amount of decoys its not to hard to duplicate a very realistic spread. First I would limit your self to a spot that is not to vast. Don't let a fiels, flat or whatever swallow up your decoys so the geese would'nt see them. Scout areas that hold geese. Look for bottoms, small fiels, areas of traffic. Second, arrange the decoys in groups. You can be creative with shape of groups, I personally think it doesn't matter with only 16 decoys. Put the HC's out in the open or in a very visable spot. Where you want the geese to lit. Also, look for hill tops for places to hunt. With 16 decoys, the name of the game is to be seen not rig design, placement. But spread them out in groups to look like a lot of geese.

If you are where the geese wanna be it wont take many dekes to get them down. I would put the hardcore dekes in the front so geese see them and scatter the silhouttes behind. Maybe try to get it to look like two family groups and set up in the front one. It will be hard to pull down big flocks but you can pick off doubles and singles.

Not true the replys you got seem a little bit funny to me. I have being hunting canada in southern Ontario for 28 years now. First of all hunt any where you want or can. Nexted I only use small flocks of 10-20 decoys in my flock. But ownen over 100 decoys. If I was you I would spent some time watching really geese. They make loss family group all the time and face any way they see fit. My best answer is look at the real geese in a field and just give it a try with any placement you like. The biggest truth is get the right field where the geese want to be and you will do just fine.The other thing to remeember is geese are getting smarter and smaller flocks are less likely to be picked up as fakes. :twisted:

which direction do you face the heads when there is no wind at all?

take 16 wooden matches, throw them up in the air, point the goose heads in the same direction the match heads are facing, pretty high tech stuff, lol :shock:

I would put the dekes in groups of 4 spread out about 10 yards apart sort of in a v shape.

Thanks guys for the information.... Dose anyone have any goose decoys that are in decoent shape(working/effective order). That they might be interested in selling me... Ya know if you have an extra few dozen. Thanks. And one more question. How do you scout for geese? i know you have to follow them but where do you follow them from? Lakes? if so The nearest lake is about 30 miles away from my house. But there is quite a few large ponds around.

Shoot em in the eye and and yu'll be sure they'll die.

Mallyard

Look for fields holding geese and see where they go from there or take a hard look at some of your bigger ponds or any rivers you have nearby. Get up early and see where they are coming from and try to locate them there that evening. Good Luck JIM

I am new to this Goose Forum but I agree with that you do not need a huge spread. Been Canada Goose hunting for 40 yrs and 95% of the time get our limit. I have 6 super mags (old carry lite fold opens) , 1 doz. reg. 1 doz mags and 6 full body that I hunt with. Just make sure geese are using the field and above all make sure you are concealed. For me less calling is better.

Amen to NYFH. You could have 12 dozen stuffers but if you aren't concealed and you aren't where the geese wanna be, you won't get a thing. On the other hand, you could slay them over just a handfull of beat up old raggety decoys if you are in the right spot and get covered up. Sometimes just a few good decoys are the best thing for birds that have been hunted hard. Guest, put your HC decoys where the geese will see them first as they are coming in. Arrange your 16 decoys in about three family groups and leave a landing pocket. Put yourself out to the side of the pocket so they aren't looking straight at you on final approach. Scout out a good place and you should be A-OK.

i agree one day when we were hunting we had a pit with about 5 or six dozen and we moved down a couple fields where the geese were flying over in visible distance from the pit and set up half a dozen shells and dropped more geese there then we did in the pit

Early in the year I use smaller spreads. Family groups. Sometimes I'll use just the 8 Judge's I have.
But now that the snow is here, I'll use the 8 Judges, 20 shells, and 24 outlaws.

Concelement, concelement... thats the key... I've switched to Finisher type blinds. You can hide them anywhere, bean fields, corn, hay.. anywhere. I pack the Outlaws in around my blind

Jerr

This last year I only had 18 decoys. We set them up in two or three family groups with six of the FB out in front like they just landed. We would have done better if we had a flag and if we would have been hiddin better. So hiding is our main focus now. Next year i will have double the size of my spread giving me three dozen. But we still have to fond a good way to hide in winter wheat. Thinking about some green killer weed. Anyways, small family groups placed on the highest ground in your field should work if your where the birds want to be. And get a flag to grab their attention.