# Using goose mounts as decoys



## wisconsingoosehunter (Feb 13, 2006)

Is it legal to stuff geese and use them for decoys?


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## Lance_M. (Feb 3, 2006)

sure is. But its expensive and you cant hunt bad weather with them. If you go that route keep some plastics on hand because you dont want to have to wait out bad weather if the huntins good.


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## Tator (Dec 10, 2005)

LOL, think about it, you could buy a dozen real geese mounts for your flock of decoys at about $2400/dozen!!! what a buy!!!

when it comes to making your spread look real, money should not be an issue......lol :rollin:


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## goosegrinder (Mar 4, 2005)

Actually,if you do rough mounts and do it yourself,they can be done very cheap. I think the cost is about $5/bird.

Alex


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## snowsforlife (Mar 27, 2005)

ya, most people do them by themselves for quite cheap. ONe guy i saw on TV showed how he does it and had a spread of 60 some canadas and had only spent 500 $ doing them


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

They are suppose to be killer for snows. That is what some guys in Texas are now using. They are using smaller spreads and having better results than the 2,000 rag spreads. If you have the trailer, the $$$, and good weather majority of time I would say what the hell and do it. Any waterfowling project is a good project! If you make some post some pictures. You may get so good you could be come a taxidermist!!


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## goosegrinder (Mar 4, 2005)

If I ever buy a trailer,I'll be making some snow stuffers for sure. Those things would look insane along a little waterhole in a corn field.I'll stick with plastic on ducks and canadas.

Alex


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## wisconsingoosehunter (Feb 13, 2006)

That's what I had planned on (rough stuffing myself). I have done a little taxidermy (pheasants) and I know that it can be done really quickly. I don't even think it would take more than 30 minutes per bird and less than $5. I got a goose mounted two years ago and spent almost $500 on it, and i'm not stupid (or rich) enough to bring that beauty into the field!! Glad to know it's legal--I will probably do 20-30 of them this year.


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

Each stae has different laws, I know MN and PA it is illegal to use stuffers. 
If you have stuffers--you really need to baby them.
Some guys have hired taxidermists to to do the rough mounts at about $40 to 55 a bird.


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## Tator (Dec 10, 2005)

how about somebody throwing some pics of those stuffers on here, I'd love to see how they look


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

That's right...each state does have different laws. And anybody who thinks it's cheap and easy to do your own...I'll I can say, is your in for a big surprise! By the way, your materials will be a little more than 5 dollars as well.
With todays full bodies looking the way they do, why anybody would use stuffers is beyond me. And, I'm willing to bet they will look much better than any stuffer that somebody with no experience in mounting birds can do.
There's a reason why so many taxidermists send away their birds to specialists...They are very tough to pull off!
Did I mention the bugs. After one nice April day in the field, they will have many!
I hear guys complaining about how they have to baby GHG decoys. Wait til' you get some stuffers. Unless, your time has no value, I wouldn't even consider it!


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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)

I will see if I can get a`few photos of my stuffers up this weekend :beer:


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## FlashBoomSplash (Aug 26, 2005)

My friends and I made some they cost about $8 a piece. They were fun to make in the off season. A case of beer and a couple of good friends sitten around it took know time at all to make a couple dozen. We did mallards and canadas. They didn't last long but were pretty hard core when it comes to waterfowl huntin we got about 75 hunts out of them. Anything to keep our minds on waterfowl right boys. Sure miss the college days.


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## Ty (Mar 11, 2004)

you need 58 of them exactly otherwise your not going to shoot anything. :wink:


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## Travery (Mar 15, 2005)

Ty..... If ol' Terry shows up here because of that comment, I will forever blame YOU!


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## Ridge Nelson (Jan 19, 2006)

does anybody know any links that tell or show exactly how to make stuffers?

Thanks Redlegg93


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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)

sorry wife ran me ragged today even went shopping :x if you want to know how to do it just pick up a taxidermy vid. Ill see if I can get a photo up tomorrow I am still working on 58 :lol:


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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)

can I get a little help I have the photos now how do I get them on here or even post them??

Thanks,
jb
:beer:


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## wisconsingoosehunter (Feb 13, 2006)

To get photos on the discussion, you need to upload them to some web page. There are plenty of these out there. This site even has one:

http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/forums/album.php

or www.dropshots.com and create a user account.

Once you have uploaded the pictures to a site, you just use the img character on the posting page and then copy and paste the link, then use the /img button. All of that won't show up on the thread, just the picture will.


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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)

http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/forums/alb ... ic_id=3787

test


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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)

http://www.nodakoutdoors.com/forums/album_page.php?pic_id=3787

test 2


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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)




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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)

Ok Ok what in the heck am i doing wrong I have a gallery now but I cant get them to post???????

:lol:

Can someone post them for me

:beer:


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

[siteimg]3801[/siteimg]

[siteimg]3787[/siteimg]


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## FlashBoomSplash (Aug 26, 2005)

nice work jb they look better than some taxidermist do if you dont mind me asking how did you do it. I have made them before but yours look much better. :beer:


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## Tator (Dec 10, 2005)

heck, those look pretty darn good, and if you can make em that cheap, not bad at all!!!!


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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)

they run me about $14 a bird (if you dont count how much I spent to shoot them  ) I dont do anything too off the wall it dose take me a while but thats because Im new I think. I dont paint them and I use the skull that God gave them other then that I put them together as fast as I can. I do take some pride in them because I am using them for a bit of practice but not too much. Some of the last few I have done i didnt even bother to put eyes in ( I thinking if they get that close its too late for them  ) the flyers look good out in the spread to me but as always with stuffers space and handling is the biggest problem

anyone with any questions feel free to ask away

anyone with ideals to make them better or easer to use feel free to speak up I would love to here it

I am trying to find a way to make them like the avery full bodys with the stake in the middle so they move the problem is balance because the are all shaped a little differant

Oh almost forgot *THANKS PORK CHOP* :beer:


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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)

FlashBoomSplash said:


> nice work jb they look better than some taxidermist do if you dont mind me asking how did you do it. I have made them before but yours look much better. :beer:


I cant fib i did pick out some of my better ones several of them look kinda homely :lol:


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## FlashBoomSplash (Aug 26, 2005)

so you skinned and left in the skull what did you use to stuff them. or did you buy molds.


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

jb said:


> the flyers look good out in the spread to me but as always with stuffers space and handling is the biggest problem
> 
> anyone with any questions feel free to ask away
> 
> ...


Have you tried putting them on a metal stake that is on mounted onto another bracket so that it can swivel? The balance problem could be overcome if you can fabricate some type of tin platform for the bird to sit on. This could be hidden underneath the birds belly. Provided you mount the bird on that piece of tin, you could also fabricate a larger base for the bird to sit on. Sometimes, the problem isn't so much the bird's balance but rather the platform it sits on is too narrow as compared to the height of the bird.

Try it with a few throw away mounts first... It might take a bit of perfecting to get it to work!

Good luck! :beer:


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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)

FlashBoomSplash said:


> so you skinned and left in the skull what did you use to stuff them. or did you buy molds.


I just buy them, i have wrapped a few bodys but that is a pain in the butt I usally buy a king eider body because they are a bit cheaper and about the same size but the last time i did a price check they were about the same ( I think they are on to me) I shop around a bit and buy 5-10 at a time not that you get a better deal that way or anything 

I buy 9 gauge wire in bulk at a farm and home store

I buy the clay, hot glue, needles, and thread at a craft store

for the necks you can get some window insulation (the round stuff that is made from the same material as the pipe insulation its just solid vrs hollow) Kind of hard to find but you can at some hardware stores

short of the bodys it is very cheep to make one if there was a cheap fast way to make a body you could really save some cash

:beer:


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

No problem JB!!! BTW they look great! Are you able to save the breast meat for eating?


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## smokestak (Feb 10, 2006)

A peice of an alum. arrow(about 6") plugged and glued into the body will slip over a 1/4" metal rod inserted into the ground and will turn into the wind if installed towards the front. I've foam filled a few homemade NW bodies and this method worked real well.

BTW did you skin out the wings,or cut them and remove the meat and sew the back up? did you also use borax to preserve.


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## WingedShooter7 (Oct 28, 2005)

nice looking mounts man!


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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)

smokestak said:


> A peice of an alum. arrow(about 6") plugged and glued into the body will slip over a 1/4" metal rod inserted into the ground and will turn into the wind if installed towards the front. I've foam filled a few homemade NW bodies and this method worked real well.
> 
> BTW did you skin out the wings,or cut them and remove the meat and sew the back up? did you also use borax to preserve.


I cut most of them so the fethers stay on the bone I dont bother to sew them up because you will never see them anyway I just run my wire and leave them open I do stuff them with a bit of borax

On the flyers I just use white caulk to fill the space where the muscle was If I am making one for home I will use paper towels or pillow stuffing to remake the muscle heck I have even stuffed a maxi pad to some geese arond the seam on the belly to keep grease stains from coming throu some ducks and the big canada geese suck they are so greasy

I like your ideal with the arrow that sounds like it could work out good I know alot of guys that bow hunt Im sure they have bent a arrow or 2 lol

I will post a few pics of one of my flyers :beer:


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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)

PorkChop said:


> No problem JB!!! BTW they look great! Are you able to save the breast meat for eating?


for the most part I dont I guess I could now you make me feel guilty


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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)

[siteimg]3792[/siteimg]

[siteimg]3793[/siteimg]

I have been using this one for 3 years and it has been rained on one time it dose not look as good as it did in its prime but still looks ok imo

:beer:


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## jb (Feb 8, 2005)

sweet I got the photo thing figuerd out here is a photo of my shop and the nose of my trailer where I keep the stuffers, grill, food, ecallers, seats and other small or delicate items the last one is just some snows I found on sunday

[siteimg]3806[/siteimg]

[siteimg]3805[/siteimg]

[siteimg]3799[/siteimg]

[siteimg]3800[/siteimg]

Ok its out of my system now sorry if you have dial up

:lol:


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