# Real or fake?



## Ducked Up (Jan 5, 2006)

*Are these decoys or feeding geese*​
Real gesse816.33%Decoys4183.67%


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## Ducked Up (Jan 5, 2006)

Snowtest[/img]


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## wisconsingoosehunter (Feb 13, 2006)

Pic didn't work.


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## Ducked Up (Jan 5, 2006)

Yeah can you help


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

where is the pic located?


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## TheDogSlayer (Feb 2, 2006)

Here, I will help.

[siteimg]3715[/siteimg]


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## TheDogSlayer (Feb 2, 2006)

My guess is decoys, not real geese.


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## Ducked Up (Jan 5, 2006)

Thanks And why do you think decoys


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Because they are not moving!!!!! :lol: :lol:


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

I say decoys as well.......

I think I see some blinds in the mix...that is why deocys

Also not enough blues to be real.....what I have seen anyway....I could be wrong...It has happened before.


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## Lance_M. (Feb 3, 2006)

Im goin with real


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## TWEET SD (May 11, 2005)

I said real because it looks like they're feeding the rows of corn...but then I look at it and there are none flying around...shrug!!


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## Flick (Aug 21, 2002)

Plus asking a question like this and having them be real geese would be pretty pointless, I dont know who would do that.

Really how can you tell anyways, they're so far away


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## Hitman_25 (Feb 11, 2006)

I said decoyes some of the singals look to big, nothing flying and most of the geese I see will not sit right on top of a hill.they also apear to be spread kinda thin.


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## mallardhunter (May 15, 2004)

I agree, nothing is flying


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

dekes


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

They are decoys. Too many heads are up on the hilltop-their profile is too high to be real.

But over all of hpow they are laid out, I would say a very good job of mimicking hoe real geese are often out in the field. Too many guys just put a big blob of decoys and it does not replicate what geese actually are sitting when together in a filed.


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## DeltaBoy (Mar 4, 2004)

Decoys - Since you're taking a picture of geese that "look" real.

Nice spread! :wink:


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## Click9 (Mar 7, 2005)

Chuck Smith said:


> I think I see some blinds in the mix...that is why deocys


I agree.


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## duckslayer_10 (Feb 14, 2006)

decoys- nothing moving and not buched up enough i could be wrong they are a mile away it looks like haha

:sniper: get um all


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## 870 XPRS (Mar 12, 2003)

HAHA.....I get a kick out of the guys that say nothing is moving. Correct me if I'm wrong but it is a picture and not a video isn't it????

I'd have to say decoys personally though, agreeing with many of the aforementioned reasonings.


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## TWEET SD (May 11, 2005)

so what's the stinkin answer already????????????


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## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

maybe my monitor is fuzzy, but it all just looks like a bunch of white dots. My vote is little piles of snow.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

> HAHA.....I get a kick out of the guys that say nothing is moving. Correct me if I'm wrong but it is a picture and not a video isn't it????


Uhhh, yup, That is why the laugh afterwards!!!! :roll:


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## woodpecker (Mar 2, 2005)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

wood pecker...... :beer: :toofunny: :thumb:


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## Ducked Up (Jan 5, 2006)

Ok they are decoys and the rest of them are over the hill, some 400 or so I just wanted to see what I could do to improve on the spead We did decoy a good number of birds everything from pintails, specks, canadians, and snows but I'm not a very good shot and if I can I would like to blam shooting into the sun. and there are no blinds. we just wear whites. 8) I only had one problem the birds kept wanting to land behind us? I thought it was the speaker so I moved it to the front of the spread and they still went behind use. Any ideas?


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

possibly the lay of the land, they like to feed on hilltops and fly in valleys.


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## Ducked Up (Jan 5, 2006)

The reason I had the rest over the hill was that I figure up high they could see all that white but as they came down the bad decoys (rags) would be less visible. :huh:


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

downwind side of the hilltop and on top is where the majority will always be, and of course they will take off into the wind on the other side of the hill. They like to come off the hilltops then over the valley/draw, the ground drops away quicker than if they were just climbing on their own because of the downhill slope of the ground.

Looks good.


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

Ducked Up said:


> I only had one problem the birds kept wanting to land behind us? I thought it was the speaker so I moved it to the front of the spread and they still went behind use. Any ideas?


Yes then move to where you will get good shooting. If 5 guys, put 3 on the downwind side and 1 up at each corner upwind--soemebody will then get some good close shooting. Last year I often had them wanting in on the upwind side and also on the downwind side. The upwind landings are a real pain if positioned on the down wind side of the spread when using a layout blinds cause you basically have 90 degree of zero vision behind you and a difficult shoot at best.

Here is a pic of typically of how the geese will appraoch, it is a bit crude, but gets across on how to cover more of the spread. Some do not like because they like the friends close by. So the question is do you want to kill geese or talk amongst yourselves? There is no right or wrong answer as to each his own.









The green is the basic outline of the decoys
Blue are the blinds.
orange is typical landing areas
the arrows are how often the geese will approach if decoying.
The wind would be blowing from top to bottom.

Also on real big spreads--with a group, guys would go to each lower lobe as often the outside edges are 200+yds apart, so only way to cover it is putting guys all over.

Some days the upwind guys will do better, some days the down wind guys will do better. The guys in the middle naturally would get the most oppurtunities.

Now I'm not saying I know too much on the biggest spreads--as I do not use them anymore, but when I did years ago, the geese came in from many directions--but generally into or crossing the wind.

I also have seen where the 3 blinds are they are up 60yds , and yet at the top of the spread they are only 20yds up getting ready to land, so being able to let the first ones go over for a bit and then open up on them most everyone would get a shot.

And as mentioned already, be prepared to move the blinds around as the situation dictates. Be flexible is my main point if yoy want to increase the # of birds bagged.And regardless of the "shape" of the decoy spread, basically cover the areas where likely the geese will be decoying in. 
But nothing wrong with putting 5 blinds across where the 3 are if you'll want to talk--word of advice--keep the blinds at least 10' apart for safety sake. Remember a too close blind in MO a few months ago ended in tragedy when a guy stood as they were shooting and got killed by a family member. So always think safety too.

Here is another basic layout of a spread.









As you can see, all the main areas are covered.

Also if a calm day--the snows will come form any direction, thus the 2 red arrows at top. The X or starfish work on calmer days as it is inviting regardless of where they approach. Honker hunters use the same thing, except often less decoys are used. If more of a wind I like the lazy X as shown above, and basically that is what you did on the photo.

Good luck. :beer:


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## Ducked Up (Jan 5, 2006)

h2ofwlr, We did move to the top of the hill just a little over it and that did help but the still seamed to decoy in range but a little high ( like I said I'm not a good shot unless its quail or pheasant) with 30 mph winds and just kind of sat up there and slowly drifted over use. Does speaker placement matter I have five spread out in the spread facing every direction I can cover.


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

Is there a duck tower in your area that you can shoot some clays at? Say a 30yd tower? I would recomend it as pheasants is nothing like over head shooting of Snows are. Pheasants is like trap shooting or skeet. 2 different styles of shooting + when you are lying on back or sitting, there is not a range of motion either like when standing. Many guys that shoot well standing are crappy shots when sitting. It takes practice. I always recomend to guys to go to a duck tower and shoot from your blind just like in the field so they can get the hang of it.

So what do you call in range? IMO they are coming in feet first or they are hovering, and if hovering take them by the 2nd pass as they'll just get further away if the swing around more times.

BTW I call in range 40 yds. A good shooter can pick 2 snows off at that range. Problem is 90% of the hunters can not hit the broad side of barn past 35yds. Ballistically with the right chokes, loads, a very good shooter can drop them at 60yds -- but that is one in maybe 20 guys that can do that. But long range shooting, that is a whole another story... one has to be able to consistently hit them at 40 yds before ever thinking of squeezing the trigger at longer ranges IMO.

And I'm sure not no authority on hunting them either as I know of guys that hunt them one hell of a lot more than me. I'm just a long time veteran Snow goose hunter is all. And I'm sure others have their experiences and opinions they will share too.


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