# What is up with the hard to decoy birds, any tips?



## EW6 (Oct 22, 2007)

Are there any other tips out there you decoying experts or those that have been working the migration in NE or MO that would care to share of things I may try to alter my spread for better results this year.

For example I have hunted the last couple days in East Central SD and am not getting the results I have had in the past two years even on adults. I run a small spread ~175 sillosocks and deadlies, (the last two years it was carrylite shells and rags) and I try to be on the X from the previous night when I set up.

This year I am not even getting any circling from the birds. Even the adults last year would circle multiple times before they would hang up but this year other than a few cirlces from the singles out there of which a very few have dropping into gun range it is like my spread doesn't even exist. This is a far cry from my experiences the last two years even when it was just all adults. The blinds (only 2) are hidden very well, we run about 40% blues, my spacing is random and I am in fields which the birds have been feeding... I am going to try turning down the caller volume, continue working with spread shapes and blind placement but are there any other tips out there you wouldn't mind sharing. Thanks


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

Keep working at it. Everyone says they are harder to work this year. Perhaps you're living proof of that. :lol:

Don't give up. Never give up. The worm will turn sooner or later.

Good luck,
Dan


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## goosegrinder (Mar 4, 2005)

If your'e on the X and not getting any shooting.........ya got problems. Being on the X,that first flock(going back to the field) should dump right in,especially in lower light(right before sunrise) conditions.May be the ecaller is too loud(maybe they don't like the sounds) if there isn't any wind that early,but who knows. May be some very educated birds that just won't hit the same field twice no matter what.If your'e in an area that isn't getting much pressure,lay off them for a day or two and let them settle down,they probably just arrived and may be unsettled about what's right and what's not.Or,try using very few decoys(like 5) and just give them something to key on when coming to the field.Set your blinds a good 20yds. or so from the decoys and camo yourself in 5 times better than what you were.Gotta try something different. 8)

Alex


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## the professor (Oct 13, 2006)

i drive from sioux falls to yankton every day; going right through tons of birds in the area; havent seen birds in the same field twice. it seems to me that they are very spooky this year. just my windshield observations; wont get any layout blind observations until the 28th!


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## mallard (Mar 27, 2002)

Spring snows were acting like this 7-8 years ago. I you hit double digits it was a good day. We are just very spoiled from the last several years.


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## Ty (Mar 11, 2004)

my opinion is the lack of juvies. Seriously last year and this year right away was damn sick! We had one weekend where we shot a total of 3 birds and probably had 300,000 fly directly over the spread every day. This year we had the same problem early. Im telling you........... I tried EVERYTHING! I cant think of anything else besides getting about 50,000 Avery FB snows.

I blame it on

1. the birds are gay
2. the birds are almost ALL adults
3. the birds are heading somewhere and really could care less about you
4. they are gay
5. the lunar timetables in the newest Field and Stream

:beer: drink more beer

Last year I guided pretty much every day of the season here in Nebraska and just couldnt figure them out. Nobody in the entire rainwater basins area did. Of all the people I talked to the most I heard being shot was 7 birds. TERRIBLE


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## quackstacker (Feb 18, 2008)

Ty said:


> 1. the birds are gay


This about sums up hunting adult snow geese.


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## zettler (Sep 7, 2002)

We had the same issues here in Illinois this past few weeks. We did have one good morning where we killed 15 in our face and expected the afternoon to be fantastic and only took two!

Very cautious but the lack of wind would hurt us more than anything...

Here is a piucture of our spread:


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

Could it be that they are pounded from the time they enter the grain belt of the Canadian prairie in September and hunted non-stop for about 9 months. That would probably account for some of their caution.

If I were a snow goose I'd migrate only at night and at extreme altitude. I'd never light in a field with any geese already there, and if I heard a a flock calling from a field below, I'd fly the other way. :lol:

Good luck,
Dan


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## Deer_Slayer (Mar 17, 2008)

Weve been having alot of trouble getting geese to decoy. We went out today and finally got them to decoy, we had prolly 200 snows and blues above us. THey circled and came straight down LITERALLY. they basiclly fell down out of the sky. my dad jumped the gun a bit to shot at them and they flarred with the wind and were gone real quick. we got 2 outta the flock. All juvies, theyre decoy easy, adults wouldnt pay us no mind. also saw prolly 2-3K canadains today, dont know why, thought most of them where gone. but had flocks of hundred all morning. Lots of juvies in NEB now tho, so prolly gettin towards tail end or close id guess around here atleast.


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## littlecatches (Mar 7, 2008)

hopefully some them youngens will be up in the Madison, SD area tomorrow. not the best luck today but managed a couple. Everything that comes over takes a good look at us but seem to have better places to be at the time :******:


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## bigquackattack (Sep 18, 2006)

Deer_Slayer said:


> also saw prolly 2-3K canadains today, dont know why


Reasons you could have prolly (sic) seen 2-3K Canadians. 
1. You were in Toronto, not Nebraska
2. You were watching a curling match on CBC
3. You were watching reruns of Hockey Night in Canada
4. You were playing "Oh, Canada" on your e-caller

Oh, I get it you saw Canada geese.


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## Manitobawoj (Mar 24, 2006)

Ha Ha funny!


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## Deer_Slayer (Mar 17, 2008)

HAHA


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## Zekeland (Oct 6, 2005)

I pick #3

..re-runs of HNIC!!!!

:beer:


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