# Scouting



## Chross16 (Aug 1, 2010)

Hey guys,

I'm new to this hunting game and looking for some good advice...I was wondering what time of day do you guys generally go out to scout canadian geese? any advice on scouting would be amazing! Thanks Guys...

Cheers :beer:

Chris


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## Horker23 (Mar 2, 2006)

Sun rise to an hour after. Hour before sunset. Depending on weather of course


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## Chross16 (Aug 1, 2010)

Hey thanks! I appreciate it...this is my first year doing this so I want to make sure I do it right~ I appreciate all the tips and help!


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## the professor (Oct 13, 2006)

you can also spend the mid day hours finding potential roosts or loafing areas. knowing where the birds come from to feed can be just as important as actually being where they feed. especially if you need to run traffic on them.


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## AdamFisk (Jan 30, 2005)

I like to be out more than an hour before sunset, two is minimum, at least this time of year. If you have a rough idea where birds are roosting, you can time it so you can follow the birds right to the field. Also, this time of year wheat and barley is coming down daily, and geese will be changing fields quite often. So finding a field 1 night with birds in it and checking it out the following night, don't be surprised if only half the birds are there, or none at all. That is why I like to be out early, catch them flying off the roost, or have time to find different options.


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## Duckslayer100 (Apr 7, 2004)

This thread brings up an interesting point that I'd like to swing by you guys: Do you feel it is more efficient to scout in the morning or the evening?

Personally, I feel evening scouting is more effective, the reason being that it is the most recent time the geese are in the field until the next morning. If you scout the morning and don't double-check that evening as well, the geese could have moved a couple hundred yards to a different X, or jumped ship completely.

Here's an example. Two years ago I had my dad up for his first ever waterfowl hunting trip in North Dakota. Didn't do so hot the first day, but scouted hard and eventually found a harvested bean field adjacent to some PLOTS (all standing grass). We found it full of ducks and geese, and the best part: They were within 20 yards of the tall grass. Perfect cover for the blinds.

So the next morning we get out extra early and set up where we saw them the night before. About 20 minutes before shooting time, a truck pulls up and begins to unload. So I drive up and see what's going on. It's a group of three guys from Mississippi who plan on hunting the field. I tell them that we are already set up, but they are more than welcome to join us so we don't have to compete for the field. They ask where we are, so I told them.

"Well we're going to set up there," one guys says, pointing north of our spread. "That's where we saw them yesterday morning."

I explained that we were out the night before, and the geese had moved. That's the reason we set up where we did.

Well they didn't buy it, so I wished them luck and went back to my dad with the grim news that we would be competing for a field.

I should never have even worried.

Even with my piss-poor calling and haphazard spread of shells and sillos, every goose and duck in the area went straight for our spread.

They had three guys, full body decoys and were pretty decent callers and I think they scratched one goose that swung too wide. After about an hour, they got fed up and left.

That pretty much sealed the deal for me. I'll still scout in the morning, but if so, I'll be darn sure to double-check and make sure the geese still come back that evening, too.


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## slough (Oct 12, 2003)

I kind of like scouting in the mornings because I figure I hunt in the morning so if they are using the field in the morning they should be there the next morning. It also gives you an idea of how early they are flying. Morning scouting for me isn't possible too often and evenings seem to work just fine too. Evening scouting is probably a little easier because the birds in the morning often fly early and they are tough to track when it's kinda dark and in evening you can scan the horizon with binocs easily. I wouldn't say one is necessarily better than the other but I guess I like mornings just for peace of mind, but you are right they can change their habits very quickly. Nothing's ever certain, that's what keeps it interesting I guess.


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## Chross16 (Aug 1, 2010)

Thanks Guys, I appreciate all the feedback! This is great info...


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

Question: Why don't more people scout in the morning, then hunt in the afternoon? Other than the shooting hours for geese during the regular season.


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

You can be successfull scouting the morning and hunting in the evening......provided the birds are using the same field for both feedings. I have seen them use different fields, enough to not depend on a morning scout for an evening hunt and vice versa.


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## AdamFisk (Jan 30, 2005)

PJ said:


> Question: Why don't more people scout in the morning, then hunt in the afternoon? Other than the shooting hours for geese during the regular season.


Going off memory here, I think I've been on 1 afternoon goose hunt in my life where the birds did what we thought they were going to do. Every other time it's been a no show, don't decoy very good, land in different part of field, you name it. I don't know why, but that's been my experience.

Also, during early season, HEAT....Hate the fricken heat.


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

PJ said:


> Question: Why don't more people scout in the morning, then hunt in the afternoon? Other than the shooting hours for geese during the regular season.


Work/School timing gets in the way. Ive done it plenty when time provides, it just usually works out more often the other way around.


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## foxy65 (Sep 3, 2007)

during early season can you hunt all day every day or is it just on wednesdays and saturday that you can?


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## chrisg (Mar 17, 2010)

All day. Half hour before sunrise to sunset.


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## foxy65 (Sep 3, 2007)

that is good news since i have football practice in the morning


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## TL1FAAT (Apr 16, 2009)

> Question: Why don't more people scout in the morning, then hunt in the afternoon?


Aside from the fact that I've usually had better luck in the morning than afternoon, I like picking up in the daylight so nothing gets missed.


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## Gone Fishin (Dec 11, 2008)

Put em to bed.

Blast em in the AM


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## FoldEmXtreme (Jan 3, 2010)

Gone Fishin said:


> Put em to bed.
> 
> Blast em in the AM


I have found this to be the best action plan over the years!


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

I have only done a handfull of afternoon hunts but.........I would say they are generally early evening hunts. My experience has been generally it is best to be set up by about 4:00 pm 5:00 at the latests. The birds will usually show up between 6:00 and 8:00. Since few guys hunt them evenings they seem to just dive in...often with very little sound... so stay alert. I have yet to have a bird come in the last 1/2hr before sunset. Even an hr before is slim pickings. Almost every time I have been out I have been done by 7:30. Can't say I have ever had to pick up in the dark cause either I'm done or the birds are.


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## scauphunter73 (Sep 23, 2004)

The main reason I don't often hunt the afternoon/evening is then I'm not out scouting for the next morning, unless I'm just going to stick with the same field... which I don't like to do. I guess if I lived in the area and could hunt all the time, I'd be more willing to try it. But when I want to hunt for days on end I feel like I always need to be scouting in the evening to be ready for next morning.


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