# Canadian Geese Setups



## BandHunter (Dec 17, 2003)

Hey everyone, 
I have been hunting geese all my life and have the best luck just crawling on them in the fields or pass shooting them. My family has setup decoys in fields, but havent been very successful. I have 20 big canadian shells, 2doz Sillutes, a couple of flagmen, two robo ducks, a robo goose, and two doz mallard field decoys. What am I doing wrong what else do I need to bring the geese in better. My family memebers are all pretty good callers so that isnt the problem. I guess what I am asking is how do you guys set up your decoys in the field any certain patterns? Is there anything else you guys would say I need to add to my spread? Money isnt an option in the sense that I will pay for whatever it takes to get my spread up to par so to speak. Thanks for your time guys and let me know.
Respectfully Yours,
BandHunter


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

There are many here that know a lot more than I do but I would say about 25 dozen bigfoots!!  Just kidding. Actually one of the biggest things is to not use the robos when hunting geese. I also would get some full body decoys. Depending upon what time of year, you can just use what you have or use a few dozen bigfoots added to what you have. Also make sure you can call (something I suck at). I also don't usually do as well on the geese if the duck decoys are out, but tend to do just fine on ducks without them. I am starting to become a big believer in calling better. I thought I was ok until I heard Huey, MAv, Phillips, and Mallard work them!!! I have undertaken an early New Years Resolution to become a better caller for geese.


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## Kansas Kid (Nov 20, 2003)

BandHunter, the more Big Foot's I use and the less of my old shells I use, the more I kill. I have been shooting more geese since I started using a low profile blind also. I hear the Greenhead Gear Full Bodies are great, but I have never seen them myself. HardCore's look awesome, but they are out of my price range. I use a pattern in a U shape with shorter arms, but about any pattern with a landing area set up correctly with the wind will work. The geese don't like to fly over your decoys so I make my hole where the birds are coming directly into the wind and I don't extend the arms out so far where they are uncomfortable about swinging right into the landing zone.


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## Kansas Kid (Nov 20, 2003)

Also, about the Robo's. I have tried them a lot and you can make them work for you, but the key is where you set it up in the spread. It needs to be in the landing zone where the geese want to go, but make sure the birds don't have to make any strange turns, angles, or fly over any deks to get to it. Some days the birds don't like my set-up and I will change things around or if I am hunting with a robo goose, I might take it down if it seems to make the birds wary. Many times I have used it, the shots are too close and I have to move away from it. I am getting where I would rather hunt without one and just rely on good calling and the perfect decoy set.


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

Get ya some Big Foots. Me personally I don't like to mix shells, sillys, and full bodies all together. Usually one or the other for me seems to work best. Never hunted over a Robo Goose but from what I hear they don't work. But like I said I have never used one before.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

I'm pretty sold that good numbers of full bodies is key. Whether they're bigfoots, higdons, avery's, etc. they all look good enough to get them close. No disrespect to the high end decoy makers, they're awesome looking decoys but I can't pull out the wallet until what we currently use fails. Let's just hope Canada geese don't evolve like snow geese or I'm going broke.

The thing I think most goose hunters do "wrong", is having their decoys too close (there are exceptions). Unless you're hunting lessors, I'd say when in doubt, spread them out. The only thing to keep in mind though, is not to spread the decoys out so far that the edge of the decoys are out of shooting range (or you'll be watching). You'll have to balance your shooters to be able to spread out the decoys as much as possible, while keeping all working birds in range. No real secret, just a lot of trial and error.

Use flags, and learn to use them properly. From a long distance any flagging works to get their attention, but when they're 100 yards out you have to use the flag cautiously. What are the geese going to be doing if they're flapping their wings in the spread? Imitate a goose either stretching it's wings (1-3 quick flaps), or imitate a goose getting up and shifting to another location....you need to have a pole to do this and I'm sold it works or until my hunting buddies yell at me to knock it off.

Here's 3 recent spreads that we put out, from early to middle to late season. You'll notice they're all pretty similar, but keep some space for the birds to work (and no don't make your spread look like an exact U). We didn't use any robo's, just decoys, blinds and a good amount of flagging.

Here's a pic from the early season of this year. There was 6 of us, all callers, and we took our 30 geese. You won't see a large landing zone here, we maintained small pockets and had enough wind to be able to determine which way they made their final approach. Lots of feet down this day....gotta love the plant.










This day there were 4 of us, and it was the start of the regular season of last year. We filled our geese in under a half hour. We didn't think we could hide the blinds in the short stubble, so we left them in the vehicle and layed in the decoys. 2 of us layed in the first group, the other 2 layed in a weedline about 20 yards to the left...and the decoys spread out to just the other side of the weedline (out of the pic).










This pic is from a couple weeks ago, and shows how wet setup for this late season. There were 6 of us, and we filled our 18. We left a good 20 yard gap in-between the two large groups, and our blinds were right in front of the vehicles.


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## Hoggr (May 28, 2002)

nice pics Chris


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## BandHunter (Dec 17, 2003)

Those are some good ideas. What about goose and duck magnets? What about Canadian North Wind Socks? I mean what do I need to buy other then full bodies?Any thoughts on that?
Respectfully Yours,
BandHunter


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

I have used the canada goose magnets and they have been very effective up here. I would recommend sanding the heads (they are shiney) a little and beefing up the white patch on the cheek as it is thin. The only problem is that they break pretty easy. I think for movement your best bet would be flags.

Nice pictures!


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

The guys pretty much said it all. The one thing I'd like to add and I think its helped me out more than anything is SCOUTING! I spend countless hours just watching birds, year round not just the night before a hunt. Get out anytime you can get out and watch geese. Its amazing the things you can learn by watching the real thing. Calling, how to set-up your decoys, how birds in the air react to birds on the ground etc. Remember we're just trying to imitate what they do. You can buy the best decoys, calls and blinds, but if you dont know how to use them you've wasted alot of money! Hope this helps.
I like that last pic Chris, that was a great day! :beer:


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## mallard (Mar 27, 2002)

I guess I can put my two cents in here.To learn how to call better pick up honker talk by Shawn Stahl,or the foiles tape:calling geese the straight meat way.I have both,well Doug has my honker talk tape,and I personally learned more from the foiles tape.They are two different styles of calling and the foiles style worked a lot better for me.Also when calling listen to the geese and let them tell you what to do ,rather than hitting them hard with the call right away.I learned that a long time ago hunting ducks and my success with both ducks and geese has gone way up.Another thing that wasnt mentioned,make sure you are wearing a facemask.If you have ever seen a group of guys in a field on a sunny day without face masks you notice that there faces and hands will give them away.


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## maple lake duck slayer (Sep 25, 2003)

I'm probably going to buy some bigfoots for next year. I was planning on buying 2 dozen, and a friend was possibly going to buy a dozen. With 3 dozen can you set up a pretty effective spread? I have plenty of money I can spend, so I could buy more, but not sure of my future because I'm in college, not sure how much hunting I will be able to do. I also don't have a trailer, I would have to use my dad's. Does anyone know how many bigfoots you can fit in the 6 foot bed of an F-150 without them blowing all over the highway? What do you guys use for flagging poles?


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

I think you can get around 5 dozen(with the feet off) in the back of a truck. Just get a spider bungee thing to hold em in. Chris and the boys could tell you exactly how many fit, they seem to have it down to a science!! :lol: 
Golf ball retriever!


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## Kansas Kid (Nov 20, 2003)

dblkluk added some great points. That spider net really helps out a lot. We use two long straps and cross them and then put the spider net on top of that. Knock on wood, but we haven't lost any decoys yet. You can get about 5 dozen in a short box. We started out using 2 1/2 dozen Big Foot's, 1 dozen super mag shells, and 4 dozen standard shells with good success and the more Big Foot's we added from that, the better we did. We are using around 8 dozen deks now and plan on adding more full bodies each year. Take a good look at Chris's pictures, notice the landing areas and approach runs. You will shoot more birds out of the decoys and have more fun than crawling up on them. You will get to the point where that won't interest you anymore.


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Thats a great point. Back in the ND heyday of snow geese we started out sneaking them all the time. When we were in college we didn't have money for decoys. Once we started buying decoys I had no interest in sneaking anymore. There is something about fooling the birds on their turf that is so intoxicating!! How do you get 5 dozen bigfoots in a short box?? I usually struggle to get 30 in on top of the eliminators with the gate open. I also use a cargo net and straps but I can't imagine getting that many in a short box??!!


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## Kansas Kid (Nov 20, 2003)

We have the Migrator blinds laying flat on the bottom with three extra large two man bags laying across the bottom of the truck. Then we use a large bag for the feet against the cab and two more XL bags that we lay on top of the decoys on the bottom. I was nervous about it the first couple times, but it works fine. They do stick up above the cab and whistle in the wind. Crossing the two straps under the spider net holds everything in place. We can get 13 BF's in each bag with each of their heads. We have a little extra room in one of the top bags for feet. It is a pain and we are planning on having a trailer for next year.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

> The one thing I'd like to add and I think its helped me out more than anything is SCOUTING!


I can't argue there, and is the obvious I forgot... I know about a dozen guys pretty well and we all scout constantly. Keeping good communication we're able to pinpoint which roosts are holding huntable birds. We don't hunt the same birds over and over again...we move on to another roost and give the birds a chance to rest.



> With 3 dozen can you set up a pretty effective spread?


Yes. Just a tip...you can get 4 dozen higdons for the price of 3 dozen bigfoots. They look pretty much identical.



> Does anyone know how many bigfoots you can fit in the 6 foot bed of an F-150 without them blowing all over the highway?












In my Chevy, I can run 5 dozen full bodies, 2 blinds, and enough room left over for a bag of floaters or shells. IT CAN BE DONE! The pic isn't hauling quite that many though. Eric bought me the spider webbing a couple years ago and it's been a life saver. Although I think I'll be buying a trailer next year...I'm unable to buy more if I can't haul 'em.


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## Kansas Kid (Nov 20, 2003)

Chris, that's about what my truck looks like loaded, except I have a short box and the deks ride higher. I have a two horse trailer, but I think I might look a little funny pulling it out in a corn field. If I get more decoys before I get a decoy trailer, it's going to happen.


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## tb (Jul 26, 2002)

I guess I'm a friggin' old man. When I was a little, bitty boy, I SPOTTED geese, I didn't scout. BTW, I just started collecting bigfoots, has anyone had any problem popping the feet off for transport/storage? Seems like this might cause a little wear and tear.


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## mallard (Mar 27, 2002)

I have to pop the feet off just to get all of my decoys in my pickup.I have an 8' bed with a topper and can fit 3 doz foots,4doz other decoys,and all of the rest of ny gear,but only if I take the feet off.DJ,do you still have your snow decoys?We will have to get after them this spring.I have friends that let me know when they are in there areas and also do a heck of a lot of scouting myself.I hunted mostly solo last spring and shot plenty.Man,It isnt even 04 and I am allready looking forward to hunting the SOBs. mallard


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## Fetch (Mar 1, 2002)

You guys don't use Siloettes (sp) ??? Ken (& My Son) :roll: (remember to turn off your cell phone :******: ) - had a pretty good hunt with Not that many BF's & sillywets - ???

I hate taking the feet off & on (on FB SOBS) I would Hot Glue em on & get a trailer


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## djleye (Nov 14, 2002)

Mallard....I still have about 6 dozen shells and about 5 dozen socks left. I actually sold a lot of them when I started buying bigfoots. I have a few buddies that own a bunch and never use them anymore. They kind of quit hunting so I know I could get a hold of them. You wouldn't have to ask me twice, I know that!!!! :lol: :lol:


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## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

My personal best is 78 bigfoots in my F-150. But you have to pack them real well.


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## tb (Jul 26, 2002)

That's impressive. How many rode up front with you?


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## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

No bodies but all of the feet were in the extended cab. They were stacked high with two blinds holding them down along with two bungee nets. It was a job getting them all in.


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