# Your First Spread



## goosehunter20 (Oct 19, 2006)

Hey guys just thought it would be kinda fun to see how everybody got started hunting honkers. I started off with 2 dozen bigfoots and a goose chair given to me by my uncle when he moved to Alaska. I shot a few geese out of that spread. I made plenty of mistakes thats for sure but I also learned an awful lot.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

I bought 2 dozen ghg shells had decent luck, switched to Realgeese and got more then my share of the honkers.


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## wyogoose (Feb 11, 2006)

I started over one dozen carrylight shells. That was it!! At first I'd just set them out on the ice and sit there. Eventuallly I got a lohman flute call and kinda blew what sounded like a honk. I'm glad to say that my spread has evolved quite a bit from that but the memories of going up and maybe shooting one goose over them are just as good as the huge kills and limits we kill now.


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## wildrice (Sep 11, 2007)

Have to agree with wyo, i started with a 20 home made silouttes and layed in the field with burlap over me, killed a few and it was on. Today its still as fun as ever, although more expensive

WR


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## Neck Collar (Sep 19, 2006)

Started when i was real young with my dad with a full dozen flambeau shells.. then two years later we got real serious and bought 2 "Judgement Day" Flambuea Fullbody lookers...haha that really drew the geese in..

Oh the good ol' days


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## MDV89 (Sep 8, 2008)

Half dozen MAGNUM flambeau shells....they had some sweet two piece heads! Of course that was back before goose hunting required flocking and such. I also fondly remember a few of my first hunts chilling in a goose chair....now every time I see one I can't help but laugh....


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## shooteminthelips (Jun 13, 2007)

2 Dozen Carry Lite 32 Inch Magnums
2 Dozen Real Geese Standards
2 Dozen Outlaw Standars
2 Flambeau Judges

Pour college kid days!


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## fubar (Mar 10, 2008)

40 flamer shells doz. mallard shells and a baby mojo


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

I shot my first geese over 2 dozen homemade silhouettes and our blinds were depressions we'd dig with a shovel and then lay in and cover ourselves with burlap and debris. I shot a lot of geese doing that. Sometimes I think hunting was better that way.

Mo decoys Mo problems.


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## AV (May 24, 2007)

Started with 5 flambeau Super mag shells...They sure did kill geese


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## Sask hunter (Sep 11, 2008)

1 dozen flambeau shells that i have never used yet. :lol:


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## T.Mayer (Feb 17, 2009)

when i was just old enough to hunt my dad and i got a half doz standard flam. shells for christmas!!!! we hunted over those with not much luck THEN i got some carry-lite full bodies and we got some goose chairs and a big river flute...awww **** son it was over!!!! and yes i still have the goose chairs and no i do not use them! 

as someone who works in a hunting store and gets to see all the different calls and new dekes and blind its just amazing how different hunting is from 10 years ago.


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## Gildog (Jan 30, 2007)

some guys who had a cabin in my hometown had been hunting my Grandpa's farm for years...when I was 11 or 12 they took me along to hunt geese on the farm and ducks on the LOW. They had 13 canada goose decoys, the kind made from old newspaper templates (material like linoleum) with a wooden lathe stake with a head on it. They also put out about the same number of snow goose decoys. Would just hide in grassy ditch, brush, or stubble...these guys didn't even have calls. I borrowed my Dad's 16 gauge and shot #4 lead...

We shot quite a few geese over this humble spread, and I was hooked. Started getting some shells for birthdays and Christmas, and goose calls, and more and more hunting gear...but the memories of hunting with those older men, now gone of course, couldn't be any better!


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

When I started Honkers were pretty much a "bonus" bird. Few if any local ones and the number of migrators wasn't that big either so most guys didn't even bother with honker decoys. Just the Snows and blues. Got my first honker shells in the mid 80's but rarely used them until the late 90's.


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## maanjus11 (Nov 17, 2006)

Started out with a dozen floater/field decoys, I think they were made by flambeau. I still got them. My buddy had a dozen carylite shells. We'd lay in the field with burlap over us. Those decoys combined did surprisingly shoot us a few geese. Oh yeah, I had a Big River flute call. This was back in the mid to late 90's.

The good ole' days!


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## Buck25 (Mar 27, 2008)

tires cut in half....


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## blue geese (Apr 1, 2008)

2 dozen GHG shells.


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## goosehunternd (Mar 10, 2006)

3 doz hand me down snow goose shells I paited into honks and 5 dozen sportplast "Fullbody clapisables" and 6 super mags. Wich I have now handed down to my little brother and made him hunt over last year.


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## jimmyjohn13 (Feb 22, 2009)

i had six avery full bodies and i wire long john over my clothes to blend into the snow

somehow i got a neck band the first time out


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## allgamehunter (Jan 15, 2006)

started with my dad and my uncle when I was super young, but didnt get to carry a gun till I was 14. I shot a 20 guage bolt action. We had about 20 carry-lites. Man, we had some great shoots over those decoys. This year I went all out and got me over 100 decoys off this site and a goose chair, so I'm pretty jacked for next year.


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## goosehunternd (Mar 10, 2006)

allgamehunter said:


> started with my dad and my uncle when I was super young, but didnt get to carry a gun till I was 14. I shot a 20 guage bolt action. We had about 20 carry-lites. Man, we had some great shoots over those decoys. This year I went all out and got me over 100 decoys off this site and a goose chair, so I'm pretty jacked for next year.


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## shooteminthelips (Jun 13, 2007)

Goose Chair! :beer:


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## T.Mayer (Feb 17, 2009)

blue geese said:


> 2 dozen GHG shells.


dang man you started out with a silver spoon, huh!? :eyeroll:


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## mulvany (Feb 5, 2009)

1 dozen GHG shells. spent 1 day in a field by myself with my flute and got the first flock of 300 to lock up and come in. I had them almost landing and I didn't shoot. I was just shocked to have called in a goose, let alone 300, that I couldn't pull the trigger. AWESOME HUNT! Even though none were killed.

Now I've got 3 dozen shells and a short reed too.


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## rock7178 (Jan 18, 2005)

For me it was hunting with the old man and my uncle over a few dozen flambeau shells and we stacked haybales and all hunkered down in them!


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

Whatever was cheapest! Usually a mix of super mag shells and homemade silos. Digging in pits took a lot of time but the concealment was awesome.


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## Jeremy Eickhoff (Aug 13, 2007)

I shot my first two geese 13 years ago with 6 carrylite shells with the metal t-stake stands, 6 white garbage bags , and a goose suit. While i was setting up the garbage bags(for visibility)  i heard some geese so i ran to my half dozen shells while flapping my arms like crazy. The pair glided right into me and suprisingly shot both of them. Had a helluva time trying to mount my gun with all of the extra fabric from that damn goose suit getting in my way, let alone seeing the birds with the enormous black hood on that thing. I turned to bigfoots and ditched the suit shortly after.


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## CrahNX (May 7, 2004)

Started with a dozen covert-a-head Flambeau magnum shells and a dozen economy Northwinds blanks that I needed to paint the cheek patch on (also spray painted a white line across the butts cause it made em more realistic :lol: ) Hid under some burplap or cut hay and blew a Big River flute and man o man dango did we have birds to shoot at!!! Took me a while before I actually was able to knock one down, but to this day I still have never called in so many geese in a season as those first two years when I had absolutley no idea what I was doing. Suppose a HUGE lack of pressure and large resident flocks that are now all but gone helped out a ton, but it was amazing!


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## GooseSlayer8 (Feb 3, 2009)

I started out with a dozen life size G&H shells, a big river flute and a shadow grass sheet that i would hide under. That year i hunted almost everyday with just this spread. Lookin back all i can say is man i was crazy but i had a blast. To my surprise i actually shot a few honkers that year also. Ever since that year i have been hooked for life.


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## fuzznuts (May 27, 2009)

I was 15 hunting in a flooded cottowood swamp. Heard the flock approaching
and hunkered down in the reed grass, along this dike. They put their landing gear down and the rest were feathers and pins. Didn't see many geese 25 years ago. Only used 1 goose decoy in my spread. Now I'm hooked. Shot allot of fat mallards that day, as well.

We were shooting geese with 1 1/4 oz lead 4's then with 28 grains of Unique outta paper hulls.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

2 doz bigfoots and we hid on the ground or the weeds.....sure was easy back then!


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## ducksgeeselabs (May 7, 2009)

Started with a dozen one piece carrylite shells. and slowly added a mess of homemade sillohettes. I remembering killing as many geese then as now with 10 doz fullbodies.

Why do think its gotten harder? Are the geese getting bigger brains :lol:


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

ducksgeeselabs said:


> Why do think its gotten harder? Are the geese getting bigger brains :lol:


Back in the early 90s, you didn't see many local geese here. In the mid to late 90s, it was rare to see another spread so of course with a lot of roosts and no pressure....patterning was very easy and so was the hunting. Geese see a lot of spreads now and they're getting better at picking flaws.

My .02


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## Webfoot Posse (Aug 26, 2008)

i started out with 9 carrylite auqua vac floaters gave to me by my dads boss used them as shells and dug in to hide got 1 goose over that spread then a year later went all full bodies aND HAVENT LOOKED BACK SINCE


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## kaiserduckhelm (May 26, 2005)

Home made goosechairs for blinds. A dozen supermag GH shells, a dozen GH floaters and a half dozen bigfoots.


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## kberggren (Mar 27, 2006)

This was MY first goose spread! 15 dz homemade silhouettes and 4-5 dz homemade windsocks! below was the first limit of honkers I ever shot with these decoys! Below was the next batch of silhouettes I made with more detail and flocked heads! Now use DSD's but its still fun to hunt with my homemade decoys when the occasion calls for it! 
Fist Limit over homemade decoys!








Next batch of homemade silhouettes!


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## justund223 (Aug 28, 2006)

2 dzn carrylite 1 piece shells and 2 dzn sport plast collapsible full bodies. I also had 2 carry lite flying honkers. Like everyone else we dug pits and covered up with burlap and stubble. It worked very well we killed a good amount of geese with them. If they didn't get stolen out of my garage in GF I would probably still have em


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## hunter121390 (Nov 7, 2006)

kberggren said:


> This was MY first goose spread! 15 dz homemade silhouettes and 4-5 dz homemade windsocks! below was the first limit of honkers I ever shot with these decoys! Below was the next batch of silhouettes I made with more detail and flocked heads! Now use DSD's but its still fun to hunt with my homemade decoys when the occasion calls for it!
> Fist Limit over homemade decoys!
> 
> 
> ...


those silhouettes look good!

I started out goose hunting with just a cheap flute call that I bought off one of my friends for 5 bucks. Then got a dozen flambeau decoys and I've been hooked ever since


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Buck25 said:


> tires cut in half....


 :thumb:


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## FWLMOOD (Jul 27, 2009)

I started with 2 dozen G&H shells and a Faulk's call. I never did get that thing to sound much like a goose. My dog and I used to cover up with the same piece of burlap. Killed seven geese that whole season. It was frustrating, but still fun.


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## clauwers523 (Aug 8, 2009)

im 18 i just got 32 bigfoot and 24 flam shells
wooo cant wait


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