# BIG PROBLEM



## gooseslapper (Feb 4, 2009)

I hunt out of NW Iowa and have been trying to decoy snow geese with 250 texas wind tamers and a Goose Getter electric call. I can't get anything but specks, canadians, and the occasional loner snow to come look at my spread. I'm in the right area as well.

I need some advice and quick because I am running out of ideas and becoming quite frustrated with these white smelly [email protected]


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## CuppedAndComitted (Mar 3, 2007)

gooseslapper said:


> I hunt out of NW Iowa and have been trying to decoy snow geese with 250 texas wind tamers and a Goose Getter electric call. I can't get anything but specks, canadians, and the occasional loner snow to come look at my spread. I'm in the right area as well.
> 
> I need some advice and quick because I am running out of ideas and becoming quite frustrated with these white smelly [email protected]


You wouldnt get much looks with 250 quality decoys, let alone rags. Just my honest opinion....


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## remidog (Oct 15, 2008)

if money is a crunch i would ditch the rags and go with econo sillosocks you can consistently kill birds with 250-300 ss if your on the x. you need to be in a new hot field almost every day. if ya cant get em this year there is always next year. :beer:


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

while in Iowa on my way home yesterday all there was to be seen was mile high migrating flocks. I wouldn't have had much confidence in pulling them down with 2000 socks much less 250 rags. Just the way it is.


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## &quot;V&quot;1 (Feb 11, 2009)

My brother, dad and I hunted the last three days with 22 Doz full bodies, 44 Doz sillo socks, 20 Doz 5/8 shells, 25 fliers and a goose getter e-caller. We decoyed in two groups and eight loners in three days. Thats just snowgoose hunting. P.S.- , rags are for cleaning


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

"V"1 said:


> P.S.- , rags are for cleaning


My thoughts exactly.


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## jonesy12 (Apr 1, 2008)

PJ said:


> "V"1 said:
> 
> 
> > P.S.- , rags are for cleaning
> ...


x3


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## gooseslapper (Feb 4, 2009)

you are telling me that there is no way to kill decent amounts of birds with 200 windtamers? I find that hard to believe especially when the juvies come. Alright what number would it take then to kill decent amounts?


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## gamberc (Mar 10, 2008)

well this year im decoying with 500 rags and a homebuilt ecaller thats an earbleeder looking to shoot a few until i start on my fb spread for next year best advice i can give you is find a quailty field and take your shots when you can because highly unlikely your going to get snows to put there landing gears down in a spread of rags. Just my opinon


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

All I am going to say is..... WELCOME TO SPRING SNOW GOOSE HUNTING.

You can kill geese with 200 or 2000. You can kill them with full bodies and you can kill them with rags. Just keep going out and trying.


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

Chuck Smith said:


> All I am going to say is..... WELCOME TO SPRING SNOW GOOSE HUNTING.
> 
> You can kill geese with 200 or 2000. You can kill them with full bodies and you can kill them with rags. Just keep going out and trying.


4 Rizzle!!!


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## gooseslapper (Feb 4, 2009)

Thanks. I don't think people realize that Iowa isn't a very hard hunted state for waterfowl. Ducks yes, but true to the bone goose hunters no. I hear guys from North Dakota on here saying you can't kill canadians without at least 10 dozen fullbodies. I have killed plenty of canadians with 3 doz full bodies and 4 doz shells. Some people think they need to be like Jeff Foiles or Fred Zink to be taken seriously. My two cents and im not trying to start a fight.


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## headshot (Oct 26, 2006)

Just keep trying. I have killed loads of birds over rags. Some days they won't give you a look and other days you have to shoot them out of the decoys. With less then realistic decoys you should be trying to get on the X and concealing your blind as good as you can. Believe me there are guys running FB's that get skunked consistantly. :beer:


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## Benelliboy1715 (Feb 22, 2006)

the biggest thing i've noticed is scouting. And i'm sure everyone will agree. Without proper scouting, finding birds to decoy is a hassel. I have hunted NW Iowa before and i've had the best success in pasture ponds or flooded fields. Just find the right area and hunt as often as you can. As for the advise that everyone else gives, i'd listen to it and apply it to the circumstances that you have in your area. The advise that everyone has comes from the expirence in their own hunting region. Most of us learned by trial and error. 
The best advise I can give is go out, have fun, and don't get too upset if things don't workout. There will be days with low success and fewer days with great luck. Just remember, you could be at work or doing something that you don't to be doing.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Rags kill geese, but it seems all the stars must align for them to work well. For consistant success under varied conditions and circumstances youd be better off with better dekes. Lets face it, the wind doesnt always blow, and we cant always be on "the X". Sillosocks are GREAT! Relatively cheap compared to other decoy types, they last longer than rags, and they WORK!

Decoys dont make the hunter. You could have 20K fullbodies setup, but if the rest of your cards arent played right, youll still have limited success.

Keep the rags, but start replacing them as you can afford with better dekes. One day, youll be able to can em.


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

gooseslapper said:


> Thanks. I don't think people realize that Iowa isn't a very hard hunted state for waterfowl. Ducks yes, but true to the bone goose hunters no. I hear guys from North Dakota on here saying you can't kill canadians without at least 10 dozen fullbodies. I have killed plenty of canadians with 3 doz full bodies and 4 doz shells. Some people think they need to be like Jeff Foiles or Fred Zink to be taken seriously. My two cents and im not trying to start a fight.


If someone cant kill canadas with less then 10 dz FB's they have other issues. There is no time in ND when you should even need that many, although they are nice to have.

For the spring migration in Iowa, pressure is kind of irrellevant. Especially when the weather is like it has been the last 4 days. It's not like the birds are local or staging in IA for any period of time, they probably just came from squaw or some other area where there are big spreads everywhere. They are still the same snow geese that have been hunted since September. Good luck finding dumb ones.

Not saying you cant kill snows with rags, i'm just saying the odds are not in your favor on a migration day in an area that doesn't stage geese, with relatively few rags.


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## michigandakotan (Jan 21, 2009)

USA has it right, I almost never here North dakotans saying you need 10doz to kill canadas, its closer to needing 10 decoys to kill canadas. And dont get mad b/c people give you there honest opinion b/c you asked for it, I have some rags and I would trade 50 of them for a half dozen sillo socks b/c they look that much better and in return are gonna work that much better. just my opinion! oh and they are right 250 decoys is a really small white spread, i mean be honest most flocks of snows are about that big.


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## bluebird (Feb 28, 2008)

Get some SS!!!!


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## gooseslapper (Feb 4, 2009)

To be honest this is my first year trying to decoy snows. What kind of jobs do you guys have to be able to afford 1500 sillosocks. And by some of your photos on here most of you are young like myself.


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## calisnowhunter (Jun 7, 2006)

keep at it and you will be rewarded in the end. alot of snow goose hunters just buy a couple dozen at a time. they mix them with shells, rags socks whatever until they replace them with better decoys.

its not a cheap sport and you will spend alot more money than you think. dont get frustrated like said above guys with full bodies and socks are skunked all the time they just dont report it.


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## 9manfan (Oct 22, 2008)

gooseslapper said:


> To be honest this is my first year trying to decoy snows. What kind of jobs do you guys have to be able to afford 1500 sillosocks. And by some of your photos on here most of you are young like myself.


^
^ 
I've wondered that myself


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## goodkarmarising (Feb 8, 2008)

x


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## headshot (Oct 26, 2006)

> To be honest this is my first year trying to decoy snows. What kind of jobs do you guys have to be able to afford 1500 sillosocks.


Personally I don't know anyone that has bought their whole spread in one shot. Just start building off the spread you have and weed out the rags when you have enough decoys. Rome wasn't built in a day. :beer:


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## DUHunt (Oct 17, 2007)

We run around 1200 sillosocks and we have built our spread over the last 4 years. Find a buddy that enjoys it and start buying decoys. I usually buy mine at the end of the season when they are on sale. Scheels here in Lincoln usually puts them on sale and you can buy a box of 50 econo sillosocks for around $120, sometimes cheaper. The other route that you can go is to put some on lay-away and pay over a longer time. Where there is a will there is a way. Then when it is hotter than heck during the summer, get together with some buddies, drink some beers and put them together.


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## Feather Freeks (Jan 21, 2008)

if thats all u got, i'd say pack them as tight as u can, like within inches to a foot from eachother. if u see snow geese spread out in a field, that usually means they're having a tuff time finding feed. if, they're all bunched up, that usually indicates that they'res plenty of feed, and they don't need to spread out to find any. doing that will attract more birds. at least give it a try.


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## dleva (Mar 16, 2004)

I agree with the other posts about building a spread. I started with windsocks I made myself on wooden stakes, (made about 150 at a time) then went to metal stakes after a spring of trying to get wood stakes into frozen ground :eyeroll: 
I've finally graduated to silosocks with some floaters and will probably stick with this setup for awhile.
I guess the point is to start a spread and it will evolve as you gain more experience and money.
Good Luck


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

Feather Freeks said:


> if thats all u got, i'd say pack them as tight as u can, like within inches to a foot from eachother. if u see snow geese spread out in a field, that usually means they're having a tuff time finding feed. if, they're all bunched up, that usually indicates that they'res plenty of feed, and they don't need to spread out to find any. doing that will attract more birds. at least give it a try.


Could not disagree more..

If your only running 250 decoys you're better off spreading them out to make your spread look as big as possible. 
We will tend to put our upwind decoys closer together, then filter the decoys further apart as you go down wind.. This mimics the upwind of the flock moving across the field competing for feed.

Also a relaxed flock will typically be scattered out. The majority of time when you see birds in one tight group is when they are nervous and about to take off.

But when in doubt imitate what the birds you've been scouting are doing..


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## gooseslapper (Feb 4, 2009)

dblkluk
I agree with you and that is what we have been doing exactly. The loner snow geese will come right in without hesitation but anything more than a single snow will flip us off, poo on our face and fly away smiling


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

dblkluk said:


> Feather Freeks said:
> 
> 
> > if thats all u got, i'd say pack them as tight as u can, like within inches to a foot from eachother. if u see snow geese spread out in a field, that usually means they're having a tuff time finding feed. if, they're all bunched up, that usually indicates that they'res plenty of feed, and they don't need to spread out to find any. doing that will attract more birds. at least give it a try.
> ...


Not to mention, in my experience, when the birds are packed tight, their A)getting ready to leave, or B)on the only good feed in the field.

When their spread out, their A) relaxed, and B) theres plenty of feed so their less like a bunch of hungry hogs at the trough.


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## gooseslapper (Feb 4, 2009)

I appreciate the info. I will definately try to spread out the spread  .


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## michigandakotan (Jan 21, 2009)

its my first year hunting snows and i only have 13 dozen Sillosocks but i hunt with friends and they have around 1000 or so. it helps having friends with decoys, we all have texas rags and just choose not to use them. fullbodies look awesome and work great in the fall but when you gotta walk them into the field in the spring most guys wish they had used there money on sillosocks instead.


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## mjschuette (Feb 24, 2005)

It's not the jobs we have It's how we started, most of us, me included started with rags, they worked pretty good the first couple of years of the spring hunt. Then they got riped in corn, or stained. other products became available, like shells and socks, the silo's, we started to replace the bad rags with socks and silos, or if we saved enough a doz or 2 of shells. I still use a 1000+ rags 10 doz socks, 6 doz shells, acouple of real wings. I guess the key is I built slowly. and I guess the way I still use rags is I put them ( the rags ) away from my landing spot, I put the quality deks where I want the geese to land. And thats where i have the shells the thickest. when I get a few bucks, I throw out the bad rags and replace with somthing better that i can afford. Its taken me over 10 years to get this amount and probably 10 more to get the rags totaly gone. I hope this helps.


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