# Snow Goose'n spreads



## water_swater (Sep 19, 2006)

I have been experimenting with my snow goose spread to frustrating results. I have tried setting up the habitat flats feeding edge with the rotary's sitting towards the back and getting hid back there, didn't crush em. I have tired reversing that so the birds didn't have to fly over all the dekes or sometimes swing in on the sides, didn't crush em. I have tried packing them in didn't crush em, I have tried spreading em out didn't crush em. In years past we could always pull some singles and groups of four, the more stuff I try the worse its seems to be getting. Is there a lack of juvies this year are my expectations too high. Obviously there are different ways to skin a cat or in this case decoy a goose. Hiding is a major factor and i always try to setup in a logical place, as well as a place I can hide. We are running about 350 sillosocks, 120-150 fullbodies, and about 20 sillosock flyers and three rotary machines.

Sat and Sun we hunted the goosiest spots in the world, birds flew for hours and wanted the field. Did we shoot geese yes but I'm thirty and couldn't sleep the situation was so good and it just didn't happen like it could of. Most of our shots were 25 yards, the first day we had a hide issue, lots of snow, too much white, not enough white on our snow covers. The second day we got hid real well but the birds just wouldn't commit, we only had two guys and ended up shooting close to thirty whites including two that sailed. There wings would stop they would take a look but no leafing. Our hide cant be that bad we shot ducks no problem and could have shot truckloads if we were Jeff Foiles. What are we doing wrong?


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## NC Ducker (Feb 17, 2010)

If you expect to crush the snows every hunt, especially with no ecaller, you are in for years of disappointment!


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## bluebird (Feb 28, 2008)

Really, People just put to much thought into this snow goose thing. Good Luck. They are snows, you are hunting a situation not a bird. Good Luck


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## the professor (Oct 13, 2006)

2 guys, 30 birds, no e-caller....with the educated adults that have seen it all, I'd say thats a good day in the field.


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## PA Snow Hunter (May 18, 2011)

Yeah, 30 is a good day with 2 guns, even with an ecaller. 15 birds/ guy.. if you would have had 4 guys obviously thats 60 which is a real good day. Also i wouldnt base your hide off ducks... we had a similar snow situation in SK this year and only had snow spray for the blinds and there was 1-3 inches of snow. crushed the ducks in the morning and didnt start shooting snows until like 10 when it melted. Then we crushed our 3 man limit. But we had our limits of pinnies and greenheads quick, even with the sketchy hide. I believe the hide is the most important factor besides location. Weather, spread, etc dont matter if theyre gonna bust ya.


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## shooteminthelips (Jun 13, 2007)

There are plenty of juvie birds more then what the statistics showed this year. Keep your spread long and work on your calling. Get rid of all your flyers and rotaries period. Just run decoys and use a flag when they hit the corners. Since I got rid of all the crap we started killing more geese again. Flyers and roraries would be the first thing I would pull if they weren't coperating.


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## WhiteRockDecoys (Dec 29, 2009)

shooteminthelips said:


> There are plenty of juvie birds more then what the statistics showed this year. Keep your spread long and work on your calling. Get rid of all your flyers and rotaries period. Just run decoys and use a flag when they hit the corners. Since I got rid of all the crap we started killing more geese again. Flyers and roraries would be the first thing I would pull if they weren't coperating.


Bingo! We have completely gone away from flyers/rotaries....don't even own one anymore.

Concentrate on the hide and hunt when conditions are favorable for killing geese....you should do fine. We saw plenty of juvies in ND this fall as well. Should be a great spring!


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## water_swater (Sep 19, 2006)

Man we have not seen many juvies, at least they have not been as easy to pull from the main flock as it seems they used to. That day we shot thirty if we had thirty guys there we maybe woulda shot another fifteen birds, lots if singles and pairs. We have tried so many different things with the decoys maybe we just need to go back to your roots, long, space, and move to where they want to work. Thanks guys, if anyone else has any suggestions let me know!


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## XFactor (Apr 4, 2011)

WhiteRockDecoys said:


> shooteminthelips said:
> 
> 
> > There are plenty of juvie birds more then what the statistics showed this year. Keep your spread long and work on your calling. Get rid of all your flyers and rotaries period. Just run decoys and use a flag when they hit the corners. Since I got rid of all the crap we started killing more geese again. Flyers and roraries would be the first thing I would pull if they weren't coperating.
> ...


I agree with this for the most part but not completly and heres why.

I think 100% early in the morning when you typically get the bigger flocks working you (Adult birds & Juvies) that No flyers or rotaries should be up at all. I have noticed once that main morning flight is done and birds are changing from field to field in small groups that a few rotaries up in your spread help alot. Reason being that rotaries catch attention and the Juvies eat them up.


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## greenc (Mar 20, 2008)

i have never seen a feed where no birds are hopping around i believe in having movement its a must try to mimic what you have seen in the field its what has been working for me


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## GoSnow (Feb 20, 2011)

XFactor said:


> I think 100% early in the morning when you typically get the bigger flocks working you (Adult birds & Juvies) that No flyers or rotaries should be up at all. I have noticed once that main morning flight is done and birds are changing from field to field in small groups that a few rotaries up in your spread help alot. Reason being that rotaries catch attention and the Juvies eat them up.


Thanks John for another great tip :thumb:


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## PA Snow Hunter (May 18, 2011)

XFactor said:


> WhiteRockDecoys said:
> 
> 
> > shooteminthelips said:
> ...


I do the opposite... I seem to have better luck with 3-4 rotaries up before the sun really gets up. Then especially if theres wind we will pull them. Just seems they can pick out that something is fishy with the rotaries when theyre totally illuminated. One thing im gonna try this year is drill out the hole in a 5/8 shell and put it on the rotating peg of the rotary, sitting on the box. Should hide it pretty good.

The other thing ive noticed as i have tried little to no fliers lately, (just like everyone else, lol) is the fact if you have a flat spread they will finish and land better. They dont like to land with a bunch of rotaries and fliers up. Usually it doesnt matter, but its nice to shoot them as theyre touching down as opposed to fluttering 5-10 yards up looking for a place to land.


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## NC Ducker (Feb 17, 2010)

greenc said:


> its what has been working for me


You said a mouthfull right there! Everybody just has to figure out what works for them. Pay attention to the details and pay attention to the geese.The birds will let you know what they like or don't like, you just have to pay attention and adjust. The days it happens, most of the time, it was the weather that made it happen. I personally only use rotaries or flyers as a last resort. I generally start with no trinkets. I do use some movement at times, just not the really popular ones. As far as your spread goes, it depends on the field. I try to use the contour of the high ground to shape my spread. If your going to stick out a cookie cutter spread, expect subpar results. Think outside the box. There are no set rules to this, period. I do belive bigger is better if your hunting migrators though. It will get you more looks, and if everything else is right, you'll kill more geese.


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## shooteminthelips (Jun 13, 2007)

I hear a lot of people talking about flyers and rotaries helping them kill more juvies. A juvie is a juvie they are going to come in no matter what. Fact of the matter is that once snow geese hit a barrier and lets call it 50 yards out in front of your blinds or 50 yards up from your blinds. I believe they start lifting from seeing the junk. Stakes on the flyers, cables on rotaries, metal on rotaries, and just stuff that looks like you setup on a junk pile out in the field. A snow goose flag in the hands of a couple guys that no when to hit the birds with it. Will kill you more snow geese then any other junk you can drag out in the field. Every snow goose spread I saw this fall had a minimum of 10 flyers and a couple rotaries. Sometimes to be effective you do whatever one else isnt going. We killed a pile of snow geese this year over 50 dozen decoys, 6 snow flags, and just getting the blind hide better.


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## ryanteague5 (Mar 12, 2013)

i would say maybe take down the rotary machine, we hunted with rotary machines and it seems to work fantastic with juvies but when it comes to adult birds, they are plain out hard to hunt if you havent tried flagging when they look over your spread and they keep going once they get about 100 yards away flag them until one of the birds or groups start to break off keep flagging until you dont get a reaction from the birds. because what does it hurt if you flag and they keep flying? they were gone anyways..i hope these suggestions work for you but we were killing 15-20 birds just like you, took down the rotary machine and we killed 40-50 geese that night and we hunt traffic instead of *"X"* fields


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## TKM goose slayin (Feb 18, 2011)

Ya stick with it. We've hunted for three 3 years now and our highest day has been 10. (with 7 guns). We've tried it all it seems like. The only thing we haven't tried is no flyers at all. Will maybe have to atleast give it a shot this weekend and see how it works out.


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## goosegrinder (Mar 4, 2005)

All this talk about not having all the gimmicky crap in your spread sounds kinda familiar. The funniest part of guys buying all the "needed" things to help kill snow geese is that most of them don't have a clue on what to do with it once they get it.


> I have tried setting up the habitat flats feeding edge with the.......


What, do they have a video out now that tells how to do it their way? :rollin: The only snow goose company/guide service out there that has ever shown any true look to a decoy spread is White Rock with their Gooseview pics.


> Hiding is a major factor and i always try to setup in a logical place


 Explain that. That may be your biggest problem if you're doing what that sounds like.

Alex


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