# Decoying fall migrating Snows?



## jkern (Aug 10, 2005)

Chances are there are gonna be alot of Snows catching that North wind tonight and tommorrow.

Will migrating Snows decoy in the fall as well as they do in the spring?

Since Nebraska stages none in the fall. Trying to catch them migrating is our only chance in the fall.


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## Dave Owens (Nov 11, 2002)

Not much chance they will decoy.


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## Ty (Mar 11, 2004)

Dave Owens said:


> Not much chance they will decoy.


I hope your wrong. Josh I hope to see some pics tommorow. Call me if you get into them.


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## goosebusters2 (Jan 13, 2006)

it's harder mostly becuase of the lack of an e caller, but it is possible. We went out this weekend and did all right got one flock of several hundred to come in fairly close which was really cool never seen anything like it. We would have done better but the field we were watching on friday night was posted right at dark. We had been watching the filed from a ways away with an estimated 10k in the field and many more in the area. As we went to drive in that night at dark we saw a posted sign that was not there when we drove by earlier that day.

Then on saturday we got our roost jumped and several birds went to a completely dsifferent field. But we still managed to scratch out a few.

One thing that I can suggest is to make sure your blinds are hidden well, that may be the most important thing, with any kind of waterfowl hunting.


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## jkern (Aug 10, 2005)

I sure as heck am gonna try tommorrow, cant wait til spring. Besides that, what else am I gonna do with the rest of the dang day after we shoot ducks? God forbid a Speck decides he is tired. :beer:

About blinds...Im not all that sold on keeping blinds invisible. If you saw what I consitantly shoot them out of in the spring you would point and laugh. :lol:


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## goosehunter20 (Oct 19, 2006)

So when you are hunting snows without an e-caller do you like to try to use a call or do u just sit there and hope?


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

I don't know. They fly so high and make so much noise, do you think they can hear a call?
Good luck,
Dan


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## bud69652 (Feb 6, 2006)

We usually just sit there. The juvies usually drop down for a shot depending on how windy it is. It is not possible for 4-5 guys with calls to sound like 500 snows, probably not even 100 snows. I don't think it makes a difference during the fall season if you call or not, tried both ways and had about the same amount of success either way.


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## snowbus (Mar 7, 2007)

I'd say YES just because of the experience we had this past week. Granted we were in a staging area which is the only difference, however in past years we NEVER had migrators come down to take a look. This year we had numerous (40?) flocks of migrators turn and tornado down, some to shooting distance!

I don't understand why this year and not others, but think it may have to do with the push of juvies during the time we were in northern ND. The ratio of juvies in those flocks was 75%. In fact I've never seen such a discrepency in the number of juvies to adults when glassing them in a field once. It looked like a feed of lessers with a few snows mixed in.

Timing is probably the other thing - just in the right place at the right time. If we did not mouth call them - they ignored us. If your hunting in SD - that push of juvies we had should be in your area.


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

I use to go up the Sask. and hunt them in the fall. The area I hunted allowed hunting of light geese in the afternoon and I'd go out and set out 20 or so shell decoys and blind up. I usually tried to get my blind in where two fields came together. Few more weeds around those areas it seemed.

Now these were fields where I never seen geese feeding, but was on a flyway that they took out too feed. There were a bunch of geese around too.

I'd just lay back and watch and sooner or later a little bunch or a single or pair would come down and try to join me. With the snows, I'd just sit quiet and let them work. With the Ross geese I would squeak at them on the call. That would turn them, about like highballing at mallards will turn them around at times. You could just see them lock up and bank back in towards those decoys. Sometimes Icouldn't tell what they were so I kept quiet.

Granted, most were juvies, but it was still fun and it happened often enough to make me believe you can decoy them if you are on a flyway in a staging type area. As for migrators, I don't know.

Good gunning,
Dan


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## goosebusters2 (Jan 13, 2006)

We call to singles pairs and small flocks, but we ussually just hope and pray big flocks will come in. Like said above big flocks are making so much noise I'm not so sure they are if you are calling or not.


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

goosebusters2 said:


> We call to singles pairs and small flocks


Where do you find pairs and small flocks?

The only snows I saw this weekend looked like this:


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## BeekBuster (Jul 22, 2007)

diver that picture sends shivers down my back... I cant wait!!!


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

Haha, just hope that they split up a little bit before you see them in your neighborhood, because decoying that is going to be difficult. :beer:


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

I watched a flock of about 40 or so go over me the other day, in that wind, and those things musta been a mile up there. I don't know how high they were, but guessing them at a mile might of been a little short. I think they could probably see South Dakota and maybe Nebraska from that altitude.
Good hunting,
Dan


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