# decoy spreads



## teamplug'em (Mar 2, 2006)

how many decoys would make a good spread for the spring snow goose season? me and some of my buddies are gunna try and decoy snow geese for the first time up in bottineau, and we have never laid out a spread for snow geese so if someone would give me some advise that would be great....
Cody Teamplugem


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## wooduck26 (Mar 21, 2002)

I would say as little as 300.............If your hunting in the spring, you wont get GREAT shooting (overall) bnut you would do ok............Springtime Juvies.....300 is all you need.


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## goosebusters2 (Jan 13, 2006)

The more the better in the spring, anywhere from 300-500 would be a good number, buy inexpensive decoys like northwinds, silosocks, or texas rags to build up the numbers.

It may also help if you space the decoys out up wind of you to make the flock look bigger, and more realistic, because they don't always sit right next to eachother in a field


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## Alonzo (Feb 7, 2006)

Cody, I have killed geese in Missouri over a spread as small as 100 texas rags and one e-caller. I actually have around 400 rags and 50 northwinds...but usually I am hunting myself and only put out around 200. With texas rags, I am OK if I have wind...if not I am dead in the water. I agree with Goosebusters2 and space the decoys out quite a bit. Here are some photos of my typical spread.








Video Sharing at DropShots.com








Video Sharing at DropShots.com
















Video Sharing at DropShots.com

Good luck Cody!!!!!


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## Gary Bottger (Nov 24, 2004)

If you can find a small pond you don't need to have 1,000 of them. I only run about 300 to 450 on my entire spread and most days I don't put the whole thing out. This little spread worked out just fine. Wind was out of the direction the photo was taken.










As the day went on and the sun got higher we moved more decoys from behind the blinds to infront of the blinds and made the right side thicker.


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## f.o.s. lover (Sep 27, 2004)

Buy fullbodies, do it right the first time, pull out your checkbook buy yourself 300 avery snows and blues 60% blues, and then another 300 rags again 60% blues. Yes they will cost you more but you are trying to replicate nature and right now thats how it looks. Put all the fulls at the front, the side the wind hits first and lay in the those babies. The first geese will take the exact same path as the last you decoy so move to wherever the first flock you decoys comes in.


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## Commando (Jan 13, 2006)

Exactly what f.o.s. said, and while you're dropping an easy $6,000 on your first snow spread why don't you throw another couple thousand my way. :roll:

With an unlimited budget the GHG fb's are awesome but for most that's horribly unrealistic. Snows can be shot over 100 decoys but success will usually increase with an increase in numbers and quality of decoys. Go with whatever you can afford and try it. You'll learn something every time even if you don't shoot a truckload of birds. Everyone's gotta start somewhere.


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## Alonzo (Feb 7, 2006)

I agree Commando, I shoot birds and love it...I averaged between 3 and 4 birds a hunt by myself, with a low of 2 birds and a high of 10.

It was a blast...


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## f.o.s. lover (Sep 27, 2004)

Cpmmando your forgetting some of the intangibles, if you are purchasing 300 fullbodies at once your gonna get a deal you better knock that back 6k to at least $5500. Your gonna need that extra 500 cause your gonna have to drop another 4 k on a trailer to hold all that crap. There's an even bigger upside, all you gotta do is find a landowner who likes hunting snows and your in, you'll have better equipment than most guides, just throw some stickers on that trailer and everybody will want to hunt with you.


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