# 300 sillys



## WingDinger (Dec 9, 2007)

Will I have any chance decoying spring snows in ND with 300 sillosocks? My father and I want to try the spring snow hunt. I have gathered 200 snows and 100 blues. I made my own ecaller also. We have pretty much used up our funds. We have done a ton of researching on the area and are excited to get out there. Im just a little nervous that we are shy on the decoy count.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

IMO, dont worry about the decoys. When I used to hunt snows, my friends and I jsut about 50 plastic bags and we killed alot of birds, though that was 5-6-7 years ago. Also have less dekes will make you look different from the other hunters, which I think is better then having a ton of dekes. Im in MN right now and my spread of canada is complety different from everyone else. And I killed alot of birds that went right over spreads that had 4-20 dozen fb's.

The key to any hunt IMO is location, concealment, calling, and being different.

good luck


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## diver_sniper (Sep 6, 2004)

There's a time and a place for everything. There will be days where 300 sillosocks in the right place will probably do the trick, but there are also days when it's going to take about 1000+ of em. I'd say there will be more days that are on the higher end, but hey, ya gotta get out there and try it.


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## joebobhunter4 (Jul 19, 2005)

last year all we used was about 350 fbs and we killed over 800 geese.


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## Goose Guy350 (Nov 29, 2004)

300 will kill birds, go out there and have fun with your dad and learn as much as you can and don't get caught up on the kill numbers and I'm sure you will have a great spring season.


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## WingDinger (Dec 9, 2007)

Thanks for the feedback!! I guess we will just hit it as hard as we can and see what happens. :thumb:


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## Commando (Jan 13, 2006)

Try to do a little scouting to find a hot field. That will make it a lot easier. Even if you can't, 300 should be enough to get you a few. Try to learn something everyday you're in the spread and you'll have a great season.


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## buck&amp;duck (Feb 7, 2007)

300 should be plenty to hunt with 
just do your scouting


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## BeekBuster (Jul 22, 2007)

Last year was my first spring hunt and we had 300 sillos and 50 shells and we managed 15 a day for 2 of us not great but it beats the couch any day...


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## WingDinger (Dec 9, 2007)

I cant stand laying around if I can hunt waterfowl of some sort.


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## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

Two guys, 150 decoys, and we got 58. It is possible, but time and place have a lot to do with it. There are a lot of circumstance that can lead to great hunts, but for the most part what you will be looking for is non-migrating birds. Either birds that are forced to stay due to weather conditions or Juvies that are taking there time.


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

Thank you goose buster. I keep saying in various posts that you do not need 600 decoys to hunt them. It is like an entrenched thing that so many say you have to have 500+. And as a result many new commers do not bother to even try decoying them. The best thing a newcomer can do is team up with a veteran decoyer. Watch, listen, and learn the art and craft of decoy hunting. 
:beer:


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## jd mn/nd (Apr 8, 2004)

Well I will be the first to admit that I am not a veteran of decoy hunting and I certainly do not have big money tied up in snow decoys. however I do have 10 dozen northwind conversions, that are nothing pretty, and I have another 200 or so rags, and a dozen of the old silosocks. Usually I just put out the socks and don't worry about the rags or I will use the rags to fill holes in the spread. But this past fall and this past fall being only the third season of decoying for us, was our best so far and like I said we usually only put out the 11 doz socks and sat in whites as the fields did not lend themselves very well to useing blinds as the stubble was too short or not enough of it to conceal the blinds. We shot all of the birds we wanted to take home and eat. We never limited out nor did we want to, but everybody in the group took home plenty of birds.

Like everyone is saying go out and have a good time with your dad that is really the most important part of the trip.

The second best advice I could give you is when you do find a field that the birds are in watch how they are sitting in the field as a group not as individual birds look at the big pattern the group makes in the field and copy it with your decoys. You will be amazed at how they will come in to your spread, we did alot of that last fall and many times birds came in with little or no calling, and I mean locked, cupped and committed till they were only 5 ft off the ground, then they had a sudden fall to the earth.

Third piece of advice would be to sit a few decoys into the spread on the down wind side just far enough in so that you sort of blend in, if your in whites, if your in a blind I like to sit 10-20 yards down wind of the decoys as they are focused on the decoys and not looking at you. But this is only me, and my group others have different methods of hiding.

So Good luck and have a great time with your dad, you will really appreciate it later in life when dad is no longer able to go with you.

Later JD


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

JD mn/nd
can you exlplain more how you set up your blinds?


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## jd mn/nd (Apr 8, 2004)

I think I understand your question, let's say that you have little or no wind we will actually set up even further away like 30 to 40 yards down wind from the decoys, because they often times will either flare or become non commital at that point which will still leave a shooting oportunity, if you are set up down there. However we all know that the non windy days in ND are far and few between, so if there is enough material in the field to adquetly cover the blinds we will usually set up again depending on how strong the wind is somewhere between 10-20 yards below the decoys, the stronger the wind the closer we set up to the decoys but never in the decoys and always a minimum of 10 yards out. We have found that by getting out of the decoys and becoming part of the field we have increased our odds of shooting (please note I did not say killing or harvesting) at some birds, we believe that it is because we are less noticable if we are not part of the spread, simply because the blinds create voids in the spread, that are not natural. However, if we are shooting, wearing whites, we use beach chairs, you know the ones that are only like 2-3" off the ground with a back rest on them. With these chairs and wearing whites we have also done very well, one time last fall we had eight guys in the spread all wearing whites and we only had out about 300 decoys, and the birds just had too come to us it worked well it was a light breeze out of the north and all sat on the chairs and waited and sure enough they came into the decoys cupped and committed from over 100 yards out. We were about 10 ft into the decoys from the bottom edge of the spread. With the landing zone about 20 yards behind us. That day we shot around 40 birds or so. Like I said we did not shoot limits and most of them were either juvies or adult pairs and singles. We only had one really good sized flock come at us, when we shot I think we only scratched one or two out of the flock, sad part about is that they were only like 25-30 yards out, we just could not hit em. The singles and pairs we got to commit to the spread all died at under 15 yards, the dog was giving me funny looks like what no long retrieves to challenge him. Oh that brings up another point, I make my dog lay right next to me, he is not allowed to move, until I release him to do a retrieve so if your dog is not well trained or you have not taught your dog to stay flat on the ground, I would not recommend that you bring the dog out in the field, I have had guys say that they can make thier dog do that, however I have also had to ask them to walk back to the vehicle and put thier dog in the truck so that we could get some shooting in, the one thing that is not natural and geese know it is a predator running around the middle of the flock and no geese trying to get out of there. Some dogs will pick this up quickly and others will never get it, so work with the dog before you get out there, and I mean blow the call, shoot the gun, do everything you would do as if you were hunting so the dog knows what to do when the time really comes to hunt. I was lucky my dog got it really quick. Once the shooting is over for that volley I will him move around a bit and then make him come right back to where he was, and lay down and get ready for the next set.

I hope that I have answered your questions I know that the explanation was rather lengthy but I hope it helps you understand how we do it in our group of hunters.

Good luck to all this spring,

Later JD


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

I have heard of not setting up the the dekes and I always wanted to try it but never had seen anyone else do it so I never did.


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## jd mn/nd (Apr 8, 2004)

Bl Hunter, with the blinds we still have the decoys set up we are just down wind of the decoys anywhere from 10-40 yards or so from them.

As for your just sitting in a field that the geese have been going to, we have done that as well we would watch them the evening before to see where the landing zone was and then take camo cloth and cover up in the field and wait for them to get to us then when they were really close we would uncover and shoot away, there was a fair amount of success with that method. However no where as good as decoying, as the geese can see the decoys from a great distance, so if they do not see anything in the field they keep flying to where they can see some in the field. The only geese you get to shoot at when you just lay in the field are the ones that where there the night before and they usually come all at one time so the shooting time is very short, say maybe only 1/2 hour or so. I would still recommend setting up the decoys, even if you only put out some of them and not all just so that there is something for them to look at, it will increase the amount of shooting time that you have.

Later JD


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## cgreeny (Apr 21, 2004)

jd mn/nd I know where you are coming from with the dog moving thing, but i have had the dog running birds back and birds still piling into the spread right over the top of him. I really dont think they are that bothered by them but you just want to avoid the situation right.


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## jd mn/nd (Apr 8, 2004)

No I make him go down if there are more birds coming when he is on a retrieve, even if he is holding a bird in his mouth, I do not want him moving around when birds are coming in. I have not had that happen like you have but like I said if I see the birds I make him do a down no matter where he is in the spread, or field what ever the case maybe. I expect a great deal from my dog and he is very capable of doing all that is asked of him, he is great dog, I have had many offers to sell him. He is truely one of a kind.


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## shooteminthelips (Jun 13, 2007)

We put white vests on our dogs. Avery makes a great white neopream vest. I have on more then one occassion had singles after we shot into a flock follow the dog in the white vest right back to the blinds. It is neat to watch them get mezmorized by the moving white.


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## jd mn/nd (Apr 8, 2004)

Hey shooteminthelips, now that would be something to see!! I did not know that they made a white vest for the dogs I always have the camo vest on him in the field to help him blend in when he is laying down, plus that he is a choclate lab so his natural color helps as well. I will have to have my wife make a slip cover with velcro for his camo vest and give it a try. Thanks for letting me know about that I do not think that I would have ever thought of that or to try it.

Have a great day, JD


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## shooteminthelips (Jun 13, 2007)

For what it is worth the vest only cost $25. You can go to any scheels and have them order one in. Just need his neck and chest meaaurements. For $25 it is hardly worth having your wife go through all the trouble of making something. I think the vest is called "Avery Sport Dog Vest" They come in KW-1, Shadow Grass, White, and Max 4.. I believe.


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