# GHG T&T Snow goose decoys?



## snowstopper (Jan 27, 2010)

Some friends and I have invested in the new T&T snow goose shells to add to our spread. Has anyone hunted with these decoys and if so what do you think? Are they worth the investment? With the motion stakes and the 5/8 body they appear more like a full body than a shell at half the price. I also like the fact they are stackable and don't require a big enclosed trailer to haul around. Any thoughts or opinions will be appreciated.


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## goosegrinder (Mar 4, 2005)

Pretty sure your thoughts about them are why they were made. I think they look fine but dealing with that stake would drive me nuts. GHG needs to figure out a way to have the stake or base mount to the decoy so you don't have to have 2 steps in setting up each time. Would add to the hauling/storage space but it would save a ton of time.Of course,if you have a "crew" to set decoys then it may not matter much.

Alex


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## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

i want more of them. i plan to build my spread primarily with them and some fb's. i am about 1/2 way there right now. here is a tip that will work wonders with your stake woes and add a bunch of motion when the winds are light and still work great with higher winds. drill out the hole. 3/8" is about right. that's it. simple huh? speeds setup tremendously and the decoys actually move better than the fb's afterward. set the stakes and then carry out stacks of deeks and slap 'em over the stakes. does not take much practice to get quick. i found i could set my 132 shells and stakes in about an hour. alone. never tried without drilling out the holes. i took one look at my deeks when they arrived, tried one, and said "no way!" 
another tip for assembling the heads & bodies. heat the body socket with a propane torch. three laps (keep it moving or you will burn them!) gets the plastic pliable and heads go on so much easier. don't forget to deburr the one that have mold flashing first though.


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## Original Goosebuster (Jan 12, 2006)

I am also interested in getting some of these shells and do you guys theink they are really a better investment than the FB GHG? I have 12 dozenGHG S and B's and thinking of getting 8 dozen of the shells. Good investment or not?


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## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

talk to "bluebird" here. he convinced me that the feeders look as good as the fb feeders from above. they actually set them out and got on top of a tall barn to compare from a goose's perspective. he did say that the fb's were better in the actives though. so my feeders are shells. sure saves money and room.


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## INhonker1 (Feb 24, 2009)

kingcanada said:


> i want more of them. i plan to build my spread primarily with them and some fb's. i am about 1/2 way there right now. here is a tip that will work wonders with your stake woes and add a bunch of motion when the winds are light and still work great with higher winds. drill out the hole. 3/8" is about right. that's it. simple huh? speeds setup tremendously and the decoys actually move better than the fb's afterward. set the stakes and then carry out stacks of deeks and slap 'em over the stakes. does not take much practice to get quick. i found i could set my 132 shells and stakes in about an hour. alone. never tried without drilling out the holes. i took one look at my deeks when they arrived, tried one, and said "no way!"
> another tip for assembling the heads & bodies. heat the body socket with a propane torch. three laps (keep it moving or you will burn them!) gets the plastic pliable and heads go on so much easier. don't forget to deburr the one that have mold flashing first though.


King Canada,

When you drilled the holes in the backs out to 3/8" to give them more movement did the decoys move back and forth similar to a full body or did they spin around in circles?? I just have this vision of all my tnt s doing the hoky poky with big holes for the stakes. A guy put a post somewhere on this site the other day regarding using pop bottle tops screwed up underneath the shell as a "motion cone" much like the full bodies are set up. I will try to find it and post a link to it. Pretty neat idea I think...only down fall would be staking them...which I think is kinda screwed up anyway with as hard as it is to get those damn heads on.

INhonker1


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## snowstopper (Jan 27, 2010)

I just used a pocket knife to bore out the hole just a little to allow more movement. When you buy the decoys the stake will fit a little tight so I thought boring the hole out would add extra movement on the days with a good wind. I figured it would take a very strong wind to lift the decoy off the stake. I don't own a trailer full of GHG full bodies and I'm very happy that they produced a shell at some what of an economical price so us weekend warriors can take our shot at these snow birds.


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## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

never had them spin around. they just kind of bobbed up and down while shifting around a bit. these decoys are pretty heavy. i did not get to use them in 30 mph winds this fall. maybe they would spin then. we did have some homemade foam full body canada deeks with photo covers on them. the stake tube was close to the center. at wind speeds of 30 mph they did go full circle. i thought it would scare our late season canadas, but they bombed in with reckless abandon. i shot a 5 bird limit with my 28 ga. i think that spinning around slowly would not scare snows. after all, the do come into vortex type systems. when i used my deeks they looked as though they were waddling. i would like to say it was a slam dunk, but once the thousands of real birds piled in to the next field things got tough. but we did shoot birds. this was last fall in north dakota and we were not inline with the main migration.


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## Scaredy-snow (Apr 13, 2006)

I also bored the holes out, not to 3/8" but, enough to loosen the fit. I haven't had them spin. However, in a good wind, they all tend to turn perpendicular to the wind. It doesn't look terrible but, I would like some of them to face into the wind. I hook a tail on corn stubble where I can. Since I can't complain about how well the birds decoy, I realize that I'm splitting hairs on this issue. Are there any other ideas on how to keep these dekes pointed into the wind?


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## INhonker1 (Feb 24, 2009)

Scaredy-snow said:


> I realize that I'm splitting hairs on this issue. Are there any other ideas on how to keep these dekes pointed into the wind?


Heres the lin to that post on the pop bottle tops. Its in the canada goose hunting forum. Think I might try some.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=80170


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## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

drilling a second hole a little further forward would do the trick. 4" would be great, but then you would need to weight the heads to balance it out. i plan to experiment with this. another option, more labor intensive, is to put tubes in the heads and use a plain stake. 1/4" pvc would be fine. drill out a hole in the bottom of the head stub to match the diameter of the tubing. insert a 2" long section in this hole and fill the decoy head with expanding foam to make it permanent. a shot of "great stuff" outta do it. be sure to put caps on top of all of those tubes though. 2 reasons: keep them from filling with foam and give the stake something to stop against. it already proved itself with our canada full bodies. if i choose this route i may post a "how to" with pics. this setup affords lots of lateral movement, but not much bobbing. snows work vertical, so i doubt they notice bobbing that much.


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## Geesekiller (Jan 10, 2009)

snowstopper said:


> I also like the fact they are stackable and don't require a big enclosed trailer to haul around.


I keep my head on all the time and they don't stack as nice with the heads on. If I was you I would also keep the head on it a real pain to have to put the head on in the field. A fried of mine got a dozen of fullbody and 2 dozen 5/8 shell he waited to put head on when he got to the field( i would not do that) It took him like a hour to put all the heads on. That a hour that your going lose when out in the field setting up your decoys not worth it. Just keep the heads on all the time. It does take up more space but the time it going take you to put them on it worth it.


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## duckdogsroc (Feb 15, 2010)

cabelas 2 man bags hold 4 doz tnt shells i have 1 doz uprights in 1 bag all heads are on


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## fishnfool (Jan 15, 2010)

I put the avery motion cone kits on the t & t shells and it speeds up the setup time greatly it is alot easier than trying to find the whole in the dark as the cone guides the stake to location. I'm also able to fit 8-9 dozen in a grain bag compared to 5 dz full bodies. The shells also have the range of motion that the full bodies have and you also have tha ability to lock the shell down on those windy days. I personally believe they look as good as the full bodies and save alot of space


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## Original Goosebuster (Jan 12, 2006)

but the realmotion kits are 14 bucks for 6 at that price you might as well buy FB's cause your not saving any money


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## fishnfool (Jan 15, 2010)

You can buy the motion kits in 24 packs from macks prairie wing and lower the price per unit and as I stated you can get alot more decoys in the same space and I'll guarntee from my experience using both full bodies t&t shells that you can set up the shells quicker because you don't have to worry about the stakes hitting the bottom of the decoy. If you are concerned about space and wanting a full body appearance they work grear.


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## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

with the bigger holes, mine set up just as quick as did my fb's. and i can still stack them in storage. i just wish that the stake tops were as easy to spot in the dark as the ones used with fb's. i guess reflective tape is on the list too...


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## bluebird (Feb 28, 2008)

Hey KingCanada with the sale Rogers had on 5/8th shells they got me for another 16dz  I cant stop buying the dam things!!!


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## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

i hate you! now i am going to go look at the sale, think "oooh, to good to pass up" and go bankrupt!!!!!! i hope you guys drill 'em good this spring. wish i could go. bad. i think my budget this spring is going to limit me to a turkey hunt by Kaycee.


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## FoldEmXtreme (Jan 3, 2010)

Realism and Movement they are great. The motion stakes are a pain though, if the ground is too soft or too hard they take a lot of extra time setting up or babysitting! We have killed a lot of snows over 300-800 T&T's, not a bad choice for the money.


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