Focus On Goose Decoys
Getting the geese to land near you so that you can bag one is the reason why goose decoys exist at all. They are not new. People who have lived around geese for centuries past have studied their traits. What stirred their imagination to try decoys as a way of persuading the geese to settle where the hunter wanted them to, is unknown. But it appears to have worked, for decoys have been found made out of the simplest material, starting with grass.
Geese are sociable by nature – they flock together. When flying geese see geese on the ground, they have a strong tendency to join the party. This is where decoys come in. Build up your own flock of goose decoys and fool those flying over into think they’re real and so entice them to land on your carefully prepared landing strip.
The landing strip can be on the ground or on the water. Possibly on the ground it is easier for the hunter to hide himself. The geese are wary of predators or of anything that looks unusual. Hunters have been known to hide in a super sized man-made goose until the flock has landed and then pop out and take their shots. The working knowledge is that flying geese cannot distinguish differences in the size of the birds on the ground. (One must assume they can once they’ve landed though).
Setting out the decoys is usually preceded by a visit to the chosen site the night before to confirm its suitability. That nothing untoward has changed since the choice was first made – no fresh snow falls, extra mud or any other distraction. The goose decoys are then laid out, ready for the break of day.
Lay them out to make them look as realistic as possible. Walking, grazing, alert, snoozing, look sideways – whatever replicates their normal grazing pattern. Their colour should match the type of goose being hunted. An unnatural shine would not be appropriate. Moving parts on goose decoys have also proved successful in luring them in as flying geese seem to be more comfortable with some movement in the flock laid out below.
Some hunters lay out up to 100 decoys for Canada Geese and ten times that for snow geese. Such large numbers of decoys are usually the ‘rag’ variety – a waterproof stuffed goose shape to which you can add details like heads or the ‘shell’ variety – a hollow goose shape with no legs and feet.
Obviously building up your own ‘flock’ of goose decoys is just that. A building process. Buying them all at once is expensive, though would be an interesting exercise given the quality and choice available today.
Here are some suggestions for those who have to start small:
1. Type into a search engine phrases like ‘Canada Goose Decoys for Sale’ or ‘Large (or small) lot of duck geese decoys for sale’. The first 9 pages will yield very little but by the time you get to page 10 and beyond you will reach advertisements in ‘free classified’ directories where people offer just such items.
2. Try making your own goose decoys. A good search engine here is Ask dot com. Type in ‘Homemade Goose Decoys’. Tip – If you go for the simple outline type, glue several together to give some width to the decoy. Other types are those of the windsock variety. One of the most successful decoy manufacturers is based on the windsock design.
3. If you’re really serious you could go to website freepatentsonline and find a goose decoy patent that you think you can make use of.
4. For excellent information on how to place your goose decoys, type ‘Goose Decoys’ into Google and again start from page 10. Experts give their opinions in various related websites, all of which are worth a read.
Finally, where to hunt? Your local state wild life agency will help you out here or you can approach the farmer on whose field you have seen geese land. Hunters can shoot Canada Geese over land or water.
About the Author
The author is a retired high school teacher of geography and maths. Free resources like ‘Quick Compare 35 Brand Name Kayaks’ are available to help you make an informed choice about a small boat. Free ebook on how to identify waterfowl in North America and free small boat plans and instructions
Canada Goose (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)