Twenty Pro Tips for Geese

By Hampton Bourne

DavidStimac.com

If you want to elevate your goose-hunting game, you should seek out people who know the subject matter better than anyone else. Some of the best tips come from outfitters who guide hunters for a living. We’ll get you started with top-shelf advice from five veteran goose guides who have earned their stripes chasing snow geese, Canadas, and specklebellies across the continent for decades.

1. Mix It Up

“It’s important to mix and match your decoys,” says Jay Anglin, who has gained an encyclopedia’s worth of knowledge over decades of guiding hunters and anglers throughout northern Indiana. “A lot of hunters want to segregate the full-bodies, silhouettes, and shells in their spread, but I find that birds finish better when I mix the decoys. Also, many full-body decoys have motion bases, and they’re great, but if you look at geese in a field, a lot of them are just standing still. Sometimes too much movement can look unnatural, so don’t overdo it with the motion stakes for full-bodies.”

2. Mind the Sun

“Geese don’t like landing directly into the sun because they can’t see their landing area,” Anglin explains. “You want to position your decoys so that the geese can see them but won’t be blinded by the sun. Sometimes that conflicts with the wind direction, but I’d rather have geese approaching at a quartering angle with a good wind than straight in with the sun right behind me.”

Michael Clingan/Montana Outdoor Imagery

3. Brush Smart, Not Hard

Sometimes, less camouflage is better. “I love hunting in layout blinds, but some people overdo it,” Anglin says. “Grassing blinds is obviously important, but depending on the field you’re hunting in, over-grassing can cause some blinds to stick out like a hay bale. If you’re hunting in open ground, like cut corn with open rows, leave some gaps in your camo so the pattern will resemble the rows of corn stalks. In these scenarios, I like to put decoys right up against my layouts to help break them up even more.”

4. Keep Decoys Fresh

“Have you ever noticed that old decoys look great when they’re wet? Well, matte clear spray paint makes them look wet all the time,” Anglin says. “I apply it to all of my decoys several times a year. For flocked heads, you can tape off the bills and cheek patches and touch them up with clear semi-gloss. When it snows, however, I leave the flocked-head decoys at home. The flocking attracts snow and ice. You can use a leaf blower in the field to keep snow off of them, but it’s easier to just use unflocked heads.”

5. Find the Roost

Mike Bard, who guides waterfowl hunters in upstate New York, says locating primary roosting areas is crucial for success. “Geese don’t just roost anywhere. Most of the time, they roost in the same places year after year. If you can’t get permission to hunt in the field where they’re feeding, you can set up in between their feeding area and their roost, and then shortstop them on the way back to the roost. I like to set up facing perpendicular to their flight pattern so I can see both directions when they’re moving back and forth from feed to roost.”

6. Use Snow to Your Advantage

“We get a lot of snow during our late season,” Bard says, “and snow can really change the way geese behave. It’s common for birds to only feed once a day in the snow and then rest in that same field to keep the ground open so they can feed there again. When it’s wet and rainy, geese hit beans. When it’s cold and snowy, they prefer corn.”

Jim Thompson

7. Hit the Water

“Many people prefer to hunt dry fields, but we have a lot of success hunting over water,” Bard says. “We do that often in the early season. Geese will sometimes roost in the same place during the day and at night. At first light they’ll leave the roost to feed, and then they’ll come back mid-morning. In this kind of scenario, we’ll get a late start, set up after daylight, and be waiting for them when they come back.”

8. Follow the Leader

“When group-calling, there should always be a lead caller, but if you can get everyone calling together, it can be dynamite,” Bard explains. “Every caller sounds a little bit different and will contribute a lot of different voices. If you can teach beginners to produce a basic cluck, it can be a big help. My kids are still learning to call, but I always ask them to cluck softly while I’m calling to add some extra realism.”

9. Ace Your Hide

“You need to spend more time on your hide than on your decoys,” says Jonathan Holland, who breeds and trains Boykin Spaniels at Tomahawk Kennels in Alabama and guides specklebelly and snow goose hunts in Arkansas. “Most people just set up an A-frame in the middle of a field, but it is very important to place your blind in a little ditch or swale to lower your profile. Brush it with natural vegetation. Don’t cut brush directly around you, though. It’s counterproductive to cut the vegetation around you just to make your blind look good.

10. Break in a New Dog

“I love taking a new dog on a speck hunt,” Holland says. “For a dog that has completed its initial training, speck hunting is a great way to help him connect the dots. Specks, especially, are vocal and easy for the dog to see. It’s also a great way for a young dog to practice his training in a real hunting situation. It’s very important for the handler to focus on the dog rather than calling or shooting. A snow goose hunt has too much commotion for most new dogs, but speck hunts are one of my favorite ways to break in a rookie.”

Cason Short/ByersFarm.com

11. Learn the Speck Vocabulary

“Learning to call specks starts with a yodel,” Holland says, “but callers need a full vocabulary. If you listen to live specks on the ground and specks in the sky, there’s a big difference. Flying specks yodel, but feeding specks cluck and murmur. A lot of hunters will get a bird’s attention by yodeling, but yodeling or hailing won’t finish birds. That’s where murmuring really works well. Also, a lot of inexperienced callers will make monotone sounds, but specks on the ground oscillate from high to low. To finish birds, you need to be able to make a full range of sounds, not just the yodel.”

12. Finish Those Snows

“Most of the calling during the spring conservation season is done with electronic calls,” Holland says. “Electronic calls are great for getting the attention of high-flying birds, but they aren’t designed to finish them. If you can learn how to squawk and make soft, one-note clucks with a snow goose call, you can focus your calling on the lead goose and call in the whole flock. If several people in your group can do the same thing, it can be very effective.”

13. Flag Them In

Mike Ladnier, who started Bay Prairie Outfitters in Saskatchewan almost 40 years ago, never leaves home without a flag. “I absolutely love flagging,” he says. “There are times I would rather have a flag than a call, especially when the birds are a long way off. I slow down my flagging as birds come closer but start again if they begin to veer off. Flagging is also a great way for inexperienced hunters to participate in the hunt.”

14. Start Slow

“My number-one tip is to not overcall right out of the gate,” Ladnier says. “You don’t want to call any more than it takes to get them in range. There are times when you’ll need to call harder, like in a stiff wind, but on days with light wind or with highly pressured birds, overcalling can be a turnoff. Geese can hear really well. I always start off with light calling and then ramp it up as needed. Very rarely is it necessary to mimic a competition call.”

GaryKramer.net

15. Pack the Right Tools

“We always pack a string trimmer and a brush cutter in every trailer,” Ladnier explains. “We also pack loppers and multiple rakes so everyone can help rake stubble to go around our blinds. We keep one trailer set up for dark geese and one set up for ducks and snows. I give all my clients 3-inch BBs regardless of where or what we’re hunting. If you’re decoying birds, 3-inch loads are more than enough, and they aren’t too heavy for a mixed bag.”

16. Be a Steward

“Make sure you always maintain good relationships with your landowners and farmers,” Ladnier says. “Communicate often. Always leave the place in better shape than you found it. Don’t leave any shell hulls or trash. Don’t rut up the fields. If you take proper care of their property, you’ll likely be invited back. Also, it’s always a good idea to send them some kind of a thank-you after the season. Without them and their cooperation, we would have far fewer places to hunt.”

17. Get Permission Early

“Scout, scout, scout,” says Saskatchewan outfitter Lance Robinson. “You really need to know your area and have permission pre-established on a variety of places before the season starts. Different groups of geese will feed on different fields. For example, one group of geese might feed in peas and another might prefer wheat due to changing conditions or availability of food. Once you get permission established in a variety of places, you just find the geese and go get them.”

18. Show Them Something Different

“A lot of hunters use a classic J or U shape for their spread,” Robinson says. “I think it’s important to show geese something different. Instead of a big mass of decoys, I use multiple small family groups with a lot of landing space in between them. Leaving larger landing areas makes the birds feel more comfortable, since they can see more of the ground, and it reduces the likelihood that they’ll slide out at the last minute, especially with high-pressured birds.”

Michael Clingan/Montana Outdoor Imagery

19. Be Prepared for Anything

“You never know what you’re going to need,” Robinson explains. “I pack spare earplugs, multiple types of gun lube and solvent, a collapsible ramrod, extra rags, and several different choke keys and choke tubes. First aid supplies are super important too. I also pack zip ties, a foldable Mojo Pick Stick, rain gear, and spare calls. Black electrical tape is the most versatile item you can pack. It is the best temporary bandage you can have. But without a doubt, my favorite thing I take to the field is fake leg bands to prank hunters.”

20. Write It Down

“I learned from veteran hunters to keep detailed notes of every hunt,” Robinson says. “I keep a log of the weather and wind direction and a diagram of our decoy setup. Now I know every location like the back of my hand—water, high spots, low spots, etc. We mark on a map where the X is in every field every day. Now, if a guide has to shift to another field, he knows that the X will be close to the same spot where it was in previous years.”