Tips on getting birds to finish all season long
By Malory Owens
There is nothing more frustrating than putting in extensive work leading up to a goose hunt only to have flock after flock pass you by. After years of hunting these birds, I have come to the conclusion that successful goose hunters do the little things right. Paying close attention to the details can leave the geese with no choice but to lock up right in front of you. I have broken down some key aspects of the hunt for you with helpful tips and tricks for successes.
Early Season Hunting
While it may be tempting to give the geese everything you have at the beginning of the season, it is important to keep in mind how you are educating the birds. Shooting into a flock is not the only way birds become educated. Showing them the quality and quantity of decoys you use, how you set up those decoys, your calling style and flagging are all ways to let the birds in on your hunting style. The takeaway point here is that less can be more in the early season. Don’t show them all of the tools in the toolbox, if it isn’t necessary to do so.
Ways you can avoid educating birds early on in the season can be anything from using a smaller decoy spread consisting of lesser-quality decoys to only calling and flagging when it is absolutely necessary. Respond to what the birds are telling you. Don’t show them more than you need to harvest a limit.
WHAT Can Geese See?
To fully understand what the geese are seeing when they fly over your spread, we need to delve into their anatomy. Geese not only have substantially better vision than humans (two to three times better, in fact), but the anatomy of their eyes also enables them to see certain colors (reds, greens, yellows and blues) more vibrantly. Being hyper vigilant about minimizing any unrealistic aspects of your spread can be the difference between a flock locking up or flaring.
This means picking up any empty shells or candy wrappers (I can’t be the only one who packs chocolate in my blind bag) laying in the field, wearing facemasks or face paint to conceal your rosy cheeks, and making sure there is zero shine anywhere in your spread. A good self-check would be to have one person in your party walk out several yards in front of your spread, while the rest of you cover up in your blinds. If your buddy spots something that sticks out, it will stick out even more to the geese.
Blend Your Blind
A good first step in upping the realism of your spread is blending your blind into your surroundings. Whichever type of blind you are using, your goal is to make it nearly impossible for the geese to pick you out of the field from their point of view. Pit blinds, or underground blinds, are great because you can completely disappear in a field. However, they are in a permanent location that cannot be changed throughout the season.
Ground blinds are a mobile alternative that requires some extra thought to hide effectively. The first thing to consider, even before the morning of your hunt, is to eliminate any shine on the blind. A permanent solution is to dust them with just enough brown or black spray paint to eliminate shine. A more natural solution is to rub them down with mud, preferably from the field you plan to hunt, if conditions allow.
Next, you want to stubble your blind to help break up its outline as well as blend it in to its surroundings. A good first step is to use Avery KillerWeed, which is a dyed raffia grass. This grass can be used alone or as an excellent base layer in addition to natural stubble. Then the best way to get your blind to disappear in the field is to gather stubble (corn stalks, grasses, bean stalks, etc.) directly from the field you are hunting. This will give you the most realistic and natural look possible. A noteworthy tip is to gather the stubble away from your spread to avoid creating bare spots around your blind. Your goal is to make your spread look as undisturbed as possible.
Something geese can see that you may not think about are the shadows cast by the blinds. Even when blinds are perfectly stubbled and blended into the natural surroundings, the shadows will show up as big black spots in the field pointing right to where you are hiding. There are a few tricks to avoid this as much as possible.
You can dig the blinds down into the ground, if the landowner will allow you to do so (always make sure you replace the dirt when you are done hunting for the day). If this is not an option, you can put all of the blinds close together and put piles of natural stubble between them as well as off the end where the shadow would be. Keeping the little details in mind when it comes to blending your blinds in will really stack the odds in your favor.
Trailer Full of Decoys
As previously noted, if you are hunting in the early season, sticking to a smaller spread is probably best. As the season progresses, a larger spread can help to convince the birds your field is where they need to be. Scouting the field you plan to hunt the night before is very helpful in creating a realistic spread. It’s important to make mental notes on how the birds look in the field while scouting and copy that the next morning. Keep in mind geese in real life are not evenly spaced throughout the field. Realism is random.
Direction of the Wind
In almost every case, geese land into the wind. Utilize this piece of information when setting up your blinds as well as decoys. You want the geese to lock up in front of you rather than behind you, so make sure your blinds are facing with the wind. For example, if the wind is coming from the west, the geese will likely land coming from the east. Set your blinds up so they are facing east.
Flight Path
Geese usually fly from their roost to the field they feed in (often called the “X”). It is important to know if the field you will be hunting is in between the roost and the X (this is called “running traffic”) or if you are on the X. If you are running traffic, you need to up your game.
Think of it this way, you are at home and wake up from an afternoon nap craving some pizza. You get in your car and are on your way to your favorite pizzeria. Between your house and the pizzeria there are several other places to eat, but you would need some real convincing to stop somewhere else since you have pizza on your mind. Geese are the same way.
To pull a flock away from their original flight plan, you may need a bigger spread with great motion, more aggressive calling and flagging. You need to do all of the little things perfectly to convince them your field is where they need to be. If you are lucky enough to be able to hunt the X, you are where the birds want to be, so just don’t do anything to mess it up, and you should have a very good hunt.
Talk the Talk
When calling, the most important thing is to be receptive to what the birds are telling you. If the wing tips are locked, continue what you are doing to keep them locked on you. However, if you notice their wing tips start to move, you need to adjust your calling in some way to re-center the flock.
Learning what the birds want is an acquired skill that takes practice and experience. The best thing for you to do is listen to live geese and be able to replicate the sounds they are making. Knowing when to use these sounds in the field will come with time and experience with live birds.
Finishing Touch
Another useful tool to use in the field is a flag. When you drive past a field loaded with geese, you will notice them get up and stretch their wings. This motion is noticeable even from far distances. This is the kind of motion you are trying to replicate with a flag.
To do this, take the flag by the handle, lift it off of the ground, shake it a few times and set it back down. The flag can be used to get the attention of a flock that is a ways away or to bring back a flock that is sliding off to the side of your spread. This can add realism to your spread and it can be the key to a successful hunt.
Geese are tricky birds to figure out, but that just makes a successful hunt even more rewarding. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to grow up in the goose field and even more grateful to share some tricks I use in the field with fellow women hunters. Whether you have never stepped foot in a cornfield before or are a seasoned goose hunter, I hope you found some take-away points here. Happy hunting!
Malory Owens is pro-staff for Avery, Banded and GHG. Check out her bio on page 8!
