Best way to hunt Canada Geese

Slooshark1

Slooshark1

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I've never shot a Canada goose before and I have a friend of mine driving up from Sudbury this weekend and we're going to try and get set up in a stubble field. I have some mallard silhouettes and water decoys and a few snow geese decoys that I'm going to set up. I don't really have any Canada Geese decoys and I can't afford to go and buy any right now. Does anybody know of any easy tricks for getting set up? My Dad said that you can take a shovel and flip over some dirt clods in your decoy spread and that in a stubble field, from the air, it can enhance your presentation. Does anybody else have any good advice?

Best regards,

Slooshark1
 
see if you can borrow some Canada dekes, you dont need alot, 6-12 is plenty. Alot better than none.

are you hunting out of a blind or...?


if I was hunting geese over duck dekes and a couple snows Id hope my calling was good... :oops:
 
well..............enthusiasm and optimism are VERY handy, but if you are hunting a field where the geese are not already landing, you need to attract their attention. That means Canada Goose decoys and at least one call. I think that you are better off without the duck dekes, and am not sure about the snow goose dekes. I could see putting a couple snows in a large set of Canadas, as a confidence thing, but only if there are snows flying.

You definitely need some kind of blind or camo or pit or .....something to break up your silhouette. Geese have pretty darned good eyesight. I suggest you wear gloves and either a face mask or camo paint, otherwise your hands and face are like little beacons saying to the geese "stay away!"

I agree with todbartell that you should try to borrow some CANADA GOOSE dekes..........

Assuming a twelve gauge gun, use high speed shot, and IMHO size BBB for best results. Good luck to you!

Doug
 
You could consider cutting out some plywood silhouettes and painting them up for this weekend. Otherwise do as todbartell suggests and try to borrow some.

If you have to go with only what you now have, scout out the field and try to set up exactly where you saw them the previous day. With so few decoys, it will be difficult to draw them away from any favourite spot of theirs - even for a look at your dekes. You are better off being where they want to be, that's why your best bet is to set up where they were the day before you go out (but in general you should try to be where they want to be).

Good luck! :D
 
When I go out not particularly for canadas, I find that I have only mallard or teal decoys packed, I usually just get below a flight line and shoot at the buggers, the ones here are so fat that they are rarely very high and hardly justify magnum loads! recconnaissance is the trick, no deaks then find a flight line!
Here they are classed at last this year as an agricultural pest and can be shot all year round. yippee!!!!!
 
Intell is the key. Knowing where and when the geese are going somewhere.

To hunt a field that is not the "X" without any decoys will be very, very tough. Better off to find their flight pathes to the fields they are using and try and set up underneath them and pass shoot them.
 
Be where they want to be, and be there first. The duck and snow decoys will work fine IF you are at the spot where they were feeding the night before. Not a couple of days before, or last week, but LAST NIGHT. If you have decoys you've got more leeway and can attract them, but you want to be laying in goose poop Saturday morning.

Cover yourself up somehow, burlap, camo, straw, bales, whatever. CAMO your face with makeup, a net, or even mud - that big white face must be concealed. Birds land into the wind, so I put myself on the upwind edge of the decoys. That way I'm looking at the birds as they come in to the decoys. Put a pack under your head. And hope that you're not looking into the sun in the morning.

Unless you know what you're doing, leave the call at home. When the birds are waaay out there, I will sit up and wave my arms like a landing goose to attract their attention. It can turn flocks towards you. Stay still. Wait until they are locked in and cleared for landing. Figure out where a 25 yd mark is (lone decoy) and once inside, you're golden. 2-3/4" and #2 steel will kill well inside the decoys, but you'll need something like BBB OR LARGER for longer kills. Remember that although they appear to be HUGE at the end of the barrel, they're still moving fast enough that you need to swing through them and pull the trigger as you pass their head.

This is by far the most important step. Check the fields every night this week, and start getting permission. If you find a good field, ask for exclusive permission on the Saturday AND the Friday, so they aren't disturbed. If possible mark that spot in the evening. When you are on one of 'those' fields, you can't even shoot them away from it. But all the calling, decoys, camo, shooting skill, etc. is useless if the birds don't come close enough to you.

Good luck.

Grouse Man
 
Doug said:
... I think that you are better off without the duck dekes ...
Doug
Click to expand...
Why is that, Doug? Don't they commonly mingle?

Hey, Slooshark, if it were legal to shoot in Whitby I'd say come over to my house and we'll take a few in the field behind my house. They've been here for weeks and I've sometimes estimated as many as 400-500 on the ground with large flights coming and going constantly, and it's not a big piece of land - maybe 2-3 acres.
The point is, if you can find a place where they regular, that is your best bet. A blind is surely a must unless you are head to toe in camo.
Here's a suggestion - there are outfitters that will take you and your friend out (for a charge - usually about $150.00 - $200.00 it seems steep but for a first time thing it's worth considering). You'll have a great time and learn a lot and get a ton of geese. These guys will set you up in a blind, give you a ton of tips, and set up 100 or so decoys.
 
a small trick i learned when i could not afford decoys. Take garbage bags and blow them up part way and tie them off. then tie em to a stick. you can put white paint on the bottom half. if the wind is blowing they move so they look semi realistic from the air.
if your over water, you can use old fabric softner bottles painted black and white.

i have had many geese land in the two cheap solutions many a time. Can't say i always shot one though. :lol:
 
If you are on a limited budget and want to hunt geese your best bet is to spend your money on gas and get out scouting to find the X - like Waterfowler mentioned. If you are very hidden in a field that geese want to be in before sun up you'll likely get a few passing shots. Then you can use the dead geese as decoys and start building a little spread until you limit out or finish the morning flight.
 
Slooshark1 said:
I've never shot a Canada goose before and I have a friend of mine driving up from Sudbury this weekend and we're going to try and get set up in a stubble field. I have some mallard silhouettes and water decoys and a few snow geese decoys that I'm going to set up. I don't really have any Canada Geese decoys and I can't afford to go and buy any right now. Does anybody know of any easy tricks for getting set up? My Dad said that you can take a shovel and flip over some dirt clods in your decoy spread and that in a stubble field, from the air, it can enhance your presentation. Does anybody else have any good advice?

Best regards,

Slooshark1
Click to expand...
what type of area do you plan on hunting
 
We have no bag limit here and thanks to the old game laws they have multiplied. Now this year we can shoot all year as many as we can take, the only limit being what you can deal with as it is illegal to sell wild goose here, no idea why!
 
I find that scouting is the key. find the fields or type of fields that they are using, out here they prefer harvested pea fields, or harvested oats, etc. Get the landowners permission, and i would suggest that you get some Canada goose decoys, setup out in the open, away from trees as geese know that enemies can hide in the bush. I just sit on my shell box with a camo sheet over me, among my decoys.
 
I'd say get a call.
Last year we had an area with 4 ponds, and only 2 decoys in one of the ponds, but when we called them in they always landed in the empty ponds

The call brings them in, they circle 2 or 3 times, and land
 
I'd scrap using the decoys, or go to a pond where ducks are using, put out the dekes and hope you run into some geese.

Find out where they were the night before, and where they are flying and go hide...

Not much you're gonna do with a few duck decoys in a stuvvle field, ...IMO
 
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