Goose Decoy Recomendations

[Brentster7189]

I'm thinking about getting into goose hunting next year, I live in a good area to set up for them. There are so many different kinds on the market, I'm sure everyone has their preference. I'd like some recomendations if anyone has any. I want something that will last too, but get the most realistic ones for the money.

 

[Nemont]

are you planning on hunting fields or on the water?

 

[Brentster7189]

Fields. I have a pointer, trying to get that dog in the water...well, let alone cold water...it ain't happening!

 

[drthornton]

I tried to get into Goose hunting several years ago. I came in contact with a goose guide in North Central Texas. It so happened he was upgrading a bunch of decoys and I bought 3 dozen used shells from him for $100 if I remember correctly. I used spray paint to freshen them up (white, black and anodized bronze). I sometimes used flags to get some action but mostly scouted where they wanted to be and set up. They did very nice and I even killed a few geese to boot. It just never caught on as a passion for me. I still have them if I ever want to start up again.

You can sink a bunch of money into Goose decoys so you may take smalls steps until you find what you want. Contact any local guides to see what they use and if they have any old ones they want to sell.

 

[Zach]

Shells are a good start, but full bodies are what seems to work the best. GHG has pretty good,durable decoys.

Look for the local guys to start selling their 1-2 year old dekes after the season is over, usually cheaper than buying brand new.

 

[cowboy]

Like you said - everyone has their opinion. Quite frankly - I would ask you a few questions like - How many do you plan on getting - where will you store them - how will you get them out to the field - and obviously what is the budget. The full bodies are great - you probable are looking at getting a trailer if you want to use very many. Shells take up 1/10 the space but are not the newest invention. Silouetts are less expensive and less space. Rags are really economical and very less space. Then you also have the different species - snows, specs, canada etc.. Throw in some layout binds and now you're talking buying a trailer and spending some money.

When I decided to expand my spread I put an add in the local weekly paper saying I was looking for used decoys - damn near had to hire a secretary to answer the cell phone. There must be a LOT of people with decoys just sitting in their garages that haven't been used in a long time.

I've hunted over the best to what I would consider not very good and it all boils down to the fact that if you're set up where the geese want to feed you're going to do just fine with most any decoy.

 

[wingman1]

Go with full bodies without a doubt. You don't need more than a couple dozen to get started. I use newer shells mixed in with my full bodies if there is snow. Greenhead gear is what I use. Buy a short reed call and practice a lot.

 

[jlmatthew]

Zach and I put out just under 4 dozen GHG Lessers and we had geese landing in the decoys this late in the season, and the weekend before I only put out 2 dozen and geese were landing in em, so numbers arent as important as some would have you believe.

I use the Avery 12 slot full body duck decoy bags and they dont take up too much room if you stack em

If you go to Rogers Sporting Goods website, they're selling Hard-Core Decoys pretty cheap.

http://store.rogerssportinggoods.com/servlet/StoreFront

 

[Brentster7189]

Zach and I put out just under 4 dozen GHG Lessers and we had geese landing in the decoys this late in the season, and the weekend before I only put out 2 dozen and geese were landing in em, so numbers arent as important as some would have you believe.

I use the Avery 12 slot full body duck decoy bags and they dont take up too much room if you stack em

If you go to Rogers Sporting Goods website, they're selling Hard-Core Decoys pretty cheap.

http://store.rogerssportinggoods.com/servlet/StoreFront

So you use the shells, or full body decoys?

 

[grizzly5028]

Either or will work fine i use them both. i also use some Real-Geese Pro-Series II 3-D Silhouettes I like them as nice filler decoys and they are pretty cheap. they also add movement into your spread because when the geese circle the silhouettes will disappear and then reappear so the geese think they are moving. Fred Zink from Zink Calls uses them all of the time and he kills a lot more geese then most people.

 

[Zach]

So you use the shells, or full body decoys?

FB's with flocked heads.

 

[jlmatthew]

So you use the shells, or full body decoys?

GHG Lesser Full Bodies. I can get 4 dozen and two layout blinds in my F150 with the shortbed (5.5 ft) to give you an idea how much space they take up

 

[blue devil]

Full bodies and I also like silhouettes, just because of the light weight and the amount of them that can be hauled around. Also, a flag helps a lot.

NO MOJOS! Unless you're hunting ducks. I've found that geese hate them, but the ducks love em.

 

[HowaHunter]

I use 4.5 dozen Greenhead Gear goose decoys about 2 dozen shells and the rest full bodies. In my opinion they are awesome just keep them clean and store them in the right bags. I too can fit all of mine in the back of my truck but if I add anymore I will need another hunting partner or a trailer. good quality/realistic especially the full bodies in a slight breeze. Good Luck goose hunting can be very addictive when it is done right.

 

[choc dogs]

It's been said, and you can see from wingman's photos, that it doesn't take long when using fullbodies to run out of storage room. In order to keep them looking fresh you end up in slot bags,at least, and if you end up with more than about 4 dozen, you've got to take multiple vehicles, or a trailer. Throw in some layout blinds, and you've got even less room. I'm fortunate to hunt with some folks that bring 6 dozen fullbodies to the table, I've got some shells that fill out the spread in the snow, and some silhouettes for other times. Silhouettes can be home made without much ado, and are pretty portable if you can't drive in a field. All that said, welcome to the addiction.

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

Who wud wanna becum a dang lyin goose hunter???
Let's see now, I got around three doz mag and 5 doz standard shells , six doz shilloutes and a cupplathree rags of the Snow goose type in a farmer buddy's shed in SK; am a third owner of somewhere around a thousand Snow Goose shells, rags, wind socks and shillouttes at a friends barn in SE MO, am part owner of three doz full body Speck decoys and 2 doz full body Canada decoys in Arkansas, and somewhere around 3 doz full body Canada's in my garage.....oh, and two field layout blinds----I hate fuggin geese! So does my dawg, esp since a wounded Honker bit him on the nose when he was 11 months old----thought I might have ruined him on his first retrieve, but when he caught the goose by its head and crushed its skull, I knew I had a winner! It was funny as heck watching him try to drag it back to me holding it by it's head and it between his laigs!

 

[Topgun 30-06]

So a big goose got ole Abe right on the schnoz huh Tom, LOL! Our bluetick made a mistake one night and nuzzled a big old coon that we knocked out of tree when I was about 6 or 7 back in the early 50s and the coon wasn't dead! He grabbed ole Blue right by the nose and that dog was bawling and trying to get loose and it's a wonder he didn't lose his nose. That coon made a big mistake by letting go and ole Blue went to work and broke every bone in that coon's body before he was done! He never made that mistake again and I can remember it like it was yesterday!!! Those were the good old days when there was plenty of land and you could just go out and run the dogs all night without worrying about trespassing.
PS: I think you ought to change your tag line and say you trust your life to those Heirloom calls of Brians just like Shockey does with everything incuding his unnerware, LOL!!!

 

[TOM IN TENNESSEE]

There is a lot of things I trust with Brian Warner, call maker supreme, but my life aint one of them....esp since my endorsement is uncompensated and Brian's wife insist I wear underwear when visiting And clean at that!
I will have two of Heirloom's single reeds--one big bore and one standard---and a nasty Mallard killing double reed in the trees. Ol Abe is stompin at the bits! He hates waterfowl.
Been a slow year for him ---only 140 or so ducks and 20 or so geese---he wants more of them bastards!
He did not seem particularly pleased on the slow days when we shot snipe and coots....kinda spat them at me....but you can add around 30 Snipe and a doz coots to his yearly total.