Goose Hunting

Whether in a cornfield or on the water, they're the highlights of many hunters early mornings. This page will give infornation about goose hunting.

Things you will need:

The following list of items are what you will need to have a successful goose hunt. I'm not guaranteeing a limit of Canada's however, it will take some work, time practice and skill.

Scouting

This can be one of the most important steps to a great hunt. A lot of people will over-look this step however, this can make the morning of the hunt exciting or a good chance to take a nap. You cannot simply do it from the window of your home or place of work. The only way to do this properly is seat time in your pickup. The simplest way to put it, you need to drive around until you find out where the birds are landing or working. If you cannot get the field that they are landing in, then you should attempt to get a field that they fly over on their way to the place they are feeding in. The birds will change fields, so recent scouting before your hunt is highly recommened. This is best done with a few buddies to make the miles seem a lot shorter than they are. We've had some of our best times driving around looking for a place to hunt. Be sure to ask and get permission BEFORE the day of the hunt.

Decoys

There are plenty of decoys out there. I prefer to use shells and full-bodies, this is what I will cover. I use any number of decoys while hunting depending on the weathdr. I typically will use anywhere from 3-6 dozen. I use BigFoot as well as Avery Greenhead Gear decoys. However, it is not unheard of to have a great hunt with only a dozen or so decoys.

Somewhere to Hide

This is crucial to an exciting hunt. You can use 3 types of blinds, layout, dug-in pit, or brush.

Layout Blinds

A layout blind can be purchased or made, it is in it's simplest form a canvas bag. It is probably the best option. It has many benefits, they can be made cheapily and the mobility they offer can make them worth there weight in gold. They can be carried to the field and can be camoflauged often times much better than the other two choices. They also don't limit yourself to just the one field. Though often times they are not used with water hunting.

Pits

Pit's are dug into the ground with a backhoe. They are the most comfortable and warmest of the two. They can often be camoflauged fairly well often enough, and not to mention your out of the weather. The problem with these blinds, however, is that you will be hunting the same field often, eventually with no new birds moving into the area you will have trouble getting birds to decoy. Another problem is the fact that somtimes the area the pit is will turn into a small interstate highway - with trucks driving to and from the pit because your friends don't want to walk or to drop off decoys. This will flatten out your corn stalks to the point where it will look too different from the field and some experienced birds will give you the fly-by.

An Example of a Layout -

Brush blinds

Brush blinds are constructed from brush that is lieing around or that you have brought. They are not exactly comfortable, but they can look excellent with a little work. However, a strong wind can cause your blind to crumble. These should only be used when you have almost no other choice or on a place you can't get a layout to or that you only have permission to be there for one day.

Gun & Ammo

You should use a 12 guage, a 20 or a 16 is not big enough in my opinion and the opinion of many others to take down geese, especially larger ones. As for shotgun shells, early season I use #1 shot, as well as BB in the 3" variety. Later in the season I will spend more and use 3 1/2" shells loaded with BB shot. I've seen geese taken down with #2's and #3's early season when they are foolish.