"The Perfect Shot"
by
Matthew Hougan
For those of us that have spent considerable time in a blind in pursuit of ducks and geese most of us can count on one hand the number of times when everything goes according to plan. I can remember those hunting days easily since they happen so few and far between. You can almost feel the planets lining up as the geese filter out right in-front of the firing line at 15 yards and seem to hang there waiting for you to shoot. Actually that scene has played out for us more often in the recent past then the beginning of our waterfowling days, because my hunting buddies and I have come up with a system of setting decoys and blinds to set us up for the “perfect shot”. We don’t merely spread decoys and blinds in hopes of fooling ducks and geese. There is a reason for our madness. Our goal is to get the birds in just the right spot for the most effective and ethical shots. We all know that geese take off and land into the wind. They use the wind to create lift when taking off or drag when landing. Setting up with the wind at your back is waterfowl hunting 101. For some that is the extent of the thought they put into setting decoys and their blinds. Other factors like decoy spacing, numbers, formations, and setting blinds in relation to the decoys play a significant role in setting up the perfect shot.
Geese are social animals in that they hang with their family and more out of safety in numbers than out of love for one another. If you have ever watched geese at “rest” you will notice they are fairly intolerant of each other and their respective personal space. I had a chance to witness this one afternoon at a youth outdoor festival in Southern, Ohio. A pair of geese had a two acre fishing lake all to them selves. This beautiful little lake had several small coves and dead fall trees and other heavy cover on the banks. A lone goose came into the lake and landed clear on the other side of the lake tucked away by itself in a little cove completely out of sight of the resting pair. Sure enough the resident pair swam the entire length of the lake, (clucking the whole time) found the intruder, and chased it out of the lake. You can also witness this by watching geese feeding. Watch what happens when geese land too closely to one another or one invades the space of another, more than likely there will be a fight. When setting your decoys keep this in mind. We always try to set a landing area for the geese in the decoys as do a lot of other folks down wind of the blinds. The mistake I see folks making is the landing area is too small forcing the birds to land too close to “feeding geese” and too close to a potential fight. The landing zone we set is no smaller than 60 yards across and has been up to 80 or so yards across. The idea here is to make incoming birds feel as comfortable as possible. Why would you want to crowd landing birds? You wouldn’t want to go into a McDonalds knowing you would get into a fist fight and neither would the geese. If you have ever had geese circle and land out of range or land well short of your set, your hole may have been too small. Open that killing hole up and see if that doesn’t help.
Decoy spacing can also play a role putting landing birds at ease. You may notice birds feeding in September will be spaced further apart from one another than birds feeding in January. What is important is that you are aware of this and set your decoys accordingly. When the weather is warm try to keep some distance between decoys. When the temps start to fall experiment with closing the distance in your decoys and see if it doesn’t make a difference. Pay attention to the geese when you are scouting. If the evening before your hunt the geese are tight then that’s how you should set your decoys. The whole idea is to make your spread look just like they expect to see when they arrive. These birds are not necessarily smart, but when we make an unrealistic presentation to them instinct kicks in and they may decide to dine elsewhere.
One more point about setting decoys is if you scout a field holding 100 geese and decide to hunt that field the next day do not set out 500 decoys. First of all you are hunting the “X” and can more than likely kill out with two dozen decoys. Setting all those decoys may be a waste of time and effort and it may also confuse the returning birds. Imagine the birds in the morning deciding they are going back to the same field they fed in last night. They take flight and pop over the trees and see a field full of strangers. Again it’s all about putting the birds at ease showing them what they expect to see. Now if you are running traffic (Running traffic refers to hunting along the flight line of birds trading between roost and feeding areas) we set out all the blocks we can manage in an attempt to pull the birds away from their flight plan. Typically as the season grows we like to set out more decoys depending on the number of migrators visiting our area, the number of other hunters in the area, and the number of birds scouted in any particular field. We have also gone the other way with numbers. Occasionally it seems that every goose hunter on the planet wants to hunt your backyard and set out a billion decoys. This can cause flocks of birds to get a bit stale, particularly if you are hunting primarily resident birds. We have in those cases experimented with scaling down our decoy spread to again set us apart from the crowd. This is something that needs to be learned through trial and error.
People have for as long as there has been duck hunters argued over decoy formations. Here in Ohio I have always had good luck with the good old “J” hook or “a wide “U”, making sure that the tails of the “U” point down wind. Remember I keep the zone really wide hoping the birds will feel comfortable in landing. I will also set three century birds in a line walking into the landing zone. Some folks like to set out an “X” pattern which is actually two “U” patterns. That’s good if you have a billion decoys! Truth be known I have rarely hunted in Ohio with more than 72 decoys. Keep in mind when I use the word pattern leave your tape measure and surveyor at home. I am referring to loose shapes. I like to set small groups in a general “U” or “J” shape. In those small groups there will be feeders and at least one century. Next time you drive past a field of feeding birds look and you will find that there is never a group of birds where all the geese are feeding and no one looking out. You can experiment with how long you string out the legs of the “U” depending on how the geese react and how close to you they want to pitch in.
There are also a couple of ideas of where to set the blinds in relation to the decoys. We normally start out the morning with the blinds at the base of the “U”. We have had great success with birds following the calling and or the flag all the way into “eternity”. Some of my buddies like to set the blinds out on the legs of the set incase birds land short. Others still, if the birds simply won’t cooperate and land well short of the decoys, will abandon the decoys and set blinds well down wind of the decoys. Regardless which you employ, be prepared to adapt depending on the reaction of the birds to your presentation. The main thing is don’t be afraid to get up and move things around a bit. We have learned that for the most part what one group of geese does so will subsequent groups. If one group acts a little hesitant or tries to land out of range move things around quickly before the next group arrives. One critically important idea on placing blinds is how to point your blinds. For right handed shooters we point the feet of the blinds to the right of the killing hole (two o’clock, if the bottom of the “U” is six o’clock.) What this does is allows a right handed shooter to swing to the left and greatly increases his field of fire. This gives the shooter a much more comfortable first shot and more room to make the second and third shot if need be. If you point the blinds right at the killing hole your swing to the right is extremely limited and your initial shot will be very uncomfortable. The other thing I like to do is crowd the decoys around the blinds. Again there are those that rely on camo and don’t want geese looking directly at you amongst the decoys. Their theory there is let them focus on the decoys while we ambush them for over here. I can understand that but we actually use the decoys to hide the blinds, rest my gun on if need be and if you flag, it’s important to have decoys in the immediate vicinity of the flag. Besides the legs on full body decoys make a great place to clamp my cigar when it’s time to do some calling.
The most important thing to realize with all this is your ultimate goal is to recreate as natural setting as you can and at the same time maneuver the birds in the proper position for the most collateral damage. Positioning the right number of decoys in relation to the blinds stacks the deck in your favor and will result in a perfect hunt.
by
Matthew Hougan
For those of us that have spent considerable time in a blind in pursuit of ducks and geese most of us can count on one hand the number of times when everything goes according to plan. I can remember those hunting days easily since they happen so few and far between. You can almost feel the planets lining up as the geese filter out right in-front of the firing line at 15 yards and seem to hang there waiting for you to shoot. Actually that scene has played out for us more often in the recent past then the beginning of our waterfowling days, because my hunting buddies and I have come up with a system of setting decoys and blinds to set us up for the “perfect shot”. We don’t merely spread decoys and blinds in hopes of fooling ducks and geese. There is a reason for our madness. Our goal is to get the birds in just the right spot for the most effective and ethical shots. We all know that geese take off and land into the wind. They use the wind to create lift when taking off or drag when landing. Setting up with the wind at your back is waterfowl hunting 101. For some that is the extent of the thought they put into setting decoys and their blinds. Other factors like decoy spacing, numbers, formations, and setting blinds in relation to the decoys play a significant role in setting up the perfect shot.
Geese are social animals in that they hang with their family and more out of safety in numbers than out of love for one another. If you have ever watched geese at “rest” you will notice they are fairly intolerant of each other and their respective personal space. I had a chance to witness this one afternoon at a youth outdoor festival in Southern, Ohio. A pair of geese had a two acre fishing lake all to them selves. This beautiful little lake had several small coves and dead fall trees and other heavy cover on the banks. A lone goose came into the lake and landed clear on the other side of the lake tucked away by itself in a little cove completely out of sight of the resting pair. Sure enough the resident pair swam the entire length of the lake, (clucking the whole time) found the intruder, and chased it out of the lake. You can also witness this by watching geese feeding. Watch what happens when geese land too closely to one another or one invades the space of another, more than likely there will be a fight. When setting your decoys keep this in mind. We always try to set a landing area for the geese in the decoys as do a lot of other folks down wind of the blinds. The mistake I see folks making is the landing area is too small forcing the birds to land too close to “feeding geese” and too close to a potential fight. The landing zone we set is no smaller than 60 yards across and has been up to 80 or so yards across. The idea here is to make incoming birds feel as comfortable as possible. Why would you want to crowd landing birds? You wouldn’t want to go into a McDonalds knowing you would get into a fist fight and neither would the geese. If you have ever had geese circle and land out of range or land well short of your set, your hole may have been too small. Open that killing hole up and see if that doesn’t help.
Decoy spacing can also play a role putting landing birds at ease. You may notice birds feeding in September will be spaced further apart from one another than birds feeding in January. What is important is that you are aware of this and set your decoys accordingly. When the weather is warm try to keep some distance between decoys. When the temps start to fall experiment with closing the distance in your decoys and see if it doesn’t make a difference. Pay attention to the geese when you are scouting. If the evening before your hunt the geese are tight then that’s how you should set your decoys. The whole idea is to make your spread look just like they expect to see when they arrive. These birds are not necessarily smart, but when we make an unrealistic presentation to them instinct kicks in and they may decide to dine elsewhere.
One more point about setting decoys is if you scout a field holding 100 geese and decide to hunt that field the next day do not set out 500 decoys. First of all you are hunting the “X” and can more than likely kill out with two dozen decoys. Setting all those decoys may be a waste of time and effort and it may also confuse the returning birds. Imagine the birds in the morning deciding they are going back to the same field they fed in last night. They take flight and pop over the trees and see a field full of strangers. Again it’s all about putting the birds at ease showing them what they expect to see. Now if you are running traffic (Running traffic refers to hunting along the flight line of birds trading between roost and feeding areas) we set out all the blocks we can manage in an attempt to pull the birds away from their flight plan. Typically as the season grows we like to set out more decoys depending on the number of migrators visiting our area, the number of other hunters in the area, and the number of birds scouted in any particular field. We have also gone the other way with numbers. Occasionally it seems that every goose hunter on the planet wants to hunt your backyard and set out a billion decoys. This can cause flocks of birds to get a bit stale, particularly if you are hunting primarily resident birds. We have in those cases experimented with scaling down our decoy spread to again set us apart from the crowd. This is something that needs to be learned through trial and error.
People have for as long as there has been duck hunters argued over decoy formations. Here in Ohio I have always had good luck with the good old “J” hook or “a wide “U”, making sure that the tails of the “U” point down wind. Remember I keep the zone really wide hoping the birds will feel comfortable in landing. I will also set three century birds in a line walking into the landing zone. Some folks like to set out an “X” pattern which is actually two “U” patterns. That’s good if you have a billion decoys! Truth be known I have rarely hunted in Ohio with more than 72 decoys. Keep in mind when I use the word pattern leave your tape measure and surveyor at home. I am referring to loose shapes. I like to set small groups in a general “U” or “J” shape. In those small groups there will be feeders and at least one century. Next time you drive past a field of feeding birds look and you will find that there is never a group of birds where all the geese are feeding and no one looking out. You can experiment with how long you string out the legs of the “U” depending on how the geese react and how close to you they want to pitch in.
There are also a couple of ideas of where to set the blinds in relation to the decoys. We normally start out the morning with the blinds at the base of the “U”. We have had great success with birds following the calling and or the flag all the way into “eternity”. Some of my buddies like to set the blinds out on the legs of the set incase birds land short. Others still, if the birds simply won’t cooperate and land well short of the decoys, will abandon the decoys and set blinds well down wind of the decoys. Regardless which you employ, be prepared to adapt depending on the reaction of the birds to your presentation. The main thing is don’t be afraid to get up and move things around a bit. We have learned that for the most part what one group of geese does so will subsequent groups. If one group acts a little hesitant or tries to land out of range move things around quickly before the next group arrives. One critically important idea on placing blinds is how to point your blinds. For right handed shooters we point the feet of the blinds to the right of the killing hole (two o’clock, if the bottom of the “U” is six o’clock.) What this does is allows a right handed shooter to swing to the left and greatly increases his field of fire. This gives the shooter a much more comfortable first shot and more room to make the second and third shot if need be. If you point the blinds right at the killing hole your swing to the right is extremely limited and your initial shot will be very uncomfortable. The other thing I like to do is crowd the decoys around the blinds. Again there are those that rely on camo and don’t want geese looking directly at you amongst the decoys. Their theory there is let them focus on the decoys while we ambush them for over here. I can understand that but we actually use the decoys to hide the blinds, rest my gun on if need be and if you flag, it’s important to have decoys in the immediate vicinity of the flag. Besides the legs on full body decoys make a great place to clamp my cigar when it’s time to do some calling.
The most important thing to realize with all this is your ultimate goal is to recreate as natural setting as you can and at the same time maneuver the birds in the proper position for the most collateral damage. Positioning the right number of decoys in relation to the blinds stacks the deck in your favor and will result in a perfect hunt.
