Goose Questions

[duckdog310]

Dad and I got bit by the goose hunting bug this year after a fantastic couple of days down in Klamath Falls. We've been duck hunters all our lives, but never really bothered to gear up for geese. As such. . .

Can you recommend a decent Canada call? I have an older cheapy goose flute I can make sound relatively goosey. . .would be interested in a beginner's call and training CD.

I've hunted a very little bit out of layout blinds. I'm torn between the FA Eliminator, SUB, and XLander. Any thoughts on these specifically? I noticed the SUB is available and cheaper in brown. If enough vegetation was present to camo the blinds, would a solid color be much of a handicap?

Any decoys to stay away from? We'll not likely go whole hog quite yet and will more than likely only hunt geese incidental to our regular duck hunting operations. I'll need a handful of floaters and maybe some designed for solid ground.

Oh yeah. . .and a shameless plug for my wanna-buy post:

http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=151811

Thanks for all of your help!
Matt

[steelheadslayer]

Do a search on calls, blinds and decoys and you should have the answers to your questions. The opinions vary, some will say one call, decoy, blind is awesome while others will virtually hate that item.

Consider a lot of variables, where you're hunting, packing distance, money to spend and your basic needs for hunting. Make a list of your locations, your number of decoys needed, and just try to think of all the variables and then start deducting certain items or brands which won't meet your needs. That should help you narrow things down.

I do think for a layout blind, you want it in a camo pattern. A solid color is less expensive but will be one big block color in the field regardless of how much camo you put on it.

Good Luck

[Get Bit]

Calls: Saunders or Basin Abomination(get the Dave Smith Breakthrough CDs to learn how to blow a shortreed)
Blind: Final Approach Eliminator(the standard of the industry)
Decoys: Dave Smith(the most realistic decoy on the market)



Get Bit

[baltz526]

for low use decoys, i use shells for geese. it is easy to pack 1 dozen with some duck decoys. as soon as you get into a big layout blind type setup, you might as well go all out with cart 3dozen full bodies and layout. your cheap call will most likely work, just as well as a very expensive one if the tone is not bad

[thehunt]

Where do you hunt? How pressured are the geese? This really matters. If you hunting in the Willamette valley, what Baltz said will get you no where. If you hunt un pressured birds in a non typical goose area, those tactics will probably kill geese. Get Bit is a successful valley hunter and his reccomendations are pretty much the standard anymore. Less is more, best advice I can give!

[baltz526]

a little setup works good for birds on this side also, but there are no big grass seed farms to hunt. i'll guess 3 dozen dsd set out in the middle of a large open field with a couple layouts in the middle of them might work. but you might ask people that do that

[sprigkiller09]

Congrats on finding the sport of sports

For goose calls. It is really up to you as a preference. For a beginner however it is important to blow a short reed asap as bad habits can be formed with fluts. I would reccommend basin abomination, saunders, grounds. There are many more that i am not familiar with that i am sure would be great.

As far as layouts i dont reccommend the x-lander a little more of a pain to haul in and out but if you have a cart or other uses its fine. The SUB i like because of how lightweight it is and how the doors fold etc. The regular eliminators are also nice so once again this is preference.

As far as decoys I am a believer in quality over quantity. But depending on where you hunt a slightly larger spread might be beneficial. However i will never give up quality no matter how large i might think my thread has to be. In certain situations small numbers work far better for reasons only the geese know.

Give us a little more info about your hunting area and what you have experienced and we might be able to help further.

[Yeti]

Yup on what others have posted before me.

I am also a newb to the goose game.

I watched the sales and bought a FA Eliminator on sale. Camo vs Khaki doesn't really matter as you will need to mud it anyway.

I bought the Basin Abomination Iceman and Lesser call. They are both great calls with two different sounds. My first choice would be the Lessor call. It is a little easier to blow, a little higher pitched and has worked awsome on the few geese I have called.

As to decoys, I would buy the best you can afford. I own some GHG FFD's, GHG full body's and GHG shells. They have worked great for me. The Dave Smiths are the hot ticket. If I buy more I will go with them. For floaters I love the Big Foot floaters.

Good luck.

[duckdog310]

Thanks a ton for all your help thusfar! I really appreciate it.

My goose hunting will mostly consist of hunting geese incidental to ducks and chasing them during the September season. The areas I hunt will likely be marshes or lakes . . .either shorelines or islands. I don't have access to fields. . .yet!

I don't anticipate (based upon time, money, and expertise) hunting huge spreads for a while. I'm primarily a duck hunter who would like to sneak a goose or two in the bag while learning how to hunt them specifically in the process.

[Capin' Dan]

Come out to the waterfowl festival in Aug 18/19 and try a bunch of them. Also goose calling seminars or ask the call makers themselves

[duckdog310]

Thanks again for the help.

Out of curiosity. . .where would a guy get those single decoy bags? The ones that protect individual goose dekes.

[fishinpoor]

you can find those bags at dave smith decoy or cabelas has single bags or you can buy the material at a fabric store and sew some up

[RBfisher]

You can also get bags at the Dollar store that work good.