[BillMotlet]

Hello!

I am a newbie to this website, and also with goose hunting in fields!

The other day, I hunted a field and had exceptional success with a few other hunters, however, many birds didn't want to land into our spead.

Our layout blinds were covered very well and blended into the cut corn field. I think we went wrong with our decoy spread.

Is it possible that our decoys were too close to each other? Approx. how far should we keep them apart? Where should we set up our layout blinds according to our decoys?

We had a few different flocks that were very interested in our field, however, they kept flaring whenever they would try to land.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I hope this site will help me become a better outdoorsman and I hope to help out fellow hunters and anglers as well!

Thank You and God Bless!

 

[The Rakist]

I would keep the decoys 3-4 paces apart. Also I would not put your layout blinds in the spread this late in the season. Just my .02 cents.

 

[snowman81]

watch real birds in a feild and try to copy them. learn there pattens take note of where they land also the closer you get to the spot they like to land the better they fell about cupping up and dumping in learn the birds

 

[dmccoy1]

Do not take this the wrong way, but if someone can answer this question, I would like to hear it as well, and I have been at it about 25 years.

There is no "magic" spread, decoy, call , or blind. Some days, the birds just don't like something, it could have been any one of the things you mentioned. More than likely, you will never know. As you get out there more, you can do the exact same thing in a couple days, in the same place, and they may pile right in. Geese are funny, somedays you can do nothing wrong, many on here have shot their limit and have geese still coming to the field with the trucks there, while cleaning up. Other days, you can have the best of everything, and think you are hidden great, and they just won't work.

That's kindof what makes waterfowling great, if it was easy everyday, wouldn't really be any fun.

If the birds are flaring that day, just try and change up different things to make you feel better and learn, sometimes it will work, other times, nothing you change will help, but it will be a learning experience, just the same.

Good luck.

 

[HackHouser]

I agree with dmccoy,if the birds want in,they dump in.

 

[djknyork]

If they were trying to land and then flaring (meaning they are less than 20 yards off the ground) you should be shooting. If they were setting their wings 150 yards out and then sliding off at say 60 yards, they saw something that wasn't right. When that happens move some dekes spread them out or make them tighter or move your blinds outside the dekes or to the side so they're not looking right at you as they commit. As mentioned above could be a lot of things but if birds consistently slide you might as well start changing things because they're telling you they don't like something. Just my 2 cents....

 

[Pigger]

They were seeing/hearing something they didn't like. (blinds, black flag laying out, terrible calling, etc.) Or maybe they were not seeing/hearing something they were expecting to see. (movement, good calling) They're tough this time of year. Snows are even tougher!

 

[b0whunter1987]

I don't know everything by no means but if the birds are flaring its not decoys its your hide.. stay out of the decoys and if at all possible. Use a treeline or brushline a depression or something to hide better

 

[gheadboy]

We place the decoys in groups of 3 or 4 with 4-5 feet apart from apart from each other. If we have birds flaring we will open the landing zone more and check the cover of the blinds. If still not helping, reevaluate everything, and move thing accordingly. Its all trial and error hunting everyday out.

 

[Dogface]

I would first suspect someone was moving or had an uncovered face.