Robo goose

[Duck envy]

Does anybody use them and how good do they work.or the geese on the pole. Thank you

[SGTSLTR]

Personally I haven't heard anything good about them. To me they would look rediculous in the field. Do they spin fast enough or stable enough? They look really awkward.

Just my $.02

[SMOKE]

id have to agree i saw them in my new cabellas catalog and lets just say they arent on smokes list. flag seems to work out just fine. plus alot of decoys now have motion systems built in anyhow. and if they dont its not hard to buy the deal that makes the head spin or the platform that moves the goose back and forth.

[DUman84]

never used one, but have always had the robo duck flare geese, so i dont know if the robo goose would flare geese or not

[rushcreekganderlander]

Wouldn't recommend it. It doesn't take ducks long to stay away from spinning wing decoys atleast around here. But I'm anti spinning wing decoys. Don't need to use them because we have better luck without them.

[Max4Gooser]

My experiences with spinning wings is that they flair geese, I personally don't use them for ducks or geese. I do recommend the flags though, between them and the motion you get out of alot of the new decoys, I don't see where you would need anything more, than some good calling :wink:

[h20fowler]

I am going to be lynched for saying this.... good calling is not even needed. I know a lot of guys that kill a lot of birds and can't blow a call to save their lives. Get to where the geese want to be, conceal yourself 2, add some decoys 3....

But to answer your question. Geese for whatever reason do not like the robo. Hunters do...

[Nick McArthur]

h20folwer, I am not going to lynch you, but I will share my opinion on the subject since I have jack sh!* to do at work right now.

You are right in saying you don't NEED good calling to kill/get geese......lots of people go out there conceal or try to do so, throw out whatever decoys they can afford, and perhaps even blow on a poly short reed or a Big River, and if they are in the correct spot, they will shoot some geese. BUT, to kill get geese close and completely fool them, I don't see it being done without being able to produce the sounds of a canada goose on a call and of course have some good dekes and conceal myself.

I enjoy the challenge of completely fooling these birds, and take pride in a successful hunt with no lost cripples or having wounded birds fly away. Which is what I KNOW happens around my area to guys that aren't real proficient hunters. And I know they have their rights as much as I have mine and they are out there with whatever gear they can afford, and I don't take nothing away from them at all, they are part of the sport as much as I am....in fact, they make it easier for me to kill geese when I go out there and do it the right way.

Sorry for the mini novel here, but I am not in no way trying to start something with no one, just stating my opinion because I am extremely bored at work.....but I do think calling is an important part of the game most of the time and it is part of fooling those honkers.

And I too think Robo Geese are worthless!!

[h20fowler]

I to am having one of those days. So, I'll post this little tidbit to ponder.

I used to think the same thing. In order to harvest the most birds I must have the latest greatest call, decoys, etc. So I banged out a lot of money and I harvest a lot of birds. But then I got to thinking about all the birds I used to harvest before then, the birds my relatives harvested before me. Back when they used tires, cow patties with wooden heads they harvested birds. But would that still work?

SO here I am contemplating all of this one day when I go back to a day when I was trying to convince my dad we had to go fullbodies. This would have been back around 1990 - 1991. In our area these were the latest greatest. So I am trying to sell my dad on it when challenged me to a hunting trial. One day his way, one day my way. Being the grasshopper I was at the time I took his challenge.

The day arrived. we got in the truck, around 9:00 AM, no decoys, and this was before layout blinds. We drove to a corn field. We parked, me asking questions all the way. He said to mind my own, get ready to eat crow, and to start walking east and counting steps when I got to 400 to let him know. Got to 400. He said go north 600. So we did. when we got there he handed me the shovel and said dig. We dug out two shallow body pits. laid down and covered up with stalks. I was thinking no way was this going to work. We were in the field hours to late, no decoys, no calls, NOTHING to get their attention. I laid there for a while wondering what he had up his sleeve. About 45 minutes went by and I was about ready to take a nap when I heard heeeeerrrrronk. Here they came. about 20 geese on a frozen rope right at us. MAYBE 20 yards high. He said lay still, don't move. It's my way. They landed about 15 yards from us. Within 10 minutes there was another group. These landed with them. On and on and on. After about an hour there were close to 500 geese in the field and we were in the middle of them. Some so close I could have grabbed them. Dad said don't shoot. real loud and the flock scattered as he sat up. he never fired a shot. he said ok, fill in the holes we're going home. He had nothing to prove after that. We walked out of that field empty handed by his choice. And I knew I was
beat.

So, bottom line. If you do your scouting, know where the birds want to be. You can harvest birds. Everything else is tools. It makes the job easier. but needed?? that is everyone's opinion.

Personally, I run a trailer full of full bodies, sleepers, flags, full body mallards, layout blinds, and all kinds of assorted gear. Around my neck hangs $800 worth of acrylic. Do I harvest a lot of birds... yup. Is it needed?? depends which side of the debate you are on. As, you can't ALWAYS be in the spot they want to be in.


Anyway.... that was by no means a comeback to you Nick, just an open ended comment.

Oh, and to keep from hijacking the thread. I have not used the robo goose. but there is a reason you don't see many around.

[Nick McArthur]

That was a pretty neat story, those old guys always have a way showing you don't they!!!! I know being in the right place at the right time is a good strategy, but that ain't always the case, sometimes that just ain't enough.

From experiences where I am at, guys don't do good scouting, they see em in a field, if they can they get permission and go to that field....any random place, but its that field and they might even be somewhat close to where they were the night before or even a couple nights before. And when the birds come back they know where they want to be and see where they are and check em out, skate the edges, and they get shot at....and they get a few, but its just not the way I prefer to hunt. To each their own I guess.....thanks for the comment, this is helping ease the pain of the mind numbing boredom I experiencing right now.

[h20fowler]

I think we just hit the nail in the head.... preferences. If you prefer to use a robo goose then by all means... do it. I prefer not to as they don't work .... lol :D

Oh, and now dad won't go unless I bring the trailer. Amazing what 16 years will do.... I need to challenge him now. :!:

[SGTSLTR]

I can remember in 92 when I started hunting. We went to a field that was pasture/2 puddles/woods and hay. We set up in the woods near 1 pond, and shot our Wood Ducks. Then went and sat in the hay field behind to round bails wth no deeks. Me and my buddy thought his dad was nuts. Sure as sh!* here come the geese all knotted up and hell bound to get in the field.

8 years later, 2000, same field, 4 dozen shells 2 dozen silos and 4 people calling. They came in knotted up. We did one pass with no calling, and they went right on by, didn't even swing in for a closer look. My buddies dad went up there one morning, no deeks and no calling. They flew over, never thought twice about landing there.

Kinda funny how things can change so drastically. Now if I went and looked for that field, I'll be staring at houses.

FU%&*NG DEVELOPERS......... :twisted:

[hammer007911]

....in fact, they make it easier for me to kill geese when I go out there and do it the right way.



Nick you know what is funny. I am one of the guys that has hunted wrong for the past 10 years. We find where the birds are and go into that field the next day with about 20 full body decoys little calling and bang limit limit limit.

I am going to move into the next realm of hunting calling and decoying. I hope my results from learning to the hunt right way gives me the same results as I am use to.

The trouble is I am so spoiled on shooting birds day in and day out I do not know how I am going to take it if hunt the right way and get skunked.

What needs to be defined is hunting the right way I believe is whatever makes the hunter happy being within the law.

Thanks
Hammer

[Nick McArthur]

Hammer,

What you read was my opinion, it was not meant to ruffle any feathers, and I believe I made that clear. Those that I referred to as not hunting the "right way" I did say, they have every right out there, and I take nothing away from what they do....I got no problem with that.

So in response to what you said, definition of the right way.....I read that yours is going out and having fun as long as it is legal....and Hammer, thats GREAT!!!! I got no problem with that definition, like I said, to each their own.

Now, here is what I think hunting the right way is, and how I conduct myself and party in the field. I love to hunt, I take it very seriously, and like everyone else, love to be successful. Hunting the right way to me means having decoys, blinds, etc in the right place, harvesting birds cleanly, passing on that marginal shot where you may kill a couple, but would do wound more than kill. Fooling geese to the point where they think they are landing with a flock of live canadas, doing the scouting necessary to succeed in the field, and there are others, but I will spare the readers a bit of boredom.

Granted, this is my IDEA of hunting the right way, everyday I go out, I ain't got geese slappin me in the face with their feet before they land, but I do take pride in having them pretty damn close on a regular basis. Like I said before, to each their own....but the quote you took from my post means that for those groups of hunters that go out there and shoot at everything, sky bust, set their lay down blinds, goose chairs, or themselves right on top of the field with no cover, or do things half assed; these are all things that I don't do, and when I go out and do things right (set decoys out right, conceal everything the best we can foreign in the field, let em make those marginal swings where others shoot em at) everything that those mentioned before don't do, that makes me more successful.......and that again sir is not taking anything away from someone else's idea of a successful hunt....simply my opinion...thats all.

[hammer007911]

No feathers ruffled here Nick.

It was hard for me to accept a hunter last year in a lawn chair blue snowmobile with 5 decoys and he shot his birds. I admitted that he was hunting right for himself.

I hope I did not offend you Nick.

Thanks

John

[Nick McArthur]

No John you did not offend me, I realized after I read your post that I may have been a bit vague, and just wanted to clarify.

Thanks for the banter Hammer and H20folwer, it made the afternoon go by a bit faster and got my mind on something else for a bit. This place is real good for that at times......thanks guys, and good luck in the upcoming season.....

[rushcreekganderlander]

Fact is you don't need fancy decoys or calls to kill geese. We have used only what we could afford to buy and always killed birds. But the better equiptment we bought the better we did. When I first started out we killed birds over my dad's 1970's decoys using faulks and big river calls. Could we still do that today? Maybe. But had two unique experiences last year that proves the better you are the better you do. To make a long story short we couldn't get into the fields the birds wanted in but another group of hunters could. We hunted the field beside them and made them look bad. Our field wasn't even a good field. Small and surrounded by woodline. We brought the birds right over them and into our spread. They were using bigfoots and I don't know what calls. We were using GHG and SMHs. This was the first day of of late season and the birds we were hunting were in their field for a strait week before season. Coincidence, I don't know. We thought of it as a challenge to bring the birds to us and we did it.

[Tule]

h2ofowler, great story dude!!! Its amazing how far the "goosing industry" has come over the years. The only thing wrong with that story is, what would you have done if you shot some geese, the pictures just dont look right if there are no decoys in the back ground or a layout blind!!!!LOL :D

Take care and lets hope for a great season around the nation!!!......Jason