How many decoys?

[Beretta_hunter_forlife]

I am wondering what is a good number for a decoy spread. I have 1 dz. FA's and geting another dozen GHG. I am planning to get 2 doz GHG shells, do you think that would make a nice spread?

[DK Dogs]

My first few years of goose hunting I only had 3 dozen shells and I killed tons of birds. You can put some motion stakes on sells and make them come to life a bit. I would be more worried about being in the right place. If the birds want in your field or body of water it is not going to matter if you have 12 or 1200

My 2 cents
Dave

[ThePreacher]

that sounds like a sufficient spread to me...... the majority of this past season.. i hunted with less than a dozen......

[Greg Ruark Jr.]

Numbers can actually hurt you if the blocks don't look "real" A spread of fewer more realistic blocks will kill birds for ya. LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. Make sure ya cover up as best ya can and call 'em to yer face. My TWO

[DropEmInDE]

when you think of Spreads, think of when you see birds on the ground, if you usually seen huge groups of canadians, then maybe you need to consider a Decoy buying habit, but if you see smaller groups more often, then i would say a smaller # of good looking dekes will suffice, always read the birds, and react accordingly, it could never hury to have too many decoys, when i started this season, i had a dozen hot buy shells, and thats it, and i hunted them like they were 100 FFD fullbodies, sometimes the smaller groups of birds like seeing smaller groups, to me i think the see the smaller group of birds as more food in that spot to go around, rather than compete with a Large Group of birds for the food, also, in the early season, birds are still usually broken up into family groups before the great migration, so keep that in mind too, they dont want to dump into a giant spread of birds they dont usually associate with, also in the early season, use your crappiest looking decoys, silos, shells, whatever you got, and keep the good ones in your back pocket and use them more often as the hunting pressure grows, and the birds become smarter...


Just my $.02 take it or leave it..

[Beretta_hunter_forlife]

Also i will have 8 feeders, 9 actives, and 7 sentry's in full bodies.Should i consider getting more feeders?

[DK Dogs]

I forgot to mention getting a flag.

[DropEmInDE]

Feeders Feeders Feeders.......always nice to have way too many feeders, if you have a Spread for of Actives and Senturies, you have a spread full of alert geese, and thats not good, too many heads up is never a good thing, and too many heads down is never bad, our ratio is somewhere in the 8to1, or sometimes 10+to1, feeder to active, so ever notice in the late season how in a group of say 3 dozen birds, theres always like three or so senturies watchin out, and the rest are feeding.....like i said before always watch the birds you are chasing, and setup your spreads accordingly...

[Drake Whistle]

Also, if your planning on alot of late season hunting, resters and sleepers are great.

How many decoys do you guys run in the early season/regular? Or is it manly how many geese were scouted in the field?

[Beretta_hunter_forlife]

Well for me i am just adding to our trailer, but we normally run around 6 doz. full bodies. We never use shells or anything thats why im buying some.