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Science behind decoy spreads

matt hougan

Junior Member
338
0
Dayton area
"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.
 

matt hougan

Junior Member
338
0
Dayton area
The location of the field where you decide to set up can be just as important as all the other information above. You can do everything right but in the wrong place in a field and have a very frustrating day. When I scout a field and find birds I will locate the very spot I saw birds in the day before and set up there. If I am hunting a new field I will look for the highest spot in the field. Landing geese like to feel like they are going to be free from predators when they are feeding. From high ground they can see greater distances and keep an eye out for predators. I will place my blinds on the up wind side of the highest point of the field. My decoys will be spread around the outside of the landing zone. I will keep the high ground free of decoys and blinds allowing the landing birds easy access. I am hopefully putting them at ease when they are looking for a place to land. I try to make it obvious for them. This is of course true unless you have sheet water in the field. All bets are off when there is water in the field. I set up with the wind at my back on the up wind side of any sheet water if I can find it.

Here are a couple of thoughts about which direction to face decoys. In normal feeding situations I make sure that the decoys are facing every which direction unless there is a good wind. if there is a good wind I place the decoys in more or less looking into the wind. If a goose faces down wind in a stiff wind thier featers blow up and for what ever reason they really dont like that. In low wind situations decoys that are all facing into the wind can give the appearance that the feeding geese are nervous and are about to take off. That is not the feeling youw ant to give to the flight birds. And again make sure when you put out little family groups, there is at least one centry looking out for the feeding geese. If you have any snow accumulation make sure you bring along some shells to sit right on the snow. Geese are tremendously lazy. If they have snow to rest on they will land and immediatley sit down and commence to eating. Shells in the snow and or ice on the pond or rivers edge are deadly.
 
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bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
If you guys have not figured it out yet, I love teaching this stuff.

And I for one, am thankful for that fact! I'm soaking this all in right now as I try to learn on my own how to successfully kill waterfowl. I have every intention of becoming an active waterfowler and information like this is priceless. Thanks for sharing!!!
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
If you guys have not figured it out yet, I love teaching this stuff.

Like Jesse said, there are plenty of guys here that are appreciative of this. Thanks, Matt.

I, too, have traditionally used the "U and "J-hook" spreads most of the time. It's really the only thing I've ever known, and it seems to be pretty effective. However, the 60-80 yard spread between the "wings" of the U is something I've never really tried. Most of the time I'm working with a 30-50 yd gap. I've been successful with it but looking back there are plenty of times where large groups of birds didn't want to finish. I'm thinking I will finish up the season applying the wider-is-better strategy and see how it works out. Thanks for the tip!
 

JOHNROHIO

Participation Trophy Winner
2,824
136
I to am eating all this up! I have always been hardcore trophy white tail hunter but I got hooked on goose a few years back. But trying to Learn on your own is tough. The group that got me started is no longer. They all ended up being d bags so here I am couple years later still trying to put it together . Thanks for the write ups
 

Curran

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,971
172
Central Ohio
If you guys have not figured it out yet, I love teaching this stuff.

Teach on Matt! Great write up.

Like Jesse said, there are plenty of guys here that are appreciative of this. Thanks, Matt.

I, too, have traditionally used the "U and "J-hook" spreads most of the time. It's really the only thing I've ever known, and it seems to be pretty effective. However, the 60-80 yard spread between the "wings" of the U is something I've never really tried. Most of the time I'm working with a 30-50 yd gap. I've been successful with it but looking back there are plenty of times where large groups of birds didn't want to finish. I'm thinking I will finish up the season applying the wider-is-better strategy and see how it works out. Thanks for the tip!

Same here JBrown... we normally start out with the "U" then makes changes as the morning progresses. Like last weekend, we started in a "U" but ended up pulling one tail over to the opposite side and making more of a "J". Still didn't work out but you gotta try something if the birds aren't finishing. And I'm definitely gonna be pulling my tails wider. We're usually in the same 30 - 50 yard gap TOO.

As always man. Awesome information. :)

Agree again with what Jackalope & Jesse said. Awesome info Matt. We're all soaking it up.
 

Carpn

*Supporting Member*
2,234
87
Wooster
Great read ...I like setting my dekes in a L or 7 with a big gap....the traditional v or u works good too with two big holes on each side of the peak...more often than not I run a 7 with the short leg of the 7 pointed just about 10 degrees off the wind line....The birds usually slide up the edge of the long leg right into the corner or land just off the end of the short leg. In low or no wind I often just put out 3 loose groups in a triangle and watch how the birds wanna work...once the first flock shows a preference we scramble and repositories blinds accordingly.
 
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jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
Great read ...I like setting my dekes in a L or 7 with a big gap....the traditional v or u works good too with two big holes on each side of the peak...more often than not I run a 7 with the short leg of the 7 pointed just about 10 degrees off the wind line....The birds usually slide up the edge of the long leg right into the corner or land just off the end of the short leg. In low or no wind I often just put out 3 loose groups in a triangle and watch how the birds wanna work...once the first flock shows a preference we scramble and repositories blinds accordingly.

Interesting. That sounds like another spread formation that I'm gonna have to try. Thanks, Jake! BTW, I'm seeing a bunch of geese around now... Once they come back in season we're gonna have to lay the smack down on some honkers!
 

Darron

Junior Member
273
0
Dayton, Ohio
Something I like to do is make the traditional V or U and then put 2 or 3 sentries in the middle of the hole that looks like they just landed. Also, many people place their blinds in the middle of the V or U. On pressured geese I will put them off on one of the legs. so they are not looking at the blinds as they are coming in.

When there is little to no wind I will also use an X pattern giving the birds mulitple places to land.
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
Here are a few examples of duck decoy spreads.

The "U"...
U-spread.jpg

"J-hook"...
J-spread.jpg

I usually try to keep my spinners close to each other, but I spread them out in a spread that looks like a "W" sometimes... IMO, the "W" gives the birds two separate landing zones to choose from. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
W-spread.jpg

I usually don't use as many decoys as what these drawings show, but you get the idea. When it gets late in the season, then I pull out all the stops.