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Post by maestro402 on Sept 15, 2007 12:50:16 GMT -5
Hey Crew I took your advice on the J setup and the good cover so I took some pictures to show ya'll. The wind is coming from the guy behind the layout blinds toward me (camera man). Let me know what ya'll think of the setup (if you all can see it well enough).     We got 3 birds down this a.m. but should have had a lot more. I think they were flaring b/c they were seeing our faces. We were forced to be facing the sun and we were exposed a touch. I think it's time to go duck commander on them w/ face paint during duck season. Heck then it'll be cold enough to wear the masks. Thanks in advance for the advice. |
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Post by duff on Sept 15, 2007 14:34:54 GMT -5
Everything looks good in your photos. As long as you are getting some in your dekes then you are on the right track, you ain't going to finish em all even with the best hide and dekes.
Too many things could cause the birds to slide to say if you change this or that now it would help. The best thing is to make adjustments while hunting, if possible. Could be your blinds, could be glare from dekes, could be too much calling, too much flagging, not enough calling, decoy arangement, someone moving too much...add to list of infinite causes.
You got the basics down. Hide good, give them plenty of room to land, wind to your back when sitting in the dekes. The rest will have to be adjusted as needed by you and your hunting buds.
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Post by maestro402 on Sept 15, 2007 14:43:56 GMT -5
Thanks for the advice. One of the flocks flared b/c I left my blind open as I ran to the truck real quick (at least that is what we think). I really think they might have seen our faces with that sun spying us out but you are right .... it could be a lot of things. I just wanted to see what you thought of the layout. :-)
I'm doign my best to learn.
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Post by duff on Sept 15, 2007 15:06:52 GMT -5
I looked again at your set up, 5 guys is a lot to hide with that many dekes IMO. Looks like you had them stubbled up very good but lots of potential for someone to peek out at the wrong time. But you work with what you got.
If I had more dekes I would have added two groups behind your blinds. 4-8 per group 15-30 yrds back separated by 10-15 yrds or more. I typically use the "U" shape more then the "J" shape. When I set up the dekes I like the U" shape but I open up the verticle legs so they angle off at close to 45 degrees or so. I like to use "J" when we are forced to hunt perpendicular to the wind, hide the blinds in the leg of the "J" hopeing the birds want to land in the hook or just up wind.
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Post by maestro402 on Sept 15, 2007 19:54:43 GMT -5
I looked again at your set up, 5 guys is a lot to hide with that many dekes IMO. Looks like you had them stubbled up very good but lots of potential for someone to peek out at the wrong time. But you work with what you got. If I had more dekes I would have added two groups behind your blinds. 4-8 per group 15-30 yrds back separated by 10-15 yrds or more. I typically use the "U" shape more then the "J" shape. When I set up the dekes I like the U" shape but I open up the verticle legs so they angle off at close to 45 degrees or so. I like to use "J" when we are forced to hunt perpendicular to the wind, hide the blinds in the leg of the "J" hopeing the birds want to land in the hook or just up wind. hey duff ... thanks for the analysis. so do you mean that you would put 15-30 yds btw the family groups throughout the spread or just the ones behind us. also, would you suggest that we be further up in the hook of the "J" if we use a "J"? Last question .... should we have more dekes with that many peeps out there?? Yeah ... we had two ppl out there that aren't usually with us so who knows what they were doing when the birds were coming in. However it was a beautiful sight. It was the first time in a hunting situation that I saw Geese drop altitude like ducks. They kinda flared down banking ... was AWESOME. |
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Post by duff on Sept 15, 2007 20:17:47 GMT -5
You're doing alright. just mess around and soon you will figure out what you like. There isn't a right or wrong way to set up decoys. I've seen geese decoy in to just calling no dekes, geese land in decoys with no calling, geese fly into the spread while we were all jaw jacking and just happened to see the goose lock up, and seen geese fly right past dozens of decoys. As long as you got the basics (hide, wind, space to land) the rest comes with experience and up to the birds and luck IMO.
Yes I tend to put 1 or 2 family groups behind our blinds (upwind) I would usually place them 15 yrds behind us. I also like to place 3 centuries in the kill hole like a small group just landed and walking in. I have had birds land right next to there on several occasions.
I am telling you this and I am sure there are others who do it completely different. I can only speak to what I have hunted over and this best describes my typical set up. Bottom line is you are getting into birds so you are doing it right. Some days you will look and feel like a pro, and others you can't do anything right. As long as you are out there that's all that matters.
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Post by hoosierhunter2 on Sept 15, 2007 20:26:20 GMT -5
Michael, Congrats on the birds! Yeah the blinds look fine, well stubbled, I can't tell from the picture, but make sure you are mudding your blinds regularly to knock the sheen off the fabric, even well stubbled, on a very sunny day it will shine the fabric and look unnatural, so make sure they are mudded regularly. Only other thing I can tell from the photo is that your spread looks alittle to clustered together, need to string out the "J" along longer and more spacing on the decoys, and definitely need more filled in behind the blinds, this is a perfect reason for silouettes, to add some more depth to your spread behind the blinds. That is alot of guys to hide, but definitely can be done even with a small spread of dekes. Try stretching that J out further, and spreading the dekes out more, makes for a more relaxed looking spread, the more clustered up they are the more alert the situation and puts the birds at alert. Other than that, sunny days out in a field is tough, and you just have to lay down the law on the no looking!! Someone has to be in charge, and usually that is the most experienced hunter or caller. They read the birds and call accordingly and the other callers can feed off what he is doing and not be looking out of their blinds. Everyone should be cocooned in their blinds till the pitboss yells "Take Em", then they can come out! I use a lightweight face mask or face paint always when using a layout blind, especially on those sunny days! Looks like you are definitely progressing!  |
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Post by maestro402 on Sept 15, 2007 20:44:10 GMT -5
duff/bossman
thanks a ton for the great advice. i am taking notes (literally) of everything you all are telling me. now looking back you all are dead on about bunching of our geese. we definetly don't have well defined family groups. i'm also going to look into some silouettes to help with some of this.
imho we still have a big problem with the LITERAL pitboss. i know for a fact that ppl were watching b/c i had the opp to be watching from the treeline on one incoming flock.
hey ....what is your opinion on wearing sunglasses??
i'm doing my best to learn and adapt .... i'm having a blast trying it all out. i'm just sad early season is over.
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Post by hoosierhunter2 on Sept 16, 2007 10:40:35 GMT -5
I usually don't wear sunglasses unless just absolutley necessary, too much opportunity to get a glare off them and flare birds, especially if you are wearing the mirrored glasses. I was on a hunt once and we had birds working in and every time they would flare off at about 60 yards out and I could figure out what was a matter, I went out to try and move a few decoys, and I look back at the blinds and BAM! I get a flash at me! My buddy had his Oakley sunglasses on and it was putting out a flash everytime he moved!!!! Never again!! No sunglasses unless just absolutely necessary, and definitely not the mirrored glasses!!
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Post by pigeonflier on Sept 16, 2007 11:17:12 GMT -5
Dude,, here is all you need to remember for early goose hunting..... Unless your sitting on the X and have couple hundred geese in and out everyday,,, all that is out there is family groups... Never use more dekes than what your seeing. If your in a traffic spot,, I would use no more than 30,, most likely less. 5 guys is alot to hide for a traffic spot also,, but as long as you are well hidden,, all is well. Keep all faces below deck. As far as decoy placement,, when you are running small family groups,, J or U is not neccesary. I use more of a cluster or ½ moon shape. They never wanna do it just as planned ;D ;D ;D.. Keep it small in Sept
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