Late Season Goose Spreads

[longbeard34]

What are your guys favorite late season goose spreads for drawing in larger flocks? When scouting they normally sit in a giant line? Any help is appreciated!

[stretch]

well it all depends on how cold it is and if i am hunting traffic birds or birds that are using one of my fields. But normally i will put out a big spread of like 15-20 dozen full bodys with a bunch of shells also. i have no set pattern that i use i just make sure all the feeder decoys are around the blinds and on motion stakes. i just leave openings where i want the birds to land.

[IceHawk]

Numbers and more Numbers! We try and set the motherload this time of yr if we are trying to attract the migrateing flocks. If we are hunting geese in a field that they have been useing (feeding etc)then we set up according to how and where they are in a field.The size of flock usally dictates the amount of decoys we use when they are in a feeding situation.

[Musky Buck]

Lots of theories, my late goose is if they aren't hitting the field I'm in I don't go. The birds in my area are locals for the most part, either way they've been pounded on since labor day and I'm sure more than once a hunter or several jumped outta a goose chair blind etc. My best luck is no decoys at all, just get a field they're landing in and get in the middle or set up so if they land a ways away that they'll take off into the wind when done feeding. They avoid our goose spreads especially this time of the year and I don't get loners or pairs like earlier in the year, then I decoy. Right now it's big flocks and if I decoy they'll just land 100 yards away and when they take off they never fly right over my decoys. If I do bring decoys I sit quite a distance away from them as I can usually fold 2 birds as they are circling. I'm dealing with extremely smart birds and decoys just seem to mess up my hunt, they want no part of them where I'm at. Also, with no dekes I can grab my 2 birds and leave the field, otherwise I'm out picking up dekes with more birds around watching, they head for a new field then, more may land and the next day I can have another good hunt if I'm not picking up dekes. Anyway, since 1979 when I started goose hunting religiously, this is the trend in my area. I also live where they get pounded on the city limit lines for 3 months already so they are plenty jumpy by the time they get out to field country.

[Maxxed Out]

I'll run about 10 dozen FBs couple and maybe some shells depending on how cold it is. I shy away from shapes (X, U, J, etc) and go with Random groups/families with plenty of space between the decoys, usually 2 to 3 big steps.

Then I leave plenty of big landing areas. It's very rare this time of year that you will have birds lock up and come in without taking a pass around your spread to check everything out, so I like to give them lots of options.

This approach tends to make the area of land with which your spread is large, which then people worry about birds landing out of shooting range, but as long as your hidden well you will get a good tight shot at the birds as they come in. It just may be a crossing shot as opposed to straight on.

[Fred_Bear]

Get as many decoys as you can get your hands on. Everytime I hunt now, I'm always borrowing decoys from friends and just doing whatever I can to really beef the spread up. I like to put half the decoys real tight in a circle and put the in the middle of the circle. Then make random tight groups and strings of decoys going out to the sides and downwind of the main group, leaving multiple different areas for birds to land. My feast or famine spread is a triangle. The tip of the triangle is the upwind side, and just move your way downwind spreading the decoys out more and more as you move downwind. Set blinds about 20 yards upwind from the downwind edge of the deeks. Either all the birds love it and land right in the decoys or they all flip us the bird and skirt the deeks but it works out more times than not and is a good way of getting the birds right in your face like early season again. Basically if the first flock doesn't work right, start moving deeks around ASAP and you can still save the hunt. Hiding blinds and getting frost off of decoys can be a major headache lateseason.