Field hunting geese

[outdoorkid15]

I have never field hunted for geese...only from the water...i would like to try it and was wondering if anyone could tell me like what i need or any pointers for a beginner

[dan z]

lots of gas a couple dozen full body decoys and some more gas add a layout blind and your set and of course a call. Thats why I stay on the water less drivin around and no door knockin but if ya have the money you can really hammer them on the ground

[7outof10]

its best to find some frinds to go hunting with and just see how it is done there are lots and lots of small tricks that field hunters use ..... like allways when possable try to get the geese to land into the sun ..

[Lunger]

Your biggest expense starting out will be decoys(assuming you are wanting full bodies) and a blind. Start shopping at the end of the season and through the winter if you are buying new stuff, that's when you'll get the best deals. If you buy new during the season plan on $200 for a blind and $300 per dozen for decoys. Get a call and learn the basics and also get a flag and you'll be pretty much be covered as far as gear.

[ZEEK1223]

PRIVATE LAND........unless you have that, you should plan on hunting water, or knocking on doors like stated above........not trying to be a downer........I wish I had some fields to hunt

[fish4cats]

I tend to agree with all the statements above, but you can get by with a couple dozen sili's for starters. A good call and a flag are the most important and of course location.

We start knocking on doors in May and continue throughout the season. If you are in a good area with alot of geese around consistantly and you can get fields in all directions around the roost you will have some options. Find some wheat or alfalfa for early season and corn for later. Just find one field on each side, N,S,W and E and be willing to compensate the farmer with either cash or even a gift cert sometimes seems to do the trick for us. We spend no more than $200 a yr for leasing 1200 acres of fields. Some farmers dont want anything. Good luck.

[Scott Stein]

outdoorkid u could try some shell decoys too thats what we started off with and they work pretty well 2 yrs ago i bought 2 doz new shells for 150 bucks

[carpshooterdeluxe]

quality decoys (dont get stuck on needing fullbodies, just dekes that look good.)

learn how to call (there are many great instructional dvds and cds out there)

scouting (being where the birds want to be makes life easier)

conceilment (hiding in fencerows can work early season but layout blinds mudded and stubbled to match the field are the ticket.)

patience.

scouting.

[Roosterslayer05]

Outdoorkid- I see you live in Murray county, I hunt down there allot and field hunt geese. Maybe we could hook up sometime and I could show you the ropes. The most important thing is a flag, and a short reed goose call. A good cheap short reed to start out with is the zink pc-1 polycarb. Its about 20 bucks and sounds great. Besides that all you need is a layout, a dozen fullbodies, and a dozen sillouets. The cheaper greenhead gear fullbodies with the motions stakes are awesome, and the area you hunt is always windy so that motion is key. Real geese sillo's are nice and work well, if you plan to hunt just sillo's be carefull, when a flock of geese come straight over the top the sillo's dissapear and spook the geese, thats why a spread with 12 sillo's and 12 fullbodies is the ticket. When they come over the top they can still see the fullbodies. You can also be succesfull with shells or just sillo's but fullbodies are nice. If money is a problem just get the dozen realgeese and a half dozen fullbodies for starters and just add as the years go by. You could also find a great deal on some used fullbodies if you look around. Good luck man.

[Quackaddict9]

Quote:

The most important thing is a flag, and a short reed goose call. A good cheap short reed to start out with is the zink pc-1 polycarb. Its about 20 bucks and sounds great.

you do not need a Short reed to kill geese, a flute gets the job done...I used to blow one and moved on the short reed. If you can blow a short reed then stick with it, or learn one by some calling videos- Bad Grammar and Honker talk by Shawn Stahl is a good one.

other than that, everyone pretty much covered it all. Good Luck!

[Roosterslayer05]

I have to dissagree quakaddict, flutes dont kill many geese. My buddy was by far the BEST person I have ever heard blow a flute, by far the best, and we dident kill that many geese. I could never blow a flute, but i could blow a short reed right away. I think its easier to learn how to blow a short reed if you have never blown a flute before so starting out with a short reed is a good idea. I cant believe how many geese we have called in now that we switched, even migrating geese we can call in now with the short reed. If you practice they are easy to use, and if you are just starting DO NOT buy a flute, when you switch to a short reed the learning process takes much longer because you have to blow a short reed much differently than a flute.

[Quackaddict9]

I will have to disagree with you on flutes not killing many geese but maybe thats the case for you, but years when we were blowing flutes we were killing em good maybe it has to do something with less hunting pressure where we hunt, and I know people blowing flutes do just fine on geese and we all know the sound is different from a flute to a short reed and you can do more with it too. Now we're blowing short reeds and we are killing the same amount of geese and yes I have to admit that we are calling in more geese with the short reed sound, but the kill count is just up there. *Edit* I do like the short reed calls over a flute.

but thats my experience.

OUTDOORKID- Best advice we all can give ya is that go out and blow some calls and see what you like the best.

[child23]

I have to agree with quackaddict on the flutes. Early season this year i started out using a short reed and things went great till the last weekend. Nothing would come in to the deeks so i just figured what the heck and tried the flute and they all started heading straight in. I think its more of a personal preferance. OUTDOORKID just go try some calls and find one you like