I looked out in the pasture a couple of weeks ago, in the middle of a pretty nasty snowstorm, and I watched about 250 Canada geese hover a foot over the ground right out in my pasture for a few minutes, before they slowly moved on. They barely gained any altitude as they went – just enough to get over the fences, and then they disappeared into the snow.
As they were going, more geese came in right behind them. This group did the same thing – they hovered over my pasture a bit, then they moved on. Three more flocks followed after them, but all the geese eventually left without touching down.
It got me to thinking I wouldn’t have to go far to hunt geese. I could probably throw out a few dozen dekes right in my back yard and wait for some smaller groups to peel off and come see what was so interesting down on the Bobwire-S ranch. We get some incredible flocks of geese coming through our area this time of year, but they generally pass over us at high altitude on the way to the neighbors’ big crop strips. Those geese that got caught in that snowstorm were just momentarily discombobulated.
It’s unlikely I could lure those big flocks in. Generally, large flocks only decoy to enormous spreads, unless you’re set up in the spot they were intending to go. But I’ve had luck pulling smaller batches in from the edges of those big flocks in the past.
Unfortunately, I’m going to have to wait until next year to test my theory. I missed the closing date for Zone C2 of the Central Flyway this year. But it gives me time to get a couple dozen Bigfoot decoys ordered, so I should be ready for those geese next season.
