Small Snow Goose Spreads That Kill

When I was twelve years old my home state of Utah opened a Spring snow goose hunt. When the news broke, I quickly became the most eager snow goose hunter in the world. Though I didn’t have decoys, or a place to hunt, or the faintest knowledge of how to hunt snow geese—I was determined! I had hunted plenty of Canada geese, so how hard could it be? I watched the DVDs of hunters piling up snow geese into the hundreds. If anything, snow goose hunting seemed easy. Boy did I have a brutal learning curve.

My dad saw my desire to hunt these damn white birds and made a few phone calls. Before too long, we had a field to hunt. It wasn’t winter wheat, or cut grain stubble, but it was within just a few short miles of a popular roosting area for snow geese. Now, I had a new dilemma—where was I going to get decoys? I couldn’t buy any, obviously, so I decided to do what any twelve-year-old would do. I was going to make my own! I grabbed all the white plastic grocery bags I could and used a Sharpie marker to draw the black feathers. I spent hours making my homemade “socks.” By the end, I had about 30 or so snow goose grocery bags, taped to whittled sticks. They were perfect.

Opening morning came and my dad and I put out our ground blinds, and I deployed my amazing spread of Barnes Special Snow Bags. Slowly the hours passed by, and the roar of shotguns around us seemed to be coming from every direction. Flocks of snow geese passed overhead, giving no heed to my decoys. I think my dad sensed my disappointment and reassured me that soon enough they would be coming back.

A little while later I heard a cry from behind our blinds. A flock of five snow geese were heading right for us. We covered up and watched as the birds circled, then circled again, and again, finally passing close enough to shoot. My dad called the shot, and three birds came crashing to the ground. While we didn’t have 1,200 decoys out, or really “decoys” at all, I learned that even small spreads can kill snow geese.

Since then, I’ve hunted snows every spring. Over spreads of 5,000 decoys, other times with spreads as little as 50. One thing I’ve come to know—size doesn’t always matter. These are a few tips on how to make the most of having the least when it comes to decoying snow geese.

How Small is Small?

Small is a relative question—right guys? When talking about snow goose spreads, most hunters envision thousands of socks and silhouettes creating a giant mass of white. Some spreads require groups of a dozen hunters to begin setting up at midnight and finish just before shooting light. It’s quite the task for the hopes of those giant cyclones of migrating snows.

While the term “small spread” doesn’t have an actual numerical figure, it does have somewhat of a mental picture. Smaller snow goose spreads are like big Canada goose spreads. Decoys are placed with a bit more strategy than just forming a giant mass of white. Hunters create landing zones, and the number of decoys has two to three figures in the total count instead of four. Some of the small spread hunts I’ve been on consisted of spreads numbering around five dozen decoys, 12 dozen decoys, up to 400 decoys. All of which produced successful hunts.

Just recently WILDFOWL's social media manger Tony Jennings went on a snow goose hunt with a whopping four snow goose decoys. It produced a pile of birds, and even a band! Proving that smallest of spreads can be just as lethal as the biggest ones you set out.

Realism

Unlike my grocery bags, if you want to be successful when hunting snow geese with smaller spreads, use the most realistic decoys you can. If you can afford to buy top of the line full bodies, go that route. If windsocks are what fits best in your budget, make sure you buy the best, most realistic socks you can. By opting to hunt with a smaller spread, you sacrifice an element of confidence. Birds feel safer in numbers; when you choose to hunt with a smaller spread, what you lose in the bird’s confidence by having large numbers of decoys, you can make up for with realism in your decoys. I recommend full body decoys if you choose to go this route.

Full body decoys, though cumbersome and somewhat of a pain to use in those soggy spring fields, can make a world of difference. After these snows have been shot for the hundredth time over massive spreads of socks and silhouettes, a spread of a few dozen full bodies can be the ticket to having a great hunt.

Set Up Where Others Won’t

On a hunt in North Dakota, the gentleman I was hunting with took me to a cattle pasture for one of our morning hunts. There weren’t any signs of food for the birds, nor any reason for the snows to want to land there. He must have sensed my hesitancy and said, “Don’t worry, the geese are going to get shot all around, and when they see us set up in here, they’ll think it’s a bunch of other geese having the same dilemma.” We set out about 5 dozen full bodies, and just as my partner had said, snows slowly trickled into our cattle pasture. We ended up with 47 birds. Not a bad shoot for setting up nowhere near a feed, with a small spread of decoys.

If you’re going to hunt with a small spread, go somewhere where others wouldn’t think to set a giant spread. This doesn’t mean go set up in a sage brush flat or in some gravel pit. There needs to be some semblance of “huntability” to your location. But, when you do set up, if you can’t set up on the X, choose somewhere that’s possibly got water close by, or seems to be a good loafing area for geese. A giant spread in an obscure area doesn’t look real. A small spread in an obscure area looks like geese seeking refuge or simply have found a place to rest before they make off for their next meal. One of my favorite areas to use small spreads for snows has a few chutes of grass sprouting up from the dirt, and a small pond about 200 yards away. I’ll set up about 4 dozen full bodies and run traffic on snows all day long.

Be Smart with Your Calling

E-callers have come a long way since they first came to the forefront of the snow goose hunting scene. Now, you can practically have a snow goose concert; controlling where the sound emanates from, how loud it plays, and what sounds are made. When hunting with a small spread, it’s wise to remember not to sound like 1,000 geese if you only have 150 decoys out. I’ve made that mistake many times. When hunting with a smaller spread, I prefer to use a mouth operated call. My poison is a Bill Saunders Crackakilla. It’s easy to operate, and it produces all the sharp, barking moans and murmers that snows are known for. By using a mouth call, you can control just how many geese you want to sound like, and how loud or quiet you need to be.

Using an E-caller is still a viable option but be smart if you choose to go that route. Make sure that the sounds match the scene you’re depicting. If your decoys are meant to replicate 100 snows content on the ground, make sure that’s the sound your E-callers are playing.

Hunting over small spreads is a fun way to kill snow geese, and it’s proving to be more successful each year. More outfitters are turning away from the massive spreads of 5,000 decoys and turning to more realistic spreads, using far fewer decoys every year. While it might take some time to get the hang of it, using 5 dozen full bodies the right way can be just as effective as throwing out thousands of socks and rags. Once you start to get the hang of it, you might just leave that enclosed trailer at home and take what fits in the bed of your truck.

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