Cursed Dekes

[Bucks&Ducks]

Lat year I took a trip down to the states and picked up 2 dozen Dakotas. I got one goose hunt in at the end of the year with them but never got as much as a sniff,

This year in the Sept. season there were lots flying by but nothing committed, on the Heritage my grass field wasnt as interesting as the freshly cut corn and now on opening day I had hundreds of geese landing at the opposite end of my field,

Is there a break in period on these things or are they just cursed

super frustrating

[Crazy_Farmer]

Were the geese landing in that end of the field the days prior? And I don't mean were they there when you say them, but where were they landing before?

You'll find geese all the time in spots of fields that they might not like to land on but will land say in the center and feed towards the spot you saw them.

Also big thing could be your hide, what was your blind setup? If real geese see what they think is real birds on the ground without picking out a blind or something out of place they should atleast come close enough to shoot.

[FirePower]

Lat year I took a trip down to the states and picked up 2 dozen Dakotas. I got one goose hunt in at the end of the year with them but never got as much as a sniff,

This year in the Sept. season there were lots flying by but nothing committed, on the Heritage my grass field wasnt as interesting as the freshly cut corn and now on opening day I had hundreds of geese landing at the opposite end of my field,

Is there a break in period on these things or are they just cursed

super frustrating

Did you hang jewellry and credit cards on the hens ?

[Bucks&Ducks]

CF on all occasions the fields had held at least 100 geese in them the day before and I even watched them land and I can guarantee my hide was nothing short of invisible not that it mattered because they never even glanced down as they went over the spread, it was like they were on a string

Did you hang jewellry and credit cards on the hens ?

ya i went to the dollar store last night and picked up some plastic bead strings, I figured if they are close enough to see the plastic they should be dead,

I cant figure it out but I have a bran new freshly seeded barley feild I will try tomorrow that had a couple hundred landing in it this am, I might just bring the old shells

[f350ps]

Were you on a hedgerow or ditch line by chance? Were you calling? K

[Bucks&Ducks]

we were in a ditch with trees behind us and an absolutly invisible from the front of the blind and trees blocking the vertical view down, we could have used layouts but they were landing 10 feet right next to the ditch so it seemed to offer the best hide, tried calling and not calling but nothing to show for either

[keoke]

I too have a set of cursed decoys, I have 3 seasons and 2 geese to show for it.

[Marc]

We've shot 3 limits of birds over a dozen Dakota's last winter over Christmas Holiday and just did t again in the early fall season in the span of an hour.



Actually we've shot limits pretty much all season over them in the past few years. I can't see the decoys being the problem, were you over calling them? Decoy placement? to many sentries in the group? If you're looking at changing them out let me know, always looking to increase the flock if the price is right, cursed decoys sell for cheap I hear.

[Bucks&Ducks]

IM gonna take a new approach tomorrow morning, in my spread I will put all of my old dekes and I will keep one of the dakotas in the blind with me so they arent visible, once something dies, I will break out the others. if that doesnt work, the first person to show up on my doorstep with a box of timbits gets the lot

[lorneparker1]

timbits? i'll give you a $100 tomorrow for them! its not the decoys!

It is one of these things. if the birds arent giving you a sniff it has to be something really bad. As CF said if you have a decent set up and are in the right field and are hidden its not very common to have them not within the range of a 12ga.

Wrong feild
Wrong spot in the feild
bad hide.
Decoys on their side? or something ******ed in the spread? pink flamingo?

It sounds like number 2. Hunting with trees behind you (especially bigger ones) is a nono in my books. They dont like circling over them and its a good place for predators to hide which is why you rarely see them anywhere near treelines; To me treelines are for pass shooters. not goose hunters :P. i know there are guys here that shoot them from treelines successfully but i have had not much luck. Maybe they will chime in and give you a hand. Unless the birds are flying from the side you are set up on towards you from the roost and the wind is blowing from behind the trees which means they fly straight in, (no circling) i guess it could work. But if they have to swing over the trees and try to land the odds of them landing within shooting range is pretty slim. Did you actually see them in flight land next to the trees the day before? or did you drive by and see them already on the ground next to the trees? They could have walked over after landing further out. I have to ask... if you have layouts why would you set up on a treeline?