Wuzzup with all these pint sized canada geese?

[Mr. Dean]

The skies seem to be LITTERED with them and they're kinda pizzing me off! They don't like coming in to get shot; most will hang 'just' outside of gunfire range and we'll spend a good day in the blind, just to snuff 1 or 2.

Got tips?
This is my 1st season at trying to whack 'em - I thought the blind needed attention and I went in the other day w/ layouts that were grassed up to the hilt and set on the shady side of a slope in the field... Yup, got 1, football sized goose again.

[Crazy_Farmer]

To consistently kill little geese your hide has to be pretty damn good. Good enough when you as a human look at it is hard to pick out. Canvas blinds on the fenceline aint gonna cut it. Big game deer hunting field blinds aint gonna cut it. Setting laydowns in the middle of the field and not matching or sticking out aint gonna cut it.

Geese have a tiny brain but their will to survive is 2nd to none. Honkers come in low and if they dont swing in first go normally leave. Lessers and cacklers come in high and observe...100-200 pairs of eyes picking out anything and everything. They like to circle circle circle and then circle some more. They like alot of noise too but since they do come in high if they're straight over top and you're still calling they're pick you out real quickly.

To give you some advice, when we first starting chasing geese, honkers are easy, big dumb and slow and can be shot a helluva lot easier then little geese. It took us probably 3-4 years of constantly chasing little geese before we knew the game and knew the rules to play by, alot of slow or skunked days before we realized what needed to change.

[Steeleco]

Sounds like chasing divers is easy compared to the big birds? And they ain't easy LOL

[Bow Walker]

Those 'herds' of pint-sized honkers have been flying around for a while now. They generally seem to like to move around during the night hours.(?) At east that's what it sounds like - they're making a ton of noise at around 2 or 3 in the morning.

What species are they? Lesser Canadas?

[shotgunjohn]

We are seeing a lot more Cacklers on the Island this year as well. My nephew shot one last week that had filleted breasts that were smaller than a drake mallards. Not sure if it's due to an increase in numbers or just one of those mysteries of migration patterns.

[Crazy_Farmer]

What species are they? Lesser Canadas?

The majority are lessers yep. A few tavernors mixed in with the lessers, a bit smaller and lighter in the chest. And then the cacklers are here aswell, size of a mallard 2-3 lbs, I'd say it's like a 10-1 average of lesser to cackler or maybe higher.

[Mr. Dean]

Those 'herds' of pint-sized honkers have been flying around for a while now. They generally seem to like to move around during the night hours.(?) At east that's what it sounds like - they're making a ton of noise at around 2 or 3 in the morning.

What species are they? Lesser Canadas?

These things are tiny. I've seen mallards that come REAL CLOSE in size and the valley here is plagued with them - Having upwards of 3,000 buzz us, during a days hunt..... I don't no their technical term. I'm calling them; "Head Bangers". :lol:

[Mr. Dean]

To consistently kill little geese your hide has to be pretty damn good. Good enough when you as a human look at it is hard to pick out. Canvas blinds on the fenceline aint gonna cut it. Big game deer hunting field blinds aint gonna cut it. Setting laydowns in the middle of the field and not matching or sticking out aint gonna cut it.

Geese have a tiny brain but their will to survive is 2nd to none. Honkers come in low and if they dont swing in first go normally leave. Lessers and cacklers come in high and observe...100-200 pairs of eyes picking out anything and everything. They like to circle circle circle and then circle some more. They like alot of noise too but since they do come in high if they're straight over top and you're still calling they're pick you out real quickly.

To give you some advice, when we first starting chasing geese, honkers are easy, big dumb and slow and can be shot a helluva lot easier then little geese. It took us probably 3-4 years of constantly chasing little geese before we knew the game and knew the rules to play by, alot of slow or skunked days before we realized what needed to change.

Thanks CF.

The layouts were concealed pretty darn good IMO and so were we in them..... The only thing that the field had that we didn't, was coaster sized patches of snow scattered every foot or so. Could that be it?

The snow wasn't there 5 days prior. If I'd known of it, I woulda snowed up my hay that I used.... Off to get some snow-in-a-can today.

[warnniklz]

The first set of cacklers we got the other day were flying parallel to our blind following another flight of bigger geese.

They weren't setting in our decoys until we moved some of the feeders that were in frosty patches out of them. That's when they started sucking into our decoys.

Only tip I really got for you. I don't really chase cacklers. Especially when there's ducks bigger than them. But yeah good luck!

[mattchu_19]

If you can stand back 100 yards from your spread and hide and it looks like there are blinds and decoys in the field, cacklers will eat you alive. One of the biggest tips I can give about hunting cacklers and especially if you want to have these birds walking around in your spread thinking everything is ok, make sure your hide is not part of your spread and no matter what kind of decoys you use set them up so they look realistic. Way to many guys get stuck on setting up the decoys in certin patterns. The biggest compliment I have ever got as a goose hunter was, we had I guy creep up to the field we were in with a bow and arrow trying to shoot one of our decoys because he couldn't see us or our hide and he thought there were live geese on the ground. To many times I will drive by a field were guys are hunting and can pick out decoys and hide right away.

[Elkhound]

Here is the little guy I got with Mr.Dean

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/9151/goosex.jpg (http://img411.imageshack.us/i/goosex.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[Mr. Dean]

If you can stand back 100 yards from your spread and hide and it looks like there are blinds and decoys in the field, cacklers will eat you alive.

I'm working on the understanding that geese lack depth perception because their eyes are set on either side of their heads. Using that knowledge, I set the layouts in a 'dip' in the field. With the blinds down on the bottom, they would be concealed in the shade so as not to cast shadows. From above, the only thing that I can think off that would have set them apart from the field, is the clumps of iced over snow that I mentioned earlier.

I set the bulk of the dekes (full body and shells) up on the top side running parallel to our blind some 20 yards away, with a sparse string that did form a pocket at our feet... I thought they'd help conceal us a bit more by giving a calming effect. I'll do something different next time.

Today I pounded all the stores in my hood and was able to find just 1 can of artificial snow - I'll be using it wisely. :wink:

[Mr. Dean]

At least Elkhound popped his goose cherry!!

[Steeleco]

It's OK you couldn't find more canned snow, we're back to liquid sunshine!!

[Mr. Dean]

It's OK you couldn't find more canned snow, we're back to liquid sunshine!!

Hopefully the upper valley isn't covered in 5"s of white stuff....

[Mr. Dean]

I just realized this - This picture was taken w/ the bird sitting on one of the layouts; you can see one of the snow 'dollops' thats on the ground, in the upper right.


Here is the little guy I got with Mr.Dean

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/9151/goosex.jpg (http://img411.imageshack.us/i/goosex.jpg/)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)