jcqwack

I recently bought couple dozen field decoys but I never hunted canadas or mallards in a field. How do you season vets set your spread, were do you put your kill zone, and also layout blinds. Were you set those? And one more question how many decoys make a decent spread?

SBEII=1POS

Lots of good questions there. # of decoys, every situation is different but I think location is more important than decoys. Some times more is less and less is more.

How to setup, try to simulate what the birds are doing. Also tag along with someone who has been doing it for a while. Trial and error....Try to learn something from each hunt and change things if the birds are not working.

Oscar

You asked several questions there that have several varibales within wach of them. So much depends on the birds habits, size of the flock, winds, weather, terrain, type of field etc. YOu kind of see where I am going here?

Without all of the above information I can tell you that when I set up in a field I USUALLY either go with a big wide, lazy U pattern with the blinds at the bottom. I have been going with an X shape pattern a lot more the past few years. That way you only have to spin your blinds and adjust aq few decoys with a wind shift or birds trying to split off to the side at the last minute etc.

Now if you want to talk ducks and canadas together that is a whole seperate issue.

jcqwack

Thank, There just one problem, I don't have anybody to go hunt with to watch and learn.

feathhd

Jc come on up and we will get a few good field hunts under your belt.

I jack around a lot with numbers when I have a lot of guys every day.

But I will tell you this. I used 54 full body mallards and 54 full body geese and we smacked the hell out of ducks the last 19 days of the season.

One of the things I consider to be vital to a field set for ducks is at least 2 mojo's, I have put up 14 at a time to mimic what is a typical field feed frenzy. Air lucky ducks work to but you have to have some wind. They are cheap and they work.

Being in the field they are feeding in works but I have found that you can kill more ducks day to day by setting up in a field close to the feed store if you will. You will see ducks everyday and kill some ducks every day and the hunting will last longer in that area. Now if you burn the field they are feeding in, they will just move off to another location and that takes time to scout them out and figure out your game plan. Generally you don't have a lot of time to do that so the plan I set up does work better for the long run. However if you only get a few cracks to hunt them by all means, set up on the spot they are in and burn their ass up.

I use a long negated C set with the ducks up front, I then slide the layouts at the top fringe of the duck set. Then I start putting up my geese decoys. I will put the bulk of them up around the blind area but take 3 or 4 small family sets and put them up near the end of the duck c set.

I will place my mojos all to one side of the duck C SET starting out at one side of the layout blinds. Mostly I do this to the strong side of the spread and into the wind.

I never give the birds 900 options to pick a spot to land as this often does cause birds to circle 900 times or wave off after 3 or 4 passes. It only takes 1 bird to peal out and it will take the whole lot with it.

There are many options for sets on geese though as hunting conditions change and pressure.

If you have a few honker decoys. Early set calls for small family groups in the early part of the season.

Mid season you will see they start to bulk up so concentrate with a single C cup set with a few singles that look like they are walking into the group on the ground.

Late season the pressure might be high and birds are a lot smarter.
They will often land into a tight ball almost on top of each other. I use the C cup set decoys tight and I may put a break in each end of the c cup set. This gives birds a little more confidence if they change their mind about the center of the spread and they will slide left or right and set wings into the weak side of the spread. Always into the wind my friend.

Hope some of this helps or useful.


712-253-0362 C
712-274-3343 H
fhd101@aol.com


Feel free to come on up and hunt, just give me a call a few days ahead of time to see what I got going on and if the birds are doing what they should be doing.

Bill
Sioux City Iowa

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feathhd

JC look at Fowlers SD post and you will see his earlky season set. It works.

http://iawaterfowlers.com/36259/season_underway_sd

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TheDuckSlayer

Alot of Variables. Difference in Opinion. You just have to try it, there is no perfect way to do it!

jcqwack

Thanks guys for the info, Now we need the season to be here, Im really stoked to start this 2011 season, and feathhd( Bill) I might take you up on your offer! One more question for you guys, how many hunters do you usually run,

Matt

Read the bold part at the bottom, it is especially important. Other than that do anything you want. Just have a vision of where you want geese to land and make sure you leave them some room.


Shawn Stahl Interview

FLYWAY
I want to pose this question to you because I seem to get differing opinions on it. Do you believe in strategizing your decoy placement or do you believe that you can simply throw them out there without any rhyme or reason and still have success? Some guys act as though they are preparing a battle plan when setting up their decoy spread while others just throw them any which way and still experience success. Your thoughts?

STAHL
Well, I kind of agree with both sides in principle. To me, geese that have been in an area get stale to the same old, same old....meaning the standard J-Hook, X-Spread and U. First, I find the spot in the field I want to hunt, second is where the blinds will be hidden and then what I like to do is open up the back of the trailer and apply my “Dump Spread”, which basically sets the decoys in a random blob with no real rhyme or real reason, which is how real birds tend to look and not hunters!! This however is the first step and just the beginning. From there I will sit back and analyze the spread for a few minutes. What I’m looking for is where will the birds want to land? From there I will open up spots where I want them to sit down and fill up spots I don’t want them to land. It’s kind of like a making parking spots in a parking lot or leaving empty seats in a room. If they are full nobody will “park” there, leave them empty and they will find it.

Condn

Hide your blind first, and do it well. Set your honkers where the geese don't really have to fly over them to get to the kill hole. Try to keep birds working in front of you, if that means adjusting then spend the extra few minutes doing it. If you have a mojo or two put them where you want to shoot your ducks. Buy a flag. You only need a few dozen decoys if you're on the x so scout more than you hunt.

Last step: shoot them in the face.

jwcarlson

And three more times as they fall to the ground.

feathhd

Anytime JC, ANYTIME!

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Willhuntforfood

This question just can not be answered. Too many variables. Wind, Temp, Roost Location, Location of Feeds, Tree Lines, Ect, Ect, Ect.

Experiment, it's the best way to get a feel for field hunting. Don't be afraid to try something different either. The more you try to not look like everyone else the better you are gonna do most of the time.

Phil