Early season spread?

[MNhardcorehunter]

For the MN opener i got a sand bar with some geese on it. Im planning on takingh 2 dozen pro-grades and a dozen floaters 3 dozen total. My promlem is those are the 33 inch flambeas and there visibitly is great. Now for my qustion do i keep,em for there visibity or do lose they are so big at not very realistic. Also this a very big river would they hurt me more than they would help me.
-Thanks,Cody

[Eric Wolf]

I think you will be fine using them. i use some super mag shells and they usually dont scare the geese, plus geese dont have any depth perception. good luck!

[Take A Gander]

If the geese are using the sand bar keep it as real as you can get it. The geese will know that piece of property inside and out. Hide real good and you will be in business. I'm not saying the mag shells won't work but I wouldn't use them in this situation. If the water is shallow around the bar it willbe deadly to place full bodies standing in the water giving the effect they are walking up to the sand bar. Have fun.

[FlockedUp]

You know i'm no expert but i do know one thing. Early season geese typically require far fewer decoys than what mid season migrators need. The old guys that i learned from used to say something like a 3 to 1 rule. Meaning three on the ground to one in the air. I switch this up in the early season. I tend to reverse it with 1 on the ground to 3 in the air. I have hunted sand bars here in kansas for years. This isnt a feeding place! You dont have to show safety either because they have been there before. This means again the need for less decoys. I bet your biggest problem is going to be hiding. This leaves two choices. One you can try digging in some and hope that you dont over disturb the bars natural appearance, problem is you will have a problem with flooding yourself out. Otherwise do what i do. Pattern your gun extremely well and know your distances really well. You might have a long shot from the brush. I would guess with quality like the pro grades you will only need like 6 to 12 decoys. I cant stress enough putting them in the shallow water. Its good poison for geese. Sounds to me like you are going to have one hell of a good time and good luck.

[David Rearick]

You should be fine with them. I wouldn't be afraid to use them and the visibility will be great. Good luck this season, sandbar hunting can be awesome. Just ran the jet up the river tonight and found a new sweet spot. Gotta love being able to run in 6" of water!

[SMIGRATOR]

I thnk you will be fine using these decoys, like others have said i would put some fb along the shallows and you should do just fine, good luck.

[h20fow1er]

If locals are already using it you need to get in light. Get set, get HID, and then knock the piss out of em. I think that you will find concealing yourself more of an issue then the visibility.

3 of us walked in with 2 fullbodies each last year, sit up on a sandbar that the geese were using and were VERY successful.

The key here is that they are locals already using the area. So you have found the X. The X needs very few decoys in the early season as the birds are not bunched up yet.

[Culley Wilson]

You already have the hardest part of the battle won. You know where the birds want to be.

Are all the geese coming in one big group or several smaller family groups? If they are smaller groups then you could get away with fewer decoys especially considering these geese have yet to be hunted. Another advantage of using a smaller spread early in the season is that you can bang out a limit and leave without educating the remaining groups of birds that have not yet arrived.

Good luck,

[Rich Good]

You should be fine with those Magnums. I haved used large deoys in the past and have done real well with them throughout the entire season.

[Brett Beinke]

I am not so sure the issue is will the mags work or not but more of if they are needed or not. Unless the river you are hunting is exceptionally wide, like lake Pepin, you do not need visibility. Since you are on the spot they want to be, you do not need visibility. Thus, although they should be fine, you gain nothing from having them thus if you gain nothing you may loose something. For sandbars, keep it natural as possible. The geese will tell you what they want. Get out there and spend some time near them but not too close. Watch what they do and copy that into your spread and calling. The answers are there, you just have to look for them.

[David Ortley]

I am with Brett and Culley on this one. This sounds much like what I run into on the local river system. This early in the game I would rely on location rather than numbers, or size. With gentle coaxing on the call you should be able to bring 'em in as others hammer at 'em elsewhere and drive 'em around. Getting in and out and not educating them is a great point.

Good luck!!

[MNhardcorehunter]

Thanks guys you have been a huge help.Your knowledge on hunting is always astouding now the problem is where to hide.