Snow Geese Dekes

[maxx]

If you had 600 bones to start a new snow goose spread how would you?

I am thinking about 4 doz. oversized snow shells and 2 doz oversized Blue shells. You can get them for about 100 bucks a doz.

Alot of the guys on some other sites said to get socks and go big. Have hunted over socks before and they work ok but they suck when you don't have wind.

[ksgoosekilr]

SILOSOCKS! Take up a lot less space than fullbodies and still look good with 0 wind. They come in blue, snow, and juvies. We have 8 dz. of them right now and definately want to add more and get rid of the P.O.S. rags. I think they run about 69.99/dz. but are worth every penny. That would give you a nice spread to start off with and you can add fullbodies and what not later on. Right now you need to try to get a few so you can have numbers and decent realism, then add fullbodies later on to seal the deal. JMO!

[Rick Frisch]

I would look at our Hot Buy snow goose shells. They come with MotionStakes. It helps get them up off of the ground and gives them some movement.

[maxx]

I would look at our Hot Buy snow goose shells. They come with MotionStakes. It helps get them up off of the ground and gives them some movement.

Right now Rodgers has the 2005 oversized shells for about the same price. Figured we could add the motion stakes ourselves.

[Brett Beinke]

We started off years ago with rags, socks and shells. Right now we run 100% Full Bodies and we have had a lot better luck with fewer full bodies then we ever did with the very large "variety" spreads we used to run. If I was starting over from scratch I would be buying all full bodies.

[Ben Cade]

I'd have to agree with Brett. You'd be surprised how fast you can build a large spread of full bodies if you're willing to invest about that much money to start. Do it again next year, and maybe convince some of your buddies to buy some as well. Soon you'll have a large spread of quality decoys.

[Rob Jepson]

We started off years ago with rags, socks and shells. Right now we run 100% Full Bodies and we have had a lot better luck with fewer full bodies then we ever did with the very large "variety" spreads we used to run. If I was starting over from scratch I would be buying all full bodies.
Ditto...after what I have seen via the many articles and photos in the media, as well as first-hand reports from our Pro-Staffers in the field last spring and fall, I would lean towards a Full-Body rig.

[headhunter]

For next season me and my buddy are going to buy some new snow goose decoys. I need some help would you rather have 240 Avery full body snows and blues or 550 sillosocks Im having a tough time deciding what to do.

[Mick Hanan]

I would have to say to get started buy some sillosocks because they do look great with little wind. It only takes a couple of mph wind to get good movement. They are inflated without any wind at all and the stakes allow for little wind to give them a realistic movement. You can always start to add full bodies for a more realistic look when you have the funds to do so. I agree the full bodies are the way to go if you can afford it and the field conditions can allow it. We've had times where guys are sitting on the road watching us pound birds because it was too wet to get their full bodies in the field. With sillosocks you can have three guys carry 500 decoys into the field with little effort. Brett is definitely right, smaller spreads of full bodies are more effective than larger spreads of socks. However, not everyone can afford it and there are times when they are impractical. So, get started and improve from there. Good luck hunting

[headhunter]

Thanks mick I was leaning toward the sillos because in ND its really muddy in the spring. We already have 7 doz FB's but I think Sillosocks are a great decoy for the money so we will probably end up getting them. Even though 240 FB's would look pretty good too.

[Ben Cade]

For next season me and my buddy are going to buy some new snow goose decoys. I need some help would you rather have 240 Avery full body snows and blues or 550 sillosocks Im having a tough time deciding what to do.

Get the full bodies! You won't be sorry.

[Ryan Kleinschmidt]

I'd have to agree with Brett. You'd be surprised how fast you can build a large spread of full bodies if you're willing to invest about that much money to start. Do it again next year, and maybe convince some of your buddies to buy some as well. Soon you'll have a large spread of quality decoys.


Thats what we are doing!

[chad belding]

As long as you start it, it does not matter how big you go. You can always add to it year after year. I think that the full bodies are the ticket when it comes to decoying the snows. Try it and let us know what ends up working for you.

Good Hunting!

Chad Belding
Avery Outdoors

[RBW]

Sillosocks;)

[MNhardcorehunter]

i would say go with the 550 silosocks even the fullbodies are great. And only for one reason because if you have to walk into muddy field out will be out all night with fullbodies. With silosocks you could do it in a couple trips. both decoys are great but for spring silosocks all the way.

[Aaron Hitchins]

BUY QUALITY! If you start off with anything less that what you want your end rig to consist of (Fullbodies) you will just end up selling whatever else you buy and replacing it. To me the thrill of waterfowling is getting them close, and having no doubt in the birds minds as to whether or not the spread is real, that is why I think you whould buy FBs!!!

Aaron

[quackaddict]

For starting I might go with half and half, that woudl give you realistic decoys for the edges and numbers/fillers for the middle.

[Hoot]

I sold all my Northwinds, to have an entirely FB spread. I have 240 FB decoys and i will let everyone know in a little more than a week if I like the FB spread more than I liked the windsock spread.

Last spring a FB spread was proven effective, but those spreads were still very large spreads. I want to see how much more effective a smaller more realistic spread is compared to a massive white spot in the field. We shall see soon, I am pumped!!!

[Zach White]

I would like to first start of by saying I do not hunt snows. I have ran a few shells with my canada spreads to bring in the occasional single. However, two weeks ago I found out first hand how effective the GHG Full body snow decoys are. I had the opportunity to hunt with Avery Pro Staffers Tony V, Kenny Thompson, Sean Evans and company.I never got into decoying snows because I hate the fact that it takes snow many decoys...(or thats what I thought) and being a college kid I just stayed with specks and canadas.

That sunday afternoon I will never forget...we had 5 dozen GHG fullbody snows on the back side of our canada spread someone spotted a flock of snows heading our direction.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/wholebunchofgame_32/100_3509-1.jpg
As we got in the blinds and watched the huge flock head our direction I grabbed the camera because I just didn't they we would pull them down but I wanted to take pictures of them flying overhead.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d145/wholebunchofgame_32/100_3519.jpg
Growing up around Cheyenne Bottoms this is the sight I have grown up seeing. Thousands and thousands of snow geese flying overhead not paying much attention to decoys of any sort and to me they seemed impossible to decoy. This was different as I watched them pass I could see the whole flock starting to drop, some singles dive bombing the decoys without passing and the whole flock began to tornado behind us. There was little wind which didn't help bring the birds out over the blinds they just came straight down all 500 of them in seriously a matter of minutes and I could just not believe it. NO calling flagging or much of anything except watch and laugh as about 40 snows and blues landed about 40 yards behind us and after the rest of the birds went on, we decided to get out of our blinds and walk them up. We downed 8 snows and blues and watched ruff dog do this thing.
I have heard lots of stories over the last two years about how effective GHG snow decoys are and I have seen it on Zink's Runnin Traffic DVD but never in my life see snows decoy all the way to the ground in my life.

To Tony, and everyone else it maybe didn't seem like a big deal like more of a bonus to our bag but it excited me in so many ways. Greenhead Gear Snows and Blue Full Bodies won me over that day and if anyone is thinking about "decoying" snows feet down then there is no other option in my mind then a spread of GHG Full Body Snow decoys. Just to think we only had 5 DOZEN blows my mind and i can only imagine what we could do with a spread of 10-15 dozen back home. Well the secret which really isn't a sercret anymore is out, if your thinking about decoying snows think GHG.

[Nicholas Lisec]

I will be in a similiar situation as you in the coming season as I will invest in a snow goose spread so I can chase waterfowl and extend my season as long as possible. I would personally buy the FB Snows and Blues because in my opinion I would rather invest my money once on a product then have to reinvest later in another product such as more FB's. Now I am not discounting or objecting to the fact that snows can't be killed with silo's at all and the point of getting into muddy fields is a good one. However, I am willing to purchase a smaller spread or do more on my part at first and build it up over time and know that I will have a quality rig that will get birds in my face time after time. When chasing snow geese the hard part is getting to where they want to be so why add the worry of thinking you have inferior gear. The choice is yours and either way we all need to get after the snow geese.

Nick

[GreenTimber]

I dont know where your from here we found that rags are definately NOT the way to go. I dont know how many fullbodies you can buy but i would definately get as many shells as you can and then throw in a few fullbodies i think this would be the ticket. We went out on one hunt with 12 shells and is was amazing the difference how much it helped us more than the 100 rags we put out. Good Luck.

[headhunter]

My buddy has a Polaris 700 four wheeler to haul the FB's into the field when its muddy but it still would take quite a few trips to get them all out there. I guess we can wait and see what we want to do. Some people say numbers are everything and some say quality is everything.

[Tony Vandemore]

That was just the tip of the iceberg Zach....just imagine if we had been set up for snows and the blinds would have been in the top end where they should be for snows....they would have been landing on them and it would have been UGLY! We decoy a lot of flocks every fall/winter over small spreads of 40-100 decoys.

[headhunter]

Alright! you convinced me!

[Cory Johnson]

Go with both!

Use the SS for more mass. They are easy to put out and move in very little wind. Then you could add the FB in your kill zone. The GHG FBs are buy far my favorite snow/blue goose decoys. I just aint got $$ right now. -I think both are great.

Its taken our group a few years to build a snow goose rig. We used to run 700 Texas rags. Now we run Silosocks and a few FB's for this year and next year we will be adding 14 Dozen GHG FBs.

[headhunter]

I think I will just go wit the FB's because 240 is a decent size spread to start out with and then we can a 5 or so dozen every year.
Thanks for the help everybody!

[Eric Larsgaard]

This is what I would do. I would purchase 3 DZ Hot buy Goose Shells and I would the buy what ever else I could afford in full bodies. I would concentrate the full bodies around my callers and the landing area. Then I would save up for the next year and add as many fullbodies as you can afford. Rags make for an ok filler but you will never get your money back out of them as you upgrade, but shells you will.