Call Your Shots for Successful Goose Hunting Out West

Are those headlights?” my buddy asked as we rolled down the snow-covered blacktop toward our favorite goose field.

I answered by letting out a massive sigh and nodding my head. My buddy uttered a word I can’t write here and threw his gloves against the dash. It was the second time in a week that our goose hunting plans had been foiled. The only good news was it was 3 a.m., so there was still time to find another field far from this one and run traffic. Until recently, we never worried about the goose competition in my neck of southeast Colorado. The land was all private, and there weren’t many goose hunters, so our crew got to have our cake and eat it for more than a decade. That changed three years ago when several area landowners partnered with the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) and opened their fields to the public. Much of what was once private and open only to those of us with permission to hunt turned to walk-in access overnight. And thanks to innovative mapping apps, the crowds showed up.

I’m not complaining. I love public-land hunting and am a huge fan of digital mapping apps. It was just a shock, and an immediate change to our goose-hunting tactics was necessary to beat the crowds and still come home with limits.

PICK YOUR SPOTS

One of the first things we did to give ourselves an edge was to take a page from my public-land deer hunting handbook. When hunting deer on open-to-anyone dirt, I often ignore the “best” spots and find smaller acreages that get overlooked.

If you have a group of good shooters, and everyone shoots their spots, a three- or four-flock day is enough to have an excellent hunt. Our scouting often reveals multiple fields with fewer geese in them compared to others nearby. We’ve discovered these fields experience less hunting pressure, and the smaller flocks tend to work the decoys better.

Another essential public-land goose tip is to show up at the field earlier. This is hard, especially in late winter when the conditions are frigid and birds aren’t leaving the roost until several hours after sunrise, but it’s a must. If you hunt with a group, take turns having someone show up earlier than you think the competition will. And show respect. If we get beat to a field, we leave. We don’t horn in on someone’s hunt or move one field over and try to run traffic on the birds they’re trying to hunt.

SPREAD CONSIDERATIONS

The days of goose trailers and massive full-body spreads are gone for us. Getting seven dozen flocked, full-body decoys into the middle of a gigantic ag field is extremely difficult. Plus, what goes in must come out. Add a pile of decoys and gear to a five-person goose limit, and the “out” can become an issue.

My crew went to Avian-X AXF Lessers two seasons back. These fully flocked decoys look fantastic, and their small body size makes them easier to tote in bags. Our biggest decoy win, though, is supplementing the full-body dekes with Dive Bomb Industries’ V2FF Canada Silhouettes. If the wind is blowing, we sprinkle in Dive Bomb’s S3Fi Flocked Canada Socks.

Years ago, we mostly went away from silhouettes, using them only when Mother Nature was in a foul mood. However, the durable, lifelike, fully flocked V2FF silhouettes changed our public-land goose game. Not only are they more affordable, but we can stack them in a waterfowl sled and easily haul hundreds of them into Walk-In Access fields.

As far as the spread setup, think back to your scouting. I’ve found that manipulating a spread to resemble what the field looked like when the last flock landed during the most recent scouting trip typically yields the best results.

CALLING MATTERS

Our goose crew’s calling ability was average in the pre-public-land days. We relied more on our scouting and decoys to ensure an excellent shoot. Today, our calling has gotten much better; however, we often keep the calls on the chest unless we’re running traffic since more hunters mean more calling.

As we did when we had good access to private land, we let our scouting and spreads kill birds. That’s not to say we don’t call. We do, but we let the attitude of the birds dictate how and when we call. When hunting public ground, we tend not to call to approaching flocks and instead let the birds slide. This means that rather than the birds coming straight at us and circling multiple times, we let them drift downwind. This takes guts and will feel unnatural to a degree. We don’t call until they turn away, then we get excited on the calls—lots of fast honks, clucks and moans—and the birds typically approach the fakes from directly downwind and finish on the first pass. This tactic neutralizes their natural desire to circle and circle and circle, which is common when hunting public dirt and pressured birds.

BLIND AMBITION

When hunting pressured public-land honkers, few things are more critical than the hide. “Good enough” is rarely good enough. Making sure everything looks perfect is another good reason to get to the field as early as possible.

Our crew uses layouts, and one of the most critical things we try to do is keep the sun at our backs and in the eyes of the geese. However, the direction of the wind doesn’t always allow this.

We hunt many cut grain fields. The lower the farmer sets the combine head, the better the geese like the field. For this reason, we tote a small rake to quickly gather corn stalks, tumbleweeds, etc., and brush-in the blinds. While cover is a good thing, there’s such a thing as too much cover. You don’t want to brush your layout to the point of it looking unnatural. Always have at least one person stand at a distance and evaluate the hide.

It’s also critical to cover body-shine spots like the cheeks, tops of hands, the nose, etc. Pay attention to the glare from watches, glasses, rings and necklaces, too. You can’t be too careful when hunting pressured birds.

IF IT’S BROKE, FIX IT

We had a money field last season. We scouted hard, showed up early and matched the spread to what we’d been seeing the birds do.

The set was a “lunch line” set, with a massive blob of decoys (in which we placed our blinds) and three lines of decoys “walking” into the main body of the spread. The blob represented the feeding group, and the lines of decoys simulated birds that had recently landed and were making their way to the lunchroom.

The overcast sky held snow and kept the hungry birds on the deck. Unfortuantely, the first two flocks flared and left. In years past, when hunting private land, we would have chalked this up to birds just not wanting to work. We’d have left things exactly as they were for at least two more groups. Not anymore.

I ran a distance from the spread, looked back and noticed several sharp edges and a dark hole we’d failed to eliminate on one of the layouts. Using a wind checker, I also noticed that the wind’s direction had shifted enough to merit a move.The blind fixing and decoy shifting took 18 minutes and cost us two groups, but we finished the hunt with a five-man, public-land limit.

DON’T LINGER

My last big public-land goose tip is to get out of the field as quickly as possible when you fill your limits. Pictures are important, but we often take them once we are out of the field. The faster you can get everything broken down, packed up and out of the field, the higher the likelihood that you’ll have success there the following day.

Follow these tried-and-true public-land goose tips, and you’ll have a leg up on the competition this winter.

GOOSE GEAR

Essential items for public-land geese.

DECOYS: Five dozen Dive Bomb Industries V2FF Canada Silhouettes cost $625. It is difficult to get a dozen flocked full-body fakes for that price. The decoy’s pure black head pops, and the one-piece, powder-coated steel stakes are durable and go into frozen ground quickly.

GEAR HAULER: The Eagle Claw Jet Sled’s ($49.99–$159.99; eagleclaw.com) flat bottom and pull rope make toting decoys, guns and gear into and out of public fields easy. It’s available in a variety of sizes and finishes, including snow camo.

SHOTSHELLS: Killing public-land geese is easier when you shoot a top-notch tungsten/ steel blend, straight tungsten or bismuth load. My hunting buddies and I have experienced great results with Apex’s TSS/S3 Steel Blend ($469.99/250 rounds;apexmunition.com), Federal’s Black Cloud TSS ($64.99/10 rounds; federalpremium.com) and Hevi-Shot’s Hevi-XII ($83.99-$99.99/25 rounds; hevishot.com).

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• This article was featured in the December/January 2025 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe.

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