Silhouette Goose DecoySilhouette goose decoys are a very effective and sometimes only decoy option a goose hunter has. The silhouette decoy has many goose hunting advantages when set up properly, but can be an ineffective decoy when used alone and set up poorly. Below is a list of suggestions goose hunters can use to increase their success while goose hunting over silhouette goose decoys.The silhouette goose decoy is a 2 dimensional decoy. When viewed from directly above, they disappear. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage of having a silhouette goose decoy disappear when viewed from above is that it appears as if the decoy is actually moving when the silhouette decoy disappears when the geese are directly above them, and then reappears as soon as the geese are not directly over the decoy. This movement or perceived movement within a goose decoy spread will increase the number of geese you kill each year. The disadvantage of having your silhouette goose decoy disappear when viewed directly from above above is that high incoming geese will not see the all the decoys within your decoy spread. Geese think safety in numbers, making your perceived smaller silhouette goose decoy spread less effective. This is why silhouette goose decoys are more effective at decoying Canada geese than snow geese. Canada geese tend to approach the decoys at a lower altitude than snow geese. The silhouette goose decoys disadvantages can be overcome by increasing the distance between each silhouette decoy, increasing the number of silhouette decoys used, adding 3 dimensional decoys (full body goose decoys, shell decoys, or windsock decoys), or a combination of these things.
Increasing the number of silhouette goose decoys puts more decoys within eye sight of incoming geese. This makes incoming geese feel safer and decoy more readily. When I hunt over a decoy spread made up entirely of silhouette goose decoys, success is greatly increased when there is three times the number of silhouette goose decoys than a typical full body spread for that time of year. A general guideline is 5 dozen silhouette in the early season and 20 plus dozen in the late season. Adding silhouette goose decoys to your full body, shell, or windsock decoy spread is an excellent way to build numbers without sacrificing storage space and weight. Their realistic look and multiple poses makes any decoy spread come alive. The more realistic your spread, the more geese you will kill! Setting out a silhouette goose decoy spread when the ground is frozen can be very difficult. Some solutions are to make or buy a slide hammer with a point you can drive into the frozen ground that is slightly larger than your silhouette goose decoy stakes. Another popular solution is to carry a battery operated drill and drill individual holes for each decoy. This is the only option when trying to stake silhouette goose decoys into ice when hunting frozen lakes for late season Canada geese. Using the above suggestions when hunting over silhouette goose decoys will help you consistently decoy Canada geese and Snow geese closer for more and cleaner kills. For more goose and duck hunting tips please read other articles located at duck and goose hunting tips. |
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Copyright (c) 2004 Chris Holste |
Increasing
the distance between individual silhouette goose decoys prevents decoying
geese from being completely above or nearly above your entire silhouette decoy
spread. By spreading your silhouette goose decoys apart by at
least 10 feet and separating them into two or more different groups 20
yards apart or more, there should always be silhouette decoys within vision
of decoying geese.