When hunting next to other competent callers in the field I often hear some sort of contest style routine. When the geese are way off, they hail call, as they approach they start increasing their clucking speed, and finally they finish the geese with some low feeding growls and subtle clucks. This is what I would call text book calling, which can be very effective early in the year, and is a relatively effective calling tactic but you can do better!

Become a Better Caller

To become a better caller and kill more geese you need to find the killer note the specific goose within the flock of geese you are calling at is responding to. Once you find this note repeat it until you finish the goose and the flock following it or until the goose that is responding starts to slip. For tips on reading geese please see the article Reading geese.

Types of Killer Notes

The killer note I am talking about can be anything, including a cadence of notes. It might be a hard cluck, a high pitched cluck, a series of rapid clucks, spit notes, low moans, high moans, spit moans, hails calls etc. Frequently the killer note will be very aggressive and demanding. Notes such as spit notes, rapid high pitched clucks, or fast double clucks.

Being versatile on a call makes it easy to find that killer note
Finding the killer note is much easier if you are very versatile on a goose call. The more notes, tonal range, and cadences you can create using your goose call, the more opportunities you can create for yourself in the pit. By Limiting yourself to just doing simple hail calls and clucks, you are missing out on some of the most productive killer notes you can make as a goose caller.

For more goose and duck hunting tips please read other articles located at duck and goose hunting tips.