Overview of decoys for geese

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Hunting geese, one of the most cautious birds in the world, is a challenging but exciting process. Correctly selected goose decoys can speed up the achievement of the desired result. But first, let's figure out what types of this device exist and how to make a homemade device correctly.

Goose decoys

Choosing a decoy correctly

To get not only pleasure from hunting, but also a good catch, it is not enough just to buy the first goose decoy you come across and imitate the bird's cry. It is important to know the rules of its use and not to commit deterrent actions. In addition, during a group hunt, the work of all team members should be as harmonious as possible, so you should appoint the chief in advance and shoot only at his direction.

A good hunter always has at hand two or more decoys of different sounds and types, including homemade ones. Thanks to this, a person on the spot, depending on the breed of the goose, can choose the bird's voice simulator that is closest to the original. Sometimes, only hearing a cry, you can understand what kind of birds will be hunted.

If, during the flight, the flock is interested in the welcome sound, it will immediately begin to descend. When a team is working, one specially assigned member of the team should lure the duck. If several people install decoys at the same time, the birds will suspect that something is wrong, which is why they will rush to fly away.

Hunters should definitely take care of camouflage: if a flock sees people, it will never fly even to the sounds of the best device, which exactly repeats the cry of birds. In addition to the goose voice simulator, the hunter's arsenal should have stuffed animals and profiles capable of making the birds drop to a height that is optimal for a shot.

Rules for choosing semolina

A hunter in one day can meet several different flocks of goose, and since there is no universal decoy, you should always have several such devices with you. In order not to be mistaken with the choice, before buying a device, it is important to familiarize yourself with useful tips from experienced hunters:

• be sure to check in the directory what kind of birds live in your region,
• keep in mind that the larger the size of the open space, the louder the decoy should be,
• pay attention to the material from which the decoys are made, the best quality is observed in acrylic products,
• do not buy multi-lobed models at once, hone your skills on more deaf mono-lobed ones, and only having learned to attract a bird, you can go out on a big hunt,
• test the device before purchasing, it is important that there are no problems with tonality translation.

Types and models of decoys

All currently existing decoys imitating bird voices are divided into two types:

• brass decoy (it can be purchased and homemade)
• electricians.

The first ones begin to sound after the hunter starts blowing into them, as if he has a small pipe in his hands. To activate the second, just click on the button for playing the audio recording.

The oven is:

• mono-reed,
• two-reed.

Description of popular manufacturers of woodwind decoys is as follows:

• HAYDELS: pluses - strong design, beautiful design; cons - carbon is used for the manufacture of decoys, which is why the product sounds bad, and therefore is not suitable for a big hunt.
• Goes Hunting Calls: pluses - stylish design, high sound quality; features - parts are threaded.
• Team Ground: pros - the design consists of a three-stage control system that allows you to set the volume level as accurately as possible.
• Field Proven Calls: Pros - Low cost, lifetime warranty, wide range with different bell lengths.

Electronic devices for hunting geese

Any modern electronic decoy sounds much more accurate than its wind counterparts. More expensive models have their own music library, which qualitatively distinguishes them from budget and homemade decoys of this type.

If you are serious about hunting, it is better not to try to save money on the device, because often the music library for which the cheap electronic decoy is programmed does not correspond at all to the sounds of the goose voice, which means that it is not possible to catch a bird with it.

Choosing an electronic decoy, it is better to give preference to products of domestic manufacturers. This does not mean that Italy or the United States do not know how to make electric decoys for a goose, just the music libraries that are sewn into the device's memory are selected by the manufacturer on a territorial basis. For example, the white-fronted goose, popular in Russia, does not react at all to the call of the American decoy, since it is programmed to catch other birds living in the United States.

Tips for choosing decoys from professional hunters

There is, perhaps, the best of its kind portal "Hansa", created especially for professional hunters. There they can not only find out a lot of useful information and watch a video on almost any issue of interest related to catching birds, but also leave their feedback on everything that they consider relevant, for example, advise an electronic decoy for a goose.

Often among goose hunters, the BG-01 decoy is mentioned; it lures a white-fronted goose well. Its sound can hardly be called ideal, but it is a pleasure to work with it, and its price is quite reasonable. As an alternative hunting device, it is better to use the SG-49 (Tumashova) as a decoy for geese on white-fronted ones.

The closest to the original are the voices of the Gumennik geese, published on the Ketner equipment, provided that the hunter has been trained and the techniques for playing on it are correctly honed, and this is not easy to do, especially for beginners. Many people write positively about RCC 2013, although its predecessor RCC (rcc) 2012 is not very popular among professional hunters.

Less often, but still good reviews are received by decoys of firms:

• hunter,
• joker,
• aliva,
• golden eagle,
• bird,
• hunterhelp,
• Dmitry Melnik's devices, such as biophone, lochman, red bon, skulhunter, dominator.

Those who like to hunt wild birds speak very badly about Mankoff, with the exception of the Pioneer model range. Due to the poor sound quality, they do not recommend buying wind decoys for geese produced under the brands faulk, Zink, Ekhoman, although the price for them is very tempting.

The most optimal models in terms of price and quality ratio are Kwanza, Kettner, Primos and Jaeger.

We make decoys ourselves

If you do not trust cheap purchased decoys, and there is no way to purchase expensive elite models, the best way out is to make the device yourself. This will require an electric lathe and certain skills to work with it.

Necessary materials for making the device with your own hands:

• two seven-centimeter sleeves with 28 and 32 caliber primers or two siphon cans;
• cork made of natural material, 1 cm thick, the diameter of which should correspond to the size of the selected sleeves;
• belt;
• triangular file;
• adhesive tape.

Before making a decoy for geese with your own hands, for clarity, it is important to draw the device schematically on a sheet of paper. Drawings will help you navigate faster.

Stages of making semolina:

1. Use a file to make a cut on each sleeve. Dimensions: length - 1 cm, height - 0.5 cm. Take the cork, grind it off a little along the edges and set it so that the cut is opposite it. There should be a free space of about 3 mm between the plug and the walls of the sleeve.
2. Walk up to the lathe and solder one sleeve to the other. You can replace the soldering with tape or duct tape. The main way of fastening the sleeves does not affect the sound in any way, just in the second case, you will have to constantly change the adhesive tape to a new one.
3. Adjust the goose decoy and attach the ring strap to it so you don't accidentally lose your device while hunting.

How to work with decoys

In order for the geese to take the sounds emitted by the device for real, you need to make them as close as possible to the original bird calls. If you have little experience in hunting geese, ask for help from your more experienced comrades who know firsthand how to use decoys, or watch a video about geese on the Internet.

All goose calls have two parts:

• first low note;
• the second is high.

There is a small pause between them, in order to achieve it, after you extract a low note from the semolina, block the air with your tongue, wait a little and extract a high one.

What signals do hunters use?

A good goose hunter must know all about signaling, meeting and feeding these birds. In addition, he must be able to give return signals and landing signals:

• The greeting is a loud and rather long sound used to attract the attention of geese flying in a flock.
• After the first reaction of the birds, you need to signal them about the meeting. This signal has a more versatile sound and a faster tempo than the previous one, as it includes an imitation of an overflowing polyphonic bird choir.
• Feeding signals are somewhat similar to meeting signals, only they sound a couple of tones lower. Their task is to exactly repeat the sounds made by well-fed birds.
• If the birds suddenly changed direction and began, on the contrary, to move away, hurry up to issue a plaintive return signal. It is very difficult to describe this sound in words, so you will have to practice it in practice.

Do not forget that decoys are only part of a hunter's paraphernalia, before you start luring birds, it is important to choose the most attractive open area and install stuffed animals and profiles on it. Stuffed geese trust more than profiles.

Landing is indicated by a signal that combines the sounds of greeting and feeding. The hunter must convince the flying flock that relatives are really waiting for her in the clearing. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if an electronic or homemade decoy is used, the main thing is the result.