Specklebelly hunting

[Reelbadfishin']

Hit the wax opening morning and had a 5 man limit for 9am. So Sunday we decided to go after some geese in gueydan. Had plenty in our area but couldn't seem to get in shooting range. They would respond to the calls and seemed interested but would go down in a field a few hundred yards away. I'm fairly new to goose hunting but really enjoy it. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Duck Butter]

Originally Posted by Reelbadfishin'

Hit the wax opening morning and had a 5 man limit for 9am. So Sunday we decided to go after some geese in gueydan. Had plenty in our area but couldn't seem to get in shooting range. They would respond to the calls and seemed interested but would go down in a field a few hundred yards away. I'm fairly new to goose hunting but really enjoy it. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Go to the other field
or
go back to the Wax

[jlincecum]

less is more (calling). making sure everyone in the blind stays very still and keeps their faces hidden. work the smaller groups. the geese were real skiddish this weekend but thats not unusual for the opener. they will settle down soon and working them will get "slightly" easier

[Lake Chuck Duck]

We couldnt them to commit worth a crap on saturday. Not one bird acted like it wanted to work. We only fired once on some birds that happened to come by somewhat low. We dropped one that flew off crippled and we never found it. Scratched on opening day. It should get better though. Ducks flew all day but without water all we could do was bird watch.

[jchief]

ducks were the same for us saturday. Shawn commented "Is this opening weekend or opening of te second split"

[Reelbadfishin']

The other field looked very tempting but not part of the lease. I'll give it another shot tomorrow morning and heading back to wax Friday.

[cmcnabb]

Originally Posted by Reelbadfishin'

The other field looked very tempting but not part of the lease. I'll give it another shot tomorrow morning and heading back to wax Friday.

If there was a group of geese on the ground in a neighboring field, it can make your hunting tough. It's hard to compete with birds that close. As stated before, the birds can go crazy on opening weekend. Especially on the Sunday. They will settle down. Just keep trying. Hunting specks can be tough, but it's very rewarding. The best advice is don't skybust. Even if they make a few passes and you think you might knock one down, let them pass and finish up. If they leave, oh well, get them the next day. You will be hunting a lot of the same birds. If you shoot them barely in range and knock one out of a group, the rest will remember you

[RODBENDER]

Originally Posted by cmcnabb

If there was a group of geese on the ground in a neighboring field, it can make your hunting tough. It's hard to compete with birds that close. As stated before, the birds can go crazy on opening weekend. Especially on the Sunday. They will settle down. Just keep trying. Hunting specks can be tough, but it's very rewarding. The best advice is don't skybust. Even if they make a few passes and you think you might knock one down, let them pass and finish up. If they leave, oh well, get them the next day. You will be hunting a lot of the same birds. If you shoot them barely in range and knock one out of a group, the rest will remember you

I totally agree with Mcnabb. Many hunters from my area say the birds are last season weary already. Take a look at Calcasieu Charters on youtube.com. Watch how close the get the birds. I won a hunt with them 2 years ago and it was awesome watching those birds come in the front door.

[speckhunter]

when birds short cut your decoy spead you might try moving the spread in the opposite direction , so if say the birds get 100 yards down wind and peel out away then move the decoys further up wind so that when they peel out short of reaching the blind they might be in range . if they wont come down in elevation then they are just not interested in that field at that time. this works alot for me but opening weekend and the next few days might be tough due to the high moon. big full moon always causes me trouble decoying specks.