Flag From the Rear

by Z-Unit Rusty Hallock

To be successful with late season geese, sometimes you have to pull out all of the stops. Our plan was to hunt a soy bean field during the last week of the season. The problem was going to be that we had hunted that field one to two times a week for the last 5 weeks using spreads of four to five dozen FFD Lessers. Today's plan called for combining two decoy rigs into one large spread of twenty five dozen full bodies and over-sized shells.

We arrived at our field about an hour before shooting time. During this late season, the geese were flying a little later in the morning. But, I prefer to arrive early. I would rather be too early then too late. Besides, "you can never trust a goose". At certain times during the last two weeks, we limited out on an early flock and were out of the field before the major flight started. This goes a long way to prevent burning out a field.

Our plan was to choose the highest point in the field to set our spread. When gunning traffic geese, I want to be sure the decoys are set for maximum visibility. Plus, I could use the terrain to help break up the profile of our Power Hunters. When combining two different rigs of decoys, you end up with a variety of decoys. I was fortunate that they were all Greenhead Gear full bodies and over-sized shells. But, we had a combination of Hunter Series, Pro-Grades and FFD's. When working with a combination of decoys, I like to put my best decoys forward. All of the FFD's were placed to the front of the rig; on the points of my spread, surrounding the "kill hole" and around the blinds. Full bodies also work great at breaking up the profile of layout blinds. We easily hid our three Power Hunters by using the terrain of the field and the twenty five dozen full bodies and shells.

After a short wait, we had a small flock approach us. They cautiously circled our spread six times before committing to the "kill hole". After a short barrage, I had my limit. After seeing the first flock work the spread so cautiously, I decided to move my blind to the rear of the spread. This would allow me to flag and call from the rear of the spread. From this position, I would draw the attention of the remaining flocks to the rear of the spread and away from the two Power Hunters towards the front of the decoy spread. The change of flagging position worked better then I could have imagined. The next two flocks finished in tight to the remaining hunters after circling the spread only once. After the second flock finished, Rob exclaimed "I thought they were going to land on top of me". In my opinion, there is nothing better then working a flock of geese in close and having them finish at your feet. Layout blinds give goose hunters a front row seat to the best show in the world.