Andy Shaver for SPLIT REED
Presented by Stanfield Hunting Outfitters
Late-season Lesser Canada Geese. They’re a challenge to hunt as they’ve experienced a season of pressure and seen all there is to be fooled by. They can provide some of the most memorable hunts, as they travel and feed in large groups, making for big spins rivaled only by the white birds of spring. We asked Andy Shaver of Stanfield Hunting Outfitters for some times and insight into how they work big groups of squeakers and the things they think are the most important to keep in mind when chasing the little dark geese.
Hide Hide Hide!
This should be your number one focus anyway but later in the season when you’ve been beating up on the same birds for the better part of a month your hide becomes the “make it or break it” factor of your hunt.
Location Location Location
Get as close to where they’ve been feeding as you can. Food can become a premium late in the season as fields become more and more sparse for calories so when you’re scouting pay attention to where they are feeding and set up as close to that location as you can get
Go Big or Go Home
As a general rule of thumb when thinking about your decoy spread you either need numbers or realism on your side and with late-season lessers, I’d say you need the numbers! Throw out every decoy you have and mimic a big feed… if nothing else you’ll have a hell of a decoy spread to photograph for your Instagram.
Calling
If you go the big spread route you’re gonna need to volume to match the number of decoys you have. So that one hunting buddy that doesn’t know when to put the call in his pocket is now a viable asset to your hunt. Get him in your blind and throw every note in the book at the geese… lots of aggressive clucks. Read your birds, I’ve seen flocks that you have to back off of as they finish and I’ve seen some that drop their landing gears as you become more aggressive
Head Position Matters
Remember food is king in the late season, so pay attention to how you arrange your decoys and their head positions. I set several pockets of a dozen or so feeders in the kill hole and throughout my spread..
Bonus Tip: Shoot Straight!
These birds have been pounded on since September and they’ve seen it all. Make the most out of every flock because there might not be an abundance of groups in your kill hole. Late season is what separates the men from the boys.
