We'd been watching the geese dropping onto fields in our locality and after a quick chat with the farmer and gaining permission to sit on said fields, the alarm went off at 4.30am on a really misty morning.
Not a breath of wind but we thought we'd give it a go anyway. Set up a small pattern of Foam, full body Canada decoys and Windsock style Greylag decoys, maybe about 24 decoys. Not ideal for the windsocks, but the built in spine keeps the bodies straight and gravity helps to fill them out a bit. Not much movement though.
The field was an early harvest, spread with muck ready to plough, but what had been left was sprouting again, hence the green shoots.
Anyway, the sun came up and the mist cleared leaving it a beautiful morning. Just settle down and wait now. We didn't have to wait long before a small Skien of Canadas dropped in. They kept on coming, all small Skiens, a mixture of Greys and Canadas, and 45 minutes later with 11 in the bag, we decided to just sit and watch. (Can you spot the difference between the decoys and the real birds above. The decoys only have one leg). So took longer to set up and take down than we were actually shooting, but still a most pleasurable morning, roll on the next time.
Find the decoys on our Decoys & Accessories page.
Amongst the picked birds was an Leucistic (lack of pigment) Canada. Never seen one before, not white, but brown with pinkish feet.
Could be a Canada/Grey Hybrid.