Increase to goose decoy spread.

Personally with the set up you have I would go one of two ways. I would either start buying better full bodies (Dave Smith's) or start buying silos. I would think this will be fairly split in this forum which one they would prefer. I think going either way would work well for you. Also Big Al is a sponsor and make some really nice decoys and are american made. I bet if you ask they might have a promo code or something too.

 

Personally I’d go silly’s. But that’s just me. With what you have now there should be little problem killing geese on a regular basis if you do your homework on locations.

 

Add more fullbodies, more, silhouettes, or more shells. Don't over think it. The more you hunt, the more you'll appreciate having different options. FB are nice. Having 4-10 dozen silos is nice if you can't drive into a field. Having sleeper/rester shells is nice for loafing areas.

 

^^^^^^ this

I’m adding a bunch of big al silos this year to mix it up. Have 5 boxes of X14’s and 4dz b&w’s. Going to add a few more boxes of X14’s and should be set to see how a silo spread works.

 

In Kansas, bigger is better 9 out of 10 times for a few reasons. Our flocks tend to be larger in numbers so little spreads rarely have the pulling power. The fields are typically massive so the X today is not always the X tomorrow, even within the same field. Also, the distance they can see other flocks is so far that you need to get their attention and keep it so they don’t pull to the in flight groups a mile away.

Last season is a prime example. We were in a 600 acre section and the birds hopped everyday on where they would feed. Combine that with the extremely cold weather and all the birds would come off at once from multiple roost, usually the last 30 minutes of the day. Since there was never a true X, we had to pull the first couple groups or they could stack up at another part of the field. Reasons like this is why I added the b&w’s which seemed to work well.

 

I've never had issues finishing geese in full bodies (high dollar or B2's) so long as I did my scouting homework. Got lazy on a duck hunt once last year, set about 18 full body geese with just the dog and I, before ever seeing the ducks ended up running traffic on big numbers of honkers that had not been using the field and landing them at will. The unasked question that comes to my mind is, how do you hide and how many are typically hiding? There is a difference in what you want based on those circumstances, at least to me. If using layouts, I personally prefer full bodies just because of the size for breaking up edges and making shadows look like they are birds and not blinds. If you are using edges with an A-Frame, then I would say it is whatever your budget is comfortable with and gives you the most volume without effecting hunt quality. I've always gotten at least a half dozen B2's from Cabela's during their annual waterfowl sale with free shipping, for $129 the quality and price is hard to beat. Mine have had the snot knocked out of them between the trailer, and getting piled in grain seed bags to get drug out when fields are too muddy. That said, I also picked up three dozen Avian lessers this off-season so when hunting with just the pup I can throw everything in the bed of my truck and go. Three dozen Higdon shells (I'm a decoy ****) also ride around in the trailer all season just for when we want to throw some different looks out on cold mornings with frost, too.

Our general rule of thumb is for every hunter in a blind we want at least two dozen decoys. Exceptions being beginning of early season when geese are still more in family groups and not always wanting to land in a mass of decoys. We will run about 50-60 of our best full bodies then (usually 5 or 6 guys are around for the opening hunts), and grow from there.

As you can see just from the replies you have - there is a lot to consider. Another question is what are you trying to achieve? Right now, are you only shooting a few birds each time out and hoping to limit out instead? If that's the case, decoys alone won't do that for you (scouting, blinds hidden, calling, people not moving/showing faces, good flagging/movement all come into play), but they can help. There is something to be said about a half decent hide with 200 decoys while running traffic for a dozen honkers at a time to focus on instead.

 

With what your doing is get the 5 pack of BA X14’s and see what you think. The price is half of what a dz quality fb’s are.

Once you go A-frame you won’t go back! Last season I bought one and have now picked up a second. You can run these things in the middle of the field or the edges.