An indispensable tool that will help in hunting goose, duck, hazel grouse, fox, elk and other animals is decoy - a device that mimics the voices of various animals and birds.
The use of decoys
The effectiveness of decoys is due to the biological characteristics and habits of animals. The sound that the device makes is similar to feeding signals or the sounds of courtship of an animal.
Significantly increases the likelihood of good luck goose hunting with decoy, because such a bird is quite cautious. Scientists do not have an unequivocal opinion why geese scream during feeding. Some believe that in order to drive away competitors, others - to attract relatives. However, as practice shows, birds eat in huge flocks while eating. This can be explained by the instinct of self-preservation: the more individuals, the safer. Usually the leader of the pack hears a cry of a relative and regards it as a call to a place where you can profit. To imitate such a scream, a decoy is used. Internet sources have a lot of information on how to make decoy on a goose, how to use and care for it, but first we’ll figure out what they are.
Types of decoys for hunting geese
When hunting this bird, various types of devices are used that imitate invocative sounds. The production of decoys on a goose can be factory and amateur, i.e. independent. One of the factory types of decoys are wooden. Valuable tree species are widely used for their manufacture: rosewood, black and zebra. At the same time, the combination of these species with cherry or walnut wood is quite common. It is important to properly finish and adjust the bait so that the sound is as close to natural as possible. Cheaper options are made from organic glass. Electronic variants of decoys are quite popular, but require certain skills. They are difficult to manage, so if used improperly, they can, on the contrary, scare away the birds. Sometimes electronic simulators give an echo, so hunting with mank can be difficult. It is best to use this view in the field. It should be noted that the use of such baits is sometimes prohibited due to a decrease in the number of individuals. In such cases, it can help out a wind decoy on a goose.
Stages of self-made semolina cartridge cartridge
Most hunters are inclined to believe that each of them should make a decoy on geese with their own hands. There are a large number of options for self-manufacturing. So, the most popular of them are made from a sleeve, a cylinder, a tree, and even from the bones of birds.
Consider how to make a decoy on a goose from a sleeve. This process is divided into the following steps:
- We drill a nest in which the igniter capsule fastens. It is important that the resulting hole is smooth, with no burrs. In this case, the bevel can not be removed.
- We bring the resulting workpiece to the included sharpener at an angle of 15 degrees. We need to make sure that the hole is symmetrical. If everything is done correctly, a gap will appear in the workpiece with uneven edges and burrs.
- We process the hole with a round file to get sufficiently smooth edges. The width of the obtained lumen is very small and does not exceed 1.1-1.2 cm in the widest part.
- Next, we need a piece of plastic bar. Its height should be approximately equal to the diameter. Moreover, its size should exceed the inner diameter of the sleeve by 0.1-0.2 mm.
- From the resulting piece of plastic with a knife, we remove the chamfer 2–2.5 mm wide in order to be able to put it into the sleeve. Then we cut off the “working chamfer”, that is, we cut off part of it so that it slopes to the axis of the cylinder so as to obtain a chamfer which, in a narrow place with a width equal to the wide place of the liner clearance, and at the widest, a couple of millimeters more.
- We put the plastic in the bottleneck chamfer. The clearance planes and chamfers must be parallel.
- The last step is setting up the bait. This requires a file and a little finger. It is necessary to slowly move the cylinder inside the liner and check the sound until a uniform and clear sound is achieved with any blowing force.
Homemade balloon decoy
As mentioned above, you can make a decoy on geese with your own hands using a balloon from a siphon or pneumatics. The manufacturing process is as follows:
- First of all, you need to release gas. As an option, you can screw a self-tapping screw into the rail, pre-clamping it in a vice, then, securing yourself with headphones and glasses, hit it with a hammer from an arm's length.
- We drill a narrow hole in the mouth of the balloon to a diameter of 3-4.5 mm. And grind the opposite surface until a flat circle with a diameter of 1.2 cm is obtained.
- We make a hole in the resulting surface. Then we expand it with a round file using translational and circular motions. Then we flatten the resulting burrs.
- It remains to check the sound. With one hand it is necessary to fix the received decoy, and close the narrow hole with the other finger, then blow it into it. It is important that the decoy is securely fixed, and the vibrating finger that closes the drilled hole does not bias it.
Poultry decoy
You can make decoy on geese with your own hands in another interesting and unusual way. For this, after a successful hunt and safe eating of a black grouse or capercaillie, we take bones from their lower leg. Then, using a metal saw, saw off the heads of the bones and clean out their contents. For a while we lower them into acetone for degreasing, then give the bones the shape of semolina. The next step is to make a sound hole, the size of which should be approximately 2.5 mm, given that the bone diameter is 4 mm. It is important not to forget to chamfer its edges for refinement. Then we take a little wax and two drills with a diameter suitable for the bone. We roll it into the sausage and shove it with the help of the tail parts of the drills so that the sound hole is closed by one third. Next, we make the air channel to the sound hole, for which needles are well suited: thick and thin. You need to clean the channel well to achieve the desired sound.
Features of the goose decoy
Using a wind decoy can be fraught with some difficulties, because it is, rather, a musical instrument. It should be understood that the sounds that birds make are not just a scream, but communication, therefore, it is important to learn how to manipulate the sound that gives an air decoy to geese. Do it yourself with your own hands or buy it - this is the personal choice of each hunter. In the manufacture of such decoys, wood, acrylic or polycarbonate are used. Wood sounds better, acrylic is the most resistant to weather conditions, and polycarbonate is the cheapest. It’s best to choose a material for the lure of a bright color, because it is easiest to find in the grass if you drop it. Although the transparent version is convenient to use, because it allows you to monitor the condition of the inside. It should also be borne in mind that for each species of geese, a certain timbre of sound is necessary. For a goose, a decoy must use a decoy with a sound that is significantly different from the sound that makes a decoy for a
gray goose.How to hunt geese with bait
If collective hunting of geese is planned, then each member of the group must follow certain rules and act within the assigned roles. The main ones: observe immobility, carefully mask and shoot only at the command of the team leader. Hunters should be at a distance of good hearing from each other. It’s best to use stuffed animals to bait, to which birds react. Having noticed them, the geese will either fall, or tucked lower. At this point, the ideal solution would be to use a decoy. If, having noticed the stuffed animal and reacting to the sound of the semolina with a response cry, the flock does not decrease, this means that it is flying. You can shoot if the height does not exceed 60 m. When the flock is about to decline, geese break the wing. At this moment, the hunters freeze and hide their guns under them until the flock drops to 30 meters. Below it is rarely obtained even by the most experienced hunters. At this moment, the elder gives the command to shoot.
How to blow decoy
First you need to correctly attach the decoy to your mouth. It’s easy, just remember how to put a glass on your lips. To get the right sound, air must be pushed out of the lungs with a diaphragm. To clarify, we give an example. When they want to wipe the glasses of glasses or lenses, they breathe exactly as you need to blow in the decoy. You should practice before you go hunting. Then you need to practice doing the same thing, but only more sharply in order to feel how the abdominal muscles tighten. This sensation is better to remember, because such an exhalation will be fundamental when hunting a white-fronted goose. It is important to hear a sound that is somewhat similar to the cry of these birds.
Decoy care
Despite having purchased or made decoy on geese with your own hands, caring for it requires the same accuracy and attention. If you neglect this, then its settings can easily go astray, which will cause many difficulties during its use. Experienced hunters recommend storing it in a bag made of soft material. It is necessary to monitor the absence of pollution. After all, untidiness can seriously affect the sound. With proper handling and storage, such a thing will last a very long time.