Goose and duck hunting on the ice

[LT]

     Am I the only one naive enough to believe this can be done? I mean, that's at least what I'm going to try...have a blind at the edge of the lake and watch the tip-ups and flying geese/ducks at the same time. Anybody actually succeed at both?  "Honk!"  "Blood on the ice."
                                                                              LT 
                                                                         

[doggbiter]

 Love spilling blood on the ice, mostly trout blood-from the gaff 8)

[LT]

I know that's true, true, lil brudder! But are you splashing any geese? 

[Traxion]

It can be done.  Lots of shells (sleeper heads rock), a few full bodies, and some birds using the area will get you in business.  I've never really had good finishing birds on ice- usually low passes looking things over, not quite the feet down 10 yds. out like field hunting.  Only downside I see is having to be that close to shore.  Most of the time, unless you're on a small body of water, the birds stay safe and way in the middle.  A layout blind with snowcover might work well though!

[LT]

     I have this planned for a little-used area; don't care for someone else firing a shotgun near me when I'm fishing, so I'll afford the same courtesy. Good intel thoughb and I have both types of decoy, thanks, laters, 

[wyoutdoors]

i once spread out a large sheet of visqueen (like a see-thru opaque tarp) in a bean field and tossed out my deke's like it was a small water hole. had one mallard actually roll across it when we called him in and he looked like he wanted to land, so we let him. funnier than hell when he hit. we did limit mout to by the way.

and thats all i gots to say about that...

~ G

[LT]

Oh man, now that right there is funny 

[Cargo]

Icensnomnstr,
                    Traxion is a big Goose hunter and he knows his stuff. Like he said about sleeper geese if you had any of those deeks I believe they would help do the trick. I have a pretty big pond behind my house and I watch the geese all the time. Right now(today) i was watching a pretty good size bunch they were all sleeping out in the very middle, in about 5" of snow, They stayed there sleeping most of the day.
        If you don't have any open water it can be tough. Like Traxion said if you could get away from shore closer to your decoys it would help.
       Traxion I don't think i have ever seen sleeper deeks. Could you just use shells.

[LT]

Ocean always has open water by the (off-limits to hunting) 1/2 mile around the aerator, so there's always birds flying over the ice to/from the open water, but you're right, mostly they stay out in the middle away from danger. Thanks for the tips BI.

[Traxion]

Big Ice, there are sleeper shells available in two styles.  There are one piece designs, or the std. shell and head combos.  I bought sleeper heads for all my shells.  They look unreal on ice or frozen fields.  Doubt it matters that much, turn your feeding heads around to their backs like they are sleeping and call it good.  I think you could even leave the heads off, they just like to see them sitting down on the ice like that.  Colder it gets the tighter to pack them.  I've watched thousands of birds sleep in packs, all facing a stiff wind in single digit temps.  They couldn't get up and stretch their wings without hitting another goose.  Let us know how it goes.  My luck would be a flag would pop, and as I was running to it a flock would sail in, locked up, and I wouldn't have a gun LOL!  Tough choice!

[doggbiter]

 Good point Traxion   .......or       or......

[Baiter]

My dad and I once used Blue and Green food coloring to make he ice look like open water on the ponds by our house.  Had a five gallon bucket full of water(nice if there is a stream/creek or open water nearby so as to fill buck),  added food coloring to desired color and threw out over an area on the ice.  I guess from above it looks like a nice spot of open water on an otherwise frozen pond or lake.  The only time we tried the trick we downed two geese.

[BUCK1]

I think baiter likes to tell tall tales!

[jayswimmer09]

goose no but coyote's yes. after seeing them almost every other outing i decided to start bringing my gun along. This year i plan on hunting them at night too.

[LT]

My dad and I once used Blue and Green food coloring to make he ice look like open water on the ponds by our house.  Had a five gallon bucket full of water(nice if there is a stream/creek or open water nearby so as to fill buck),  added food coloring to desired color and threw out over an area on the ice.  I guess from above it looks like a nice spot of open water on an otherwise frozen pond or lake.  The only time we tried the trick we downed two geese.

I like it! I like it! 

[LT]

It's been a few weeks now since I made this post  and I couldn't help but notice the obvious absence of geese and ducks at Ocean. I distinctly recall there were hundreds there last year. Anybody know what's up with that?