November to January · Migrators · Cold, snow and ice
Late season goose hunting comes down to three things: find the feed, find the open water, and put out a spread that doesn't look like every other spread they've flown over since Canada. Here's how late geese behave, four setups that finish them, and the Hardcore™ decoys built to take a winter of abuse.
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FowlFlex™ Rugged Series
Built for frozen fields and hard use.
Know the bird
Early season is local birds that have never seen a decoy. Late season is a different animal. Migrators ride the cold fronts down the flyway, the local birds have been shot at for months, and the cold puts every goose on a tight schedule of food, water and rest. Hunt the schedule and late geese get a lot more predictable.
20°F
Below this, geese need high-energy grain like corn to stay warm, and they seldom fly far from the roost to get it.
Source: Ducks Unlimited
10 to 11 a.m.
On bitter cold days, geese often sit on the roost until mid-morning before they head to the field.
Source: Ducks Unlimited
1 to 2 days
A few inches of fresh snow can make for great hunting if you get out within a couple of days. A foot of it usually doesn't.
Source: Ducks Unlimited
Food
Below 20 degrees, geese want high-energy grain, and cut corn near open water is the late season jackpot. When they eat out the middle of a field, they shift to the edges and the corners where the combine turned. Scout where they're actually feeding and set there.
Timing
On cold, clear days, geese wait on the roost until the sun takes the edge off, and some days they only fly once. Be set by daylight anyway, then plan to stay. Late morning and midday is often when it happens.
Water
When everything freezes, the open water that's left on rivers, spring holes and aerated ponds holds the birds. Leave the roost alone. Hunt the loafing water and the fields they fly to from it.
Pressure
By January, geese have been hunted for months. Go bigger or smaller than the hunters around you, change your setup often, and keep the decoys clean. A muddy, shiny decoy is the first thing a wary goose picks out.
Calling
Fresh migrators on a windy day can take more calling. Geese that have been around for weeks usually want a few clucks and moans, then quiet. Overcalling on a calm day just sends them wide.
Snow
Fresh snow pushes geese to feed and can take the edge off them for a day or two. It also shows anything that doesn't belong: dark blinds, boot tracks, and decoys with snow piled on their backs. Brush the decoys off, bury the blinds in real snow, and keep traffic away from the hide.
November to January
Late season isn't one thing. The birds, the weather and the spread all change from the first big push to the last week.
November
Cold fronts push migrators down the flyway, mixed in with the local birds. In the Central and Mississippi flyways, specks come with them. Fresh birds are looking for food and company, so go big and visible in cut corn and on the water.
Put out
Touchdown and Feeder full bodies, Canada floaters, a few specks where they fly.
December
Ice locks up the small water and snow covers the fields. Geese bunch up, feed hard on whatever grain they can reach, and loaf on the last open water. Tighten the spread, add resting birds, and hunt the high ground where the wind blows the snow off.
Put out
Sleepers, Sleeper Shells, Lesser Canada Floaters, full bodies set tight.
January
The birds that are left have seen everything. Watch for a warming trend a day or so after a hard cold snap, when birds can finally get to the grain. Scout hard, find a field nobody else is hunting, and run a smaller, cleaner, more realistic spread.
Put out
Your best flocked head full bodies, feeders and resters, a few floaters on the open water.
Spread setups
Same rules in every one. Geese land into the wind, they need a hole to land in, and in the cold they want to see birds that are feeding and resting, not standing around on alert.
Setup 1
Match the spread to what you scouted. If you watched a few hundred birds work a cut corn field, 100 to 150 decoys isn't too many. Run them in a loose U or V that opens downwind, with layout blinds at the closed end. Keep feeders close to the landing hole and face your few sentries toward the fence lines. On tough days or small groups, a dozen or two good full bodies can work better.
Two Touchdown 6-packs and two Feeder 6-packs gets you 24 flocked head full bodies: 18 feeders and 6 sentries. Add packs as the birds tell you to.
Setup 2
Cold geese bunch up. With snow on the ground, set the decoys tighter than you did in November and add plenty of sleepers and resting birds. When it's bitter cold, some hunters set full bodies right on their bellies with the stakes pulled. Hunt the high spots where the wind clears the snow off the grain. Bury the blinds in real snow, brush off the decoys, and keep your tracks out of the spread. A trampled path looks like a bullseye from the air.
A Sleeper 4-pack and a Sleeper Shell 6-pack add 10 resting birds to a full body spread.
Setup 3
When the small water freezes, geese pile into what's left open. Watch what they're doing and copy it. If they're swimming in the hole, set floaters. If they're resting up on the ice, set Sleeper Shells along the ice edge. Keep the open water in front of the blind clear as the landing zone. A loafing spot can give you several hunts. A roost burns out after one or two, so leave it alone. Be careful on ice, and don't send the dog out unless you know the depth.
A dozen Lesser Canada Floaters on WhaleTail™ keels and a Sleeper Shell 6-pack covers most ice holes.
Setup 4
Between feeds, late geese loaf on river sandbars, and a good bar can hold birds all day. Stand full bodies on the bar with sleepers mixed in, and run floaters off the edge so the spread reads from the water and the air. Hide in the driftwood or brush on the upwind end of the bar with the landing zone open in front of you.
The Canada Goose Floaters Touchdown 6-pack gives you sentries, a rester and a surface feeder to match the full bodies on the bar.
Build the spread
Start with a core of good full bodies, push the ratio toward feeders, add the resting birds the cold calls for, then cover the open water and the specks.
1
The Touchdown 6-pack is a full family group out of the box: 3 sentries (super, relaxed and stubby) and 3 feeders (2 active, 1 hungry), with flocked heads, 22" long, on 6 TruMotion™ 2.0 bases and field stakes.
Our most-reviewed goose decoy. 4.8 stars across 78 reviews.
2
Late geese come to the field to eat. A spread that's mostly heads-down feeders looks busy and relaxed, which is exactly what a cold, hungry flock wants to see. The Feeder pack is 3 active and 3 hungry feeders, 25" long, on TruMotion™ 2.0.
Two Feeder packs for every Touchdown pack keeps the sentries in check.
3
Cold geese spend a lot of the day resting. Sleepers on TruMotion™ 2.0 bases and oversized Sleeper Shells (24" x 14") say the flock is fed and safe. The shells are built for harsh conditions and frigid temperatures, and they stack flat for the walk in.
In snow, run more of them than you would in November.
Flocked Head Full Body Canada Sleeper Decoys, 4-Pack
$179.99
★ 4.7 (18)
Also: Sleeper Shell 6-Pack, $149.99
Shop now4
When the small water locks up, the open water that's left is where geese loaf. The Lesser Canada Floaters ride the WhaleTail™ keel, which moves with very little current, so an ice hole doesn't sit dead still. Three flocked poses: 2 active, 2 relaxed and 2 resters, 17.5" long.
Pair them with the bigger Floaters Touchdown 6-pack so the water spread has size variety.
Lesser Canada Floaters Decoys, Flocked Head
$189.99
★ 4.7 (49)
Also: Floaters Touchdown 6-Pack, $239.99
Shop now5
In the flyways where specks and Canadas share the same fields, a few specks mixed into a Canada spread add variety. Specks tend to land short, so keep the speck decoys and the blinds toward the downwind side. The Specklebelly 6-pack is 2 sentries (relaxed and stubby) and 4 feeders (2 active, 2 hungry), 22" long, on the same TruMotion™ 2.0 bases.
One pack is plenty to start. Specks are pressure-sensitive, so realism matters.
Why Hardcore
Late season is where decoys get wrecked. Frozen ground, ice, trailer loads in the dark and numb hands. Ours are built for that, and built to look like real birds while it happens.
Rugged Series full bodies and floaters
Built into every Rugged Series Canada goose and speck full body and floater on this page. It takes the impact instead of cracking, so decoys survive trailer loads, frozen fields and getting stepped on in the dark. They're virtually indestructible.
Full bodies and sleepers
A base and field stake system that catches the slightest breeze, so full bodies pivot and sway instead of standing frozen. It's the realistic motion you need to fool pressured birds, and it comes with every Rugged Series full body pack.
Floaters and Feeder Butts
Creates lifelike movement with very little current, so floaters on a frozen-in hole or a slow river don't sit parked.
The whole Canada line
Every Hardcore Canada goose decoy has a flocked head, from the Touchdown full bodies to the Sleeper Shells and Feeder Butts. Flocking takes the glare off a painted head in low winter sun, and the paint is matched to the feather detail and contrast of live birds.
Watch: FowlFlex™ technology
The lineup
Full bodies for the field, sleepers and shells for the cold, floaters for the open water, and specks for the flyways where they mix in.
6-pack · 3 sentries, 3 feeders · TruMotion™ 2.0
★ 4.8 (78)
$259.99
6-pack · 3 active, 3 hungry feeders · 25"
★ 5.0 (2)
$259.99
4 sleepers on TruMotion™ 2.0 bases · 20"
★ 4.7 (18)
$179.99
Oversized 24" x 14" shells · stack flat
★ 4.8 (4)
$149.99
6-pack · 3 poses · WhaleTail™ keel · 17.5"
★ 4.7 (49)
$189.99
2 sentries, 2 semi-sentries, 1 rester, 1 feeder · 24"
★ 4.7 (7)
$239.99
Tip-up feeders on the WhaleTail™ keel
★ 5.0 (3)
$59.99
2 sentries, 4 feeders · TruMotion™ 2.0 · 22"
★ 4.8 (4)
$259.99
Finish the rig
None of it matters until you're rigging floaters with frozen fingers in the dark.
6-Slot Goose Decoy Bag
Keeps full bodies from rubbing paint. ★ 4.7 (29)
$59.99
Mesh Decoy Bag
For shells and extras
from $10.79
12" TruMotion™ 2.0 Round Base, 6-Pack
Spares for a long season
$14.99
Snap Back Jerk String
Motion on a calm, frozen morning. ★ 4.7 (14)
$34.99
Texas Rig 36", 4 oz
★ 4.7 (54)
$34.99
Texas Rig 48", 6 oz
For deeper water and river current
$39.99
EZ Hook Weights 12-Pack, 4 oz
★ 4.9 (15)
$29.99
EZ Hook Weights 12-Pack, 6 oz
★ 4.4 (13)
$34.99
Braided Decoy Cord
Rig your own
from $7.49
Buying a full spread
Bulk pricing is standing, not a sale. It applies per decoy model, so the quantity has to be the same decoy, not a mixed cart. Guides and outfitters running more than one spread should start with the Outfitters Program.
Pricing out a big spread?
Split the order into 4 payments with Afterpay or PayPal at checkout.
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Example: Full Body Canada Goose Touchdown, $259.99
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From the field
★ out of 5
Full Body Touchdown
★ out of 5
Lesser Canada Floaters
★ out of 5
Full Body Sleepers
★ out of 5
Floaters Touchdown
★ out of 5
Specklebelly
Top notch decoys. Great durability, carves, and about the same size as a medium sized goose. Been hunting over the rugged series since Gen 1 and have decoyed everything from lesser up to giant late season honkers.
JJB1 · Rugged Series Full Body Canada Goose Touchdown Decoys - Flocked Head
Awesome design, look great in the water. The size is perfect also they look exactly like a family group swimming around.
Kody C · Rugged Series Canada Goose Floaters Touchdown Decoys - Flocked Head 6-Pack
Great quality and helped finish the late season tough flocks!
Paul Army · Rugged Series Flocked Head Full Body Canada Sleeper Decoys 4-Pack
Questions
There's no single date. Late season usually means the stretch after the migrators show up, roughly November through the end of the season, which runs into January in a lot of the country. Seasons, zones and splits are set state by state and change every year, so check your state wildlife agency's current waterfowl regulations before you hunt. We're not going to publish dates here that go stale.
It depends on the birds. If you scouted a big flock working a cut corn field, 100 to 150 decoys isn't too many. When the birds get tough or you're hunting small groups, a dozen or two good full bodies can work better. Late geese have seen every spread on the flyway, so going bigger or smaller than the hunters around you is often what makes the difference.
Start with the food and copy the birds. On cut corn, a loose U or V that opens downwind, layout blinds at the closed end and an open landing hole 20 to 30 yards out. In snow, tighten it up and add sleepers. On open water, floaters in the hole and Sleeper Shells on the ice edge. On a river sandbar, full bodies on the bar and floaters off the edge.
Fresh snow pushes geese to feed and can make them less wary for a day or two. Hunt the high spots where the wind exposes grain, bury the blinds in real snow, brush the snow off your decoys, set them tighter with more sleepers, and keep your tracks and your truck out of sight of the spread. A white hat or face mask helps too.
Less than you think. Fresh migrators on a windy day can take more calling. Geese that have been around for weeks usually want a few clucks and moans, then quiet. Call when they're turning away, stop when they're committed, and don't overcall on a calm day.
Yes, in the flyways where specks and Canadas share the same fields. A few speck decoys mixed into a Canada spread add variety. Specks are pressure-sensitive and tend to land short, so keep the speck decoys and the blinds toward the downwind side. Our Rugged Series Full Body Specklebelly 6-pack runs on the same TruMotion™ 2.0 bases as our Canada full bodies.
They help. Low winter sun and snow throw a lot of glare, and flocking takes the shine off a painted head. Every Hardcore Canada goose decoy has a flocked head, from the Touchdown full bodies to the Sleeper Shells and Feeder Butts.
Our Rugged Series full bodies and floaters are built with FowlFlex™, which is made for harsh weather and heavy use and takes impact instead of cracking. They're virtually indestructible. The Sleeper Shells are built to handle harsh conditions and frigid temperatures, and the Field Series Feeder Butts give you great durability at a great price.
Yes. Bulk pricing is standing on decoys: 10 or more of the same decoy takes 10% off, and 20 or more of the same decoy takes 20% off. It applies per decoy model, not to a mixed cart. Guides and outfitters should look at the Outfitters Program.
#HuntHardCore
Late season pays off for the hunters who scout, hide and keep their decoys clean. Put out a spread that looks right in the snow and holds up through the worst of it.
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Use your body measurements to find your perfect fit. See our How to Measure info and diagram below the size charts.
If you measure between sizes, or prefer a loose or roomy fit, we recommend upsizing.
| Size | Chest | Sleeve |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 34"-36" | 33" |
| Medium | 38"-40" | 34" |
| Large | 42"-44" | 35" |
| X-Large | 46"-48" | 36" |
| 2X-Large | 50"-52" | 37" |
| 3X-Large | 54"-56" | 38" |
| Size | Waist | Inseam |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Reg | 30" | 34" |
| 32 Reg | 32" | 34" |
| 34 Reg | 34" | 34" |
| 36 Reg | 36" | 34" |
| 38 Reg | 38" | 34" |
| 40 Reg | 40" | 34" |
| 42 Reg | 42" | 34" |
| Size | Waist | Inseam |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 28"-30" | 32" |
| Medium | 32"-34" | 32" |
| Large | 36"-38" | 32" |
| X-Large | 40"-42" | 32" |
| 2XL | 44"-46" | 32" |
| 3XL | 48"-50" | 32" |
| Size | Palm Circ | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Medium | 8-8.5" | 7.25-7.75" |
| Large | 8.75-9.28" | 7.75-8.25" |
| X-Large | 9.25-10" | 8.25-9" |
| Size | Waist | Inseam |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Reg | 30" | 32" |
| 32 Reg | 32" | 32" |
| 34 Reg | 34" | 32" |
| 36 Reg | 36" | 32" |
| 38 Reg | 38" | 32" |
| 40 Reg | 40" | 32" |
| 42 Reg | 42" | 32" |
Bend your elbow and put your hand on your hip. Measure from the center of the back of your neck, along the shoulder and down the elbow to the wrist bone.
Measure around the fullest part of your chest while keeping the measuring tape horizontal.
Measure around your waist where your pants typically sit while keeping the tape horizontal.
Measure from the crotch down to your leg where you like your pants to fit. Typically around the ankle.
With hand partially closed, measure over the knuckles, around the hand, excluding the thumb.
