Is the fact that some decoys will shine a real problem or is this something that a lot of other problems get blamed for. In other words, are there more serious issues with getting the geese to land but everyone (especially novices) like to just point and say that the decoys must be shining in the morning light?

I've wondered that myself. Some of the high dollar silhouettes have an awful shine to them.

"Friends don't let friends fish for trout!"

Look at real geese when they are sitting in a field in the sunshine. You will be surprised how much they shine. When I say real geese I mean live geese, not the decoys called real geese.

It is very important that your decoys(geese) do not shine. Look into getting a flocking kit, and use it on the heads and the tail feathers of your decoys. If you are using floaters then the head only would be fine. If you cannot affoard flocking then you can use the ultra flat black spray paint, and that will be enough on non sunny days. You will be amazed at the difference. Hope this helps

I've flocked the heads of G&H shells for both the mags and super mags. The last couple of years I have been buying full body Avery GHG goose decoys and this past week have been flocking the tails and touching up the heads of these decoys. This weekend I will be flocking some old Flambeau goose floater heads just to add a little color to them because they are kind of plain

Many times hunts blame the decoys but that's not always it. guys popping their faces out of blinds or moving their white face. Or not hiding the blinds well enough is always going to flare birds.

Is the fact that some decoys will shine a real problem or is this something that a lot of other problems get blamed for. In other words, are there more serious issues with getting the geese to land but everyone (especially novices) like to just point and say that the decoys must be shining in the morning light?


When decoys and geese shine it usually means it is very SUNNY ;)
-Which isn't the best condition for getting geese to decoy.

No matter who you are...Dekes work better in crappy weather with overcast or low light.

Back in the 70's shot tons of geese in ND with almost all home made decoys... about 700-1000. A good portion of these were made from printing plates from our local newspaper. They were a very thin tin / aluminum type metal that we cut and formed into the body of a goose. We painted them appropriate colors and used wood lath for necks with a small metal piece for the head. They worked great. They were light weight and stacked great. After a few trips some of the paint would scrap off which we would touch up at the beginning of every year but never during the season. We deffinently had decoys that shined.

I agree with T Mac, very sunny days with a calm wind were tough days.

Also, location... location ... location!

IMHO

I have always wondered about shine myself.We have switched to using only Bigfoot Decoys.I like the way they look and take abuse in the field.
I think it is more like Dane said with someone moving or seeing a flash.Last year we had snow and ice on the decoys.The sun came out and melted some ice off but they all had icicles hanging off of the beaks.The Canadas just came right in.Go figure.