Finest Snow Goose Decoys of 2022

Snow goose hunters that spend money on 1000’s of decoys are a number of the most passionate hunters in North America. The substantial price of decoys is simply the beginning. You want a trailer to haul all these full-bodies, a reliable truck to tug the trailer, an ATV to navigate muddy spring ag fields, plus the price of gasoline for each autos, and the instances of shotshells you plan to shoot. By the point you’re watching an enormous flock of snows spin into the decoys, you’ve spent rattling close to $100,000. And in case you drop that sort of money on looking, you’re obsessive about it. 

Since you’re making this funding, it’s vital to know which decoys fit your fashion of looking—and finances—greatest. So that can assist you out, here’s what I’ve discovered concerning the high quality of snow goose decoys available on the market. I’ve hunted over most of the greatest snow goose decoys, and those I haven’t I requested a number of the most ardent snow goose hunters within the nation to offer me their opinions. 

Why It Made the Reduce

There isn’t any extra lifelike manufacturing decoy in all of waterfowl than DSD.

Key Options

• Heat white paint scheme
• Molded legs
• Giant movement cone
• Carry loop
• Pinned, reflective stakes
• Accessible in 10-packs (seven feeders, three sentries)

Execs

• Paint doesn’t simply rub off
• Extremely-realistic
• Accessible in juvie and blue goose choices

Cons

Product Description

Dave Smith is understood for consideration to element in his decoys. This snow goose pretend is as shut as you’ll get to the actual factor, from the paint scheme to the feathering. The paint shade was matched with the precise shade of actual snows. I liken it to a gentle white gentle bulb versus these blinding LED bulbs that sting your retinas as quickly as you flip the on swap. That’s sort of the identical thought DSD had in making the colour change. They imagine older, smarter geese will flare off these brighter full-bodies. 

These decoys are available 10-packs, and are additionally out there in an all feeder pack, blue geese (which are available an interphase and conventional paint scheme), and juveniles. A few of the feeders have the rusty shade that snow geese develop on their faces in the course of the spring from feeding laborious. And the legs are molded from precise snow goose legs. The 20-inch fiber-glass stakes are pinned, in order that plastic high piece that matches into the movement base received’t come off when you find yourself selecting them up. There’s additionally a bit of reflective tape across the high of the stake, a pleasant characteristic when you find yourself organising or tearing down at nighttime.

Why It Made the Reduce

White Rock Evacs are gentle, supply fast set ups, and are extremely sturdy.

Key Options

• 24-inch stake related to decoy
• Movement cone designed for pure feeding actions
• Manufactured from versatile EVA plastic
• Accessible in six-packs (4 feeders, two sentries)

Execs

• Versatile EVA plastic shell
• Handy one-piece stake-to-decoy design
• Inexpensive
• Distinctive movement system

Cons

Product Description

I picked the Evacs as one of the best worth as a result of they’re some of the inexpensive full-bodies ($140 per six-pack or $23 per decoy) in manufacturing. The movement system really makes the decoys appear like actual geese feeding. Typically in a stiff wind, price-point area decoys will spin left to proper in an unnatural movement or fall over. You will get away with that in case you’re area looking mallards, however not grownup snows. 

The 24-inch stakes conveniently lock into the decoys. That means, you may set and pull the Evacs in a single step. White Rock made this innovation as a result of they’re adamant cellular hunters, however for many who prefer to take their time, the stakes will detach from the decoy. 

These full-bodies are constructed of a gentle EVA plastic, making them extra pliable. When you run over an EVA decoy along with your truck or ATV, they’re much much less prone to break due to their flexibility. There’s some first rate feather element on the Evacs for added realism, although the paint scheme is brilliant, so it would be best to boring them up. They’re most likely a greater decoy after one season of laborious use once they’re soiled and look extra like an precise snow goose.

Why It Made the Reduce

Few in waterfowl care extra about high quality than Fred Zink (founding father of Avian-X), and his decoys are a number of the greatest ever engineered.

Key Options

• Accessible in six-packs, together with two juvenile feeders
• Grownup blue goose and juvenile choices
• Detailed feathering
• One-piece
• 24-inch stakes

Execs

• Magnum dimension decoy for added visibility 
• Intricate feather element
• Accessible in grownup and juvie choices, together with blue geese

Cons

Product Description

Fred Zink’s Avian-X AXP full-bodies proceed to be a go-to decoy for late-season snow goose hunters, notably in Canada the place a smaller, life-like rig usually kills extra birds. The one downside is that this could possibly be the final 12 months they’re out there—Avian-X is dropping snows from their lineup. AXPs are barely bigger than precise snow geese, which makes them stand out a bit greater than different fakes. 

The element within the feathering is barely second to DSDs, however you’ll have to pay a premium worth. A six-pack prices $230 (that’s a mean of $38 per decoy, the identical worth as a DSD). Avian-X provides the AXPs in grownup and juvenile choices in lesser snows and blue geese. The blue goose juvenile is the sort of outside-the-box innovation Zink is understood for—nobody else makes such a decoy. He’s very meticulous in his strategy to looking, and his decoys mirror that. 

Why It Made the Reduce

GHG Professional-Grades have been a number of the first go-to plastic full-bodies for guides as a result of they have been so sturdy, they usually’re nonetheless among the best snow goose decoys out there.

Key Options

• 4 completely different mounted head positions
• Dulled paint scheme 
• Actual-life dimension
• RealMotion stake system
• Fast seize tail loops
• Accessible in six-packs (4 feeders, two sentries) 

Execs

• Sturdy 
• One-piece design

Cons

• $33 per decoy is on the high-end for the GHGs

Product Description

When you hunted spring snow geese within the Nineties it seemingly occurred over the GHG Professional-Grades. They’re nonetheless a high quality full-body. The Professional-Grades supply feather and physique element you received’t discover in a cut price decoy. GHG has been utilizing the RealMotion system for many years. It makes these decoys dance within the wind, however they received’t spin like a high in a critically stiff breeze. Paint will rub off on the Professional-Grades, but it surely’s a suitable quantity for snow goose hunters who’re loading and unloading decoys into and out of the trailer numerous instances per season. When you hunt a everlasting unfold, there received’t be as a lot paint loss. One disadvantage: The beak and leg shade is nearly crimson, not the pinkish-orange you see on precise birds.

Why It Made the Reduce

Proprietor Scott Butz is without doubt one of the few hunters that chases snow geese all fall and spring from Canada to the southern U.S. and again once more. He is aware of his stuff and his decoys mirror that.

Key Options

• Hen Imaginative and prescient paint utility
• Life-size decoy
• 24-inch stakes with reflective tape
• Accessible in 10-packs (six feeders, three sentry, one looker)
• Carry loops for pickup

Execs

• Hen Imaginative and prescient paint utility provides UV reflection
• Sturdy plastic decoy
• Unimaginable feather element
• Priced proper

Cons

Product Description

Core snow goose hunters know when an clothing store is having an unimaginable spring killing white geese. After I talked to a handful of guides and hunters within the know, all of them saved saying Swift River—based mostly in North Dakota—cleaned home in the course of the conservation order. The decoys they hunted over have been Scott Butz’s SX full-bodies. If these decoys look acquainted, it’s as a result of they intently resemble the Avian-X AXPs. Butz and Zink labored collectively for years, so naturally the 2 decoys have some similarities. Nevertheless, the SX fakes are the scale of an precise snow goose, not magnums just like the AXPs. The decoys are coated with Hen Imaginative and prescient paint too, which displays UV rays as an alternative of soaking them up. Birds see colours extra vividly than people, and Hen Imaginative and prescient enhances the realism of your decoy. Carry loops come customary with each decoy, and the 24-inch stakes are geared up with reflective tape so you could find them at nighttime.

Why It Made the Reduce

There are few decoy producers that produce a well-made snow goose floater—Dakota Decoy is considered one of them.

Key Options

• One-piece design
• Accessible in six-packs (4 sleepers, two uprights)
• Weighted keel
• Magnum dimension decoy

Execs

• Outsized floater for higher visibility
• Weighted keel makes it experience correctly

Cons

Product Description

Snow goose floaters are an afterthought for many decoy makers. They don’t spend a lot time on the design. Invoice Willroth at Dakota Decoy did, and it reveals. These one-piece plastic floaters are outsized, which I like for water setups. In case you are looking water and a gaggle of snows flies over high of the unfold, they’re prone to at the very least provide you with a glance. After they do, I’d slightly have a much bigger, extra seen decoy. 

The keels are weighted, so the decoys will experience correctly on the water and are extra apt to proper themselves in case you toss one and it lands on the water the other way up. My solely challenge is the Dakotas are heavy, however that makes them extra sturdy. And there’s actually no means round heft whenever you construct a plastic magnum goose floater, particularly if you’d like it to final.

Why It Made the Reduce

Silhouettes have been round for many years, however solely a handful of firms actually spend money on the standard of their 2D decoys, and Dive Bomb is on that checklist.

Key Options

• Two-dimensional decoy
• Accessible in dozen, five-dozen, or 10-dozen packs
• 4 poses per dozen (six feeders, two resters, two quarterting, two lookers)
• One-piece metal stake
• Supplied in blue goose and juvie choices

Execs

• Extra inexpensive than full-bodies
• Nice for including depth to the unfold
• Simple to set and retrieve

Cons

• Gained’t final so long as full-body decoys
• Stake system in flimsy

Product Description

The Dive Bomb V2 silhouettes are perfect for making your unfold extra seen to white geese with out having to pay extra for full-bodies. Flat decoys, like thes V2s, disappear after which reappear to the snows flying above the unfold. That peaks a fowl’s curiosity, hopefully lengthy sufficient that they cup into shotgun vary earlier than they notice it’s a bit of corrugated cardboard coated in a protecting plastic protecting. 

Dive Bombs are available two items, the decoy and a two-pronged metal stake that slides by slots on the highest of the decoy. The stake will not be heavy-duty and there’s a good quantity of flex in it, so if the bottom is half-frozen it may be a ache to set the V2s. You’ll have to use a screw gun with a drill bit and make two small holes for the prongs. V2s are sturdy. I do know outfitters that run the Canada goose model of them every day, and the decoys maintain up nicely—apart from those that get shot up by shoppers, in fact.

Why It Made the Reduce

The White Rock wind sock is without doubt one of the most sturdy items of drugs in waterfowl. In addition they add extra movement to your unfold than a full physique at a a lot lower cost.

Key Options

• Tuf-snap assist system
• Drain holes to let water out
• 24-inch fiberglass stake
• Accessible in dozen or 10-dozen packs
• Lifetime guarantee

Execs

• Stake system saves house
• Sturdy, received’t fall over in large winds or when a canine runs by decoys
• Cheap

Cons

• Not as lifelike as full-body
• Folding stake sticks after time

Product Description

When fields are muddy, it’s far simpler to cart in baggage filled with White Rock Headless socks—slightly than full-bodies—to extend the scale of the unfold. These socks come fully assembled, so that you don’t must spend time sliding on rubber o-rings, then the socks, and is derived to begin looking. To deploy the socks, simply unfold the 24-inch stake and stick it into the bottom. A rubber mallet can be utilized to pound them in if the bottom is frozen. The stakes have a small piece of wire that runs alongside the again of the sock to maintain them upright and catch the wind whereas looking. 

If you decide them up, you could push the spine ahead and press down. Now, that system can begin to stick after laborious use or within the chilly however most of the time, the decoy simply folds up. There’s additionally a small gap within the underside of the sock so water can drain. Sturdiness will not be a problem with the White Rocks. You might run the ATV over the socks whereas they’re staked out within the unfold and it’s seemingly they received’t break. Nevertheless, White Rock does supply a lifetime guarantee with these decoys.

Why It Made the Reduce

The SilloSocks Twister machine provides extra movement to your decoys with none wind help.

Key Options

• Two- or four-arm setup
• Distant-controlled velocity settings
• 15-foot energy wire (runs on 12-volt battery)
• Rotates flapper decoys in 14-foot circle

Execs

• Added movement
• Velocity management by distant

Cons

• Flapper decoys not included
• It’s time consuming to arrange

Product Description

Rotary machines, just like the SilloSocks Twister, can spin two to 4 flapping decoys in a circle to offer geese the impression that there are birds beneath them on the brink of land. Used correctly, the rotary will be lethal, simply be sure to set it up in a spot that your hunters received’t shoot it. When birds get low and people metal rods (they’re round seven ft lengthy) are churning, it may be simple for somebody to ship a payload of metal at it. 

The Twister runs off a 12-volt automotive battery, so you’ll have to lug that afield, which is the one actual drawback with this machine—it’s cumbersome and takes time to arrange. Loads of permanent-spread hunters make the most of rotary machines as a result of they’ll go away them out all season. 

You must purchase the kite-style flapping decoys individually. Be sure you get extras, as a result of they’re delicate and might tear simply. And also you’ll want a backup battery for the Twister as nicely.

Issues to Contemplate When Shopping for Snow Goose Decoys

Right here’s just a few issues to contemplate earlier than diving into an enormous decoy funding.

Worth Dictates High quality

The extra you pay for snow goose decoys, the extra seemingly they’re to carry as much as the abuse you’ll impose upon them. And even in case you are very cautious placing out and selecting up decoys, I assure not one of the hunters in your celebration shall be. So simply know in case you low-cost out, your decoys are going to interrupt down rapidly.

A majority of plastic decoys are made in China after the molds are designed within the U.S. The standard degree of the decoys depends upon the talent of the carver and what manufacturing unit the decoy producer selects. You will get some sense of how nicely or poorly a decoy was engineered just by it on-line and a greater thought in case you go to a retailer and examine the ground mannequin. However that decoy on the shelf isn’t all the time consultant of what’s within the containers of the decoys you purchase. There will be imperfections from the manufacturing unit or transport, and also you received’t actually know the way sturdy the decoys are till you get them within the area.

Subject Decoys 

When you area hunt snows, you then want area decoys, however one of many key issues many hunters don’t take into consideration is the decoy base. I’ll argue until the cows come dwelling that you can purchase stakes—which all of the decoys on this checklist have—over bases. First, you may set stakes and see what your unfold goes to appear like earlier than ever placing out a decoy. After all, you’ll lose a few of these stakes, however they’re cheaper to exchange than spherical or sq. bases in the event that they break (and the bases will). 

Water Looking

You’ll want floaters to hunt water, however additionally, you will must rig all these decoys with traces and weights. I like 8-ounce mushroom weights, as a result of they are going to dig into virtually any backside and maintain your decoys in place. You can even make your personal weights by mixing concrete, dumping it right into a small plastic cup, and sticking a U-shaped piece of metallic into the concrete. Let it dry and harden, then strip the cup away. It is a tedious course of, but it surely saves some huge cash. 

Unfold Dimension 

Virtually each waterfowl hunter needs to place out extra decoys. However it is best to first take into consideration when you find yourself looking and the place you’re within the snow goose migration. Grownup snows usually take a extra lifelike decoy to be fooled. Juveniles might bomb into an all-sock unfold. However that’s all contingent on what the birds are doing. Solar, wind, and 60-degree climate are sometimes the times when snows are flying and feeding laborious on their journey north. You don’t all the time want 5,000 decoys, however different instances you’ll. My level is, take into consideration the other ways you propose to hunt snow geese, the times you want to focus on snow geese, and the timing of the migration earlier than you spend $15,000 on decoys.

Shopping for Used

I do know this can be a story about one of the best new snow goose decoys, however only a cautionary story in case you purchase used. In case you are shopping for a big rig from somebody, examine the decoys. It’s seemingly some have cracks, paint rubbed off, damaged bases or lacking stakes. You don’t wish to be taught these info put up buy. Be methodical in your inspection. Don’t simply again up the trailer, hand over the money, and begin chucking full our bodies. 

Additionally, most hunters promoting their decoys are doing so for a motive. Would possibly as nicely ask them why. In the event that they hesitate in any respect, it’s most likely as a result of the rig is junk and they’re attempting to recoup a number of the cash they spent. You’ll want to examine the worth of used decoys to new ones. I’ve seen some used decoy sellers ask for a similar quantity—or extra—for the price of new decoys.

FAQs

Remaining Ideas

When you’re a devoted snow goose hunter, meaning you’re a part of a small, however passionate fraternity. It additionally means you’re spending some huge cash, notably on decoys. Bear in mind to take your time and take into consideration how and when you will be looking earlier than investing in a snow goose unfold. That means, you’ll find yourself with a trailer filled with one of the best snow goose decoys and, hopefully, have loads of success tricking these large spins of snow geese into shotgun vary.