Scouting evenings and shooting in the morning is usually better for decoying, however I've been in that same boat and only had the one day to hunt, and it's worth giving it a try. It's always better to be hunting (even unsuccessfully) than sitting at home wishing you were out.
A couple of years ago I only had the Saturday clear in my schedule, so I drove about 3 hours on a hope and prayer that I would find something to set up on. Ended up scouting for a total of 15 minutes before I locked up permission on 10,000 snows. Phoned my buddies and they drove down. We shot about 50 snows that night. Best snow goose hunt I had ever had.
Coincidentally last spring we scouted a morning shoot for snows and pounded them in the afternoon that time too. No wind and had flocks of 500 birds locking up and dropping right on top of us. No logic to why that one worked, but that afternoon was the craziest snow shoot I've ever been on in my life.
I have always found Canadas to be much tougher in the afternoons (at least on sunny days) and they often fly quite late in larger flocks (which makes them tougher to decoy). But duck flights to the fields are often much better in the afternoons - and there's nothing wrong with watching flock after flock of mallards dumping into your decoys.
If all you have is a day, be there early, scout hard, and do the best with the time you have available. Worst case is a day in the country driving around enjoying Alberta!
Go get em!
|
Linear Mode
