Setting up a spread of decoys for a Goose hunt

Setting up a spread of decoys for a goose is an all sense of the phrase, an art form.  If it looks wrong, the geese will not land.  This entry will hopefully help you with the basics of setting up the spread.  The first rule is make sure that all of the geese are facing into the wind, or relatively facing that direction.  This is the first that will set the geese off that there is something wrong.  Next is do not set up the entire spread so that they are all doing the same thing.  Think of your spread of a college lecture, some people are sleeping, some people are eating, and some are paying attention, and these people are all intermixed throughout the group.  Knowing that, realize that the goose is in a survival situation so there is some order to chaos.  Generally speaking the Sleepers are on the inner part of the flock.  This is because they aren’t paying attention to not getting eaten by predators so they stay on the inside to be warned by the outer birds.  The outer part of your spread should consist of Sentry birds.  These birds are on the lookout for predators (such as yourself) so it is imperative that you get them right.  There should usually be one sentry per 8-10 geese in your spread.  The rest of your spread should consist of feeding birds and be sure to space the birds out unevenly if your spread looks like a grid of dots from the sky it will look fake.  Lastly is the shape of your spread, it should be an oval that is pointed into the wind and in heaviest on the edge that the wind is hitting.