Tips for Calling Specklebelly Geese

Calling to one responsive bird in a flock can pull the entire bunch right to the decoys. Photo by Cody Grounds

Greater white-fronted geese, or specklebellies, receive a lot more attention from hunters nowadays, especially with some states offering dark-goose seasons that start before duck season or remain open afterward.

And as many waterfowlers enter the speck game, they quickly learn that hunting this unique bird differs from honker and light-goose hunting, especially when it comes to calling techniques.

“Calling snow geese is all about noise, and with honkers, you can blow your guts out, but specks are definitely not like anything else on the goose calling side of things,” said Mario Friendy, a veteran waterfowler and vice president of brand innovation, marketing and sales for Final Approach. “And I don’t think it matters where you hunt them. I think they’re the same bird everywhere.”

In basic terms, white-fronts make a high-pitched two- or three-note yelping, laughing or yodeling sound that has been described as sounding like “wa-wa, wa-wa,” or “cah-laa-haluk.” Because of that, hunters often call them “laughing geese.” Specks also make a high-pitched squeak or cluck that trails off at the end. Because the birds have such a distinct vocabulary, hunters need a specialized speck call, but they don’t need to break the bank to get one.

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“You’re looking for something that’s easy to blow and that can make the sounds easily,” Friendy said. “Sometimes, you’re really not looking for a $130 speck call to start. Some of the less expensive calls like polycarbonate are OK because you kind of want that high-pitched tinny stuff on a speck call. Don’t be afraid of a less expensive call.”

Friendy said the basics of blowing a speck call are similar to using a duck or honker call. First, listen to real birds or online sound files so you know what to mimic. Then, work on establishing proper technique.

“You’re mouthing words as you’re calling specks, like hee-hee, ha-ha,” he said. “That’s the easiest sound to get because that’s the call where geese are really just going ‘hee-hee, ha-ha.’ Everybody uses different words, but that can get you an easy sound on an easy-to-blow speck call.”

And as with blowing a standard goose call, you want to bring air up from your diaphragm. However, you want to use less air pressure and a different method than when calling Canadas.

“It’s more bursts of air on a speck call,” Friendy said. “If you’re doing a honker cluck and moan, you draw out your moan and make sure you have your air control solid. With specks, it’s more bursts than long control.”

Calling to specks while hunting might represent the biggest difference from traditional duck and goose calling.

“Specks are very conversational,” Friendy said. “You have to get in a conversation with a speck. You don’t call at them. You call at honkers. You make a lot of noise for snows. But this is more of a conversation. They’re answering you back, and you’re talking to them, and they talk back to you. And once you start that conversation, you keep going. You don’t just call at them hoping you’re going to make a bunch of noise and they’re just going to all of a sudden come down. You have to get them intrigued of what’s going on and interested in what’s happening in the conversation.”

When one speck in a flock responds to calling, Friendy said, focus on that bird.

“He’s going to answer you, you’re going to answer back,” he said. “You just keep the conversation going. You might mimic his sound back and forth. It’s kind of like a chess match. He makes a move, you make a move. Hopefully that whole time, they’re circling, getting lower and are interested in what’s going on. But there is a chief in the whole group, for sure — somebody in charge.”

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If specks continue to answer and approach your setup, you might call them all the way to the decoys. However, you want to read their behavior as they approach, much like you’d read the reactions from a flock of ducks.

“Are they still interested in coming, and are they still talking back to you?” Friendy said. “Are they getting lower as you’re having this conversation, or are they at the same height? Do they start pumping wings to go out? Then you have to salvage it and get them back interested. If they’re at the same height, maybe you have to call an audible and do a different sound to break them down. It still involves reading the birds.”

Ultimately, Friendy said, learning to recognize and establish that connection with specks separates successful field callers from folks who merely sound good on a call.

“I think that’s what guys don’t realize,” he said. “They might be really good at all the speck sounds, so they’re just going to blow at them, but that’s not really how it works. You could know all the speck sounds but never call a speck in because you never got that connection with the bird.”