Snow goose trip

[midwestkilla]

got pictures of guys in northern nebraska all the way to saskatchewan killing birds. They are supper spread out

that makes for a nice season if they don’t migrate too fast


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[Brendan]

Snow Geese are assholes...

That's the summary of my trip. In one sense it was staggering: Saw maybe 50,000 or more birds between candas and snows in two days, but they were mostly blowing right by us in upstate NY straight into Canada. The rapid melt and super warm weather is going to make for a very short season. Didn't get skunked, but only one shot opportunity and three birds in the entire group. I came home with one for the freezer.

I also think we had too many people and the spread didn't hide us well enough, because we had a couple big flocks start to spiral down on us, get to about 70-80 yards up only to bug out and go elsewhere. Wasn't thrilled about that part.

 

[midwestkilla]

Snow Geese are assholes...

That's the summary of my trip. In one sense it was staggering: Saw maybe 50,000 or more birds between candas and snows in two days, but they were mostly blowing right by us in upstate NY straight into Canada. The rapid melt and super warm weather is going to make for a very short season. Didn't get skunked, but only one shot opportunity and three birds in the entire group. I came home with one for the freezer.

I also think we had too many people and the spread didn't hide us well enough, because we had a couple big flocks start to spiral down on us, get to about 70-80 yards up only to bug out and go elsewhere. Wasn't thrilled about that part.

how many guys did you have and how many decoys?


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[Brendan]

how many guys did you have and how many decoys?

This was with an outfitter / guide. Was supposed to be 8 guys, there were 13. Decoys were easily over 1000 (blend of full body and socks), it wasn't the number as much as I don't think we were covered up enough. Who knows, maybe some of the other hunters were just moving around too much.

 

[WCB]

Snow Geese are assholes...

That's the summary of my trip. In one sense it was staggering: Saw maybe 50,000 or more birds between candas and snows in two days, but they were mostly blowing right by us in upstate NY straight into Canada. The rapid melt and super warm weather is going to make for a very short season. Didn't get skunked, but only one shot opportunity and three birds in the entire group. I came home with one for the freezer.

I also think we had too many people and the spread didn't hide us well enough, because we had a couple big flocks start to spiral down on us, get to about 70-80 yards up only to bug out and go elsewhere. Wasn't thrilled about that part.

Welcome to snow goose hunting...80-100 yards is the magical barrier to break. I have been by myself with a dug in ground blind (doors even to the ground) and covered to the point you could lose track of where my blind is and the birds have done the same thing. On the flip side I have been running to my blind and shot at groups of birds no more than 20 yards away landing in the decoys.

I will agree 13 is too many guys if you are just laying in whites or blinds aren't covered well but in my experience snows aren't normally getting 70-80 if anything is super obvious.

Were the flairing hard or just kind of sliding off and splitting apart?

 

[Brendan]

I will agree 13 is too many guys if you are just laying in whites or blinds aren't covered well but in my experience snows aren't normally getting 70-80 if anything is super obvious.

Were the flairing hard or just kind of sliding off and splitting apart?

Not flaring hard, more circling downwards to that point, and then breaking up and taking off. Unfortunately about 3 groups started at our spread, then went not far away only to descend on another outfitter and get shot at there.

Is what it is. I would have preferred fewer people, but it was a good time with two friends and blue skies, sunny, and warm was great to be outside.

 

[KurtR]

Yep they are dicks we were in the field they were feeding had four guys hid very well they would come to about 70 yards and just slide off then they started feeding a mile away and we were sol . Had every thing else but snows land right in front of us. The dog did not understand why we were not shooting he gave some dirty looks and it was a test of a puppy not to break with honkers 10 feet in front of him

 

[Fatcamp]

Yep they are dicks we were in the field they were feeding had four guys hid very well they would come to about 70 yards and just slide off then they started feeding a mile away and we were sol . Had every thing else but snows land right in front of us. The dog did not understand why we were not shooting he gave some dirty looks and it was a test of a puppy not to break with honkers 10 feet in front of him

No matter what it's a great chance for waterfowl hunters to see all manner of birds in full plumage at close range.

 

[KurtR]

No matter what it's a great chance for waterfowl hunters to see all manner of birds in full plumage at close range.

we were talking about that and thought they should sell a one bird trophy tag for a spring bird i would pay 100 bucks for that but it would be to hard to regulate . A spring pintail would look great on the wall

 

[Brendan]

Yep they are dicks we were in the field they were feeding had four guys hid very well they would come to about 70 yards and just slide off then they started feeding a mile away and we were sol . Had every thing else but snows land right in front of us. The dog did not understand why we were not shooting he gave some dirty looks and it was a test of a puppy not to break with honkers 10 feet in front of him

The Canadas must have known season was closed. We didn't have any land in the spread, but group after group would give us a low, slow pass even when we were standing up walking around in the middle of the day. Would have been like shooting fish in a barrel.

 

[KurtR]

The Canadas must have known season was closed. We didn't have any land in the spread, but group after group would give us a low, slow pass even when we were standing up walking around in the middle of the day. Would have been like shooting fish in a barrel.

i think they have some kind of sixth sense because every year they come in the spring with out a care. i was sitting up in the blind in plain view and the dog was in his blind shaking like a cat shitting tacks and they didnt have a care in the world. Come october no way that happens haha

 

[KurtR]

how many guys did you have and how many decoys?


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so how was the hunting

 

[midwestkilla]

so how was the hunting

still going, since saturday we have shot about 40 and a band


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[Fatcamp]

still going, since saturday we have shot about 40 and a band


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Bet the decoys have been dancing!

 

[midwestkilla]

Bet the decoys have been dancing!

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[midwestkilla]

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Ended the trip with just over 70 and 2 bands , shot a pretty cool bird...i believe it is a blue rossy against the odds there are two bad pictures of it



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[midwestkilla]

Ended the trip with just over 70 and 2 bands , shot a pretty cool bird...i believe it is a blue rossy against the odds there are two bad pictures of it
View attachment 279787


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[WCB]

Ended the trip with just over 70 and 2 bands , shot a pretty cool bird...i believe it is a blue rossy against the odds there are two bad pictures of it

Can't tell from the pictures if it has a grin patch like a snow or not. Could be a Hybrid still rare and would be going on my wall.

Sounds like you had a decent trip. I know guys just started getting good Juvie shoots in a Friday and Saturday in southern ND. But, the masses of birds were there last week. We shot 35 between 1 full day sit on Thursday and a four hour morning hunt on Saturday. All adults and largest group we had commit was a 4 pack. All the geese that were hanging out in our area were condensed to about a 4 mile area and went south Tuesday night. We showed up Wednesday with zero geese around they poured in on Wednesday night and kept coming till we left Sat afternoon. Saw one of the largest migration I have ever seen. 4 hours straight of migrators stretched at least 4 miles wide and stacked on Saturday morning.

Would love to be out there in about another week or two but got a baby on the way in about a month

 

[midwestkilla]

Can't tell from the pictures if it has a grin patch like a snow or not. Could be a Hybrid still rare and would be going on my wall.

Sounds like you had a decent trip. I know guys just started getting good Juvie shoots in a Friday and Saturday in southern ND. But, the masses of birds were there last week. We shot 35 between 1 full day sit on Thursday and a four hour morning hunt on Saturday. All adults and largest group we had commit was a 4 pack. All the geese that were hanging out in our area were condensed to about a 4 mile area and went south Tuesday night. We showed up Wednesday with zero geese around they poured in on Wednesday night and kept coming till we left Sat afternoon. Saw one of the largest migration I have ever seen. 4 hours straight of migrators stretched at least 4 miles wide and stacked on Saturday morning.

Would love to be out there in about another week or two but got a baby on the way in about a month

The bird is in the freezer, no grin patch whatsoever. it was a decent week with a few fast paced days making up for a horrible beginning of the week with 90 mph gusts making hunting impossible


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