Spring Snow Goose Hunting

Well, after getting the pup to 500 points it was time to have some fun! Generally, I start snow goose hunting in South Dakota, but it was later this year, so we actually went straight to North Dakota. I'd planned to hunt snows for at least three weekends, but for one reason or another, I was only able to make it out for two of them. The first weekend I headed out with my dad and Arlie. Crammed in my dad's truck, we headed west and did a bunch of scouting. All the water made it extra tough getting to the birds even when you did find them. We ended up with 12 on Saturday I think. Certainly could have been worse, but I definitely expected better. Sunday, the weather turned against us. Rain overnight and it was still raining hard when we got up. We didn't have a very good field and with the rain decided it wasn't worth trying to set up. So, we tried to do a little sneaking but couldn't find anything worthwhile. We cut loose on one flock, but they were quite a ways out and came up empty. So we decided to head to town, have some breakfast and hang it up for the weekend.

I got out again the next weekend with a buddy, who also guides for Lone Drake Waterfowl Outfitters, and got after them again. We met up with a couple other guys after we found a field so there was four of us. It only took 3 vehicles driving around for a day and a half. But it turned out alright - I think we shot 48 that night. We already had a field lined up for the next day too. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a blizzard. This winter just won't quit! We never set since all of our decoys were windsocks and would have been filled with snow in no time. Mid day a couple of us put a sneak on some geese that were piling in to a field just down the road from where we were parked. There weren't very many close enough for us to get to, but it still turned out to be worthwhile - 23 geese down. We spent the rest of the day relaxing in the trucks staying warm. Meanwhile, lots of geese continued to use the field we were planning to hunt. So the next day we got out there early to greet them. Surprisingly most of them were adults and not juvies as we expected. They didn't come in very well, though that was partially due to the snow and our difficulty hiding. But enough of them came close for us to shoot 88 of them throughout the day. No doubt we lost at least a half dozen more that sailed off or something, but that's just how it goes sometimes. And of course Elsi had a great time chasing cripples all weekend. I think the only thing she didn't like was having to retrieve a couple that were all of about 15 yards out in the water. Ah the life!