Short Reed Goose Calls

Field Goose Hunting Rules Of Thumb

If you are serious about goose hunting then you are invariably going to be hunting in the fields.  Geese love the water, but more for resting and relaxing than for eating, and that means that patterning them consistently on the water is a challenge.  Plus once you find out where they roost you will get one good day of hunting.  And then they will be gone for good.  Nothing ends quality goose hunting in a specific area better than busting up a roost.  Now, hunting in a field can be as simple as driving around, finding a field where the geese are, setting up the next morning and shooting your limit, but if that isn't your gig on a routine basis, some goose hunting rules of thumb are needed to continue to be successful in the field.  With that in mind, here are a few tips to help you get more consistent hunting in the future:

Setup your Goose Decoys On the Highest Point In A Field

Geese are very visible creatures.  They look from miles away to see what is going on and where a healthy food supply awaits.  You would be surprised how far they can see once they are up in the air.  That said, if you are down in a valley or not on the highest point in the field you have permission to hunt, they are far less likely to see you.  You want them to see your decoys easily and make their way towards your spread once they get up in the air, and for that to happen the highest point is also the most visible point.

Avoid Standing Corn Or Woods If At All Possible

Geese are smart birds.  They know that tall corn and trees are the source of a lot of things that can harm them.  In addition to you and I lying in wait amongst the trees and standing corn over the years, there are also many predators that can easily hide in these areas.  For that reason geese are hesitant to make their way too close to such a spot.  Unless you have a great reason I would avoid these spots altogether.

Find A Way To Remain Completely Hidden

The key to continued success in the hunting game is two key areas, scouting and concealment.  Layout blinds are possibly the greatest thing invented for field hunting geese in the past twenty years as they allow for portability coupled with top notch concealment.  If you don't have a layout blind, laying in the decoys or finding a low hedgerow are also options.  Geese have keen eyesight, so sticking out like a sore thumb will get you no shots and you will continue to be frustrated.

Put The Birds To Bed

A common technique that is bandied about is to scout around in the afternoon until you locate birds.  And not just a small flock or two, a heaping bunch of them using one field.  If you don't already, go and obtain permission to hunt the field and then get back and make sure that the geese stay in the field until dusk.  They will leave that evening/night at some point and then you can get there before they come back the next morning.  This may take a lot of miles and time, but it will pay off in spades when the geese are landing in your face.

So there you have it, a plethora of great rules of thumb to take with you the next time you are planning on goose hunting out in the fields.  If you utilize these techniques, a more successful hunting season awaits.

How not to blow a goose call

Please practice before you go to the field

A great story of how not to blow a goose call. Last year I was out hunting a wheat field for honkers and we had a nice fully flocked spread set up for early season goose hunting here in Minnesota. Early in the morning had no luck , just lots of high flyers that did not seem interested in landing in our field. So we rearranged the decoy spread and moved to an area more out in the open that had more down wheat. The geese in the afternoon were flying much lower and many of them close enough for me to blow my short reed goose call.

I by no means am a expert call, but I can make about 4 calls pretty good. I started to blow a nice feeding call and the geese started their final decent. One of the guys that was with was a friend of a friend type of thing. He started wailing on his $10 garbage call and all the geese veered off and left before we had any shooting. It was so bad it sounded like someone was stepping on a dying cat. He was breaking his reed open right away and it sounded just awful. We banned him from blowing any more during the day. Bottom line is that we filled out on geese because so many were around. I kept telling the guy - you need to go over to field across the road we are going to get a lot more shooting over here when you blow your call over there.

A great hunting story, but the bottom line is if you cant blow your goose call - PRACTICE away from the field. If you cant blow it at all, choose a better location and leave the call at home.

Tips for shooting from a layout blind

If you are not accustomed to hunting in a layout blind the first time can be a little difficult. Most hunters are very comfortable with shooting in a upright position. When shooting in an upright position everything is very comfortable: 1) your eyes are level on the horizon, 2) you can mount your gun as normal, and 3) you are usually very stable because you are sitting or standing. However, when shooting either snow geese or canada geese in large fields, a hunter needs to find a way to conceal themselves from the incomming geese.  This is typically acccomplished by using a layout blind or sometimes called a coffin blind.

A Typical Layout Blind

Learning how to shoot first time a hunter steps into a layout blind can be quite intimidating. When shooting out of a layout blind everything is changed: 1) you are lying prone on your back, 2) you are in an enclosed area that limits both your movement and space, 3) your eyes are looking upwards not on the horizon making it difficult to judge height and space, and 4) you must sit up to shoot making a required extra step to hunt.

For most beginners using a coffin blind can be a big challenge.  Not many are used to suddnly flipping open a hatch and sitting up to shoot.  To become an effective hunter from a layout blind every hunter must remember a few key strategies that will make them much more successful in the long run.

• Patience.  Remember when geese start their final decent they are committed to land.  This buys a hunter time when shooting from a layout blind.  Many novice hunters jump up too soon and end up taking very long shots that are unnecessary.
• Rise Slowly.  Use your elbows to start your lift and use your stomach muscles to do the rest.  The hatch will open automatically, so you need to keep your hands on the gun.
• Take good shots.  A panicked shot is a missed shot.  Take a deep breath and shoot close range geese.  These birds are tough and bringing them down can be difficult.
• Shoot only when you are stable.  Many new hunters try to shoot when they are lifting up.  This is too many variables for most to handle.  Get up, get stable, aim and relax and then pull the trigger.

If you use these tips, I am sure you will be able to shoot more geese this year.  Using a layout blind can be a very effective way to conceal yourself in the field, just make sure you are comfortable shooting from the blind.

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait...

Great scouting is the key to success

Scouting

When finding an area to hunt pay attention to topography of the local area. What is the access to water? Is there a body of water that the geese can rest on for the evening? What is the proximity to food? Can you identify the closest local food source for the geese to feed. Something to remember when hunting Canada geese is that their migration pattern requires that they eay a very large amount of food to migrate long distances. It is necessary to find areas that they have an ample food sources. You can blow your goose call until you are blue in the face if you aren't in or near the right spot you won't get geese to come in.  It is always a good idea to scout areas where the harvested just happened because it is easy for the geese to find food.

A key point to remember is that your advance scouting for Canada geese should include areas where their is ample food source.

A second key point to consider when scouting is the proximity of water relative to the feeding areas. More times than not geese will choose a body of water to rest in and will move to the fields in the nearby area to feed. The fields within a 4-5 mile radius of the body of water are great tagets to set up your decoys for a hunt. The more recent the field was harvested the more likely the geese will feeding in that location.

Scouting is so crucial to success of goose hunting that it will be the difference between a good and bad year.

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait...

A Good Snow Goose Jacket – A Overlooked Piece of Equipment

As much as we hunters spend on goose decoys, guns, ammo, hunting trips, waders, and goose calls - we often overlook one of the most important peices of equipment - OUR CLOTHING. Lets face it the conditions for hunting waterfowl are not like hunting doves in Argentina. The air is usually damp and wet and the air temperature can be fridgid at times creating the ideal environment to be cold.

A goose hunting jacket can make you much more comfortable while hunting in the field or over open water. What should a goose hunter look for in a good snow goose hunting jacket. First, look at the grams of insulate. Since you are hunting snow geese in late fall and early spring the jacket should be rated for at least 20 degree weather - preferably warmer. Another great feature in a jacket is layers - many of the great jackets have a inner and outer layer allowing you to hunt in a much wider range of temperatures. Next, look at the camo pattern - not all camo patterns are created equal -- Especially in snow goose hunting where the combination of white and dark can give you away for miles. The camo pattern needs to closely match your conditions, concealment is a key feature. Finally, flexibility and motion are crucial point to choosing a jacket. When in the store, grab a gun when wearing the jacket and see if you can move around to shoot. Lack of mobility will cause you to be uncomfortable and make the hunt less enjoyable.

Take a look at some of these great deals right now on snow goose jacket. enjoy your spring hunt!

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The Importance of Snow Goose Hunting

Snow goose hunting in both the spring and fall has become a very popular sport in many parts of the country. The reality is that the sport has grown in popularity the importance of snow goose hunting is extremely important for both ecological reasons and financial reasons.

A fact is that is that the blue/snow goose population has grown substantially over the past decade for many reasons. The decline of predators in both the artic and migtration routes. Abnormally warm winters allowing for warmer than normal breeding seasons and longer breeding seasons has allowed more than normal snow geese to survive the hard winter conditions. The population has grown so much that the geese have actually started to destroy their own breeding grounds. From an ecological reason it is important for hunters to curb the population of this growing species.

For a financial reason, the snow goose hunt has added a substantial amount of revenue to the coffers of the state DNR organizaitons. Many of the plains states and east coast states have a special spring hunt that gives hunters another chance to get out and spend money and participate in their hobby. Even with these extra hunts the number of birds continues to grow. In fact, New Jersey state Fish and Wildlife Division will allow hunters to kill an unlimited number of snow geese from March 11 to April 18 in an attempt to control the growing population. These geese are now destroying farm lands in addition to their breeding grounds.

For hunters, snow goose hunting can be a fairly low cost alternative to canadian goose hunting. Some of the low cost means are to use shell snow goose decoys or the old Texas Rag decoy (white rag on a stick). Hunters can use a white sheet to conceal themselves in the snow - the key is always is picking a good location. However, if you do pick a good location it is not unreasonable to see 200-300 snow geese at a time to land in your decoys.

Snow Goose Decoy Spread – How Many Decoys Should I Use?

Ever talk to a avid snow goose hunter and discuss the topic of decoy spreads?  Chances are the hunter will have told you at some point in the conversation that you need as many decoys as humanly possible when building your decoy spread.

As it turns out this is very good advice - lets explore why.  When snow geese migrate they travel great distances.  As I pointed out in a previous post - snow geese travel from the artic all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.  Only the artic turn migrates further than the snow goose on the North America continent.  To travel that great of a distance, it requires a tremendous amount of energy and food supply.  To conserve energy snow geese take advantage of the jet stream currents and migrate at tremendous heights and in great numbers to take advange of drafting.  An average flock of snow geese migrate at heights of 2000 - 5000 feet in the air.  In addition, once a flock decends to feed - the whole flock will come down to feed.  Snow geese feed for long periods of time in the same location, because it takes a lot of energy to ascend to the heights that they migrate.

Thus it makes sense to use a huge amount of decoys - so that they can see them from that height.  The objective is to attract as snow geese into our spreads as possible.  The larger the snow goose spread - the bigger the flocks that will land in the spread.

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Snow Geese Feeding Patterns – A Key to Success!

With out a doubt the rise in popularity of snow goose hunting over the past couple years is extreme.  As the population of snow goose hunters goes up; the hunting pressure will eventually make it much more difficult to find and hunt snow and blue geese.  A key to snow goose hunting or any form of hunting is understanding the feeding patterns of the animal.

To understand the feeding patterns of the snow goose, we first must have a better understanding of where the goose lives, breeds and migrates.  The snow geese breeding grounds are in the artic tundra area.  The prevalent food source is grasses and marshes.  The geese primarily hang out near the water edge and feed on the tundra grasses.  When they migrate south the winter in the Gulf of Mexico area and feed on sea

Snow Geese Feeding

marshes and grasses as well.  The only variation to their feeding pattern is that during the fall migration they have adapted to eating grains from the harvest.  Since they migrate late they feed mostly on corn and soy beans during the migration south.  On the migration north, they will forage through both the melting fields and feed at any open water spot.  Some farmers will leave some grains specifically for the spring hunts.  In particular early winter wheats can be a favorite of the snow goose.  When scouting for spots to hunt these bird pay attention to these feeding patterns it will help you become much more productive.

Spring Snow Goose Hunt – Advanced Scouting

Spring Snow Goose Hunting
For those of us who are goose hunters, the spring time is an opportunity to hunt snow geese in the plains states. A spring hunt for snow geese in the Dakotas is a chance to do some hunting after a long winter and before the fishing season starts in full gear. However, don't expect to show up and immediately set up and shoot birds. Like the fall season, the spring season hunts also require some advanced scouting.

Advanced Scouting for Snow Geese

When finding an area to hunt snow geese pay close attention to the following characteristics of the area. Snow geese are primarily field geese, but still need water. A key point when scouting snow geese is to remember that they move through when the fields start to melt. This provides water and exposes some of the grains that were left after last years harvest. A key point to remember when hunting geese is that their migration pattern requires large amounts of food sources to travel large distances. Therefore, it is necessary to scout areas that they have an abundant food source. It is a very good idea to make some contact with locals in the area that you hunt and find out when the first birds start to appear. The wave of the migration usually will occur with in a few weeks after that point in time.

Don't forget to look on the Internet for guide services. The guide services will have all kinds of information about the migration. These birds are very predictable and this can work in your advantage.

How to Breast out a Canadian Goose

Recently we created a video and posted it on YouTube about how to breast out a goose. I am posting it here as well for information purposes. Breasting out a goose as you will see is not a very difficult process. Sometimes late season geese have very thick skins and feathers making the process more difficult. Two things to remember when you are watching this video: 1) make sure the breast is completely exposed before taking off the meat on the goose; and 2) make sure to take time when cutting meat off the bone. It is pretty easy to miss a large chuck of meat if you are in too much of a hurry.