Short Reed Goose Calls » snow goose decoy

The Importance of Snow Goose Hunting

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:27:21 +0000

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?

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:34:32 +0000

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.

Avery GHG 6 Slot Snow Speck Lesser Goose Decoy Bag
US $34.80

EDGE EXPEDITE NORTHWIND SNOW GOOSE DECOYS BAGS 50 NEW!
US $128.90

SNOW GOOSE Hand-Carved Decorative Wood Duck Decoy
US $52.00

Using Snow Geese Decoys in your Field Hunt

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:29:40 +0000

When laying out your field hunt and you are looking to do a combination of Greater Canadians and Snow Goose hunting it is important to remember some rules when setting up your decoy spread. One of the cardinal rules to remember is that Canadians don't particularly like snow geese. I like to set up my spread with a small flock of snows just outside the main grouping of my Canadian spreads.

The use of snow goose decoys has become a very popular addition to decoy spreads. In addition, hunting snows in the late season is a great way to extend your goose hunting season. When the primary migration of snows heads south it is not uncommon to see several flocks of snows feeding in the same location. The Snow Sillosocks are a great way to build a huge decoy spread in very little time. The full bodied snow decoys add a sense of realism to the spread and will attract many more geese to your spread.

Snow Goose Feather Flyer Decoys (6 pk.) - Sillosocks
US $179.99