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.
Tags: importance of snow goose hunting, snow goose decoy, spring snow goose hunt
Posted in General Goose Tips and recipies, Snow Geese | No Comments »
Spring Snow Goose Hunting – Migration Map
As the spring snow goose hunt nears it is important to remember some of the patterns of the snow goose. Snow geese typically fly in few large flocks at very high altitudes - especially on clear days. Snow geese migrate extremely large distances - thus their hunting seasons are both later in the fall and earlier in the spring. The spring snow goose hunts through Nebraska and the Dakotas take place in Late Feb - Early April.
Snow Goose Migration Map
If we look at this migration map it tells alot about the patterns of the snow goose. The red represents the summer breeding grounds, the grey the typical migration patterns and the blue the winter resting areas. Snow geese feed almost entirely on plants and grasses - so as the snow melts and exposes young early plants the main migrations begin in the spring.
Tags: Snow goose migration, spring snow goose hunt
Posted in Goose Hunting Information | No Comments »