Late Season Goosin'

Hey guys welcome back to the forum. I live in Iowa and we are having a late season 2 week goose season from the 24th of December to January 7th. We have alot of snow here in Iowa. I was wondering if anyone knows about how deep the snow has to get before the geese cant get to the corn. Just curious because it keeps stacking up here in central Iowa. Thanks boys

[IowaMigr8tor]

I really wouldn't worry about it that much. If the birds are flying and they can see your decoys it won't effect them how deep the snow is. My suggestion is, depending on what type of decoys you have, put some shells ontop of the snow. Using relaxed decoys such as sleepers will add to the realism of your spead. Also you can put full body feeders and sentrys/callers out.

Right now here in Iowa it isn't a issue of whether the birds can get to the corn but where the birds are at. They need a water source and because our water is frozen they are more likly to fly right over us. I have seen alot of migrating candas move through however I still believe we have yet to see the big push, but it is COMING! It also sounds like we are going to be getting a warm up this weekend and looseing some snow. I don't know about the weeks to come but keep in mind that you need to locate the birds and do some scouting to find a suitable field. Alot of the fields where I hunt have had wind blowing across them and there are areas where the stocks are bare and areas that have drifted. Cover yourself up as much as you can depending on what you hunt out of. Blinds if your surrounded by solid snow, they need to be white. How ever if stocks are visible they may need to be visible on your blind.

Also if it begins to warm up be careful driving in the fields. We don't want to anger those who give us permission.

Thats some of the suggestions I have. Hope it helped.

[Killer Miller]

Thanks iowamigr8or for the advice. I am 19 and live in Urbandale. I dunno why my post was under a guest but this is my foiles name. Where do you live.

[IowaMigr8tor]

Hey Killer Miller I live in West Des Moines! and I hunt Central/South Central Iowa.
If you have any other questions don't be afraid to ask. I am 18 and have been waterfowling for about 7 years now. I am still learning every time I go out to hunt.
It warmed up some today and I am hoping that we loose some of this ice or we will not have any birds around to hunt for the late season. I even saw a bunch of mallards on the Des Moines River! I thought that they had all went through when we had this last hard freeze. The rivers were opening up some today and I saw alot of birds out flying.

I put my HPH & Timber Rattler on layaway at Scheels yesterday and I am excited to add them to my lanyard with my SMH and SMM and I am supposed to be getting a Meatcutter for Christmas!

Let me know whats up where you are hunting. I talked to the guys that I hunt with and they said that everything was migrating down there. But I still have hope for the late season, if it was anything like last year during the last two weeks of december there was geese everywhere down there! but we couldn't hunt em', season closed :cry: !

[kingkilla]

hey iowamigr8tor i hunt with killer miller and did you know that scheels did carry any finishers this year. They said somthing about avery being unreliable

[IowaMigr8tor]

I worked for Scheels for a Year. They got restricting during hunting season. Thats why nobody there is knowlegable in the subject. Before I left I thought they still carried the finisher. I know they still had a migrator on friday. I talked to one of the sales staff that said they went with Kolpin and Final Approach this year because of their new decoys. Rumor is that they are going back to Avery next year. I think the kolpin's look good but they are the same as the Avery but you only get 4 for $99.99.

[kingkilla]

yea they had the migrator but not the finisher. did u see the price on there decoys. all duck and geese decoys are cheap

[IowaMigr8tor]

Yeah, I just wish Bigfoot would go onsale but that will never happen. The gguys I hunt with Have around 107 bigfeet and 4-5dz outlaws. I would like to two dozen for my self. Actually more but then I would have to get a trailer, all my short bed Ford can hall is about 24 with my blind in the bed also. They have a Featherlite to haul the decoys but a soft field isn't inviting to a heavy trailer.

[kingkilla]

i think if you buy like 4 feeder bigfoots its like 89.99. i have a buddy who knows a guy that is selling like 2 doz. big foots for like 200 dollars. know that is a deal.

[IowaMigr8tor]

Thats a steal. 2 doz is like $600!

[kingkilla]

maybe its $400 but still thats a steal. theres like three of us who hunt together and if you split that up between three it = dirt cheap. my buddy just wont get his dad to call this guy so we can buy them

[IowaMigr8tor]

What age group do you hunt with. I hunt with people my dads age(40ish). Occasionaly guiding friends and parents co-workers to the hotspots.

[kingkilla]

i hunt with killer miller who is 19, and 2 other kids that are 18, and im 18

[iawaterfowler88]

im pretty sure im gettin some Averys for Christmas al....and jordan needs to pull his head out and get those decoys hooked up for us haha

[kingkilla]

yea i know i would be all over those things like stink on skunk

[IowaMigr8tor]

I used to hunt by myself. Then I got better and hooked up with the guys I deer hunt with and now I can't wait for the weekends. It is so much easier to set up when there are others to help and it makes it easier to get out of bed when people are relying on you.

[kingkilla]

i think im going on a hunting shopping spree with my christmas money

[iawaterfowler88]

eh try telling that to killer miller.....

[kingkilla]

iowamigrr8er where are you goin this weekend? everything is closed isnt it?

[iawaterfowler88]

al....i would do that but like im not gonna get nearly the presents i normally would because of the trip that my brother, sister, sister in law, and my sisters fieonce are taking me on.....all i kno is that i got a passport for it so yeah......oh and i kno its 8 days long and i dont have to pay a dime for it haha

[kingkilla]

so your going to miss all of the late season goose? that sux

[iawaterfowler88]

no i'll b here for it.....my trip is feb 4th through the 11th

[IowaMigr8tor]

Next weekend probably watching more geese fly over during closed season and not seeing anything during late season. Shot my season 1 shotgun tag and will be hunting late muzzelloader if I can concentrate on the ground. Last year I had hundreds flying around during late muzzelloader.

[iawaterfowler88]

alright well im headed to bed ya'll i got school in about 7 hours n im already lackin on sleep n im gonna have to b up late tomorrow night doin homework so yeah.....n school is jus flat out kickin my ass as is

[Max4Gooser]

In the past I have always had some of my mostmemorable trip in the late season, Last weak of season. If you do the research and not afraid of being cold and getting wet, you can still find birds in Southern Illinois.

Good luck guys with your late season.

Jeff

[kingkilla]

yea i know where the birds are. i see them every day on my way to school. always in the same place. i think were going to shoot em up come the 24th. thanks

[IowaMigr8tor]

Thats RIGHT!