Snow Geese

[Hecht08]

i was just wondering if my lack of experience hunting snows or if eveyone has this problem. I can never seem to pattern snow geese, and when they go down in a field the next day they are no were to be seen around that area. Also how do you just pick a field to hunt them? Is it just getting lucky, hoping they hear the caller..? Another thing will they stay and roost in a field all night or do they head back to water? If someone could help me out with this i would appreciate it because id really like to hunt some snows this year. Thanks

[Duckman4Ever]

They do roost on water. If they are not returning to a field the next day it's due to lack of food or some one run them off. You can run traffic on them just like canadas. Get in a field that they travel over going to and from roost and feeding area and set up. Snows are tough at best to hunt and will hurt your feelings most the time.

[Hecht08]

around my area we have a ton of snows, its not uncommon to find a field with 5-10,000 snows in them and it just seems like they are in a totally different field the next day. but i appreciate the help

[DropEmInDE]

I agree with the first post.....they are extremely unpredictable....for the most part...if you put in the time and do your homework...getting into them is still hit or miss....im my small experience hunting snows....and from what ive learned from a couple guides in my area that usually kill over 1000+ snows a year.........you have to find the roost.....its almost always on water...and after you find the roost you have to follow the birds when they leave in the morning and find out where the X is....the X is definatel key if your going to be serious about decoying them in....another thing is decoy #rs....you typically in my area have to have very very large # decoy spreads and even the if your not concealed perfectly...you will get busted every time........running traffic....the best bet here is to get into a field that close to the roost...snow geese will travel great distances to find a food source large enough to support a flock thats 10-15thousand strong...and they will clear a field of all food within hours...they are fast aggressive feeders and the do some real damage to the crops.....so if you want to run traffic on them get close to the roost and generally dont expect to get the whole flock..but small waves of little groups that find interest and break off.....because lemme tell you if your close to a field thats holding a couple thousand feeding birds...and your runnin a small spread....dont expect great things to happen, when the birds you are trying to decoy can see the Real birds feeding and making all kinds of noise nearby.......other than that....most of the guys i know call them Headaches and have had so many bad experiences hunting them that they have givin it up all together.....the bad days hunting snows are usually prettttty bad.....but the good days can be some of the most incredible waterfowl hunting that you can ever experience.....

Also....when setting up a snow spread....watch birds on the ground that you have scouted try and figure out what the Snow to Blue Ratio is and setup your spread accordingly....ive read this in mulitple articles and been told by many serious snow hunters that it makes a difference....in my area is anywhere from 5snows to 1 blue.......or 8snows to 1blue.......
in some areas out west i have heard that is somewhere in the 3to1 range.....all depends on the flocks in your area........

just food for thought....hope this helps.........

[KShonker]

Around here the snows don't do the same thing two days in a row.

[Killer Miller]

Dropem's
where the X is....the X is definatel key if your going to be serious about decoying them in

I disagree with this comment to some degree. Dropem, you were talking about 10-15 thousand feeding in one field.....and you think they're gonna be able to feed in the same field twice? I really doubt it. But yes it is to your great advangtage to be within a field or 2 from where they fed the day before the hunt. Especially if the birds fed in the evening and left the field before dark, that particular field is probably eaten out. On ZInk's 24-7 Runnin' Traffic video, they were setting up I believe in the field the birds had fed in the night before. But I am going to guess that they were hunting fields with tons of feed in them so they weren't eating a field out in just 1 day.

Snows will move across a field like a freakin wave. They do this because ALL of the geese are trying to get in front of the others to get to the largest consentration of corn. You can bet the birds in the front of the feeding flock are getting the most to eat.

Also, everyone has been saying how unpredictable they are. IMO one main reason is because its hard to tell when they start their migration again. Of course they going to move on a warm, sunny day with a south wind at their a$$e$. But what about on a descently warm cloudy calm day? You never know. One day I was sitting in the field letting the caller run for a few minutes on a cloudy day. And out of the clouds came a few hundred, breaking up and coming. I took 2 out of a flock of 3. So you jsut never really know when they're gonna move for sure, unless you got a hard south wind. And also, it's hard to tell whether a flock ate out a field or not. Because they're obviously going to leave the field sometime...but was it because they ate it out, a coyote scared them out, or it was just time to go back to the roost?

[DropEmInDE]

Sorry Tyler...i should have reread my post...i agree with you to some degree too....As in X i wasnt nessasarily talking about 10 thousand geese in your face....just making a general statement towards decoying them.....you right tho...usually they will clean a field dry...i watched a really big group work a field one afternoon 3 and a half hours and they had cleaned the field...i had been in that field a couple days before and there was still a lot of corn cobs everywhere with lots of corn on them.....and i could see corn on the cobs around the edge of the field when i was watchin them........took a walk out after they left at dusk..still plenty of light to see...and sure enough as soon as i reached the edge of where the flock had been , nothing wasteland...not a drop of anything edible anywhere....just feathers and feces everywhere...gave me a whole new outlook on just how much damage they can do in a very very short amount of time...

heres a not so great pic of the flock
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r223/spinitfast/HPIM0437.jpg

heres a couple from a hunt last year...just thought ide throw them up there....
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r223/spinitfast/HPIM0120.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r223/spinitfast/HPIM0121.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r223/spinitfast/blindpic.jpg
this was a flock that had been been feeding in the fields all around where we were...and the pond they were roosted on was less than 1/2mile away....the guys that owned the land where the roost was shot them on the water 1/2 hour before legal shooting time, and they flew over us right before daylight with 5 tucks and 3 trailers in the field all lights on and basically scewed us for the day........

[Killer Miller]

Justin, who has all those GHG full body snows in that last pic?

The group that me and my dad hunt with have been setting about 5,000 decoys out......about 500 full bodies and shells....1,000 homemade silos (we burnt up 3 jigsaws making them).....and the rest windsocks with and without heads. 0 texas rags. I think this year we're putting nothing but good stuff out shells, fb's and some windsocks with heads for movement.

[BigR]

damn you don't need a tag along to carry stuff out to the fields do ya, I'll get my car headin' northward :D

[DropEmInDE]

Tyler

I hunt snows guided only cause lord knows i dont have that many, but the guides i hunt with a a 1500+ GHG Fullbody snow spread.....hence why i dont go out on it by myself lol....they got a really good opperation and they wont take you out unless the are almost possitive that you will be givin a chance to get into some birds...which as we both know is sometimes hit or miss.....if you guys ever want to get into them after your season is done....our snow season runs till march 15th...theres a nice Hampton in right here 5 mins from my house...( its a small town ), and the guides are litterally like 10 mins south on the highway that the hotel is on.....i can definately get you in on some snows....aside from Gas, and Lodging they charge 125$ a day.......Im Waiting on the call now for when they have birds and im going myself......just lemme know....

[honkerhunter104]

i really like those GHG full bodies but for snow geese and 1500 deks i dont think i have that much money. i made some silos today that dont look too bad. but i know an outfitter from around here who i think he said has 8000 full bodies. he used to own FlatLanders Decoys.

[DropEmInDE]

8000 ????????????? woa...i would hate to see what time in the morning he getts up to start putting them out lol......

[Killer Miller]

Yeah 8,000 is getting real crazy!

Justin, prolly won't be heading clear to the east coast to shoot snows. Espeacially when about 3 million of them migrate up and down the Missouri River, which borders the west side of Iowa. But me and the guys are planning on hunting with a guide a day or 2 this spring.

[DropEmInDE]

LoL dont blame ya....just thought id throw ya an Invite if you ever wanted to take a road trip...you guys are always welcome......at least i know if you guys are here i got a good chance at shooting a band lol you guys are like Aluminum magnets lol........