School me on snow goose hunting

[calgarychef]

So....when do the birds fly through? How long a window of opportunity is it?

[bobalong]

Of course it depends on weather, not sure about south, but around central is first week of April. Hang around about 3weeks or so and then gone.

[Pixel Shooter]

Closer to end of April for central for anything worth shooting . Might get 3 good weeks to play

[Top of the Foodchain]

Really depends on weather, in the south of the province they can show up around the 3rd week in March and we may get a month of hunting. However this depends on the weather as I said. This year southern Alberta has more snow than usual so expect the birds later. They hold up just below the snow line and won't move any further north as long as there is snow and frozen water. If the weather and snow is right they can move through an area even quicker. Last I heard they are holding around Colorado.

[32-40win]

One thing about Alberta, nobody paid much attention to them til a couple of yrs ago. I finally saw birds coming in one week last year, on the tail end of the honkers, and then they were gone, they never had a reason to linger, they just blasted thru an area they usually hold in during the fall. Maybe things will change a bit this year and slow them down a bit. But, if they have some somewhat open fields and sheet water to sit on, they will use it.

[gloszz]

This is an area that has never seen huge amounts of snow geese. That is the area that I hunted in the spring and I recall seeing huge flocks like this just fly over high and not even want to land. They have to really want to be down on the ground it seems.

[bobalong]

Originally Posted by Top of the Foodchain

Really depends on weather, in the south of the province they can show up around the 3rd week in March and we may get a month of hunting. However this depends on the weather as I said. This year southern Alberta has more snow than usual so expect the birds later. They hold up just below the snow line and won't move any further north as long as there is snow and frozen water. If the weather and snow is right they can move through an area even quicker. Last I heard they are holding around Colorado.

Watched a video on Facebook today by Big Als decoys, figured about a million moved onto the Mississippi river in SE Iowa. Don't know if it was actually a million but there was a lot. I only have about 14 dozen of the snow dekes, going to wait one more year to see if we get some more numbers around here. It can be a really short season here, so reluctant to drop another 500 bucks for one or maybe two shoots. I could use them in the fall but I don't really target Snows then, lots of Canadas around in the fall.

Got in one shoot last year, but we were skunked still a great day when you hunt geese in April.

[hal53]

You can google "snow goose migration tracking reports" starting march 1 they update the progress daily of the migration
Oops!, just checked their site..it looks like to start with they are updating it weekly, every Thursday. I'm pretty sure last year as the migration got going they had daily updates

[Top of the Foodchain]

Watch Flight Control Decoys and More on their Facebook page as starting March 1 they will also be sharing the Snow goose Migration report.

[Diesel_wiesel]

if you want to be schooled in the art of snow goose hunting
Those snow geese grrrrrr
they will make liars of all of us
the geese are the best teachers LMAO
best is to put in yer time
and watch them and learn from them

[swifthunter]

All depends on weather, get a stretch of warm sunny days with a strong south wind and they'll be moving north as fast as they can. I've shot geese from April 1 until may long weekend so its kind of a crap shoot. Early birds are adults and toughed to hunt, and the young birds bring up the rear of the migration.

[Steyr Luxus]

There primary goal is to get to the Arctic breeding grounds. The geese once spotted will most likely not hang around for any length of time. Therefore you must be constantly scouting and once a field is identified act on it. They will generally be gone within 3 days in the spring. This is based on my observations and hunting the spring season.

[coyoteman]

I have hunted snow geese in the spring, usually in the same area, there dont seem to be any absolutes, but for sure, the pattern the same, and better be an early riser, Many times up 3-4 hours before daylight to set the decoys. Of course have to scout a flock the day before and get permission. If meadows are wet, may have to drag decoys a considerable distance. The wind a consideration for a popup blind, direction of lay, I like on the side of a hill with wind in my back. Electronic call on the rdy, blow calls on the neck. Face mask for sure. I like 31/2 ammo, I like some Ts on hand,of course Bs. Dont move to early, and dont rush the shots. Before daylight to about 10am unless still flying you will hear them considerable distance---Scan the meadows around when finished with binocs, those misses are many times dead on the prairie, you can see a dead white goose a considerable distance.

[anthony5]

Only been at it for a few years as the migration pattern changed for this area, but when hunting snow geese every hunt is a school day, especially with the 50k winds in the spring. Awful lot of fun tho.

[coyoteman]

So true, one meadow I had some good hunting a few years ago,never saw a snow goose since-- In the Casters Area had a nice decoy set up, the wind came up and blew the liveing daylights out of the whole set, i mean destroyed many, the main object was recovery of surviving coys. I had now and then small groups go by and turned them to the decoys with hand blow calls that was fun.

[coyoteman]

an aspect of snow goose huning you dont hear about very often is "pass" shooting,from time to time I get it to work very well. Its all about the location of the meadow the snows have choosen, and the lake they go to night time.The idea to situate on a high ridge to intercept there flight back and forth. Some flocks well spread out and in the thousands and the odds are good. last seasoneast of Red Deer I had 5 fairly quick, they catch on fast, so mostly a one time on a location. Of course the decoy set is the ultimate.