Snow Geese Hunting AB - info

[lastlatvian]

I've hunted big game my whole life and upload game birds when nothings around.

What are the basics I need and what parts of Alberta would you recommend, just general areas I am not asking for secret spots?

Do blinds matter a lot?
Do I need high quality decoys?
What calls work best?

[tikka250]

snow geese are a tough one to get started bird hunting on.
though quality is always nice for snow geese the answer is quantity. we hunt over 500 sock type decoys and consider it to be a small to med size spread. hiding hunters is of extreme importance. either good blinds or white painters suits to hide in among the decoys.
for calling an E call is what you need preferably with multiple speakers.
as for location the further east you go the better.
snow geese are pretty much finished for this spring. if you want to try out waterfowl i would highly recommend either tagging along with someone or trying out ducks and canadas first as snowgoose hunting is quite an investment in time money and sanity.

[Justfishin73]

Alberta is a crap shoot for snows at the best of times. But here is my breakdown.

Give me $3000, Ill kick you in the nuts—hunt complete!

They have frustrated me beyond belief

Ill stick to Canadas

[elkhunter11]

I find that they feed much more consistantly in the fall, I see them in the same fields for several days . But after trying to pattern them in the spring, I decided that it isn't worth the time or expense. I have hunted them out of layout blinds, friends hunted them laying in white coveralls, in all cases, we used hundreds of silo socks, and electronic calls.

[DSD Addict]

As others have mentioned snow geese are not a great place to start when it comes to hunting waterfowl.

Go chase ducks in the fall and see if you like it. A dozen decoys, a pair of waders, and cheap single reed call like the RNT hunter and you have everything you need to get started. Use your big game camo and build a basic blind out of willows, cattails, whatever. Add a spinning wing decoy for $50 (they're regularly on camofire.com or you can find them used) if you want to invest a little more.

If you find that you love the process of calling and decoying birds, try goose hunting-- I'd recommend starting with big Canadas as a few dozen decoys are all you need-- they're the dumbest goose in my opinion.

if you love all that, then maybe you can take up snow goose hunting. The skill and gear required to kill them consistently is exponentially greater than other waterfowl.

If you're dead set on a snow goose hunt, hire a guide. But I would hate to see a potential lifetime waterfowler soured to the sport because they invested hundreds or thousands only to be burned by snow geese. That would be like trying to ski a double black diamond your first day in a pair of skis. The chances for success just aren't good.

[Justfishin73]

Originally Posted by lastlatvian

I've hunted big game my whole life and upload game birds when nothings around.

What are the basics I need and what parts of Alberta would you recommend, just general areas I am not asking for secret spots?

Do blinds matter a lot?
Do I need high quality decoys?
What calls work best?

Where are you located?

[Diesel_wiesel]

spring snow geese can be the most frustrating
hardest hunt you ever encounter
sometimes they wont even look twice at a spread of 1000 decoys
the next day they will tornado into a spread of 50 decoys,
here this morning gone this afternoon,
remember they since last the middle of august they have literally seen tens of thousands of one type or another decoy spread
hunted and shot at almost daily

[nafiul15]

Spring snow geese changes flight path weekly as well depending on the snow fall or any change in weather.
Currently there are some east of Edmonton.



QUOTE=Diesel_wiesel;3968475]spring snow geese can be the most frustrating
hardest hunt you ever encounter
sometimes they wont even look twice at a spread of 1000 decoys
the next day they will tornado into a spread of 50 decoys,
here this morning gone this afternoon,
remember they since last the middle of august they have literally seen tens of thousands of one type or another decoy spread
hunted and shot at almost daily[/QUOTE]

[lastlatvian]

Originally Posted by Justfishin73

Where are you located?

In Calgary.

Thanks for all the good information everyone, it's really informative and helpful. Sounds like I gotta start in the fall and work my way up to snow geese.