Snow Goose Hunters POST UP

[Family Hunter]

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[wwbirds]

Didnt know there was open water on weed lake near Langdon but had 200 snows come over the farm and appeared to go down on east side of lake. See more shows here each year and I could count the number seen on one hand 10 years ago

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[32-40win]

We had a spotter out of Leth area this week, birds he'd been seeing building up this week apparently all may have left today. Dang was hoping for a shoot in the AM. Seeing reports of small numbers of them up to Brooks , Hanna and Camrose now, but, it's early yet, still lots coming from the US, some only just leaving California. Maybe go look around and see what I can see tomorrow, plink some gophers if I find a decent spot to do that.

[SouthWestRanger]

Had a couple small groups flying over my house west of Calgary today, probably only 100 total but was a welcome sight.

[mightybuck]

Still at least two weeks until they get up to us around edmonton

[Diesel_wiesel]

Here in this part of Saskatchewan

[TrapperMike]

Could be here and gone in days.

[threeforthree]

[Pikebreath]

Threeforthree,,, that is an impressive pile of birds,,, good show!!!

Do you mind sharing your spread and hunt details? ie numbers and types of dekes,,, weather conditions at time of hunt,, gadgets such as ecaller,,, rotaries,, flyers etc

Thanks.

Judging by the snow on the ground on the ground, it looks like you were hunting a "fowl weather" day, but you still gotta do a lot of other things right to achieve those kind of results!

[Family Hunter]

threeforthree. Awesome !!! Congrats on great hunt

[MooseRiverTrapper]

Good shoot!! Curious on spread and electronics as well.

[32-40win]

Shut out on a shoot for Friday by a wind farm lease agreement that doesn't allow people on the property, even though they haven't built anything on it. And missed a shoot for this AM, late sighting, couldn't figure out who the landowner actually was. Lots of birds around, but, scattered into a lot of small flocks not worth setting up for., not a lot of bigger flocks around. Have to see how this works this wk with the weather, tough spotting white birds at any distance in these conditions. Some occasional open ponds, and some bigger water, lots of frozen stuff still. Apparently there is a pile of ducks moving now as well.

[ganderblaster]

Originally Posted by threeforthree

Shooters will shoot! Nice work! Leave a few for us Northern Alberta schmucks!

[threeforthree]

Originally Posted by Pikebreath

Threeforthree,,, that is an impressive pile of birds,,, good show!!!

Do you mind sharing your spread and hunt details? ie numbers and types of dekes,,, weather conditions at time of hunt,, gadgets such as ecaller,,, rotaries,, flyers etc

Thanks.

!

We had 132 full bodies bigfoots. 400 silo socks down the line about 100 yards down with about 8 family groups in middle,from main, 7 flyers, Ecaller is a JUVIE Jude box, 4 boss speakers, crystal clear sound,weather was a north wind about 20k,and a very light snow. it was a evening shoot. We left birds at 11am. and went to get trailers and they were coming back into field by 215pm.

[MooseRiverTrapper]

Originally Posted by threeforthree

We had 132 full bodies bigfoots. 400 silo socks down the line about 100 yards down with about 8 family groups in middle,from main, 7 flyers, Ecaller is a JUVIE Jude box, 4 boss speakers, crystal clear sound,weather was a north wind about 20k,and a very light snow. it was a evening shoot. We left birds at 11am. and went to get trailers and they were coming back into field by 215pm.

Nice!!!!

[threeforthree]

We left decoys and trailers in field last night for this morning hunt, we thought we only shot at about 10% of the birds we saw, on way home big storm comes in. We hit the field in the morning and all the silo socks are filled with snow, it was a chore to empty them out so the would move again,, ended with 25.

[trigger7mm]

Wow, that much effort certainly deserves a great pay off. Way to go guys! That blue sure has some iron staining on his head. Very neat to see.

[Pikebreath]

Originally Posted by threeforthree

We had 132 full bodies bigfoots. 400 silo socks down the line about 100 yards down with about 8 family groups in middle,from main, 7 flyers, Ecaller is a JUVIE Jude box, 4 boss speakers, crystal clear sound,weather was a north wind about 20k,and a very light snow. it was a evening shoot. We left birds at 11am. and went to get trailers and they were coming back into field by 215pm.

Thanks, threeforthree,,, you guys have a very good set up!

Afternoon hunts can be epic if you get the right conditions ,,,a steady wind to make the Silosocks come alive along with a gray sky to get the birds flying earlier!

We do a lot of afternoon sets as well and often leave everything out for a next morning hunt too.

Methinks,,,, the fact you killed 25 more birds in the conditions you experienced this morning is a testament to the effectiveness of your ecaller!!!

Thanks again for sharing your info!

[snowman160]

Snow geese are very easy to kill if set up properly,gotta think outside the box is all.

[Diesel_wiesel]

when does the spring snow goose season close in Alberta????

[Benelli1]

Originally Posted by Diesel_wiesel

when does the spring snow goose season close in Alberta????

Spring Snow/Ross’s Goose Hunting Season
Alberta has a spring snow/Ross’s goose hunting season from March 15
through June 15 annually. Please refer to the game bird hunting table
on page 60 for valid WMUs. Regular fall hunting restrictions and daily
bag limit (50) apply. As in the fall hunting season, there is no longer a
possession limit for snow/Ross’s geese.

[Diesel_wiesel]

Originally Posted by Benelli1

Spring Snow/Ross’s Goose Hunting Season
Alberta has a spring snow/Ross’s goose hunting season from March 15
through June 15 annually. Please refer to the game bird hunting table
on page 60 for valid WMUs. Regular fall hunting restrictions and daily
bag limit (50) apply. As in the fall hunting season, there is no longer a
possession limit for snow/Ross’s geese.

I was being lazy and dint want to download the Alberta regs
just didn't know the exact date Alberta season closed
thankyou for the answer

[MooseRiverTrapper]

More snow in the forecast for central AB...

[threeforthree]

A great night,,63... two men a 13 year old who shot the lights out!!!!

[sns2]

Wow!

[JD848]

Wow for sure, the pics are just great specially the one of the dogs face absolutely beautiful . Very well done all of it.

JD

[ganderblaster]

Excellent work. Even better a 13 yr old was hunting!!! Don’t see enough kids out these days. Way to go

[Diesel_wiesel]

Originally Posted by threeforthree

A great night,,63... two men a 13 year old who shot the lights out!!!!

Yer Dawg definitely loves the spring season,
Its been a long winter for her as well and she looks like she is his glory , nice looking Lab

[32-40win]

Went out yesterday, wasn't seeing a lot except honkers and ducks, rabbit. Took a tour into an area I hadn't explored before, came back to where I started from, 5000 birds sitting there, hour later than previous 4;30? by 5;00pm. I'd seen 15-20,000 in the air, by 5;30pm, likely closer to 40,000 total. Followed one bunch to an area where it looked like maybe they were going down, yup, they were. Hard to see in there, lots of small hills and folds looked like maybe 10,000+. They finally got up and took a spin around, ok, 20,000 maybe. Decided it was too hard on us old guys to get up, to get there in the AM and set up for first light, would have to leave at 3;00AM, it was already 8;00pm, 1-1/2hr run home, and I wasn't real sure how soft that field was, did not want to explore in the dark.
So, came out and looked again in AM, they'd moved across the road to the west, and there were a lot more birds around, pretty good bunch off to the east of the original field as well. Got to checking out the new field for permission, called some one I knew a bit and asked who farmed two numbered companies, and one with a strange name, got phone nbrs, got that done. Went to sit on the birds til they got up to go to water, saw that lease road entrance to field had softened big time in about an hour, I went to a part of the field with another entrance to see if i could figure a way in, nope, not happening. Couldn't find a usable entrance to 1-1/2 sections, just too wet, and birds were on the west side, south too wet, pond about 200yds in on the south lease road, , plus a creek on the north, east and north were way too wet, no access from the west.
The was a reasonable chance to try one direction we thought maybe we could try from the south. to get into the area the south flock was in, once the birds left on the south end. The birds never left, they were still there at 1;30pm, all the other birds on the 1-1/2 section has gone to water, not these ones. They got up and moved around a few times, but, I don't think one stinkin bird left the flock to go to water after the big bunch left the rest of the field, still 10,000 or so there. Apparently they were staying all day. So, we said to heck with it, gave up on waiting them out. Likely upwards of 40-50,000+ there. That's spring snow hunting, sometimes the circumstances just don't work in your favour.

[Pikebreath]

Originally Posted by 32-40win

Apparently they were staying all day. So, we said to heck with it, gave up on waiting them out. Likely upwards of 40-50,000+ there. That's spring snow hunting, sometimes the circumstances just don't work in your favour.

Yep,,, oftentimes all we can do is birdwatch!!!!!

Just the same, it always amazing to witness a major snow goose migration in progress!