2017 Spring Conservation Order Migration Report

[nube]

Had my first hunt of the spring. Picked up 36 in hand running traffic. Thought that was pretty good since the birds barely got here a few days ago in the area. There must be a major push going on with all the birds I saw today

[Zekeland]

good Job Nube !!

I will be playing in the mud here all next week. Water everywhere down in the corner.

Did you go solo ? Big spread or small ?

Birds are pushing hard into SK, AB and a bit into MB

[snowman160]

we shot 34 yesterday doin the same thing.north wind switch lastnight messed up our evening shoot a bit.see how we do this morn.their pushin in pretty good now yup!

[Pikebreath]

Originally Posted by snowman160

we shot 34 yesterday doin the same thing.north wind switch lastnight messed up our evening shoot a bit.see how we do this morn.their pushin in pretty good now yup!

May I ask, how many guns?

[Pikebreath]

Originally Posted by nube

Had my first hunt of the spring. Picked up 36 in hand running traffic. Thought that was pretty good since the birds barely got here a few days ago in the area. There must be a major push going on with all the birds I saw today

What is your definition of running traffic? Were you trying to pull the early migrators/ new birds into you? Or did you set up in an area with birds roosting nearby?

Any juvies yet?

At any rate good job,,, the first push of spring birds are always the toughest.

[snowman160]

Originally Posted by Pikebreath

May I ask, how many guns?

2 guns in the morning hunt an 4 guns in the evening.yesterday morning we shot 46 for 4 guns for a total of 80 even,was lotsa fun!!all traffic from The same setup.hard on the dogs runnin through so much mud.

[gloszz]

Was hunting yesterday, April 2nd and tons of geese flying over, but we set up on a canola field instead of a pea field like we thought it was!

A few were committing to fly in and land but had some amateur hunters and thought they could sky blast them...

Huge flocks migrating back and fourth from South to North and vice versa, flying around all day. Saw Tundra Swans as well.

Hope the fields are going to dry up fairly soon as many of the good spots are not accessible, like a field of at least 100,000 birds!

[nube]

Originally Posted by gloszz

Was hunting yesterday, April 2nd and tons of geese flying over, but we set up on a canola field instead of a pea field like we thought it was!

A few were committing to fly in and land but had some amateur hunters and thought they could sky blast them...

Huge flocks migrating back and fourth from South to North and vice versa, flying around all day. Saw Tundra Swans as well.

Hope the fields are going to dry up fairly soon as many of the good spots are not accessible, like a field of at least 100,000 birds!

Not even sure where to start with this.... lol

[nube]

Originally Posted by Pikebreath

What is your definition of running traffic? Were you trying to pull the early migrators/ new birds into you? Or did you set up in an area with birds roosting nearby?

Any juvies yet?

At any rate good job,,, the first push of spring birds are always the toughest.

Had lots of birds in the area that were using 3 roosts basically and did not know where they wanted to feed. Put a spread of about 1400 out on a big hill. We had migrators find us that were so high you could barely see them and it would take 10-15 min for them to even get down into the spread. It was cool to see. You could tell when you had new birds come to the spread vs the ones that were in the area.
Surprisingly yes there were a few juvies which we did not expect

[snowman160]

Originally Posted by gloszz

Was hunting yesterday, April 2nd and tons of geese flying over, but we set up on a canola field instead of a pea field like we thought it was!

A few were committing to fly in and land but had some amateur hunters and thought they could sky blast them...

Huge flocks migrating back and fourth from South to North and vice versa, flying around all day. Saw Tundra Swans as well.

Hope the fields are going to dry up fairly soon as many of the good spots are not accessible, like a field of at least 100,000 birds!

Takes a helluva man to admit a mistake like that!!keep at er man!!

[tikka250]

Originally Posted by gloszz

Was hunting yesterday, April 2nd and tons of geese flying over, but we set up on a canola field instead of a pea field like we thought it was!

A few were committing to fly in and land but had some amateur hunters and thought they could sky blast them...

Huge flocks migrating back and fourth from South to North and vice versa, flying around all day. Saw Tundra Swans as well.

Hope the fields are going to dry up fairly soon as many of the good spots are not accessible, like a field of at least 100,000 birds!

So did ya get any?

[Fur]

How long does it take you guys to set up 1000+ decoys?

[gloszz]

Originally Posted by tikka250

So did ya get any?

Yea I got a few, would have had more but my shotgun went off on me when I was taking the safety off and the geese were flying in.

We definitely would have had more if not for the canola field mistake and everyone would shoot at the right moment instead of trying to sky blast; it happens.

There was also a field nearby that was holding almost all of the geese we had no permission on and a prett nice sized creek that held the others to roost.

Any tips?

[gloszz]

Originally Posted by Fur

How long does it take you guys to set up 1000+ decoys?

We had about 30 dozen socks to put out and with 4 guys took us over an hour. Frozen ground isn't too forgiving.

[nube]

Originally Posted by Fur

How long does it take you guys to set up 1000+ decoys?

Set up 1400 the other day and did it in little over an hr. If you have guys that know what they are doing and what needs to be done it goes real fast.

[13mileranch]

I've never hunted Spring snow geese before. Sounds like fun. I've also never seen a spread of decoys as big as all you guys run.

Would be nice to see some pics of the spreads (not with a drone) and results.

[gloszz]

Originally Posted by 13mileranch

I've never hunted Spring snow geese before. Sounds like fun. I've also never seen a spread of decoys as big as all you guys run.

Would be nice to see some pics of the spreads (not with a drone) and results.

Here is the ~300 snow spread with some flying decoys. Taken with my hand drone

[13mileranch]

Originally Posted by gloszz

Here is the ~300 snow spread with some flying decoys.

Thanks! Looks like you guys go to alot of effort. Good luck on your next hunts!

[Vook]

Originally Posted by gloszz

We had about 30 dozen socks to put out ...

Did you use homemade socks that you posted video about?

[tikka250]

Originally Posted by gloszz

Yea I got a few, would have had more but my shotgun went off on me when I was taking the safety off and the geese were flying in.

We definitely would have had more if not for the canola field mistake and everyone would shoot at the right moment instead of trying to sky blast; it happens.

There was also a field nearby that was holding almost all of the geese we had no permission on and a prett nice sized creek that held the others to roost.

Any tips?

Keep finger away from the trigger. Make sure you work hard scouting and know where the geese want to be (not in canola) and before the hunt starts decide which 1 person is going to call the shot.

[gloszz]

Originally Posted by Vook

Did you use homemade socks that you posted video about?

Yea I used all of the ones that I made in the video. I had about 5 dozen home made ones that I used and they looked identical. What I would fix for next time is to make the metal stake go through the whole coroplast, that way the coroplast doesn't bend when putting into frozen ground.

[Fur]

Thx for the reply guys! Figured 1000+ decoys would take hours. Impressed how little time it takes.

[tikka250]

Originally Posted by Fur

Thx for the reply guys! Figured 1000+ decoys would take hours. Impressed how little time it takes.

just have to remember that its little more than jamming 1000 sticks in the ground and the fact that you just lie down in white suits means no brushing in blinds.

[Pixel Shooter]

Lmao isn't that the truth!

Originally Posted by tikka250

just have to remember that its little more than jamming 1000 sticks in the ground and the fact that you just lie down in white suits means no brushing in blinds.

[gloszz]

Anyone seeing snow geese still? I just came back from Texas and keep hearing bad news that not many left in Alberta, most are in sask and my Hutterite eyes all over Alberta say they are gone!