Snow goose??
 

Anybody have any tips for these things. I live in central Ill. and there are thousands of these things everyday. I would like any tips on how to hunt these critters.

RE: Snow goose??
 

I hunt with lots of decoys. Usally some full bodies, some shell, to maximize your spread look into texas rag decoys. Will you be huting fields?

RE: Snow goose??
 

If you're going to try to decoy and call in Snow/Blue Geese you literally need hundreds of decoys set up in very large spreads. Even then talk to fellow who do this and they are one of the toughest waterfowl to get to come into decoys. They are in such enourmous flocks during migrations (thousands of eyes and ears) and a about 7 years ago I read that at that time USFW estimated the average age of a Snow Goose was 9 years! That's a lot of experience for a lot of geese to get to come in.
When we've been very successful in ND in the fall hunting them and in in the spring SD, we've driven and found the very large concentrations, watch their patterns of roosting and which fields they go to feed, ask permission of land owners at least a mile away from the roost in line with the direction they head to feed. We take cover and wait for them to start their flight of 50-100 at a time, if they come off slowly and by the thousands at a time, if they come off and are in a hurry to start feeding. Sometimes we're not under the flight directly and we move. Once the flight path is established, 90% of the geese will continue that same path.
A strong wind into their faces will help you, because they'll usually not fly so high. But it's an amazing thing to see and hear 50K-100k or sometimes more in one place covering 1/2 sq mile of ground or water. Then whenthe majority of aflock that size gets up to move down thewater or over a couple hundred yards,the sound of their wings is deafening.
We had this opportunity for 4 days late Oct. in ND last year. The hunters and dogs had smiles on our faces for a week afterward. :D
Hope you have good success!

RE: Snow goose??
 

Thanks for the tips.

Well-- We tried the decoy thing first. We had 300 rags and a couple full bodied. We did not have an electronic call yet. After several flights(maybe 15 groups) flew right over without stopping we decided to quit. We did get a ciouple 3 or 4 bird groups to come close. We shot one goose.

We did a little sneaking on a big group in the middle of a field. When we were just about in position an even bigger group flew in and decided to land right on us. We shot 12. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. It was very fun. A good filler inbetween deer and turkey season.

Good luck.. from a waterfowel newbie!

RE: Snow goose??
 

I read an article in I think it was this month's "American Hunter" magazine from NRA. The cover had Turkey hunting articles advertised.

They stated some of the same challenges about hunting Snow Geese in numbers. They set out an hunted them with over a 1000 decoys and eventually dropped to what they found ideal 400 shell decoys with movement.

That's far more investment and setup/take down time I'dand I think a lot of hunters care for. But it's a possibility if you're really into hunting Snows. They are a real challenge for sure.

Another technique that worked very well this past fall when we found very high numbers in fields and nearby water was to get before light within 1/2 of where they were at in line to where they were going out to feed. We were far enough away from the roost as not to bother them and the were enough coming over that were in range to get good shooting. It's just a great experience to see and hear the great numbers of geese. I wouldn't have believe it until I first hunted them about 8 years ago in Spring in SD. This past fall in ND we layed out on the edge of a picked field they flew over on the way out further for 2 hours while they came off in numbers of 50-100 every minute or so. But we've also seem them come off of a lake in 2-3 waves of 10,000-15,000 eachand they're out to feed in 1/2 hour.

RE: Snow goose??
 

Lots and lots of deeks.