# New snow hunter



## SDNDhtr (Apr 29, 2005)

im new to snow goose hunting and im about to dive head first into it because i think it has to be the best rush in the world. ive never hunted snows under decoys and plan to start building windsocks, e-callers, name it. i havent found any other posts that ask, is it harder to decoy snows in ND during the fall or spring? does it matter? also, can you use an e-caller during the fall in ND? correct me if im worng, but i dont think you can use them in the fall here in SD. thanks for the help.


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## mallardhunter (May 15, 2004)

You can't use them in the fall in SD, thats why it is way harded to decoy them in during the fall because a couple of people blowing calls won't sound like 1000's of geese.


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## villarwj (Jun 8, 2005)

The first thing to understand about snows is that they are much smarter and much more wary than canadas and specks. When you bag a good number of snows, about 60% of them are yearlings who have'nt been shot at much. Fall hunting can be good for that reason, there are still fresh dumb yearlings around. I've found that spring hunting with the e-caller is good for about the first two or three weeks, then the old snows are so wary they've figured out the e-caller too. Blinding yourself is most important; when snows approach the mature ones are looking for anything wrong. Get yourself a good hand call and practice. Sometimes it works and sometime it doesnt and there is value in knowing when to call and when not to. The best weather to hunt in is cold windy harsh conditions that stress the birds out, make them hungry and forget about being wary. Tyvek windsocks work best, when there is wind, and about 500-700 is all you should need. Good luck and dont kill em all!


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## qwakk (Jun 22, 2005)

I have found out here that a crankin' wind can be the best. Just get in their way and kill. Hide and sneek. when you get in the flight path stay hidden and just watch. You should see a pattern forming in the distance. Get IN there between the waves. Hide good, cover your face and look for iron. The collars are a lot easier to see but more are banded than collard.

Then theres the fog where you can call um in so they drop on top of you..Good luck! And please, kill em all, then kill some for me, then I think my sister needs some and then theres the pastor and... :stirpot:


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

I think they're much more difficult to hunt snows in ND during the fall then the spring. I say that mostly because they're much more predictable in the spring.

We're at the mercy of mother nature as to how good fall hunting will be for snows every year. They will hold north of the border as much as possible, MOST years.

For your first fall, be very patient. You're going to get skunked at times, but that's why it's hunting and not shooting.

Good luck on your venture!


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## jsbourbon89 (Jun 21, 2005)

Im new to snow goose hunting too , when hunting snow geese in water , in the fall & spring , what advice do you have ?

thanks

jsb

[email protected]


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## villarwj (Jun 8, 2005)

HUNTING GEESE OVER WATER- The water we hold on our property is left alone for the birds to roost on at night and to go to in the afternoon for a drink if conditions are dry. If I had to hunt water that geese are using to rest, I'd let them get off of it all together in the early morning without blowing them off, then go in with as many floaters as you could put out and kill 'em as they trickle back for a drink in the mid morning or early afternoon. After you've killed a dozen or so, get out and let em back in. The thing is you dont want to totally spook the birds off the water for good. I'd blind myself in cover at the edge of the water downwind of the decoys and have the birds work over me to get to the decoys. Dont put the decoys too close to the water's edge, but start about 20 yds out. I would definitely not hunt them in the evening when they are coming in to rest for the night. Good luck!


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

I won't hunt geese over the water in the fall. They won't take abuse over their roost.

We only hunt geese over the water in the spring, during the migration. It's a way to bring them down from their migration mode in a way fields can't always do.


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

I think that with e callers becoming so popular that a few guys that can snow call in the spring would do just fine.


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## SDNDhtr (Apr 29, 2005)

how about e-callers in ND in the fall. No?


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## h2ofwlr (Feb 6, 2004)

Heck the SNows really do not hardly even stop in ND in the fall anymore due to the hunting pressure. I saw the hunters repeatedly drive the flocks back into MB when they wanted to come into ND. Just too many guys disturbing them--meaning the jump/sneek shooters. Back in the late 80s there were all kinds of Snows in northern ND, then the hunters started to hunt again after the water came back. 4 fold increase in "hunters", problem is many of the new hunters were jumpers/sneekers and would not let the Snow rest and feed. As a result, the snows redifined their migration route, meaning they skip over ND for the most part now in the Fall. Yup--the idiot jumpers/sneekers ruint it for all in ND Fall snow season.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

I don't disagree with ya one bit about pressure and lack of birds h2o, but I'm not sure that's all of it. They will still stage here when the weather is right.

A few years back a blizzard occurred in north country and in the north half of the state. The snowline was around I94, and the estimate was somewhere around 2 million snows stopped were south of the interstate. They stuck around for awhile, but with not much pressure.

We spent a good part of our Saskatchewan trip last fall driving/scouting and I was simply AMAZED at the amount of fowl still up there going into November. Snows, specks, mallards, pintails, widgeon, darks, you name it; we saw them in abundance.

The one thing that holds true with every fall the past decade, is they will stay as north as possible and hold out as long as possible to migrate. So if they have open water (unpressured roost) and available food...they'll stick it out as long as possible. And it's not snows anymore...it's everything.

Our late season canadas didn't come down until January this year, and I heard a lot of them stuck it out just north of the border all winter.

You know it's getting weird when the guys in ND are complaining about being short-stopped by everything. :-? 

It's complex, but I think weather is just as an issue as pressure.


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## DeerScarer (Jul 23, 2005)

Chris Hustad said:


> It's complex, but I think weather is just as an issue as pressure.


Your observations on the birds staying in Sask. late into Nov. are quite consistent with what I saw down in southeast S.D. last fall. The Snow geese didn't show up at all until shortly before their season ended! Then they hung out and hung out and hung out til I thought the spring season was gonna open on them before they left!

It was frustrating watching all those birds hang around into January and wondering what the point was of setting a mid Dec. closing date, especially when they're tryin' to cut down the numbers. Why not just say the season's always open on Snows and Blues, it's not like they're gonna nest here if we make 'em feel welcome enough.... :-?


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

I'm assuming the reason they can't extend it is that it goes past the season length set by the USFWS. If that's the case changing fed. law is tricky. I could be wrong, there are some USFWS people on the board.

I remember when I was a kid it was almost unheard of to have snow geese around in November. Odd to think that snow geese won't leave until January.


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