# Argus Leader Snowgoose article



## wykee5 (Apr 5, 2004)

Anybody else read the article in the Argus Leader on snowgeese?

http://www.argusleader.com/article/2014 ... t?gcheck=1

I've never been that impressed with the Argus Leader, but the article is an "interesting" read. The start out with a picture of some snows in Washington, and a caption relating to that population. Quite the journalism there, but then they went as far as getting some "expert" information from a guide. He might be a very good guy, but seems to be quite the know-it-all. He believes he has a more accurate count than people who do the counts for a living.

"People talk about 25 million birds. No way. I hunt these things basically every single day from mid January to April." Erdmann claims the flocks total no more than 8 million birds.
"That's the peak. Otherwise we're missing 12 million birds somewhere."

He must be an exceptional goose counter. I saw some flocks today, and I lost count in one of the 'V's at 112, I can't imagine having to keep going to 8 million. I didn't even get around to counting the other couple hundred 'V's in the flock.

But then, and this is the part that really bothers me, he also knows why the harvest is not as high as it could be.

"South Dakota is known more for guys who come over from Minnesota. They don't let the things ever sit in a field for more than 15 minutes. They jump shoot them all day long. It gives snow goose hunters a bad name," Erdmann says. Driving around to spot a flock of snow geese working a field and then jump shooting them also reduces any commitment to find who owns the field and get permission to hunt it."


He is absolutely right...Local south Dakotan never road hunt, not deer, pheasants, or snowgeese for that matter. It is all those darn Minnesotans. But then to top it off, and I will be honest, this is what really bothers me about outfitters in general.

"It's extremely commercialized in Arkansas and Missouri," says Erdmann. "We've leased 100,000 acres of property in Missouri."


Well, good for you. That sure makes it easy for the everyday guy to find a place to hunt now, doesn't it? Yessir, lease up a pile of land. Nothing adds to the freelance waterfowl experience like running into piles of leased land. I sure love knocking on a door to hear the landowner has leased his land up, or better yet, hear that last year a guy paid me this much to hunt, so I think that is the going rate.

This could be a whole different topic, but here is another question. In my opinion, no decoy spread will ever compete with a flock of live geese. Once that flock starts setting down a section over, it is game over in the spread. Every bird will suck into that real flock, and you might as well enjoy the show, because even if you have a $20K spread, like the expert does, nothing competes with the real flock. Isn't the jump shooter doing you a favor by getting that flock up and off the ground? If it is busting a juvy roost, that is a different story, but a flock in the field next to you is quite the curse in my experience.
If the jump-shooters make the birds spooky, what happens to a flock that actually does decoy, and his clients unload and pick out a few birds. Does that not make the flock decoy-shy in the future? I've never understood why jumpshooting makes the birds spooky, but shooting them over decoys will help them to decoy better in the future? I like hunting snowgeese...be it in the decoys, on a pass shoot, or the rare occurrence of a successful jump shoot, but I am not into the whole blame the non-resident, blame the jumpshooters, count better than Fish and Wildlife, and let's lease up a pile of land aspect of the hunt. Anyway, I guess that is my rant, but the article kind of burned me a bit.


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## the professor (Oct 13, 2006)

Damn blue platers. :lol:

Who cares if one guy's opinion got published.

Leasing isn't going away. One reason the snow goose guides do it is to prevent 4:30 am issues with other guys saying they also have permission. Just because he says they leased 100,000 acres, doesn't mean it was all at the same time. Some guides do "day leases" to ensure they are the only ones with permission for that spot. Don't know the guy and not defending him, just offering a different perspective.


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## Snowspin (Feb 16, 2013)

I agree 100% - particularly with regard to your stance on leasing! I hunt primarily in Maryland where - except for state game lands - essentially EVERYTHING is leased. It effectively shuts down hunting for the average guy. Forget "knocking on doors" unless you like sore knuckles and enjoy rejection. And in the case where you and several of your friends can find some decent land to lease at a price that won't break the bank, be prepared to lose it. There will always be someone with deeper pockets! Trust me - I've experienced this several times. I seriously envy those of you in the Midwest that can still enjoy a quality experience without fighting the lease issue. If you have access to private land, do all you can to treat the land and the landowner with respect so that you or the next guy can hunt there again. Oh, I almost forgot. I was born and raised in Minnesota - so that means you should probably take what I say with a grain of salt!


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## jpallen14 (Nov 28, 2005)

O the spring snow guide life.


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## burltealrugerlegs (Mar 15, 2012)

A lot of times I bring bags of fresh walleye fillets and give a bag to the farmers who let me hunt! Its nice to see the smile that brings to there faces! And if I ever want to hunt that field again they almost always let me!


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

One other thing he is wrong about.The biologists say that jumping them every 15 minutes as he says is much better than decoying them.Harassing them all the way north leaves them in poorer condition when they reach the arctic.Which means lower nesting success.So keep on jumping them.

He is looking at the guiding side because it affects his income.There are a lot of people who can't pay $300 a day to have someone do everything except the shooting.Especially young hunters.


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## themaskedmallard (Mar 19, 2013)

KEN W said:


> There are a lot of people who can't pay $300 a day to have someone do everything except the shooting.Especially young hunters.


They'll do the shooting for you too, ever seen any Habitat Flats videos, guides shoot all the easy birds before the clients are even out shooting. :lol:


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

wykee5 said:


> He is absolutely right...Local south Dakotan never road hunt, not deer, pheasants, or snowgeese for that matter. It is all those darn Minnesotans. But then to top it off, and I will be honest, this is what really bothers me about outfitters in general.


I know plenty of South Dakotans that road hunt for pheasants, but they don't waste their time with snow geese.


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## the professor (Oct 13, 2006)

I don't waste my time with pheasants unless they are on the road. :sniper:


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