# Am I alone?



## irdaniel (Feb 7, 2006)

I want some feedback. Have questions at end of rant.

I am not the best or worst snow goose hunter in the world; I have hunted with a number of very experienced goose hunters. I believe any clear thinking individual would agree that it has been getting more and more difficult every year to kill geese, to the point where it is "impossible." Am I alone? 
Having said this, I have had good luck in the past with several very successful and enjoyable days. I am not talking about killing Arkansas style or using cow decoy. I am talking about setting up, decoying and shooting them in the face!

I don't want to talk about:

Decoys, rags, full body, shells, size of spread, setup, load, shot size, chokes, guns, callers, blinds, camo, best this, best that, etc&#8230;etc&#8230;etc&#8230;been there done that.

WAAAAAAAAAAAA Section: (could have written a book here).

It is too much trouble getting up at 2am (waking wife), burn fuel, drive, fight the weather conditions (mud, rain, cold), spend hours setting up only to lie on your back, all day, and watch thousands and thousands of geese fly over your head and not even one of them with the common courtesy to fly low enough to commit suicide. This is so common now I have literally lost my will to hunt the damn things. Am I alone?

Questions:

Are snow geese worth the time and effort to hunt?
Can they still be hunted with any success?
Is it pertinent to consider giving up trying to hunt snows?
Am I just a cry baby?
Am I missing something? (Be nice)

Am I alone? 
Daniel.


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## goosegrinder (Mar 4, 2005)

> Are snow geese worth the time and effort to hunt?
> Can they still be hunted with any success?
> Is it pertinent to consider giving up trying to hunt snows?
> Am I just a cry baby?
> ...


 1)I'd rather hunt spring snows than any fowler in the fall here in the U.S.(that I have done)

2)Yes.pretty easy to have a few birds at least each time out

3)you giving up is just another spread they won't see and less educating they will get. :thumb:

4)Maybe

5)There's more to it than just throwing a spread out and hoping they come in to it. Personally,I had a harder time decoying them in the first few years(before I knew what to do from guys that taught me) of the spring season than I do now.

6)probably not
Alex


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## jim and tucker (Mar 24, 2009)

you are not alone. I have spent more my share of time watching thousand upon thousand pass over the spread with no takers. My buddies and I often talk about how not a one would give a second pass to the twelve hundred decoys we have out for them. But, we still go for that one time, which is very few and far between, when some do commit. They are truly trophies, smarter than any whiletail I have hunted. For every video shown on the web, there are many hundreds who were unsuccessful in bagging any at all. So, it is not you alone. We go for the fun of it, a chance to see nature at its finest.... what a sight they give us every year. good luck jim and tucker..........


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## dacaller (Feb 6, 2007)

Well I've only been at it for four seasons now and every year the success rate keeps growing. I have never been with an guide or anyone who has ever gone before I decided to buy some dekes and try it out myself. We just returned from a 5 day hunt and one day we didn't go out because of the down pouring rain and we managed to take 35 birds with only 600 decoys and 3 guns. So if you ask me it's all about location and how you set the spread. Oh yeah how you run the caller is just as important.
But hey if you want to quit by all means I wont stop ya. Heck after water fowl hunting for 30 years I'm currently selling all my duck and canada decoys and buying snow decoys because I enjoy them a lot more.


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## bluegoose18 (Jan 9, 2008)

jim and tucker said:


> you are not alone. I have spent more my share of time watching thousand upon thousand pass over the spread with no takers. My buddies and I often talk about how not a one would give a second pass to the twelve hundred decoys we have out for them. But, we still go for that one time, which is very few and far between, when some do commit. They are truly trophies, smarter than any whiletail I have hunted. For every video shown on the web, there are many hundreds who were unsuccessful in bagging any at all. So, it is not you alone. We go for the fun of it, a chance to see nature at its finest.... what a sight they give us every year. good luck jim and tucker..........


I agree 100% with Jim and Tucker


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## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

now there's a statement unique to snow goose hunting: "only 600 decoys"! :rollin: :rollin:


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## Kelly Hannan (Jan 9, 2007)

irdaniel, as soon as you quit box up your equipment and ship it to me since you won't need it anymore. I don't mind getting up in the dark, waking everyone up, fighting the weather. Just once I would love to experience the White Tornado.


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## mudhunter (Dec 10, 2007)

Be it deer hunting is ok. But I have converted many to snow hunting. When deer hunting, you have adrenalin rush, fire, and it is done. That is ok for some. I spend my energy and resources to better my spread. To the tune of 2-3 thousand a year upgrading calls, dekes, guns, and toys in the coys. Some days the snows give me a few adrenalin rushes, and some days the adrenalin rushes are all day long. 
So, yes, pack up your dekes and quit, or join the rest of us that have changed our spread yearly to reflect these smart and beautiful birds. Join us as we watch nodak and hunting snows.com each day to catch the latest of our FRIENDS that let us know what's going on in their neck of the woods. 
Very soon, most of us will be pecking our wives at 2am on the cheek and heading out in to the dark abyss to ENJOY ourselves in a day of staring at the elusive sky and wait for that first flock of adrenalin rushers called snow geese. 
Forget the 8-10 lb walleye we used to catch this time of the year. They will just have to wait. Let those who are unwilling to get up early, slog thru the mud, snow, water, lack of food, lack of sleep, lack of money. Because I have a lot of friends that are willing to join me us.
Don't think I have ever met anyone that snow hunts or sells snow hunt gear that aren't great. Like family. So, be it we get 0 birds or many, until the seasons stop, us diehards will be there when the mig starts north. Wind don' t just come from the sky!!!


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## Firehunter (Feb 3, 2010)

Well i guess it comes down to what you define as success. I went out with only 300 decoys which seemed like a lot to me a new snow goose hunter, an e-caller and one buddy. We did not get a shot but had some groups work us, one we should have shot at. That was success for me it was my first hunt. I know i dont really know what i'm doing and expected very little. I can see your frustration but i have expreienced that in all forms of waterfowl hunting then a hunt works out and all those though days seem worth it. Good luck


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## bluebird (Feb 28, 2008)

Everyone has those days but i would say the last couple springs we have killed a good number everyday in our face. You say you didn't want to hear about everything that goes into snows (decoys......) but that has a lot to do with it. I see guys ubsing spreads that i wouldnt waste my time hunting with. I used to have those spreads and now i have moved on. But this is my favorite thing to do so i wont be giving it up anytime soon.


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## mudhunter (Dec 10, 2007)

bluebird, ya said it all. The junk don't work. Youall can be your own judge as to what is junk and what ain't junk. :beer:


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## Whistler (Feb 28, 2009)

Just comes down to how bad you want it! We all have had those days were you didn't do well or the birds dont work worth a damn but I think a dedicated snow goose hunter (like every other hunter) takes what he learned that day and applys it to tomarrow! I personally love it so much that I don't care if it's day 1 or 31, I still get up in the morning like it's opening day! That is the one thing that I find great about Snow goose hunting, All though it might have sucked today, tomarrow you could slay 'em. A lot of things go into being a "sucessful" snow goose hunter. My advise is if your heart isn't in it, don't do it. Besides, like goosegrinder said, if you quit then thats one less spread they will see making it better for everyone else that loves to hunt them!! :thumb:


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## mallard (Mar 27, 2002)

We all have had those days, when flocks of snow geese give you the flying finger. It is part of the game. In my opinion, the hardest snows to hunt are the huge numbers of staged adults. Hunting the mob is tough because how can you compete with several fields around you that have 10k live birds feeding in them. Hunt ahead of the mob or behind it.

Also Be willing to pick up the spread every day and move to where the birds want to be. Friends that hunt Missouri tell me about hunters there that leave there spread out all season in 1 field. It might work once in a while, but sounds like bird watching to me.

Adapt and change your set up. You allready know that these birds are tough. Try getting some full bodies, silo socks, rotaries, etc. to up your odds on these smart birds. I threw out my Texas rags 10 years ago.

Do some research on this sight and others that have a ton of information on decoying snows.

On migration days except the fact that not many of them are going to be feet down in the decoys. Get under the flight line and take what the birds give you. Chris P figured out that if you are getting 5%-10% of the birds into range you are going to have one heck of a day.


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## goosegrinder (Mar 4, 2005)

> Also Be willing to pick up the spread every day and move to where the birds want to be. Friends that hunt Missouri tell me about hunters there that leave there spread out all season in 1 field. It might work once in a while, but sounds like bird watching to me


Well,I kinda agree with this. I hunted the same field every hunt last year except on 2 days. I didn't leave the decoys out all the time unless I was staying multiple days. What works well for me is that I'm hunting under natural flight paths for migrators between 2 huge staging areas and there are also plenty of smaller roosts around. So,I kinda get the best of both worlds...roosted birds in the a.m./p.m. and the migrators thruout the day. Been hunting this field for 4-5 seasons now and it's been the same each year.Yes,it's the X a couple times each season; I love it when I call the landowner to tell him I'll be down the next day and he says "I thought you were out there today,the whole field was white." :thumb: My point being is that if you are hunted staged birds,I'd be scouting each day.If you are hunting migrators,get under their flight paths. Now,every staged area can be hunted for migrators too but you have to deal with mass amounts of birds,which makes things tough. Get betwen the masses and where the migrators are coming from or scout and get the X each day.

Alex


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## snowstopper (Jan 27, 2010)

goosegrinder said:


> > Also Be willing to pick up the spread every day and move to where the birds want to be. Friends that hunt Missouri tell me about hunters there that leave there spread out all season in 1 field. It might work once in a while, but sounds like bird watching to me
> 
> 
> Well,I kinda agree with this. I hunted the same field every hunt last year except on 2 days. I didn't leave the decoys out all the time unless I was staying multiple days. What works well for me is that I'm hunting under natural flight paths for migrators between 2 huge staging areas and there are also plenty of smaller roosts around. So,I kinda get the best of both worlds...roosted birds in the a.m./p.m. and the migrators thruout the day. Been hunting this field for 4-5 seasons now and it's been the same each year.Yes,it's the X a couple times each season; I love it when I call the landowner to tell him I'll be down the next day and he says "I thought you were out there today,the whole field was white." :thumb: My point being is that if you are hunted staged birds,I'd be scouting each day.If you are hunting migrators,get under their flight paths. Now,every staged area can be hunted for migrators too but you have to deal with mass amounts of birds,which makes things tough. Get betwen the masses and where the migrators are coming from or scout and get the X each day.
> ...


Those two staging areas wouldn't happen to be Swan Lake and Squaw Creek would they? We between these two staging areas and will often leave our spread in the same field. Don't think for a second we leave this spread because we don't want to move from field to field. We are hunting mostly migrators and there is no need to move if you in the flight path.


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## goosegrinder (Mar 4, 2005)

No,not those 2 areas.

Alex


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## goosenoose (Feb 18, 2009)

mudhunter said:


> bluebird, ya said it all. The junk don't work. Youall can be your own judge as to what is junk and what ain't junk. :beer:


Define what you mean by junk!


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## teamshakeandbake (Oct 14, 2008)

That will happen but when you finally get those days that you shoot over a hundred then its all well worth it :thumb:


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## Andy Weber (Nov 18, 2009)

As many have already said, if your heart aint there, don't do it! To me there is nothing better than waking up at 2:00 starting the rigs and making yourself a pot of coffee. Having a great time setting the spread, debating on what to use, and where to use it. Even if we only kill 10 or 15, it is way better than sitting on the forums reading about guys killin em. So you are going to get alot of the same opinions on here. They will tell you that if you consider yourself a diehard, its always worth it. Always!


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## bluegoose18 (Jan 9, 2008)

sounds like your done 
this our motto

when your heart stops beating thats when you stop hunting


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## Bloodyblinddoors (Oct 25, 2006)

irdaniel said:


> Can they still be hunted with any success?


Absolutely. We hunted 25 days in the decoys in SD last spring and our slowest day was 8 killed. I'll go as far as to say they can be killed with consistant success.

We did'nt put out a decoy though till we had spent two full days scouting and every day after that we had one or two trucks on scouting detail.


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## decoyed (Oct 14, 2006)

I can see were you would want to check your sanity out to see if they should lock you up.This sport is one tuff deal, is it worth it, not sure $ wise but it is a sickness that can only be tamed by seeing & hunting those white birds.Lots of the hunters you see are younger age good energy they hunt alot and hard with some good bird # killed.I think there are 2 kinds of dyehard hunters (1-measure the hunt success by # killed)(2-likes to see the beauty of the migration and the hunt ,killing birds is good but you don,t need to have a limit every day. I've had flocks of birds land in the decoys and never shot just so I can watch them ( not to often my trigger finger gets very itchy). Bloodyblinddoors is a good friend of mine a he has drive to kill which blows my mind away.I enjoy a great hunt like anyone but to make a great hunt for me is birds need to decoy, feet out,5-20ft off the ground inside 30yds then I feel I did the job of decoying .This is the second hardest animal to successfully hunt day in day out that I know of and there is only 2 words that you need to remember if you really want something ( RELENTLESS PROSUIT ) . Every one just remember it is a sickness, only cure hunt. If your not sick stay away or you will -lose sleep-spend all your money-buy stuff you dont need-read these forums-and many other things and then your a junky like the rest of us. ( RELENTLESS PROSUIT )


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