# Spring Snow Goose Season



## nryan (Jul 14, 2010)

After seeing some interesting graphs on this website about harvest trends it appears as if the spring season is having no effect on the amount of birds that are harvested? I believe the season started in what 99? according to the data there was a quick spike for about 2 years and now the harvest has trended back to what it was before the season started.

I remember back then when it wasnt hard to decoy adult birds, one didnt need great hatches or huge flights of young birds to have a good shoot. Birds would stick around from mid-Oct thru mid-Nov. Now I know weather plays a part in all this as well, but over the last few years it just doesnt seem like the birds stay around very lon in ND at least. They hang up right a the border and then push thru the last week in Oct first week in Nov

Now I may be alone on this but what about closing the spring season and giving these birds a chance to migrate north without being pressured, maybe then we can return to seeing the birds stay longer.

here is the website by the way

http://flyways.us/regulations-and-harve ... est-trends


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## Condn (Jul 16, 2010)

I've always wondered what the actual harvest of the birds is, it's nice to see an aproximate graph of it.

As for getting the harvest back up to what it was right after the CO season began, that will probably never happen. If we gave them a spring off, they would just have a more successful hatch and the small ppulation check of 200,000 or so a year would be even less.

On the bright sde, according to the graph I'm looking at, years with low harvest such as last year have traditionally been followed by a year of increased harvest. IMO that could be related to the birds reaching the tundra earlier and thus having a more successful hatch and producing more juvies to get wacked. Whether or not that theory is correct it gives me more encouragment to buy dekes. :beer:


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## JuvyPimp (Mar 1, 2005)

nryan said:


> After seeing some interesting graphs on this website about harvest trends it appears as if the spring season is having no effect on the amount of birds that are harvested? I believe the season started in what 99? according to the data there was a quick spike for about 2 years and now the harvest has trended back to what it was before the season started.
> 
> I remember back then when it wasnt hard to decoy adult birds, one didnt need great hatches or huge flights of young birds to have a good shoot. Birds would stick around from mid-Oct thru mid-Nov. Now I know weather plays a part in all this as well, but over the last few years it just doesnt seem like the birds stay around very lon in ND at least. They hang up right a the border and then push thru the last week in Oct first week in Nov
> 
> ...


How about closing the fall season so the birds have a rest before the spring season........... uke:


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## Horker23 (Mar 2, 2006)

That might be an idea juvy!


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

nryan said:


> Now I may be alone on this but what about closing the spring season and giving these birds a chance to migrate north without being pressured, maybe then we can return to seeing the birds stay longer.


IMO the weather/snowline matters most on how long they stay. There was huntable numbers still when I hung it up in April to start fishing so there's typically birds around for as long as a guy wants to hunt.


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## Toonhunter (Apr 12, 2009)

Correct me if i am wrong Chris but isn't there two parts to the spring Snow equation ? Once is to reduce numbers by actually shooting the White Devils, but isn't it also part of the overall scheme to pressure the geese as they feed their way back North? I was under the impression that the spring season (I.e. Pressuring) was to not allow them to get overly comfortable and fat so that they are in poorer breeding condition when they do hit the breeding grounds. So following this theory the overall number of kills may be down during this conservation season, but how many geese are we technically killing by not allowing them to be in optimal breeding condition? Just food for thought ! :beer:


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## icefishny33 (Aug 3, 2010)

i shot my first snow goose when i was 12


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## markb (Sep 4, 2005)

JuvyPimp said:


> How about closing the fall season so the birds have a rest before the spring season........... uke:


+1


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## ValleyCityHunter2008 (Jan 13, 2008)

markb said:


> JuvyPimp said:
> 
> 
> > How about closing the fall season so the birds have a rest before the spring season........... uke:
> ...


Not in for that, In North Dakota it's nice to hunt them in the fall. It's the only time we get the snow geese that are not as educated. In the spring it's harder to hunt them since every one down south pressures them first. I like mixed bags of birds in the fall.


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## nryan (Jul 14, 2010)

When I was talking about birds staying longer i meant in the fall. I was wondering if the increased pressure in the states keeps them up in canada as long as possible. Not too long ago say 10 years or so, we would start seeing and hunting good numbers snows the second and third week in october and we would even see a few flocks during opening weekend in oct. Now it seems that the snow hunting comes down to opening weekend of deer season every year. And the areas that I have hunted actually have less pressure on the snows than they did ten years ago in the fall?

And as far as closing the fall season, thats a no go for me as well, hunting the birds in the fall is a lot of fun, and way easier in my opinion that the spring.

Here is a question for you guys that suggested closing the fall season.

Would you still hunt spring snows if e-callers and unplugged shotguns were banned?


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## chrisg (Mar 17, 2010)

nryan said:


> When I was talking about birds staying longer i meant in the fall. I was wondering if the increased pressure in the states keeps them up in canada as long as possible. Not too long ago say 10 years or so, we would start seeing and hunting good numbers snows the second and third week in october and we would even see a few flocks during opening weekend in oct. Now it seems that the snow hunting comes down to opening weekend of deer season every year. And the areas that I have hunted actually have less pressure on the snows than they did ten years ago in the fall?
> 
> And as far as closing the fall season, thats a no go for me as well, hunting the birds in the fall is a lot of fun, and way easier in my opinion that the spring.
> 
> ...


Alot of people wouldn't hunt them if they were not able to utilize those options. It wasnt until the fancy super E-callers and 1500 Avery FB dekes showed up before this became the in thing to do. Somehow and way I still like to setup for them in the fall even though the odds of smashing them up is way against me. Don't get me wrong I have FB's and a great caller system but the truth is, many got into snow goose hunting because they were able to use all these tools when it used to be just windsocks and shell dekes and hand snow calls.


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## hwdeuce (Apr 6, 2010)

i really think that the spring season is a must for the birds and for the hunters dont get me wrong u ask one hunter that hunts spring snow goose and see if they want it to close they would say no just cause u get to hunt and if there wasnt a season the birds would be way out of control worse then it is now oke: and i know me and my buddy shoot enough during the spring season that u cant even tell we mad a diffrents to the amount of birds that we see


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