# No All Day Hunting???



## 870 XPRS (Mar 12, 2003)

It was recently brought to my attention that it will not be allowed to hunt snow geese for full days on wednesday and saturdsy at all this upcoming fall. To my understanding this is supposed to bring snow geese into the state faster because of less pressure??? I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on the issue, but how is this going to help at all. With the available food these days, the only thing that keeps the birds in one place or another is the weather during the fall. Even if it was the case that the all day hunting on wednesdays and saturdays were causing the birds to stay in Canada longer, wouldn't it take quite a while for the birds to recognize this and move into the state. My thoughts are that this is a ridiculous measure. :eyeroll:


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## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

I think this is a start in the right direction personally. Sometimes the birds stay in Canada for other reasons besides pressure but the birds that do come into ND usually are pushed out pretty fast do to pressure. Geese decoy geese. If the birds are allowed to sit unpressured in the afternoon they will often draw birds that would normally not have stopped. There are certain roosts I know of that if the birds are on it early they will build up really large numbers by later fall. However if the birds are not on that roost early they generally will not have much on them all season. The geese that are on the roost early in the season draw migrators.

Watch birds on a good fall migration day. They will generally stop if there are birds on the water or birds on the ground already but they will keep on flying south if they do not run into other birds. Personally unless you jump shoot snows I see no reason to hunt them in the afternoon. Evening decoy shoots are extremely tough on snows.


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## prairie hunter (Mar 13, 2002)

Dry peas and barley

Water

Low hunting pressure

Snow geese do not have to come to ND.

If the reproduction is as good as they say it is, this may delay things further. Flocks heavy with young geese tend to be the last down to ND not the first.


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## 870 XPRS (Mar 12, 2003)

Gandergrinder, 
I agree with what your saying about how geese decoy geese, but i don't see how hunting them full days on wednesdays and saturdays is going to push birds straight through the state and not allow them anyplace to roost. That added pressure on those two days is very minimal in the fall anyways, because the migration is so sketchy due to the weather.


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## KEN W (Feb 22, 2002)

I agree 870.It just takes away another opportunity.I have not noticed any difference in snow goose behavior because of hunting on Wed and Sat afternoons.They have to be here in order to have a problem and by the time they are...they are ready to continue on in a short time.

We now are able to hunt Canadas all day for 2 weeks and they don't leave.


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## GooseBuster3 (Mar 1, 2002)

GG has a great piont, when snows do arrive like the very begining of the migration with flocks in the 500- 1000 they get the **** shot at them the second they arrrive in an area, thats what birds draw in more brids during there migration , a roost just doesnt jump from zero birds into 50,000 birds, . It will gradually build, I witnessed that same theory last fall, There were maybe 100 snows in this area I hunt then week after week it built up into around 7,000- 10,000 snows. The key was they were never pressured. or there roost wasnt messed around with. So I think GG has said it flate out straight as can be.


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## dcrothers (Oct 6, 2002)

I am thrilled with Game and Fish's decision to eliminate Wednesday and Saturday afternoon hunting of snow geese. While I am impressed with the arguments each of you have made it is my opinion that the effect of the afternoon hunting was to see many more fields "jumped" in the afternoons and at dusk. The effect was to ruin mine, as well as everyone else's, scouting. Wednesday and Saturday afternoon hunting served just to harrass geese.


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