Well I finally got out to chase snows. We had been talking about it for along time, but just finally got a chance. It almost didn’t even happen. One guy got sick, another was called into work, and top it all off I over slept. On top of everything else the fog was so thick I had to drive 45 mph all the way to the field. Which is a 45 minute drive when you can drive the speed limit.

The farmer was nice enough to let us drive in the field which help a bunch with us running behind. Beings there were only two of us we decided to set up decoys till we ran out of time. We ended up setting up 2 dozen shells, 2 ½ dozen full bodies, and 4 dozen rags before we ran out of time. My buddy sat up the foxpro while parked the truck.

It wasn’t long before the ducks started moving. We had all sorts of plumed out pintails and wigeons landing in the dekes. Then slowly the geese started moving. The first group came in and we dumped 2 of them. My buddies gunned jambed and by chance I had a spare in the truck so he took off to grab it. While he was gone I shot five more birds.

It stayed steady till around 9:30 and then it slowed down and we were picking up by 10:00. We ended up shooting 18 snows and ross’s. It’s hard telling how it would have turned out if the other two guys would have been there and we wouldn’t have had gun problems. Either way it was on for the books and we both shot our first snow geese. I’m definitely ready to get back after them.

The last hunt of the year is always a sad one, but it wasn’t all bad. A friend of mine called me Saturday morning and told me that there was a field about 3 miles from my house loaded with geese. He also informed me that he had already gotten permission to hunt it if I wanted to go Sunday morning. I decided to go check it out and I only had to glance at it to make my mind up. Not only was I going to be able to hunt close to home, but the odds were in our favor.
We headed out to the field in high spirits. The only problem was that the field was green wheat and it was half covered in shallow snow. We set up the best we could and settled in for the action. The warm weather had the birds up early. Which was no problem for us. Who wants to wait for an hour for the birds to get up any ways?
They were experienced birds for sure, and very decoy shy. It took a lot of coaxing and patience the get these birds in. They were wanting in our field bad, but so shy they landed in the field next to us. We thought the hunt was tanked, but they started bouncing back to us. Four of us ended up taking eight honkers. It wasn’t what we were hoping for, but a good hunt anyways.

J.W. Strobel

My son has been on me all season to take him goose hunting, but because he’s only six and it’s been so cold he’s had to stay home. I don’t want him freezing out and loosing interest. But with the weather be as warm as it was on Saturday I figured this was my chance. I was only able to hunt the afternoon, but I had a good field scouted. So we set out about 1:30. We put him on stubling detail and he was on a mission gathering arm fulls of corn stubble. We had a power hunter we put him in and it flat disappeared. I explained to him that he had to keep the hood down till I said take ‘em, and then he insisted we practiced a few times. He was cracking us up! The wind was blowing pretty good and while we waited on the birds he was running around the spread perfecting is flagging skills. About the time he was running out of patience the birds started moving and man was he stoked. The first flock short landed us so I quit calling and the next pair sailed right in. We hurried up and dropped them and let them lay because a bigger flock was on its way. When Brayden seen the other birds he said, “holy man if all of them come over here this will be a good hunt dad.” I couldn’t help but laugh. We hurried up and tucked back in, and he got one heck of a show. We landed around a 200 bird flock right in front of us. We dropped two more, but one sailed. My son and I grabbed the 3 close ones and my buddy took after the far one. The birds didn’t come out all at once, but more of a constant stream and with my buddy out there laying down they wouldn’t commit. By the time he got back to the blinds the birds had quit flying. So he helped pick up all the dekes, and he insisted on carrying all the bird back to the truck. Although he was down to one when we got there. It was a short hunt but probably my favorite. He definitely has a new love and he can’t wait for the next time the old man takes him out.