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Information available to help snow goose hunters
The Conservation Department provides information to help hunters make the most of liberal regulations and bag limits for "light geese."
JEFFERSON CITY -- Hunters have an important role to play in preventing an ecological disaster, and the Missouri Department of Conservation has information to help them.
For the third year in a row, Congress has approved a conservation action allowing hunters to pursue blue, snow and Ross' geese (collectively called "light geese" ) beyond the regular hunting season. The measure is aimed at halting ecological damage being caused by dramatic overpopulation of snow geese.
The conservation action, which began Feb. 1 and runs through April 30, permits hunters to use methods not allowed during the regular season. These include hunting with unplugged shotguns, using electronic calls and unlimited daily take.
Just opening the door to hunters may not be enough, however. Snow geese are fast learners and quickly become wary when hunted. They are long-lived and travel in large flocks, so thousands of experienced eyes examine every potential feeding and resting place for signs of danger before the flock lands. Furthermore, their nomadic lifestyle makes them difficult to locate.
Hunting snow geese requires hard work and specialized strategies, but those who learn the tricks find it immensely rewarding. They note that few outdoor experiences can compare with being at the center of a swirling vortex of several thousand squawking snow geese settling into a decoy spread.
To help hunters locate snow goose concentrations, the Missouri Department of Conservation provides weekly snow goose reports at http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/hunt/w...wl/weekly-snow/.
To make the most of hunting opportunities, heed the following tips:
--Start by driving back roads to locate fields where snow geese are feeding. Find the landowner, get permission to hunt and then set out decoys. If this can be accomplished by mid-afternoon, you can hunt the field that evening and again the next morning.
--Snow geese usually return to a field until the food there is exhausted. However, they have good memories and won't return to a place where they have been shot at. The work of finding a hot field and setting out decoys may result in two or three successful hunts an evening, a morning and another evening. After that, the birds are gone, and it's back to scouting.
--Hide all signs of human activity, including tire tracks, candy wrappers and any other non-natural items.
--Park vehicles at least a half mile away.
--Set out a minimum of 500 decoys (1,000 to 1,500 is better).
--Supplement shell and silhouette decoys with lighter, less expensive white rags or white plastic bag decoys.
--Wear camouflage or white if snow covers the ground.
--Don't call too much. Calls are most useful for calling in single birds or isolated pairs.
--Don't begin shooting while birds are still landing. For maximum shooting opportunity, wait until birds already on the ground begin to get nervous and take flight.
--Agree on fields of fire so you don't waste opportunities shooting at the same birds.
--Take your first shots at birds that are at the fringe of your effective range, then work your way back through closer birds.
--Focus on one bird at a time.
--A morning's shooting ends when the birds go back to roost in refuge areas during the middle of the day. Sometimes that is as early as 9 a.m. Other times they may not roost until noon. Afternoon feeding flights can arrive two hours before dark, but they may not appear until shooting hours are almost over.
--Use 2 3/4-inch shotgun shells with No. 1 or No. 2 steel shot.
- Jim Low -
The Conservation Department provides information to help hunters make the most of liberal regulations and bag limits for "light geese."
JEFFERSON CITY -- Hunters have an important role to play in preventing an ecological disaster, and the Missouri Department of Conservation has information to help them.
For the third year in a row, Congress has approved a conservation action allowing hunters to pursue blue, snow and Ross' geese (collectively called "light geese" ) beyond the regular hunting season. The measure is aimed at halting ecological damage being caused by dramatic overpopulation of snow geese.
The conservation action, which began Feb. 1 and runs through April 30, permits hunters to use methods not allowed during the regular season. These include hunting with unplugged shotguns, using electronic calls and unlimited daily take.
Just opening the door to hunters may not be enough, however. Snow geese are fast learners and quickly become wary when hunted. They are long-lived and travel in large flocks, so thousands of experienced eyes examine every potential feeding and resting place for signs of danger before the flock lands. Furthermore, their nomadic lifestyle makes them difficult to locate.
Hunting snow geese requires hard work and specialized strategies, but those who learn the tricks find it immensely rewarding. They note that few outdoor experiences can compare with being at the center of a swirling vortex of several thousand squawking snow geese settling into a decoy spread.
To help hunters locate snow goose concentrations, the Missouri Department of Conservation provides weekly snow goose reports at http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/hunt/w...wl/weekly-snow/.
To make the most of hunting opportunities, heed the following tips:
--Start by driving back roads to locate fields where snow geese are feeding. Find the landowner, get permission to hunt and then set out decoys. If this can be accomplished by mid-afternoon, you can hunt the field that evening and again the next morning.
--Snow geese usually return to a field until the food there is exhausted. However, they have good memories and won't return to a place where they have been shot at. The work of finding a hot field and setting out decoys may result in two or three successful hunts an evening, a morning and another evening. After that, the birds are gone, and it's back to scouting.
--Hide all signs of human activity, including tire tracks, candy wrappers and any other non-natural items.
--Park vehicles at least a half mile away.
--Set out a minimum of 500 decoys (1,000 to 1,500 is better).
--Supplement shell and silhouette decoys with lighter, less expensive white rags or white plastic bag decoys.
--Wear camouflage or white if snow covers the ground.
--Don't call too much. Calls are most useful for calling in single birds or isolated pairs.
--Don't begin shooting while birds are still landing. For maximum shooting opportunity, wait until birds already on the ground begin to get nervous and take flight.
--Agree on fields of fire so you don't waste opportunities shooting at the same birds.
--Take your first shots at birds that are at the fringe of your effective range, then work your way back through closer birds.
--Focus on one bird at a time.
--A morning's shooting ends when the birds go back to roost in refuge areas during the middle of the day. Sometimes that is as early as 9 a.m. Other times they may not roost until noon. Afternoon feeding flights can arrive two hours before dark, but they may not appear until shooting hours are almost over.
--Use 2 3/4-inch shotgun shells with No. 1 or No. 2 steel shot.
- Jim Low -
