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Spring Snow Geese


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  • DonBo

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we just got back from where your going. i nevr knew there was so many geese it was awesome.

i cant wait til this weekend we are going to hunt them in western minnesota.

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GooBack, please tell us where exactly where you were and how you did.

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i cant wait til this weekend we are going to hunt them in western minnesota.

you cant seriously think there will be birds in western minnesota by the 13th????

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Only if you promise to behave.

its not in my nature to behave grin but I'll try........not

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Don where are you going? I usually go to the squaw creek area in Mounds City, MO. Usually say around March 1st there will be 1 million birds in town. Make sure to be a case of shells. I have went threw 16 boxes of shells in 2 and half days of hunting. I personally shoot bb's.

Andy Loos, 16 boxes, whats the limit out there. I haven't done it but am thinking about it. Sounds like something to try and sneak in before Turkey hunting. wink

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Leech, there is no limit and no plug requirment in MO. We went last year right now and their were 1.1 million at squaw and we were lucky because they reverse migrated because of the snow storm we had here in MN and SD. We are hoping to get a call that the birds are really in their by the end of this week because its my spring break. Two people last year shot five boxes for 5 hrs of hunting. My shoudler hurt so much because it was the first time for me shooting out of a layout blind. We ended up with about thirty birds. We had a lot that didnt commit and had to take a few long shots that didnt connect. Right now squaw creek website says 175 k as of saturday which in the past is way under average. Good luck to all and post reports of your hunts so more can go and kill some white skycarp!

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Leech, there is no limit and no plug requirment in MO.

What! cool Like I said I have never gone Snow Goose and I guess I didn't know it was that bad managing them! I mite have to hook up some where! wink

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Just spoke with our guide in Squaw Creek. The birds started showing up yesterday. Today there were 600,000 birds there! 400,OOO showed up in a 4 hour time period this morning. They shot like 130 birds in 2 1\2 days. Thursday can't come quick enough.

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Just spoke with our guide in Squaw Creek. The birds started showing up yesterday. Today there were 600,000 birds there! 400,OOO showed up in a 4 hour time period this morning. They shot like 130 birds in 2 1\2 days. Thursday can't come quick enough.

now Ive really got a delemia I cant decide fishing in Redwing or spearing at Devils Lake or now snow geese in MO so much stuff and NO TIME TO DO IT ALL wink

I hope you get big brusies Don and thats a good compliment grin Good luck bud

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you could spear at devils and shoot snows at the same time, granted the ice sticks that long and the snow melts!

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What's the skinny on licensing? I have a sportsman's license, stamps, and that early goose stamp, please tell me I'm not ok to go as last spring I had a flock of roughly 500 birds land in my field, talking east central mn, there's a smaller route here to, just they rarely stop. I started thinking I'm probably licensed, I could've easily snuck up on them and unloaded 5 rounds. Kept thinking smart snow geese, correct, but sitting within 30 yards of a line of round bales I have in that field, could've walked right up to that point and had a nice batch of goose jerky a few days later. Might be my biggest snooze you lose hunting moment ever.

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Musky, you need to buy the spring light goose permit. It costs $3.50. Just bought mine today.

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Just had a flock of a couple hundred snows fly over my house in Iowa City (southeast Iowa) today--those are the first I've seen and heard this spring.

I'm not sure where they're planning on landing, since the lakes and reservoirs down here are still mostly ice-covered.

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Whew, glad I didn't roast them, I sure thought about it, I would guess very few light geese stamps are sold in eastern MN/actually the hunting piece and I've only seen 2 flocks on the ground in the last 10 years. What I remember the most is 90% seemed to be sleeping or resting/head's tucked in. I hear them fly over some usually it's dark. Good Luck to all and hope the snowline doesn't vanish too quickly but the forecast doesn't look great.

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Went through Fremont NE yesterday, and the snow geese filled the sky, and the flooded fields on the north side of town, north side of 275. First time I've ever seen that many birds!

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NW Missourri is full of birds but probably not for long. Saw easily 1,000,000 birds yesterday-all headed north, northwest. Saw birds on the drive home today through the southern half of Iowa.

The hunting was dissapointing. Four of us for two days and we shot only two birds. There were so many birds around that our little spread of 1,000 decoys just would not draw them in. Every other group of hunters we talked to had similar success, the best we heard, one group shot 8 one morning. Both sets we had, had a group on the ground of hundreds of thousands of birds less than a mile from us. Even though we had wave after wave of hundreds and thousands of birds over us both days, very few would even give us a look as they played follow the leader towards the huge flocks. Virtually no juvinile birds were seen, apparently because of a poor hatch last spring. Supposedly that was also a reason that so few were killed.

The weather may also have played into it some as we had fog and drizzle or rain and snow most of the time, and was it ever MUDDY! OMG the mud, everything is covered in mud.

It was a true spectacle, the number of birds we saw, but the final outcome is not something I ever would have expected. Our outfitter even offered us a free hunt next year in So. Dakota. We may have to take him up on it as the payback on all those birds sounds sweet.

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DonBo.. Not sure if you posted it here, but what guide did you use? I would say that if you go to SD next year, you will get truly hooked on snows! SD is a MUCH better experiance!

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  • Official Fishing Report Team - MN

Donbo- Sorry to hear you didin't lay the smack on them but don't be dissapointed. We have all had hunts like this. The migration is still something to see even if numbers killed are low. I have been chasing spring snows ever since the spring season has started and they are getting smarter and smarter every yr and harder to kill decoying. They have seen almost every kind of spread imaginable. Some days if you hit the migrators,juvy's or high winds they pitch right in and on other days they won't even give you a look. It's amazeing how big of flocks you see. And if they start buildiong in a field you can have all the decoys in the world and you wont draw many birds. They most likely will all land in the groups flock after flock. Our group sets over 2000 decoys fullbodies shells and windsocks and you swear thats alot of decoys but compared to some of the flocks you see that's nothing. We have had great shoots with over 100 bird days and there are days we haven't fired a shot that's hunting. I would take the hunt in SD as you may pound them next yr you never know? Well as I am hearing the Rain water basin is filling up fast with snows and soon they will pushing into SD. They should be arriveing in the yankton area any day. My groups first trip is going to be Mrch 25 until we get sick of it. I am really looking forward to getting out to SD, and I hear you about the mud it's something else especially when hauling in decoys!

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NW Missourri is full of birds but probably not for long. Saw easily 1,000,000,000 birds yesterday-all headed north, northwest. Saw birds on the drive home today through the southern half of Iowa.

You saw a billion birds?

wink

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Originally Posted By: DonBo
NW Missourri is full of birds but probably not for long. Saw easily 1,000,000,000 birds yesterday-all headed north, northwest. Saw birds on the drive home today through the southern half of Iowa.

You saw a billion birds?

wink

Yeah, sorry, blush after about five zeros they all start to look the same. I did mean a million and I believe that to be quite conservative.

And firfyter, we were with First Flight Finishers.

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Don glad you got to witness the birds and seeing them is a thrill in its own.

I feel your pain on the poor hunt end of it.

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sounds like pass shooting them will be the only way to do it this year, just have to find a windy day

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There are guys decoying snows in SD. Averaging 30 bird days. It should only get better from here on out. There are some groups of snows that are bypassing and flying further north but thats just the norm. I'll be heading out on Thursday night and hunting through monday. good luck to all that head out in the next couple weeks, should be some good hunting.

oh and as far as the snow depth map goes theres not a whole lot of truth to whats being shown.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
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    • LakeofthewoodsMN
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    • CigarGuy
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    • PSU
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    • Mike89
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    • Hookmaster
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