1) Scouting: If you
don’t find the birds, they likely won’t find you. “You have to scout, scout and
scout some more,” says Scott Terning, Delta’s director of recruitment and
education. Watch the snow line; birds will be south of it, always. You can also
use a number of online sources to aid your scouting and get refuge reports to
determine bird concentrations, but remember nothing compares to doing real-time
scouting.” Terning recommends finding the largest concentration of birds on a
lake, wetland or piece of sheet water. During the spring, he said, it’s common
to locate multiple roosts in a given area. “You want to scout these birds and
locate where they are feeding for your hunt the next day,” Terning says.
“Taking these simple first steps will save you a lot of time and frustration.”
2) The sheet water
connection: “In the spring finding sheet water is often the key element in
finding birds,” says Delta Waterfowl Senior Vice President John Devney. “They
seem to decoy far better in fields with a little water in them. Spring snows
will often look for corn stubble and sheet water in the same field.”
3) Concealment: Hide,
hide, hide! Fooling spring snows requires you stay well hidden. Take advantage
of any field changes that allow for better concealment—from drainages to low
spots to missed field vegetation. Conceal ground blinds from all angles and use
decoys to break up their outlines. In grain fields it’s sometimes best to ditch
the ground blinds and hunt in your best “whites.” And don’t forget your
facemask. There’s typically no margin for error.
4) Decoys: You
don’t need a 1,000-decoy spread to have a successful hunt, says Terning. “You
need a respectable amount of decoys, and the best ones you have, because
quality can be more important than quantity,” he said, noting that you should
team up with a friend if you don’t have enough decoys. “Bring along some
floaters too. You’ll want to use them in the sheet water.” Keep decoys properly
spaced, about three or four feet between each. The spread will look more
natural from a distance and create the affect of having a larger spread.
5) Movement in decoys: It’s
very important to attract distant birds to your spread. Use kites, flyers,
flags and other decoys to increase motion, especially directly behind your
blinds on the upwind side of your spread. This will create the illusion of
snows landing and leap-frogging over each other to feed. “Silosock flyers work
really well to add movement to your spread,” says Terning. Bottom line: employ
as much movement as possible, even to the point of putting a white vest on your
dog.
6) Late snows: The
latter part of the migration can provide the best decoy hunting, because the
majority of the birds are juveniles. “Young birds are much easier to decoy,”
says Delta’s Jim Fisher, Canada’s director of conservation policy. “You won’t
see the number of birds, generally speaking, but the decoy hunting can be
excellent.”
7) Hunter placement in
decoys: “Don't be afraid to move within the decoy spread to get to a
better position to shoot lower birds or to have a chance at flaring birds,”
says Delta’s Fisher. “Or leave the decoys altogether and get downwind to a spot
that may give you closer shots.”
8) Prepare
for fog and mud: Spring hunters will likely find both in copious amounts. “Morning
fog can really get guys mixed up when they’re looking for the field they
received permission to hunt the night before, so make a mental note of
landmarks to guide you to the right spot,” says Delta’s Terning. “If the fog
has been really bad, use a GPS to plot the precise location of where you want
to set up the following day. A good map and GPS are indispensable.” The spring
season has another constant: mud. Be prepared for it; bring extra clothes/gear
and have a plan for transporting decoys because driving a truck and trailer
into a field may not be an option. “Hunters need to do their best to leave the
smallest footprint as possible,” says Delta’s Devney. “Be respectful of
landowner property and be extremely careful not to tear up muddy roads.”
9) Ballistics and
shooting: Fisher strongly recommends using quality shells. “I like to use
three-inch shot shells with BB or BBB,” he said. “Be judicious with the shots
you take, know your maximum effective range and don’t stray from it. After all,
it’s hunting, not shooting.”
10) Food, glorious, food: Have a
plan. Bring a cooler, ice and cleaning materials. Know the rules on how to
legally transport birds. Snow geese, contrary to popular myth, are superb table
fare. Bring a grill or stove and prepare a feast in the field. An easy recipe:
take the tenderloins from several goose breasts. Dredge them in seasoned flour
and fry. Serve them with your favorite dipping sauce. Delta President Rob Olson
says sweet chili or plum and hot mustard is a terrific combination. Find some
great snow goose recipes at
