A typical day hunting geese in Montana

My phone rang late last summer and my good friend Lyle Sinner was on the other end. His call was straight to the point, “Hey Chris, are you interested in heading to Montana to goose hunt?” While it took all of about 2 seconds for me to decide, my decision was an obvious YES. Anyone who knows me well knows this isn’t something that takes a lot of convincing. While this is something none of us had ever done before, researching some goose hunting in a new area is something that is not foreign to anyone of us. Lyle had been out in Montana for some Elk hunting years prior and already had a good area that he wanted us to pursue. So with that phone call starting the planning on a new goose hunting adventure.

We had planned on heading out to Montana over Thanksgiving weekend. While normally Thanksgiving is tied to turkey and family, this year I cashed in a family rain check and we were going to be experiencing webbed feet for our Turkey Day. After a few phone calls and a few hours studying some maps on Google Earth, we had our initial plan of attack down. All that was needed was some good old windshield time scouting to put the hunts together.

Everywhere you go is fantastic scenery

We left on the Wednesday morning before Thanksgiving from my home in Bismarck and put the cruise control at 78 mph heading due west. We were hoping to get there with plenty of time to scout east of our hotel. Our anticipation was high, but we knew we were getting to the area early in the season and we weren’t quite sure how many geese we’d find in the area. The fall had been relatively warm which for waterfowlers, it typically meant it was going to be a late migration; not the best of conditions. But once we started seeing good numbers of geese over an hour before we reached our area we knew we were going to find something to hunt. After a brief stop at the hotel and unhitching our trailer, we were on our way out of town to hit some gravel. We saw quite a few bunches of geese on the roost sandbars and we were out just before they started flying out to feed. In the distance we started seeing strings of Canada geese heading out over our back highway and were locking up into some distant fields. The wild goose chase was on. We scouted around 1,000 geese in a field and stopped by a nearby farmstead, which granted us permission. So far the trip was going off without a hitch.

Another quick morning on Canadas

The following morning we were out the door ahead of time as everyone was full of anticipation. We got to our field with around an hour and a half of setup time which was more than enough to get the blinds well stuffed and our decoys setup like the birds the night before. We were a bit up a hill and as the sun started to creep over the horizon it gave view to one of most beautiful sunrises I’d ever seen while in a stubble field. We were surrounded by endless bluffs and buttes, casting various shadows into the surrounding valleys. It was truly something that could inspire even the most seasoned of wildlife artists. The moment was quickly cut short by the sounds of a couple honks across the side of our field. We were caught off guard by some early-comers, something that every goose hunter knows well. We hid in our blinds and let off a couple of greeting honks in our calls, coupled with a couple short flickers of our flags. It didn’t take much convincing as 4 Canadas came on a string right down the landing zone. A couple of volleys and we had 4 geese in our bag. Soon after, the strings started coming and each followed suite like their predecessors. Either we were doing everything right or the birds weren’t expecting a thing, either way the morning was over in a hurry with a 3-man limit of honkers.

Hunting Canada geese around cattle

Little did we know, this was the way the whole trip went. Each night we scouted a different area, and each night we were greeted by more than friendly landowners. Most of them wanted to know why we wanted to spend our holiday chasing geese, and each time we explained our infatuation with cupped wings and our enjoyment of the scenery. The first 3 days we hunted private ground, and each time we scouted a whole new area and a new flight of birds. On our 3rd day, we even encountered something that I rarely experienced, and this was a field full of geese and cattle. Typically, we don’t even bother asking since farmers rarely want any shooting around their livestock. But this farmer was more than happy to not only let us on his land, but we could hunt right up next to his cattle…assuming we don’t shoot in their direction, of course. The geese didn’t seem to mind committing right over their cattle and to do a side swing into our decoys. I think the cattle were more curious of what we were doing rather than to be spooked. At times we had to shoo the cattle away as they wanted to feed right into our decoy spread. That was a bit odd, but we got those comical experiences on film.

The final day was really something that was enjoyable on our Montana goose hunting experience. We decided to really spread out our scouting area and headed a good 30 miles away to see if the other areas were as good as our first 3 days. Down in a valley, we sighted a huge flight of geese coming over some trees and dropping out of view. We saw some odd signs up and down the fence row and we later came to love the signs more than any posted sign I’d ever come across. The signs were for a program in Montana called Block Management. It basically allows landowners to be directly reimbursed from the Montana DNR for each hunter hunting their land. In this case, for the 3 hunters the landowner was going to be sent $60 for allowing us access. All you had to do is fill out a form and we had access to any field in the roughly 10,000 acre operation. And with roughly 5-10,000 geese in around 8 fields, we were truly in goose heaven.

The final day went off like the previous 3 and that involved plenty of committed geese and a relaxing hunt. After I quickly harvested my 4 geese, I spent the rest of my time taking as many still shots of approaching geese as possible. I had a videographer with me on this trip and we had captured the entire 4 days of hunting on film. The many shots of cupped wings really complimented the footage and it is something I look forward to reviewing well into the future.

Montana is really one of those marvels in the waterfowl world that you rarely hear about. While typically their season is best in December through January, there was still plenty of geese in the area in late November and even more arriving daily throughout our trip. We ran into a couple small groups of hunters in the hotel but other than that we never encountered another hunting party in the field. This is what I enjoyed most about Montana; plenty of peace and quiet and breathtaking scenery around every corner. Our annual goose hunting trip to Montana is now in the books and I look forward to returning there again this year. It is something every goose hunter should experience.

Related Articles

• Why I Decoy Hunt? (0)
• The Art of Missing (0)
• August Goose Hunting (0)

Non hunters and hunters who don’t target Canada geese may be a bit take off guard when learning those hunters they’ve seen and heard are out taking part in the early Canada goose season in North Dakota–for good reason.

In 1988 the US Fish and Wildlife Service annual spring waterfowl survey indicated about 18,000 resident Canada geese. The 2007 spring count was at 362,000. Many residents of North Dakota can remember a time in the 60s when seeing a Canada goose was quite a site with a mere 100 wild breeding pairs, which created a multi-pronged approach to raising and restoring Canada goose populations across the prairie. And by 1993 around 20,000 Canada geese dotted the state. About that same time the resurgence of water and snow recharged wetlands which had been dry for years.

Game and Fish began first by suspending relocation efforts, removing closed goose hunting zones and in 1999 offered the first early Canada goose season in south east North Dakota. In 2002 landowners were allowed to apply for permits to directly kill or destroy nests of birds which were causing depredation in early spring and summer.

This year the season opened August 15th with the Department full knowing the obstacles of mosquitoes, and lack of harvested crops for field hunting may limit hunter interest. But realize the need to increase harvest provides the weighing the odds of hunter’s taking part in the season. Which begs the question why aren’t the included in the spring snow goose conservation hunt? To answer that here’s the official response from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

During the spring there are numerous temporal and geographic overlaps between the various Canada goose populations. Because the status of each population varies widely, and because any management action for resident Canada geese must be legally targeted at only resident Canada geese, we see no feasible way to consider spring time hunting or control of resident Canada geese using hunters during this time period.

Hunters understand the difference between the giant Canada’s and the sub-species which are smaller and often referred to as Hutchies or lessers. These different sub-species can make for difficult identification in many hunting conditions and which is why the season in past Septembers was reduced from three weeks to the first two weeks of September as the hunter harvest on non-target sub-species was beyond the acceptable boundaries established by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Extending the season into August was granted as one of the only remaining viable options left under federal regulations for adding more hunter harvest opportunities into the giant Canada goose population management equation.

Hunting seasons in August or November for that matter are an end result of cooperation between hunters and landowners. Any season designed is only as good as the interest from the hunting community and cooperation of landowners. It’s understood many landowners will continue with fall work and in some instances hesitate with granting access immediately due to harvest or fall field work,  but for the good of the management of Canada geese the season depends on providing reasonable access to hunters. Landowners who’ve experienced depredation issues in the past would allow hunters to assist with increasing goose harvest, and hunters need to understand and heed any request  from the granting landowner.

Related Articles

• Why I Decoy Hunt? (0)
• The Art of Missing (0)
• Montana Goose Hunting (0)

There has been a lot written about the tactics needed to shoot snow geese. There are decoyers, sneakers, pushers and pass-shooters. We will see all kinds this spring as we look for opportunities to thin the population of snow geese. They may all have their place. I am one of the old school that enjoys shooting geese over decoys even though it may be getting more difficult. Here are some of the reasons why I decoy hunt.

I enjoy the peace and quiet of sitting in the decoys.
There are times when a guy just has to get away from it all. There is no better place than sitting in a decoy spread waiting for snows to make a pass. I watch the clouds and decipher shapes just like I did as a kid. My ear is always tuned to the frequency of a lone goose looking for companionship. However, sitting in the decoys is not always quiet. There is, of course, the roar of the flock. This is acceptable because I usually get a chance to quiet a few members of the flock. On the other hand, the constant chatter of nearby sandhill cranes, especially near the Platte River in Nebraska, drives me nuts. You can’t shoot at em and they keep you from napping.

 I can take a nap if I am sleepy.

Sometimes, it is so quiet that the fact that you got up at 4:00 a.m. begins to make your eyelids pretty heavy. I never look at a quiet time in the decoys as “boring.” It is just an opportunity to catch 40 winks that will help you through the tedious chore of scouting in the afternoon. I have never fallen asleep to the point that I don’t hear the squawk of a goose approaching our decoy spread. But, I know that my brother in law, Ken has missed some point blank shots on mallards because he has been napping.

I enjoy the coyotes yelping in the distance as we are setting up decoys in pitch-blackness.

When they start yelping at o’dark thirty, it sounds like they are standing in the fence line watching me set out decoys. I keep an eye on my flanks half expecting one to dart out and try to get me or my decoys. The piercing yelp is one that reminds me of the old days and that, despite our modern conveniences, we still have the old coyotes around. They have their place in nature. It would be too bad if they were destroyed.

It’s fun to see the fox run along the edge of the decoys checking us out.
I don’t have much love for foxes though. Maybe they help control the field mice. But, they also eat duck eggs and destroy nests. It gives me great pleasure knowing that they have been fooled and have wasted their time stalking decoys that they think are the real things. “Too bad boys. Go somewhere else!”

I have turned around and seen a half dozen antelope that have sneaked up on us from behind and are grazing upwind of the decoy spread.
How about the time we popped up from our ground camo and discovered six antelope contentedly grazing in the early morning sunshine? Obviously, we weren’t discharging our shotguns at any waterfowl or the antelope would not be there. It was a pretty quiet morning. But the unexpected appearance of the antelope sure made the experience worthwhile that morning. You won’t get close to these guys if you are stomping all over the countryside chasing geese.

I can talk to the dog lying next to me and scratch him behind the ears when there is not much else going on.

Maybe one of the greatest pleasures of decoy hunting is the opportunity to be really close to your favorite hunting companion. Old Kirby, will lie right beside me and keep me warm. He will often face me rather than downwind. When he does that, I can watch his eyes to see where the birds are when they are behind me. Nothing, beats watching him retrieve a bird shot from our decoy spread.

I only have to ask permission to hunt once or twice until we get a good field to hunt. When sneaking, the hunter is running around madly all day long.
This idea of racing all over the countryside chasing geese is crazy! That’s no way to hunt. I save money on gas by not driving around all day. I do drive a lot in the evening and get permission to hunt. But, it usually only takes one or two inquiries to get permission. I am not bugging the hell out of local farmers who might not appreciate all the traffic on their gravel driveways.

I am not strong enough or inclined to crawl on my belly for a quarter mile or more just to get one or two shots.
Hey, I have to admit this guys. I’m too old to be crawling on all fours to sneak some geese. That’s too much work. Eating dust in a road ditch isn’t my idea of hunting either. Nor is getting soaked and muddy. I’ve fouled enough guns with mud just sitting in my blind much less dragging them in the mud. I don’t think it’s real safe either.

It isn’t very personally gratifying to shoot into a flock and see what drops.
So you have crawled up on a flock of geese. All you have to do is rise up and ground pound the whole flock. You shoot. How do you tell a good shot from a bad shot? You can’t. There is no real skill in the shot. You are just lucky or you aren’t. Besides that, you can wound a whole lot of other ducks and Canada geese when you flock shoot or ground pound. You see, it’s just wouldn’t be that gratifying.

It’s fun to razz and be razzed by my hunting partners for missing some pretty easy shots.

Who has bragging rights when three guys unload 15 shots at a spooked flock? You can’t tell who got what or who missed what. It’s a lot more fun to alternate shots or at least know who is doing what. I know what a triple means and I also know what it means to miss one at 25 yards. That’s part of the fun. Chasing geese for 45 minutes after a ground pound? Not for me, thanks.

I have been hunting snow geese for 25 years and have assembled a good set of decoys, trailer, and blinds.
I have paid my dues in the form of a lot of equipment. A little analogy might help explain the situation. You can’t play goalie without spending a lot of money for equipment. Try it sometime! That gear may cost you $1500 bucks. The same is true for snow goose hunting. If you want to play the decoy game you have to be committed and assemble your spread over several years. I have my decoys now and can sit in them whenever I like, which is most of the time.

I don’t want to screw up a hunt for somebody else by sneaking geese and making them more wary or chasing them out of an area.
How many times have you read about guys sneaking the roost and blowing the birds out of the county? Or if you are sneaking a flock, somebody else does likewise and messes up your sneak. I just don’t want to do that to other hunters or make the birds so jumpy that nobody has a chance to shoot a few.

It’s fun dropping birds from right overhead and having them fall on top of you.
I’ll bet the pass shooters enjoy that too. That’s a real challenge if the birds are up there a ways. There is nothing like sucking in those geese to the point where you try to see who can drop one closest to the blind. That’s a lot more fun than winging one going away at 65 yards or ground pounding fifty of them at one time. It’s really fun to be right under the “tornado” as it is spinning down.

It is fun to see a flock of a half dozen birds turn over on their backs and spill air as they are really fooled and come sweeping into the decoys.

You can’t appreciate this wonderful site when you are sneaking birds or even pass shooting them. Those birds that flip over seem to double their speed as they spill air. And the acrobatics makes for some erratic flight and incredible skill necessary to down one of these guys.
It’s even sort of fun to just lie there and watch thousands of geese fly right on by — if I have already got a few.

Related Articles

• Winged Migration (0)
• Too Many Geese? (1)
• The Dawning of A New Waterfowl Season (0)
• The Art of Missing (0)
• The 5 Stages of a Hunter (1)

PJ has logged a long career of memorable misses

There has been a lot written about shooting shotguns and the different roles of shot size, chokes, etc. It seems to me that every article I have read about shooting agrees on one thing; you can have the right choke with the right load, but if you cannot shoot, it won’t matter. In my opinion, when it comes to shooting, practice makes perfect.

Still one can practice their shotgun shooting through the summer, and feel they are equipped with adequate loads and choke and blank on a committed flock of mallards come fall. You may ask yourself, how does this happen? I know I do. At the end of the season I can always think of countless times when I should have added birds to the bag, yet I cleanly missed. It’s funny how one remembers the misses more clearly than the hits.

There are two things I typically do when shooting at birds that I blame my misses on. The first, which I feel is common for most hunters, is not getting my head down on the barrel. When my cheekbone is not snug to the stock, my gun is not properly aligned and I miss. This phenomenon typically occurs when I am in awe of my surroundings, like when a big flock of geese comes right into the decoys.

PJ has logged a long career of memorable misses

The second thing that I feel that I do when I miss is leading the bird too far. I know this sounds crazy because most shooters will tell you that one typically does not lead birds enough. I try to concentrate on my lead quite often when I am shooting. Because I concentrate on it, probably too much, often I feel that I shoot too far ahead of my target.

One thing most shotgun shooters should do to improve their shooting is figure out what kind of shooter you are so you can work on weaknesses and play the strengths. I am not going to try to explain the many different types of shooters in this article; one must do that research for yourself. Think of it as homework.

My shooting coach/league partner, Fred Klein, has told me that I am a spot-shooter. Basically that means that I shoot at a spot were I feel that my target is heading. Spot shooting is one of the hardest ways for shooters to learn to shoot, but once it is learned it can be very efficient. I can honestly say I was born a spot shooter, it was not learned. However, through shooting in a weekly league at Metro Gun club with Fred and company, I have learned a lot.

I  believe that the easiest way for shotgun hunters to improve their shooting is through visualization. Many psychological studies have proven that many things in life can be improved through the visualization process. Studies have shown that basketball players, for example, have improved their free throw shooting through visualization, almost as much as through practice. Picture yourself hitting more birds, and I believe that you will.

When hunting live birds anything can happen. The wind, the sun, and many other factors can affect one’s pattern of shotgun pellets. It is important to keep shooting and not get too down on yourself. I know as well as anyone that in order to have good days bird hunting you have to capitalize on every opportunity you get. You cannot hit what you don’t shoot at and if you keep pulling the trigger I believe that good things will happen.

Related Articles

• Why I Decoy Hunt? (0)
• The Best Waterfowl Hunt (0)
• Sun Showers (0)
• Rory and the 2001 Hunting Season (0)
• Nebraska Duck Hunting – Early Teal Season (0)