[muskat]

After reading a ton of "hunter reports" at Waterfowler.com, I have become a little disgusted. Guys on there talking about using cow silhouttes and mirrors to jump shoot geese, killing 41 or 32 birds in one shoot. I enjoy stalking snow geese and also enjoy pass shooting, but things have been taken to a new extreme. Maybe I am just blowing some steam, but does this bother anyone else? I dont want to poop on someone else's method, I am always open to new ideas and methods, but it seems like these guys are just waking up in the morning and deciding for the first time to start hunting, grab a 6 foot mirror, and a shotgun, and go and blast sixty or seventy geese in one shoot.

Maybe its just the beer talkin, so I will shut up, I dont want to offend anyone who uses these methods.

To each his own.

 

[nodakoutdoors.com]

I'm a little split on the subject. One side says you can hunt however you want. Decoying isn't everyone's first choice for hunting. They either don't have the patience to sit and wait or prefer the excercise, can't afford decoys, no time to scout, etc., etc.

On the other hand it is getting ridiculous. That's what is making the conservation order so confusing. Yes, we're supposed to take as many birds as possible to "save the tundra". But on the other hand it's giving hunters the wrong message saying it's cool to sneak up and shoot into flocks on water, land, behind a cow or mirror, etc. I wonder how many canadas and ducks are getting shot or wounded while shooting into the flock.

The point I'm making is, what's going to happen when the spring season's are over? Will poor ethics carry into the fall?

 

[GooseBuster3]

Yes, I will also agree with you guys. It is just getting out of hand. Ya it is fun shooting a bunch of birds,but why not do it the ethical way. Yes passing shooting and jumping can be a blast. But guys are getting out of hand, I have heard guys using cow recording when sneaking geese and they say the sound lets them get in close ya,right. From my expierence decoying has been the best.

 

[Perry Thorvig]

I am very afraid that the spring practice of sneaking and pushing geese is creating a whole generation of "wild west" goose hunters that could care less about decoying. I am afraid that this practice is going to carry over into the fall season. Roosts will no longer be sacred and goose hunting over decoys is going to be ruined. In the old days, I didn't mind a few of the boys out stirring up the flocks a little. But, now they are being harrassed to the point where it is ridiculous.

I'm pretty depressed. I feel my hunting way of life slipping away.

 

[KEN W]

A year or so ago I talked to a waterfowl biologist about this.I don't remember exactly when,but a number of years ago the USFW service did a study here in Bottineau County in the spring.They had teams out hunting using e-callers.The birds collected were then sent to laboratories for fat analysis.As you know when the birds get to the tundra they live off the fat stored up for awhile.They wanted to see how much fat they actually had.Anyway,this biologist told me all this harassing of the birds on their spring migration will increase the mortality on the tundra because they are not getting enough to eat.This will help bring down the population,which is the main objective.I have noticed in the last 2 years that a lot of birds have had no fat on them.I agree it is too bad it has come to this,but it may be necessary.

 

[Perry Thorvig]

Thanks for some scientific information on the effects of spring hunting, Ken. I too believe that the harassment of snow geese is successful in reducing body fat and diminishing the overall health of the birds. They don't get much time to sit and eat before they are assaulted by the "run and gun" boys. And, these hunting tactics are working to reduce the size of the flock a little. Unfortunately, I agree that it is a necessary evil. I just hope the boys ease up a little in the fall! If they don't, I will have to go goose hunting in North Dakota after the deer season starts. Then all the guys that were chasing geese a week or two earlier will be out chasing deer instead and I will have the goose fields to myself.