Spring snow goose season~

[snow1]

Is under way south of minnesota,then again finding huntable numbers of snow geese in minnesota is slim pickens.

Good friend just setup camp in NW missouri,no snow,50 degrees while out scouting he came across this huge wad of migrators...

now ole snow is birdie....

[KEN W]

Son-in-law hunting in SD. Not good Monday. OK yesterday. Shot a whopping 166 this morning in the snow and wind. Half adults.

 

[snow1]

It's been a fast and furious spring season,leading edge of this years migration is already well into north dakota and friends are still whacking n stacking in missouri,last week when I was out in south dakota opening up my farm,we had some good numbers but most were migrating up in the stratosphere,we also picked up many dead snow/blue geese,couple honkers as well,seems this spring we have an out break of avian bird flu,it's a sad thing to witness as it's a slow death.

Thanx for the report Ken

[KEN W]

Yup....They were seeing dead geese on slough and lake shorelines. Also on the ground after a big flock took off. Bird Flu. Although some on the water were probably cripples that made it back to the water.

If it's bird flu, will it follow them back to the Tundra. Will this be Mother Nature's way of reducing the population like it does with all animal populations? If it is, it will be for a lot of bird species. The Spring Conservation Season will just be memories.

[glenn57]

They seemed to survive the last bird flu pandemic 4-5 years ago quite well.

I've read there are several turkey farms around my area that already are destroying turkey flocks because of it

[Dotch]

Seems most of them so far are up more your direction with the exception of that small personal backyard flock in Mower Co.

" A contagious variant of avian flu is being discovered in five Minnesota counties.  A commercial turkey farm in Meeker County has a majority of the affected birds with 289-thousand on site.  The smallest flock with the virus is a group of 17 backyard birds.  The Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Incident Management Team will head up control and containment of the virus.  Minnesota is the top turkey producing state in the nation with more than 40 million birds on over 660 farms."

"Avian influenza is an airborne respiratory virus that spreads easily among chickens (& fowl in general)  through nasal and eye secretions, as well as manure. The virus can spread from flock to flock by wild birds, through contact with infected poultry."

http://www.bah.state.mn.us/hpai/

I know even though it hasn't been detected in this and surrounding counties, it has already curtailed any turkey barn cleanout activity according to local growers. They'll have to bed on top of existing litter until further notice.

[snow1]

Good insight Dotch,years ago I remember another avian out break when we hunted the Lac Qui Parle area,I was concerned about the effects this flu would have on our bird dogs and our cunsumption of our geese we shot,local vet in monti claimed "no problem"
 on both accounts,none the less we stopped hunting that season.

Last week in south dakota we joked about the geese having covid...I watched one flock of snows that lifted up as we approached by road,one goose fell straight down as if it was shot at least 2-300yds high it was so sick,bad deal but agreed,mother natures way of culling the snow goose central flyway flock of over 5 million snow geese that nest on the artic tundra.

[Dotch]

Anytime the populations get as crowded as what they have become in the Arctic, it's just a disease festival looking for a place to happen. Same goes for any kind of wildlife or livestock. Used to have a guy in the office here who worked for Hormel (Jenny-O & Jerome Foods). They were death on sparrows and starlings for spreading diseases around. Used to be an indication that the large flocks of migrating grackles we used to see were culprits in spreading livestock diseases too. Don't see the large flocks anymore and most of the livestock, particularly dairy cattle, isn't pastured like it once was.

[snow1]

Makes sense Dotch,when we had the avian out break in Lac Qui Parle late 80's... it started when the army corp of engineers drew down the water level above the minnesota river damn between upper and lower lac qui parle lake when the canada goose migration/population was peeking on the refuge with over 100k geese,river water was green with goose shete and these birds were living in that yuck.

[Outdoors Junkie]

Two weeks ago was my second ever South Dakota Spring Snow Goose hunt (last year was my first). Three of my cousins (and kids) drive over to Huron from MN and me and my boys drive over from Spearfish. We had decent success (around 25+ per day). It was a ton of fun! I received a video from our guide on Tuesday and the group hunting right now knocked down 203 birds on Tuesday!

[snow1]

Sweet! now your hooked,curious what guide service you used,I seldom see full body snow goose dekes these days,your guide has quite the spread and perfect setup just off water if there is such a thing as perfect setup hunting snows,ugh..several years ago we dumped our decoy trailers and sold all of our full body dekes,storage issues and old age ,today strickley deadly socks... some flyers if needed and smaller spreads,your pic of the setup looks massive,thanx for sharing.

Looks like a nice mix of juvies and adults laying there.

[KEN W]

Looks like a good hunt. Quite a few Ross in there.

[snow1]

Ross geese,I never hunted the spring snow goose hunt in canada but I've read canada's game laws regarding the spring snow goose hunt as we were planning a hunt to the hudson bay nesting area years back,canada's game laws protect the ross goose,that must be a challenge for hunter's ... heck weekend warriors still shoot pelicans and swans every fall,white birds sure get a bad rap.

Interesting stat for folks not aware of why we have a spring snow goose/population control hunt every year.

no one talks about the human birthing factor...(MIGRANTS)

Population. The breeding population of the lesser snow goose exceeds 5 million birds, an increase of more than 300% since the mid-1970s. The population is increasing at a rate of more than five percent per year. this hunt really doesn't put a dent in our migrating geese destroying our tundra region.but since PETA nailed the USFW with a law suit many years ago protecting the snow goose nesting in the artic (destroying nests) this hunt is plan B..

[KEN W]

Well a small group of men at Texas parks and wildlife voted to end the CO in TX. This was pushed through by a "waterfowl manager" and his cronies with an agenda, not by Texas goose hunters.

Just not enough Snows going all the way down to Texas like they used to. Plus lots of land being urbanized and water just not available for rice farming.