Snow goose hunting - 2009 Here we come!

[guythathunts]

We are heading out Thursday the 12th to get on some snows! I am getting so jacked up I can hardly concentrate at work. I know I get too worked up about this stuff but I have been having a hard time falling asleep for about 2 weeks now and I still have 1 1/2 weeks to go. Today I am going to send out the first of many emails that will circulate within the hunting party. This is when the excitement realy escalates. This year will be our third year taking this trip and let me tell you the expectatons are running high! Let me give you an example of how my mind keeps me up at night:

  IN MY MIND~ "Well... On our first journey West we only got 1 bird... yup... 1. Last year we figured out how it worked! We had a 30x improvement over our first with 30 birds on the weekend. We figure if we improve by the same ammount we should shoot 30x30 birds this year. That is 900 geese! I can see me now taking them out of the sky by the 100's" ~ OUT OF MY MIND!

Not exactly sure where we will go, only the brids will tell, but once we get there I am sure fun will be had by all. If you are heading out, I wish you well and lets get some pics up on here of us doing our part in the conservation order!

[Cody Gruchow]

i wish i didnt hurt my knee.. :banghead:i really wanted to go. :cry:GOOD LUCK and shoot a few for me

[fubar]

good luck, i jsut finished the e-caller i have been working on for the last week. i know al about the no sleep thing im so excited too

[guythathunts]

Cody - That stinks about your knee. Get well soon.

Fubar - When are you heading out? We are leaving on the 12th.

[snow]

here we go,"the spread"

[bowhunter73]

Where about are you going?

[snow]

Rain water basin unless huntable numbers move into south central SoDak by the weekend.We'll see what this next weather event brings later in the week.

Tim

[fubar]

im not sure yet, im out in grand forks so im prety close to the action. My friends are kind of lazy of i would have left a week ago. Just have to wait for them to get far enough north...probubly central sodak so it may be around the 12th if it stays warm like it is. My roomaits are geting annoyed because i jsut got this e-caller rippin' and it is LOUD,  been nothing but snows and crows ringin through the appartment. (With the occasional coyote and jack rabbit)

[snow]

Are ya running "mp3" or "c/d's?" How many watts is your speaker? volume control and mute? wireless speakers?

We use electronic wireless callers,speaker wires tend to get in the way and its nice to have the callers away from the spread,years back we only had cassett tapes,they would'nt work very well in cold weather and if ya had a group of birds working the spread the dang tape  would end and not repeat,frustrating when that happened.

[fubar]

I have 2 fifty watt powerhorn speakers hooked up to a 200 watt amp. I have the speakers runing with 20 feet of 16 guage wire on each one. it is all enclosed in a battery box with a toggle switch for the power so i dont have to opoen it up every time i want to turn the power off. For the sound source i just hooked up a mp3 player right to amp, works prety good and i can have all kinds of sounds on it. i have snow geese, coyotes, rabbits (for the coyotes) and crows calls on it. its a prety slick unit that i put together and i lerned alot from my mistakes since it is my first time building one. if anyone wants one i can build one for them for around $250 and even less if you want to put your own battery in it if anyone is interested. they work great for everything from snows to coyotes and i could build one from 1-4 speakers just shoot me a pm if anyone is interested.

[snow]

still a bunch south,sounds like the major #'s are in central NE...

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/SquawCreek/waterfowl_surveys.html

[snow]

guy,

Your timing might be perfect for the 12th for SoDak unless this weekend weather brings snow~

This is the latest SoDak report from the refuges,locals claim more birds in and around yankton.

March 3rd

There were reports of about 10,000 snows on Lake Andes before the storm came. Now there is 4 inches of snow or better in most places, the water is mostly frozen, and the snow geese have all gone back south.

There are a few snows in the Yankton area, but not very many. The majority of the geese in that area are dark geese. We have heard several reports from locals that they have seen flocks of snows, but no large concentrations yet.

[guythathunts]

I think we should be right on the money for the first big push. We wont get a hotel until a few days prior so we can travle, but I think the I 90+129 crossing should be good. I have been follwing the migration on a bunch of different sites and it looks good so far. When are you planning on going out?

[snow]

I'm packed,locked,cocked and ready to rock...doc  heading out tomorrow night for north central NE.I'll keep a watchful eye on the sky as we travel across I90.Eyes on the ground tell me the sky looks like "salt and pepper" right now,highest number of kills so far in one day is 131,before that slim pickens,few here and there.They said it is like someone opened a flood gate,wave after wave of white geese. 

[Dan R.]

Good luck bud talk to you when i get back from Green Bay

[guythathunts]

Good Luck!

[snow]

Latest report from the sand lake refuge in North east SoDak...With this storm system these birds will hold tight and if it snows,move south for a day or two while the snow melts.Currently blizzard conditions throughout central NoDak...

The snow geese are really moving in the Sand Lake area today.  As of 2:00 PM today, there were approximately 150,000 snow geese on the ice on Sand Lake, about 1 mile south of Highway 10.  There are also thousands of geese on the James River, just south of the refuge. 

The river channel is continuing to open up near the south end of the refuge, and near Highway 10.  There are many gulls and eagles beginning to make use of the dead fish appearing in these open water areas. 

Temperatures are currently in the mid-40's.  A large storm system is predicted to move through North and South Dakota late Sunday through next Wednesday. 

We will update this report next week, as new information becomes available. 

Thank you.