Old Band!

[HD]

This is just unreal....24 year old duck 🦆?

[Gunner55]

  Read about that somewhere else too, no details though.

[snow1]

Agreed it is amazing these birds live so long,mid 90's first spring snow goose hunt in missouri,I shot a bunch of snow/blue geese,two banded,one was 18 years old the other 21 yrs old both banded in hudson bay,later reasearch revield oldest snow goose recorded was 35 years old...smart birds,hard to hunt success wise,they've seen every decoy spread known,herd every call travel in huge flocks for safety,then if,big IF they decide to give your setup a looksey,100's of eyeballs scanning,one little move whether someone peeks outof they're blind or a little movement like adjusting your shotgun....off they go,it's rare to get snowgeese in with feet down,very wary birds to hunt,down side is p-ss poor table fare,hence the huge population hunters pass on shooting them,last count central flyway was over 5million snow geese creating havock on the artic tundra,double this number with the east coast flyway,pretty sure big like numbers to the west coast flyway.

[Bobberineyes]

That's when you hunt over dekes in BIG winds snow... break those big flocks up.

[snow1]

Chasing the spring migration from missouri to south dakota,north dakota,sometimes we'll hit nebraska,kansas just depends where the migration is that relates to the snow line as it melts in the spring ,wind? We take what each day gives us but once in the dakota's "wind" is a gimme,always windy it seems.

As I age my days chasing these critters is winding down,setting a couple thousand dekes up starting at 3am is over,we sold our decoy trailer's all of our full body dekes ,both snow and honker dekes,50 dozen combined,today it's a couple dozen socks for snow's ,same for honkers plus silo's...actually I perfer finding a good feed and either sneak'em or get in position to pass shoot'em when they get up from feeding and head to water

[Dotch]

Agreed it is amazing these birds live so long,mid 90's first spring snow goose hunt in missouri,I shot a bunch of snow/blue geese,two banded,one was 18 years old the other 21 yrs old both banded in hudson bay,later reasearch revield oldest snow goose recorded was 35 years old...smart birds,hard to hunt success wise,they've seen every decoy spread known,herd every call travel in huge flocks for safety,then if,big IF they decide to give your setup a looksey,100's of eyeballs scanning,one little move whether someone peeks outof they're blind or a little movement like adjusting your shotgun....off they go,it's rare to get snowgeese in with feet down,very wary birds to hunt,down side is p-ss poor table fare,hence the huge population hunters pass on shooting them,last count central flyway was over 5million snow geese creating havock on the artic tundra,double this number with the east coast flyway,pretty sure big like numbers to the west coast flyway.

I wonder sometimes snow how much the changing times have had to do with the massive increase in snows & blues. When I was living & working in NC North Dakota back in the early 1980's, there was no large scale leasing of land tying it up yet. A lot of that showed up when crop prices tanked and there were several bad years of small grain production. Add in all the fancy equipment and it suddenly became more of a rich man's sport. Hell, some locals back in the day went to the bakery for white paper bags or bought white paper plates at the grocery store to use as decoys! We had a little more class than that. We had our own shell & northwind decoys in the group I was with. If we hunted together we typically put out 75 - 100 dozen decoys. I had 40 dozen myself. We frequently sat on white plastic buckets in the spread wearing white Tyvek coveralls. We all worked with the area farmers year round so we had access over a wide area. We always asked permission even though we didn't have to and tried to give them something in appreciation.
 
The cropping systems there have changed as well, with small grain acreages being displaced by other crops such as corn and soybeans. I liken it somewhat to what has gone on here in SC MN with deer hunting since I've lived here. Less land in things like hay & small grain and more of the prime hunting land is tied up by small groups of people. Not a lot of locals hunting anymore & fewer deer being harvested. And, with the area surrounding the prime hunting land being one gigantic food plot, deer are seemingly everywhere.

I liked eating the snow geese we harvested back in the day. Just skinned them, then marinated and grilled most of them on the Weber. Might taste different with them migrating south, consuming grain in the fall as opposed to whatever they're eating on their way back north in the spring. There was no spring hunt then and frankly don't recall seeing many stick around very long migrating north if we saw them at all.
   

[snow1]

Agree with your logic Dotch,early days my first encounter with snow geese was in the mid 70's,roseau waterfowl refuge,back when we had a 10 day only canada goose season,snows passed thru this area tho not many like we see out west today,we young guyz cash poor bought boxes of white plastic garbage bags,the snow geese flared from our setup but the migrating sea gulls came right in to our setup  in a black till'd field triggering the snow geese to come take a looksey,fun times.

today as farming practices have changed like you said,the major migration of all waterfowl has shifted further west,mostly due to food source,back in your day the devils lake area was the X,today further west botineau and surrounding area's as I see it,come spring depending on the snow melt line 50miles either side of the james river it's game on as they head north

As far as you young hunters grilling snow goose,suspect plenty of beer after the hunt helped wash down those stinky morsel's....

one year hunting in saskatchewan we were invited to a snow goose supper after a long day in the field,local old timer we hunted with that day said his wife had a great recipe for these birds,old timer explained the snowgeese we harvested were greater strain unlike the lesser strain migrating thru central flyway from hudson bay and living all summer in alkali water,this and the brackish wintering water along the texas coast gives these birds the nasty table fare,the greater snows ,grain fed was a nice meal surprise expecting the worse.

none the less I sure enjoy hunting them,most of my snow goose goes to the butcher for sauage and sticks,some towns we hunt near get the rest of what we dont use,processed,local food shelves mostly some end up in senior villa's

[Dotch]

Wonder if part of it could've been we were getting more younger birds too. Seldom did we wind up with a lot of fully colored mature snows or blues. We hunted as far west as Newburg, as far east as Sarles & south as far as Devils Lake. Pretty much the old Durum Triangle area. I lived between Rolla and Rock Lake near the Armourdale Dam so it was somewhat centrally located. And as far as eating went, the lesser Canada's we shot were the icky tasting birds. At that time we were limited to one per day of those. Good thing because they were like eating a piece of dried out liver.

I couldn't do that anymore. We'd be in the field by 3 or 4 a.m. to set up our spread after driving an hour or more to get wherever we'd scouted the night before. Did that 3 years nearly every weekend starting in early October & finished around Thanksgiving. When we were caught up soil sampling we'd make 3 or 4 day weekends out of it. Tired me out then & it'd kill me now.     

 

[snow1]

I see many different phases of snow geese as they migrate north or south,I have a number of contacts in different states,spring hunts are the most rewarding but usually more work and mud as fields thaw out,the first sign of north bound spring snows are adult birds in full plumage,later the youngens bring up the rear (juvi's) these are alot easier to decoy plus in the spring using ecallers is legal nation wide and makes a huge difference in my book.

in north dakota I usually hang my hat in New Rockford...spring hunts,Rolla in the fall,but often went further west to Kenmare area if we get the word.

I suppose today Dotch you don't hunt much if at all,you seem to have a full plate,bet you have an old remington collecting dust in the closet nowa days eh?

I snapped up my dad's old 1100 when we put him in a home,been in the gunsmith shop since july,to my surprise remington went banko news to me,can't get parts these days...been over 30 years since that old 1100 cycled a shell...

[Steve-o]

to my surprise remington went banko news to me,

Really?!?     They've been resold and in and out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy (2018) for quite a few years now.  This last time (2020) they finally went under and all the company parts got sold off. 

Vista Outdoors bought Remington green box ammo.  They own the Remington brand name.
Ruger paid $30M for the Marlin firearms part.
Roundhill Group LLC buying the non-Marlin firearms business for $13 million.  They get the factory in Ilion, NY.
Sierra Bullets LLC paying $30.5 million for its Barnes ammunition business
JJE Capital Holdings LLC for the DPMS, H&R, Stormlake, AAC and Parker brands
Franklin Armory Holdings LLC for the Bushmaster brand and related assets
Sportsman's Warehouse Inc. for the Tapco brands

I don't know who ended up with the new (in 2014) factory in Huntsville, AL.

P.S.  My 1100 is still in the back of the safe - probably not fired for 20 years or more - maybe a round or two of trap since then.  It is hard to remember.  First gun dad gave to me.  Still in great shape. 

[snow1]

Yeah,news to me,I  knew about outdoor vista buying up a bunch of manufacturers including remington but never knew about the banko.

I've got a part time gig going with a ammo company based in sweet home Oregon,vista bout them out as well. "Hevi shot" dang ammo is sale proof it's so expensive,the non toxic alloy used  cost of one 3" cartridge at $3.50! not a duck in the world worth that kinda money but boy does it kill birds.unlike steel waterfowl ammo very few if any cripples,I'm old school grew up shooting lead,this ammo is as good and maybe better than lead (heavier,more dense pellets) but most duck hunter's I know can't afford this ammo,iffin one can find it.

Tell ya what steve-o my shot company told me the reason these shells are so expensive is #1 made of tungsen iron,nickel and tin #2 the chinese have been buying up as much precious metals as they can for the last 15 years driving up the commodities.

So,I checked into outdoor vista,figured a chinese owned company,well good ole george soro's name popped up he started this company  then sold it back in 2015 about the same time we had our last ammo shortages and bozo was prez.go figure.

[Dotch]

Good info to know Steve-o.

Equally interesting snow. Yup, haven't hunted seriously for a few years. I shoot varmints when they pi$$ me off and that's about it. Too much going on and thanks in large part to Odumbacare, we've been scrambling until we can get on Medicare. We restored a wetland at the ranch in the early aughts. I was amazed to see the variety of ducks it attracted. It was a blast to hunt earlier on but's tough to maintain. It needs some TLC which translates into time & the proper equipment. When I can convince people that I need to do what I want sometimes rather than what they think I should be doing all the time, then we can tangle with that. I'm told that's what retirement is for. It's for my state of mental health as well. I'm tired of people contacting me at all hours of the day anymore with their annoying questions. They're too lazy to look it up or think anymore. I dread hearing the phone ring, an incoming text or email before or after hours. As the saying goes, just because ya can doesn't mean ya should.   

[glenn57]

Hey Dotch. What's your phone number!!!🤭🤭🤭

[Dotch]

  Just wait till I get my hands on a 3-D printer someday...