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Proper Scouting for Geese ...by Mike Bard Ever wonder how some guys seem to always be on the geese and have pictures of themselves with huge piles of birds page after page in their photo album? There are many factors that go into a successful hunt and even more that go into a successful season, some are controllable and some are not. One of the things that you can control and will lay the foundation for a successful hunt is scouting. Scouting is what makes good goose hunters successful day after day in the field. Knowing what to look for and committing to the time it takes to scout will increase you bags and make you hunts more consistent over the season. Scouting is much more than driving past a field and looking out the window of your truck at 55 mph to see if there are geese out there or not. Someone who has really done their scouting homework will know where the geese are coming from, what they are doing at the location you plan to hunt them at, how many geese there are, and most importantly…if they’ll be there the day that you plan to hunt. Read on for tips on how to scout better and put more geese on your game strap. Basic Scouting Philosophy & Useful Tools This first section covers some basic philosophies and facts that I have or have learned about goose behaviors and how they translate into helping you find them. I’ve also provided a list of “tools” that will be helpful in making you a better scout.
Geese are creatures of habit and develop patterns. They tend to use the same migration path annually and will often migrate through an area around the same time each year. Both resident geese and migrating geese will typically use the same farms year after year, assuming there continues to be food available. Additionally, geese need a food (mainly agriculture waste grains left in fields) and they need water to drink and to roost on. With these two factors in mind, when you first go out to scout, think back to where you’ve seen geese before at the time of year you’re in and start there, more often than not, you’ll find them. If you are new to the area, look on a map for ponds or lakes in rural/agriculture rich areas. Over the years, you’ll most likely develop a pattern of your own, as to where you start looking for geese.
Back to geese being creatures of habit, this step especially holds true for resident geese and any migrating geese that have moved into the area during unchanging fair weather. Generally geese have a daily routine; they wake up on the roost, go feed or drink, loaf around, feed and/or drink again, and then return to the roost for evening’s rest. The more you know about a family group or migrating flock’s routine the better chance you have at being at the right place at the right time.
Here are some tools that can help your scouting efforts and can make your scouting experience not only more successful, but more enjoyable and safer.
What to do once you find geese So you’ve accomplished the major objective…you’ve found some geese. This is where many waterfowlers stop, but in reality there is still a lot of work left to do in order to give you the edge on the day of the hunt. This next section will be what sets you apart from other goose hunters in my opinion.
Did you find a roost pond, a feeding area, a drinking hole or a loafing/resting area? If you’ve found a roost pond, you don’t want to plan on hunting it, as it may lead to harvesting a few geese, but it will most likely push all of the geese out of the area and you won’t have them around for future hunts. If you find a large number of geese on the water early in the morning or late in the evening, it’s most likely a roost. Roost locations are valuable locations to know, early in the morning you can sit and wait for geese to leave and follow them to the field they are feeding in and in many cases large roosts will be hosts to several flocks who may all feed in separate fields and offer you opportunities for multiple days of hunting, if you restrain yourself from hunting the roost. Here is a prime example of a large roosting area with hundreds of snow geese congregating and waiting to head out to the fields to eat.
Feeding areas are typically where most goose hunters find geese and hunt geese. These locations are typically some type of harvested agricultural field where the geese are feeding on waste grains left in the field – corn, beans, wheat, hay, etc and easily seen from roads. If you’ve found your geese here, you’ve accomplished another hurtle, but you’re still not quite done. Drinking/loafing/resting areas are typically areas you’ll find geese mid-day and they’ll be in shallow water, along the shore, on sand bars, or on islands and they’ll be sleeping, loafing or getting a drink of water to wash down their breakfast. These areas are some times more difficult to find and you may need a boat or an assortment of decoys to successfully hunt them, but they can make for excellent mid day hunting opportunities. Here is a photograph of a small group of Canada geese loafing along a sand bar in the late morning, note the relaxed and resting postures of the geese – you’ll want to match that with your spread.
You’ve now most likely determined what the geese are doing at the location, but just to better your chances you should take note to things such as; which direction are they coming from, the time they are arriving and leaving, location, number of geese and feeding habits. Determining the direction the geese arrive from will allow you to better set up on the day of the hunt. You’ll be able to watch the direction you are expecting the geese to approach from and set up to use the wind and sun to your advantage. Knowing the time they are using the area will allow you to better plan to be there and set up prior to their arrival. Location of the geese and the number of geese present will play a vital role in selecting your spot to set up, your decoy positioning and the number of decoys you’ll want to use on the day of your hunt. Many times in areas with high concentrations of resident geese, they will not form a large mass, but rather spread themselves across the area in smaller family groups. Below is a photograph of some resident Canada geese feeding in a wheat field. Paying attention to the way these geese are positioned in the field and the number of geese present will help you figure out the correct way to set up your decoys.
Observe how the geese are feeding, if you are scouting a feeding area. If most of the geese have their heads down and are stationary or moving slowly that is a good sign that there is a lot of food remaining at the location and they’ll be back the next day. If the geese appear to be walking around a lot with their heads held higher scanning the ground, that is a sign that little or no food is remaining in the area and they may move on to a new feeding area the next day or even later that day. Know your surroundings A simple, but often overlooked part of scouting and hunting is to know and understand the piece of land or water you’d be hunting. If you are hunting water, determine the depth of the area you’ll be hunting, so you can make sure your decoy lines will work there and so you know if you can wade or need a boat to set your spread and retrieve your geese. Knowing the water depth, shoreline and area laws will also help you in determining whether to use a natural shore blind, a layout blind or a boat blind for the hunt. When dealing with scouting a field. It’s very important to make sure you have permission to hunt it, so if you are unsure of the boundaries of a farm, be sure to ask or resort to a tax map. You also want to take note of barns, power lines or houses near the field and make sure you can set up a safe distance away from them. Additionally, you’ll need to be prepared to hide in the cover the field presents, pay attention to details, like the height and type of stubble, the ground being wet or snow covered and the terrain of the field. With today’s waterfowling gear market, you can use different height blinds and blind accessories like neoprene water proof covers, white snow covers, or various colored raffia grasses to help you blend in and stay more comfortable during your hunt. Avoiding Spoilers As anyone whose hunted geese a few seasons will tell you, there is a reason they call it hunting and not shooting. No matter how good your scouting efforts are going into a hunt, there are always some factors out there that can still work against you – weather, other hunters, other species of animals, etc. The weather and moon has spoiled a few of my hunts over the years and it’s something you can try to account for where many other spoilers you can’t, so I now make it a point to add that information into my scouting efforts. Weather & Moon Phases These factors are a couple of the main spoilers of good scouting efforts. A change in the weather or the changing moon phase may change the routine of the geese you’ve spent time scouting.
Putting it all together for the hunt I know I’ve thrown a lot of information at you in this article and you’re thinking that there is no way you have the time to do all of this, but you’ll find that taking these extra steps will greatly increase the success of your goose hunts. Many of these scouting details that I’ve shared will become second nature to you when you’re out looking for or watching geese, not to mention that several are done at the same time. I hope you have found this information useful and that you have a safe and successful goose season. Here are the results from a late season resident goose hunt we had in 2008. Dave Rearick and Erik Nilsson had been patterning these birds all season and had them down almost to the minute on when they would leave the roost and hit the field they had selected to hunt. We were properly prepared with the right number and type of decoys, blinds with snow covers, and the weather was just right.
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