Snow Storm!
Even with 1,000 decoys in the spread, it may be hard for hunters to compete with large flocks of snow geese feeding nearby.
The snow geese fall from the sky like pelting snowflakes of a winter blizzard. Thousands blanket the ground already, but hundreds more fly in to join them.
In many parts of their wintering range, it’s possible to see thousands of snow geese each day.
Snow goose hunters dress in white clothing and lay in the middle of decoy spreads to ambush their quarry.
“Little” does not accurately describe the group of decoys in which we lay. There are more than 1,000, including full-body models and white trash bags draped over soybean stalks to imitate a flock of snows.
Our guide is correct, nevertheless. It will be hard to coax birds our way when 10,000 live, calling snow geese are feeding nearby.
For the first hour after dawn, I lay on a sheet of plywood in the field and watch as geese skirt our spread to land with the flock. The scene seems surreal—eight hunters wearing long white smocks and white toboggans laying amidst 1,000 trash bags. It looks like a late-season Halloween with everyone dressed as ghosts.
In the distance, I finally see snows making a bee-line our way. Our guide sees them, too.
“Wave your flag!” he calls. His partner raises a white flag on a long pole and begins waving it.
The geese come straight on. At 100 yards, they cup their wings and begin swinging back and forth in the air. The guide and his partner lower their flags and begin calling with tube calls.
Too late the birds realize the ruse. “Now!” the guide shouts. A barrage of shots rings out. I swing on a white bird and fire, then swing again and shoot a blue. They hit the ground with hard thumps as I try unsuccessfully to get another bird in my sights.
When it’s over, I realize I’m shaking. Excitement does that to me, and this hunting certainly is exciting.
Good, loud calling can help attract snow geese to the hunter’s decoy spread.
The winter staging of snow geese in the South is one of the world’s most incredible wildlife spectacles. In prime hunting areas, it’s not unusual to see tens of thousands of snow geese daily.
The synchronicity of their movements is unforgettable: skeins of white, some more than a mile long, highlighted against bluebird skies or black thunderheads as the birds ride the towering wash of winter winds. Mere inches separate the individuals, yet one never touches another.
Snow geese once were much less common in our region, but populations mushroomed in the 1990s as winter wheat plantings expanded. Biologists now worry that snow geese are so numerous they’re deteriorating breeding-ground habitat in the far north.
Despite the abundance of geese, however, there still are relatively few serious goose hunters in most Southern states. Some duck hunters have switched part of their attention to snows, but it’s still a fledgling sport in many areas, and for the most part, the vast flocks of birds go about their daily business with little attention from hunters.
Keys to Success
There’s no such thing as a casual snow goose hunt, one reason many hunters don’t participate. This sport requires huge decoy spreads and a substantial investment of time and effort.
First, you must study movement patterns of geese where you want to hunt, then secure permission to hunt where concentrations are located. (Most hunting is on private lands.) When geese start using a field, they stay until the food supply is exhausted. Being there after they’ve started using the field and before they’ve eaten it out is the trick.
Hundreds of decoys are needed to attract the birds. Most hunters use commercially manufactured decoys supplemented with white trash bags or cardboard silhouettes. When the spread is arranged, the hunters, in dressed snow-camo clothes or white smocks, lay down right in the decoys. A waving white flag creates movement in the spread. This and good calling attract the birds’ attention and draw them near.
Guns and Guides
A successful snow goose hunt can be an unforgettable experience.
A good retrieving dog can be a real asset to the snow goose hunter.
If you’re new to the sport, consider hiring a guide. These guys can show you the ins and outs of snow goose hunting, and after you’ve experienced a hunt first-hand, you’ll know whether you really want to make the required investment in time and equipment to hunt on your own. Best of all, guides do all the work. The hunter need not spend hours scouting, gaining hunting permission and setting and retrieving decoys. For a reasonable fee, reputable guides do all this and clean and pack your birds, too.
Although hunting snows is a time consuming, it’s a sport many of us find irresistibly attractive. Goose hunting allows us to perfect our skills with a shotgun and to go afield with men we enjoy and admire. But most of all, it gives us another excuse to be outdoors on those cold days in January and February when common sense dictates it might be best to stay home. Until you have laid in a decoy spread beneath a sky full of living snowflakes, you have missed one of hunting’s greatest pleasures.
Top Hunting Areas
Texas Coastal Prairie
The Lone Star State is hard to beat for superb snow goose hunting, with most birds being killed in three counties—Colorado, Wharton and Matagorda—in the heart of the Coastal Prairie.
Contact: Columbus Convention & Visitors Bureau (www.columbustexas.org, 979-732-8385).
Louisiana Gulf Coast
The forecast calls for lots of snows along the Gulf Coast this year, with some of the hottest action in the parishes of Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis and Lafayette.
Contact: Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, (800) 456-7952, www.visitlakecharles.org.
Stuttgart, Arkansas
Plenty of birds and excellent guide services combine to make the “Rice and Duck Capital of the World” in southeast Arkansas a great stop for snow goose hunters as well.
Contact: Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce, (870) 673-1602, www.stuttgartarkansas.com
Sequoyah NWR, Oklahoma
This 20,800-acre refuge near Vian winters the largest concentration of snow geese in the Sooner State, and hunting should be excellent this season.
Contact: Refuge Office, (918) 773-5251.
