Just Throwing this Out there! Goose hunters

[hunterfisher]

Snow Goose Hunt , Guided in Sask south west, End of Mar begining of April.
Anyone interested in doing this? I can get the prices arranged as I do have a contact in that area who guides. Anyone that knows other guides feel free to put them up so we can discuss it further. Pretty much how it works is we need about 6 guys for a weekend, pay for a hold date fee and show up with our guns and ammo; the rest is taken care of. ( May need blinds but I think the guide has that covered Thanks

VISIT GOOSEBUSTERS GROUP AND JOIN IF INTERESTED

[likkshot]

Hey,
I certainly could use a good shoot. My xtrema is feeling neglected. let me know how i can get in on this and when you guys were thinking....

Jeff

[happy honker]

whats ballpark budget for something like this?
500?
1200?
3000?

just curious, never paid for a hunt like this, thanks.

[nimrod]

I might be in, let me know some details, where and cost, and can I bring my dog, willingness to chip in for gas, if somebody want to drive

[6gunner]

I may be interested. Send me some details please. I worked straight through last season and need some "therapy"

[RobG10]

Im a new goose hunter and would be very interested in something like this were I could draw experience from a few different guys send me some info the prices please!

[SBE2]

Pretty sure you can't shoot snows in Sask before April 1st, you may wanna look into that. If this includes lodging, you'll likely be paying 300-500 per day per man. If you haven't gone for spring snows before, don't expect big success. 1 out of 5 shoots will work out good, 2 will be average to so-so, and 2 will be brutal. It can change, but it seems to always work out to about that. Good luck.

[bobalong]

whats ballpark budget for something like this?
500?
1200?
3000?

just curious, never paid for a hunt like this, thanks.

If you get your own rooms, meals and clean your own birds and just pay for the hunt itself it is around 150-200 bucks per day per gun.

http://www.hookedonhonkers.com/

http://www.luckylakehuntingadventures.ca/saskatchewanspringsnowgoosehunting.htm

[duffy4]

I reckon if you contacted some "bed&breakfast" spots in "goose country" they may give you a good rate this time of year and probably know some landowners in the area that would let you hunt birds.

[Pikebreath]

Central flyway spring snow goose hunting is a tough game. Snow geese live a long time,,, a lot of these birds have been shot at up and down the flyway for 9 months of the year for the past dozen or so years,,, by the time the birds get back up here, even the young birds of the year have seen 8 months of gunning. Large spreads (several hundred plus dekes) and other tricks of the trade ( e-callers, flying / rotating decoys etc.) become even more necessary.

Areas that are good in the fall may not necessarily be good in the spring, the migration tends to follow the snow line which presents another major issue,,,, that is basically the birds are drawn to areas with lots of sheet water in the fields. Remember that a lot of the lakes and sloughs that held water last fall will still be frozen.....This also means wet soggy fields that are just about impossible to access with anything but quads and small trailers.

Snows are notorious for field hopping and in the spring they they are even more fickle,,, success is relative in spring hunting,,,,,,, but many of the more successful hunters run traffic,,,, that is they get ahead of the migration and set in locations that will see lots of birds pass by with the hopes of drawing some hungry or thirsty birds into your spread,,,,, often hunting one spread for 3 – 5 days and then moving,,, sometimes several hundred miles north!!!

Hunting roosts generally will get you into whole lot of trouble in the fall, but this is a very common and accepted practice in the spring. As the migration is often more hurried in the spring and the birds tend to use the abundant available sheet water, there really isn't a whole lot of harm in hunting roosts at this time of year. Indeed a lot of spring hunters will hunt pasture land roosts as these typically easier to get into than soggy fields.

The spring season tends to see a lot more pass and jump shooting than would be tolerated in the fall as well. If you want to kill birds, there is nothing wrong with this,,,indeed the purpose of the spring season is to reduce the population,,,, just be aware that a lot of this happens in the spring season.

Normally April 1 would be a bit early for most of Sask, but this year’s mild winter and general lack of snow may actually push the the migration north much sooner than normal and if it continues to stay relatively dry, field access will be much easier this year. This means one should be able to expect conditions and hunting more like one normally would find in the fall. If I wasn’t chasing bonefish and permit in Mexico this April, I am sure I would be trailing my white spread to Sask this spring as conditions could be right for a better than normal spring snow goose season there.

If I was planning to use an outfitter, I would certainly quiz them on how they they hunt spring snows,,,, as said earlier,, nothing wrong with hunting roosts, pass or jump shooting at this time of year,,, you just have to ask yourself,,, is this what you want to do if that is what to takes to kill a snow goose?

Another thing to consider is mobility is a big key to spring snow goose hunting,,,, Sask has a block hunting system,,, though I am not sure if this block system applies to spring snow goose hunting,,,, at any rate this is something to check with any potential outfitter,,,, how large an area can they or do they hunt? Outfitters that only hunt a small area( let’s say a 30 mile radius round a particular town) would not get my money for a spring snow goose shoot,,,, unless I was really sure that they are an area that always gets snow geese stopping by every spring!!!

Good luck to you guys who do decide to chase the “white tornado” this spring!

[hunterfisher]

I'm glad I posted this to see who was interested I. Going along and Most responses were people putting forward posts that seem to dismiss this hunt as an activity that is not desirable. All these things are taken into consideration on every hunt and every place. They call the sport hunting and not killing. It costs about 250 to 300 a day all in but if you can't afford it then it's just not worth wasting your money. I would advise to hold onto your money and put it towards a fall hunt tha may yield some game meat. Take the time and consider your options and don't be deterred by other posts. Ryan with hooked on bonkers or rjm guiding spoke with me last night and is only doing one week this year as he is tied up with other hunts. I apologize but you may have to find another guide. Best of luck to you all.

[Pikebreath]

Hunterfisher,,, no one is trying to rain on your parade.

You brought up spring snow goose hunting in Sask. It's just a very different game than hunting waterfowl in autumn,,,,, not near as many hunters and outfitters do the spring snow goose thing becuz of the challenges involved.

However, if you are into challenges,, and extending your season,,, the spring season will certainly provide that for you,,,, and those of you who are up for that,,, just be aware successful spring snow goose hunting will likely require different tactics than you would use in the fall.

[Zekeland]

Depending if you plan to hunt in the south or close to the snow line up north....Things are way ahead of schedule this spring. Entire main push is almost in Canada now. We have had snows over town here for 1-2 weeks. They are pushing the snow line in Northern SK already.

We generally hunt this main push, breeders, the first couple weeks of April as the season opens. Well, this year, unless you hunt way up north, you wont get a shot at the breeders. They are toughest to hunt for sure. Success is lower.

Juvies are coming up quick and should be huntable numbers in MB and SK 1st or 2nd week of April. That is what I will hunt this spring. Just like fall hunting, hunting feeders on the ground. Find the roost and then the X. You can run into problems when they roost on shee****er and feed in the same field and don't leave the actual field to feed. But, with the lack of shee****er this year up here, they should be using traditional roosts like lakes, sloughs, ponds, rivers.

For any first timers, I would suggest hunting the 2nd push of birds, younger birds , easier to decoy and they tend to stick around longer as long as they are not getting roost busted or jumped.

Good luck, Spring season is something to see. And you get to shoot some snows.

[Pikebreath]

Depending if you plan to hunt in the south or close to the snow line up north....Things are way ahead of schedule this spring. Entire main push is almost in Canada now. We have had snows over town here for 1-2 weeks. They are pushing the snow line in Northern SK already.

We generally hunt this main push, breeders, the first couple weeks of April as the season opens. Well, this year, unless you hunt way up north, you wont get a shot at the breeders. They are toughest to hunt for sure. Success is lower.

Juvies are coming up quick and should be huntable numbers in MB and SK 1st or 2nd week of April. That is what I will hunt this spring. Just like fall hunting, hunting feeders on the ground. Find the roost and then the X. You can run into problems when they roost on shee****er and feed in the same field and don't leave the actual field to feed. But, with the lack of shee****er this year up here, they should be using traditional roosts like lakes, sloughs, ponds, rivers.

For any first timers, I would suggest hunting the 2nd push of birds, younger birds , easier to decoy and they tend to stick around longer as long as they are not getting roost busted or jumped.

Good luck, Spring season is something to see. And you get to shoot some snows.

Wow, that is an early migration,,,,

I haven't seen any snows yet here in central Alberta, but we are on a different flyway (western Artic and Wrangell Island birds).

Good point about hunting juveniles and hunting them like you would in the fall, which means letting the birds pattern (don't bust the roosts or feeding concentrations) as it sounds like conditions are more fall like than spring like out there.

Question for you, Zeke,,,, do you get many outfitters working the spring season in your neck of the woods?

[swifthunter]

Lots of snows around south Sask already. Fields are dry so it should be a good spring

[Zekeland]

do you get many outfitters working the spring season in your neck of the woods?

In the south here there are 3 outfitters on the go for spring the past 5 - 7 seasons. I'm not sure if the hudson's bay outfitters work in the spring up north.