MY 1703 km solo snow goose trip
 

Started out on Thursday heading to Swift Current Sask. no birds turned North and went to sask landing, still none, up to Rosetown and did a 25 km circle around and did not see a snow goose , lots of Cranes and specs.Put the metal down and headed to Bigger, about 15 km out my first sightings.

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Kept on going and seen a couple more smaller groups, just before bigger ran into A GROUP OF ABOUT 20000, drove around and no where to get at them, roads are really hard up there seems to be a road only every four miles. Headed further north about 30k started to really see birds going out to feed, about 30 percent of all crops still on the ground, 5000 in a small field swath down, went and asked farmer, he said sorry wants the birds to eat the crop, happened for the next two farmers as well,talked with another guy the geese flying right over his house and he was good for me to do a little pass shooting ,got the dog and we walked down a few hundred yards and got 3 blues and a white, back to truck , got the dust out of the barrel.down the road 3k and there was about 7000 in a swath field, farmer is good to go. Get a room, and have a night cap. 3 am comes early for one guy to set out 500 decoys.

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Some of the best whiskey a USD dollar can buy , rated higher than Gibsons and crown and is 17.25 for a 60 pounder//

Get to field and drive in about 80 yards truck and trailer, sink ,,,,12317187 stuck!!! wait for light and geese start moving. so we hiked down the road about 400 yards ,shooting was good got 9 blues and 3 whites, before they stopped flying, walked to farmers , he laughed and he came and pulled me out. Handed him a Fifty dollar bill he said no way . I said you have to take it.


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I got back on road and drove four two hrs looking for more shoots, one thing for sure in that area, every used tire in Sask . is used for every 12 fence post with a NO HUNING writing on it..must be because of the Hanson Buck, got into another group and the answer was sorry no. All the farmers were very nice..sat for a sec , looked at the dog and she lets head to Unity...we get up there and I tought we made a big mistake, did not see any till I headed farther west, watched a group of about 30000. going out to feed, and another group of about 1500 in a small water pond going out ...we hiked down the ditch , and I waited for a couple of blues to come by and dropped a pair, and a white.

We got back and followed the group out to the field, it was amazin birds everywhere on a dead end road feeding on swaths

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Got permission for one parcel and had to drive 12 k to get the other permission, that farmer said go a couple miles south on my land there is thousand there, so with land sealed up lets finish the day shootin, thousands out in front of me and the roost was about a half mile away , we waited, I knew that they would all come at once, its how fast can I load. they came at me loud and low, got up and nailed a triple two blues and a white, loaded again and got another two white,,

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THATS A 20 BIRD LIMITED AND DID NOT SET A DECOY OUT.

I WAS communicating with a fell AO hunter a snow goose King and ask if he wanted to Join me on the morning hunt, he drove thru the night and I woke him up at 3:15am in the motel parking lot, we head out to the field, we stopped and I told him lay of the land the best way I could with out seeing it all .just knowing they where on that hill right in front of us, Said he should go first, I see him speed up and he is on top of the knoll. I got it in 4x4 and give it some good gas ...I fell myself slowing down. I got it pinned and the mud won ....I can see where he drove and there was not a mark in soil. he tried to pull me out and we broke ropes, and finally he got stuck also,,, lets have a sleep the shoots over, ,,the birds start coming into field by the thousands, was sick to my stomach, we walked to the farmers place and she come to pull us out, we move the other truck first, tractor got stuck once and had to get a new area, but in its wake it made some deep trenches, she pulled and his truck, he was out now time for the truck and trailer....went well as she pulled me out and back out of the field.I gave her, 150 and should have given her more, as we look around geese flying all around us,


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We went back to town to drop trailer off and try for a pass shoot, we did not find many birds, till we got back to the field we would hunt, est 50000 or more in field. we talked and with a FORCAST of 15 -20 cm of snow coming we would pull the pin and head home.. Had a great time with ya bud till we meet again..
going south seen many birds on sloughs so different what 100km can do that were burning crops off down by Korrobert . there was only one way to finish this fun hunt off and that was with the worlds best pizza from a Chinese restaurant in Burstall Sask,


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GREAT HUNT 24 GEESE, 16 blues, and 8 whites ,,,,Motels $178...Tow Bills $200,,, the experience .....you know

Never hunted a bird in my life, but this makes me wanna get out there and give it a shot. Thanks for sharing the great write up and pictures.

Awesome and it was not solo, your buddy was there the whole time, keeping an eye on the pizza!
Never alone with a puppy on the hunt, looks like a great time!

You, Sir, are the man. Simply, awesome.

That gave me a headache just reading it. I wanted to hunt goose my first time out but I think I'll stick to smaller deer or something.

I don't mind putting in work but that trek just seemed over the top and I don't get how anybody can find that rewarding even if you got triple the birds you did.

Stick to your deer, you either love bird hunting or you don't. I'd rather have an experience like this over shoot an 8x8 any day of the week! and 100 times on Sunday!

Awesome write up, awesome trip! Unfortunate that you got stuck and were unable to set the decoys up but an experience none the less! And even better with the the pup along!

I'm curious. Were you perhaps born between 1982 and 1997? Simple question, yes or no?

Great job in relaying the experience. Got to love the dedication and perserverance. Memories forever.

Simple answer, no. Was born between 1974 and 1978.

If I knew how to keep you from getting stuck...
 

Great effort on your part. You need help and lots of it. Do those ATVs go over the mud?

Anyway see if you can get some friends together for the fall. The farmers you gave $$ to will know what a fine fellow you are and you'll get permission again. There is just too much to do on your own, but you made a noble effort.

ok, well I will shut my mouth. thank you.

Epic road trip.
Driving on fields in Spring is problematic, even ATVs have troubles. Some of the access roads are too soft yet.

Great adventure, thanks for sharing.

Good trip! thanks for the pics

Congrats on a great trip (less the getting stuck part)...

Great hunt and great shooting. You must be tired! One comment I have for the guys following this thread is that we all make mistakes, but making ruts is a sure way to make farmers cautious about giving hunting permission and at times it can shut down access all together.

awesome fun
I can understand why the farmers wanted to let them eat the crops still on the ground
more damages , more insurance money makes sense to me

That's what I was thinking when I read the post about getting stuck two or three times in the farmer's fields

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As a 1985 born and self taught deer/elk/antelope/waterfowl/bear baiting/coyote calling/hunter-fisherman that's worked his butt off-I resent this remark^^^^

Great job OP. Was right there with you in your write up. Congrats on a great trip!

Wow,
All that work makes my head spin… sound like fun though.

great fun
 

Looks like a great time !!!

Sometimes you fill the truck with snows, sometimes you only get 5 or 6. Thats the way it goes.

A very good report showing the fun and frustration of spring snow goose hunting.

Next time take a quad and sleds. Been spring hunting for over 10 years and have not had a truck stuck. Its a quad with sleds or walk in with sleds. I dont even bother asking if I can drive in.

Although I did drive in on sunday morning. Corn field with very sandy soil and was very dry. Usually cant drive on any fields around here before May 1.

ENjoy the spring hunting !!!

Congrats on a great hunt. It's crazy the amount of kms. a hunter will put on during a hunt. I just put 2700 kms. in 10 days for 1 Turkey. Pound for pound you got a much better deal. lol

Thanks for the report!

Hard work pays off! I like the idea of not setting up decoys! Puddle jumping got me into bird hunting! Congrats on a great trip.

Help is the last thing he needs. He is doing just fine.

Perhaps,,, but a bigger benefit is to get rid of unwanted volunteer grain from last years crop in this years crop.

Damage has been done already,,, now the farmers have to try the deal with somehow getting rid of the material from last year's crop.

Terrific share, was like we were with you.

Sounds like you worked your butt off, which is very rewarding when it comes together.

Congrats and thanks for posting.

Csm

An excellent report and fantastic pictures. I've got snow goose envy!!!

Thanks for sharing this epic hunt!

BW

Never shot any snow geese, how do they taste? Im assuming just like Canadian Geese?

The juvies taste amazing. They have been feasting on barley,rice and corn for 8 months. Melt in your mouth tender

Quite the adventure. That is definitely the definition of chasing snows and a great example of some of the foibles of hunting them. But, you had some fun at it,and saw some different areas and met a few people and no doubt learned some stuff to try to apply next year.