Has it become to big for our own good?

[fish4cats]

Well has it? I am an avid goose hunter and former guide and I have a huge concern. After 9 hrs and about 250 miles put on my vehicle yesterday I asked myself the question "is goose hunting getting to big for our own good?" It seems as if it is getting harder and harder each year to find land to hunt. With the over abundance of wheat in our area this year we were still unable to find a field that had not been taken. And then I was asking myself " do these guys hunt all these fields on this farmers land, or do they just hunt one weekend?"

I know the answer to this question because over the years I have seen hunters in a field one week and geese in it the next. Have we gotten so selfish that we need permission for the whole farm that we only hunt maybe 2 to 3 weekends out of the year? Are we forcing hunters like myself to hunt the "roosst" cause we cant find the land to hunt on or cant find the funds to keep up with some of the guys that are paying high bucks to hunt this land for 2 weeks? Iknow the work and effort that goes into finding land, scouting,setting up decoys, becoming better callers to call geese into our spreads. but are we doing an inservice to the many others that actually want to hunt the full season? I want to hunt till by law I am not allowed to pull the trigger anymore, but find that I cant cause I cant find or cant fund the land that I want to hunt anymore. I have had many acres taken from right out from underneath me cause someoned comes along with a 100 or even a 1000 more thatn I can pay a farmer.

I have hunted geese for oer 20 years now, but am afraid that someday soon I may have to hang up the lanyard for the last time. I cant compete with you guys anymore. I just want to kill geese and enjoy the outdoors. And hopefully pass it on to my children without the sour taste in their mouths that I have become to know..

[kc0myy]

hey I see you live up near Clearwater stay in contact with me. at [email protected]. I live in annandale and I have a field I can hunt and they have corn in it this year. so later around mid oct is when they pick it we can try that. I have the land but not alot of gear. but yes i understand what you are talking. I am going to school this fall in st.cloud so I don't have alot of cash for decoys blinds and stuff. a few years ago i was really into field hunting for geese. but I got out of it just because it just too much money for me right now. I would love to have a set up and go out there on a saturday or sunday and whack some geese. but with people leasing out land its almost inpossable to anymore. and the price of decoys holy [PoorWordUsage]. so just keep in contact and we will try some of my fields.

[fish4cats]

Thats cool. Would love to hunt with someone new. Me and my buddy seem to do all the work and we have the 4 or 5 guys that just kinda tag along and it gets old!! lol

I am going to school also and trying to support the family at the same time..makes it tough to come up with funds for everything too. I refuse to pay thousands of dollars for a lease to shoot birds. It has gotten way out of hand.

[kc0myy]

Thats cool. Would love to hunt with someone new. Me and my buddy seem to do all the work and we have the 4 or 5 guys that just kinda tag along and it gets old!! lol

I am going to school also and trying to support the family at the same time..makes it tough to come up with funds for everything too. I refuse to pay thousands of dollars for a lease to shoot birds. It has gotten way out of hand.

I know it stupid hunting was a poor mans sport now its nothing but a rich mans sport now.

[SunneyeDay]

I think its always been a rich man's sport, but it seems to keep getting worse-we're lucky to have a state that cares enough to provide hunting opportunities on public land.

[jeffreyd]

I think it is the same with all of hunting. I use to sweat the lottery draw here in AZ, had a routine that i did for filling out applications (AZ is a bit behind in technology) writing the check for each app, filling out the envolope putting the stamp on, and then double and triple checking for all required things. When i put in for elk this year i filled it out, slapped a stamp on and threw it in the mail.

It is not fun anymore, costs too much to buy equipment, take time off, pay the 125 for the tag if you draw plus the 56 for the license, go hunt, kill a cow elk, pay 250 for processing.

Darn expensive elk meat when all said and done. Wife wont eat it so might save the funds, go on buddies hunt and buy a side of beef.

The thrill is not there anymore, too many rookies, wizzing shots over my head and idiots on quads tearing up the land. Overcrowded, overpriced, and overall just hurts more when i go out and sleep in the snow.

[french_lake_kid]

I hear what you guys are saying, I'm just a kid and during fall I hunt and work every weekend day and its really hard to compete with everybody when you set up on a shore line with 5 or 6 other groups and the birds just avoid that whole side of the lake, decoys are outragous but you need them to succeed these days, everything is just alot and when something breaks you basically have to just go with out it because there is no funds to fix it, but the drive and desire is way to strong to quit, so we suck it up and give it what we got and hope for the best

[Quackaddict9]

I don't think it has been getting too big, or have seen signifcant changes where I hunt but that's not in the metro area so that plays a different role. There are many areas to hunt but you may have to travel far for it. Try "runnin traffic" or pass shooting if you can't find a field birds are using. I've had permission for the same fields for a few years and have one field on my farm that is planted wheat or barley every other year which is nice.

Keep on trying and you'll get something out of it!

[fish4cats]

Ummmm might want to avoid the pass shooting issue..

You will never ever see me desperate enough to pass shoot!

I am not saying I dont have places to hunt, so dont get me wrong. The fact is goose hunting has become way more popular with the advancement of decoys, calls, blinds and everything else that has come along in the last 20 yrs. It has become more of a dominance thing. I have more and better decoys than you! I have $2000 worth of calls what do you have?? I lease 5000 acres, you only have one field??

The fact that duck hunting has taken a pretty drastic fall over the last 20 yrs and goose hunting has taken precidence, is just maybe a run of the course type thing. idk, but it sucks for us guys that love to doit and cant cause we cant compete with JOnes'

[Quackaddict9]

sorry, I just re-read your post. I thought you were saying you had a hard time getting fields to hunt.

I agree you on the calls and decoys that people get crazy over!

[perch_destroyer]

All very good points, been hunting geese for almost 20 yrs now. I have seen it change a lot aswell. It is difficult to compete with those a mile away from ya using the most expensive gross (144) of full body, flocked heads, compared to a couple of dozen. I'm fortunate to have access to 1000's of acres of land for free, from a farmer who I have known for 22+ years, so sometimes im in position to pass shoot the ones skipping my couple dozen and going to the "mother of all spreads" a mile a way.

I couldnt imagine what it would be like to not have the options of picking from different fields. Sometimes it's like a good fishing spot, their there or their not. If I didnt have access to those fields, goose hunting would be very difficult.

[Kyle]

Ive seen it get more popular, but this st. cloud/central MN area has always been a bear to find land to hunt; for all game species. Thats is just what ya get when you live in an area with 55,000 plus people. I cant begin to tell ya how much money I have spent/wasted on gas, and the hundreds upon hundreds of miles we have driven around this area searching for available spots. Alot of times, it has more to do with the farmer. They just aren't nearly as willing to let people hunt, even if those people are willing to pay for it. Not only that, but the birds in this area seem to flock heavily towards fields that are in the city limits, or just on the edges. The problem with that is that those fields on the edges of cities are all hunted by family members of the farmer, or are simply unaccessible because the farmer wont allow it. I agree with you when you talked about people that only hunt 2-3times a year. Even that is an understatement. I see so many people out on the first weekend of early season goose, and duck opener hunting. I always wonder where those people are after that first weekend because they sure as heck aren't out hunting after that. We have one spot for early season honkers that consistantly produces large numbers of birds for us, but it is the only honker only spot we have. I agree that if a person really wants to get on birds, they are going to have to drive a good distance for available land.

As far as the gear goes. We have around 6 dozen goose decoys. mainly full bodies. Its a big enough spread to suck some birds in, but it would be nice to have more. However, I will probably never buy another goose or duck decoy simply because I dont have the room to store those space hoggers. Its rediculous how much space ya gotta have to store them, and then the trailers to hall them. Then ya gotta store the trailer somewhere.... what a headache, but its still worth it.

[iceman1603]

I think you guys in the midwest have it a lot worse than we do here in upstate NY but In the 10 yrs Ive been huntin the Canadians I have seen drastic changes. When me and 2 of my buddies got into huntin geese, I think we were the ony ones around the are that hunted them. We were able to get 3 farmers to allow us on their land and we take care of them. Always feeding them what ever they want. Ducks, geese, rabbits, squirrels, fish filets. If they dont have time to fill their deer tags we go out and do it for them. If they mention they havnt had or would like to try it we go out and whack em what they want.(as long as seasons are open of course.) In the summer time at least 1 of us is there helpin them put hay up or cleanin barns or what ever they need done.. Now that bird huntin is more popular than ever around here. They have others that want hunt the farm meet with us and let us decide who, when and where others hunt.. Its worked out really well and I hope it can stay that way..

[Raider4ever]

I think you guys in the midwest have it a lot worse than we do here in upstate NY but In the 10 yrs Ive been huntin the Canadians I have seen drastic changes. When me and 2 of my buddies got into huntin geese, I think we were the ony ones around the are that hunted them. We were able to get 3 farmers to allow us on their land and we take care of them. Always feeding them what ever they want. Ducks, geese, rabbits, squirrels, fish filets. If they dont have time to fill their deer tags we go out and do it for them. If they mention they havnt had or would like to try it we go out and whack em what they want.(as long as seasons are open of course.) In the summer time at least 1 of us is there helpin them put hay up or cleanin barns or what ever they need done.. Now that bird huntin is more popular than ever around here. They have others that want hunt the farm meet with us and let us decide who, when and where others hunt.. Its worked out really well and I hope it can stay that way..

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the way to do it.

Keep the farmer fed and go up once in a while and help out around the farm. Congrats 1603 for having the brains and work ethic to not only be able to keep hunting, but to keep hunters in a good light.

P.S. Nice bridges up there 1603. How are Meryl and Clint doing? JK

[brittman]

I believe he indeed is saying that fields are tough to get permission on because others are securing the field for the season whether they plan to hunt in once or all season long.

Grew up goose hunting, but my passion is grouse and pheasant hunting. Hours are good, access good (if not unlimited - grouse) and table fare excellent. All you need is a good dog, a good gun and an excellent pair of boots.

[brittman]

I think you guys in the midwest have it a lot worse than we do here in upstate NY but In the 10 yrs Ive been huntin the Canadians

There is old, but good saying on these talk boards ... Canadians are people Canadas are geese

[brittman]

OK. One more post.

The other options is find a farm in a natural flyway. Work with him (yea I suppose pay him) and even build pits.

The idea here is to hunt traffic rather than the X. For Canada geese this works if you can call.

[fishface]

Hunting geese to me was; scout, find them, get permission, shoot them when their feet are almost touching the ground or water, (NEVER SHOOT OUT PAST 40 YDS. MAX!) get out'a there, and educate as few as possible, do it again as soon as you can. Pretty tough to do that anywhere, even during the week. I don't hunt geese or ducks anymore mainly due to the "crowd". Water fowling in general is going back to being the sport of kings. Seems the American tradition was lost somewhere. Hunting's out, shooting's in. Look out grouse.

[coombia21]

we had this problem then we started leasing land and someone make a deal with the land owner that he would pay a higher lease than us if we couldnt hunt it anymore so now we started hunting in ND where there is lost more open land and fields but now when we scout we look for a couple spot vs just scouting one then is someone is in our first spot we go to our second and or third spot

[walleyehunter80]

Ok, I have been going around and around about this for the last six years. There are way to many people that waterfowl hunt the first 2-3 weeks of the year (ie. early season goose)!!!!!

My take on this is all the phesant hunters, deer hunters, rabbit hunters and weekend warriors come out of the closet and want to kill something amd the only thing open is GEESE. The right thing to do, if you want the birds in your area to stay in your area, is to NOT shoot them off the roost! But most areas that have geese only have a few roosts that hold geese.

The area I live in you could take a 30 mile long rope and draw a 60 mile circle around my town and I coulod tell you a very close number as to how many roosts will hold geese the night before opener. The problem is that of all the roosts the odds are pretty good that the number of geese on each roost will be between 25 and 300. The night before opener, from each roost the geese will feed more than likely in only 1 field yup read it again ONE field maybe 2 or 3 but more than likely 1. I dont usualy see geese split up but it does happen but usually not on the first day.

So if there is only 25 roosts in a 60 mile circle around my house that means there will only be 25 - 50 good fields the first day of season, the problem here is, every one of the 200 groups of hunters wants to make sure they have one of the 25 - 50 fields spoken for, for that first day blood bath, so they spend countless hours and gas drivingt all around the country side asking permission to hunt any and all fields that could potentially hold geese the night before season. And they only intend on hunting ONE of them, which being the ONE with birds in it the night before, the rest are garbage and they could care less about them.

These other garbage fields only come into play the next 2 - 3 weeks of the season when everyone is hoping they might get into a good shoot again pending a decent number of birds happens to feed there.

I should also mention that this system will only work if some inconsiderate person does not shoot the birds off the roost at first light, which will push them off the roost not knowing which way is up and more than likely end up on a different roost 2-20 miles away, and they may or may not head out and feed yet that morning but chances are pretty good they wont be going where you expected them to go anyhow!

I may catch alot of [PoorWordUsage] for saying this next statement but Im going to anyway and you can quote me on this " If you only hunt ducks and geese untill other seasons open your NOT a waterfowl hunter" Im sorry but its the weekend warriors and the " Lets shoot some geese since its all thats open" people that hurt the SPORT and yes I say emphasise SPORT because thats what it is to me and I was very competitive, due to loosing my mind because of certain things and people I have decided to hang it up for a few years to get my life back on track.

But I will be back and I will be the guy paying high dollar so I dont have to put up with PEOPLE.

Josh Lunz

[iceman1603]

Originally Posted By: iceman1603

I think you guys in the midwest have it a lot worse than we do here in upstate NY but In the 10 yrs Ive been huntin the Canadians

There is old, but good saying on these talk boards ... Canadians are people Canadas are geese

Thank you Brittman. I didnt relize till you corrected me that I was doing that. Hope no one got offended by my incorrect terminology..

[Quackaddict9]

Originally Posted By: brittman

There is old' date=' but good saying on these talk boards ... Canadians are people Canadas are geese

Quote:

Thank you Brittman. I didnt relize till you corrected me that I was doing that. Hope no one got offended by my incorrect terminology.. [/quote']

doubt it! Your not the only one lol

[Bigslugger]

We have 9 wheat fields in the Clearwater area this year by going around and asking

Also we have 6 corn, 3 wheat, and 1 oat field between Pelican Lake and Monticello. For us this year it was easier, but last year we didnt have a fields