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Spring Snow Geese

DonBo
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DonBo Grand Master

DonBo

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NW Missourri is full of birds but probably not for long. Saw easily 1,000,000 birds yesterday-all headed north, northwest. Saw birds on the drive home today through the southern half of Iowa.

The hunting was dissapointing. Four of us for two days and we shot only two birds. There were so many birds around that our little spread of 1,000 decoys just would not draw them in. Every other group of hunters we talked to had similar success, the best we heard, one group shot 8 one morning. Both sets we had, had a group on the ground of hundreds of thousands of birds less than a mile from us. Even though we had wave after wave of hundreds and thousands of birds over us both days, very few would even give us a look as they played follow the leader towards the huge flocks. Virtually no juvinile birds were seen, apparently because of a poor hatch last spring. Supposedly that was also a reason that so few were killed.

The weather may also have played into it some as we had fog and drizzle or rain and snow most of the time, and was it ever MUDDY! OMG the mud, everything is covered in mud.

It was a true spectacle, the number of birds we saw, but the final outcome is not something I ever would have expected. Our outfitter even offered us a free hunt next year in So. Dakota. We may have to take him up on it as the payback on all those birds sounds sweet.

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IceHawk Mentor

IceHawk

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Donbo- Sorry to hear you didin't lay the smack on them but don't be dissapointed. We have all had hunts like this. The migration is still something to see even if numbers killed are low. I have been chasing spring snows ever since the spring season has started and they are getting smarter and smarter every yr and harder to kill decoying. They have seen almost every kind of spread imaginable. Some days if you hit the migrators,juvy's or high winds they pitch right in and on other days they won't even give you a look. It's amazeing how big of flocks you see. And if they start buildiong in a field you can have all the decoys in the world and you wont draw many birds. They most likely will all land in the groups flock after flock. Our group sets over 2000 decoys fullbodies shells and windsocks and you swear thats alot of decoys but compared to some of the flocks you see that's nothing. We have had great shoots with over 100 bird days and there are days we haven't fired a shot that's hunting. I would take the hunt in SD as you may pound them next yr you never know? Well as I am hearing the Rain water basin is filling up fast with snows and soon they will pushing into SD. They should be arriveing in the yankton area any day. My groups first trip is going to be Mrch 25 until we get sick of it. I am really looking forward to getting out to SD, and I hear you about the mud it's something else especially when hauling in decoys!

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DonBo Grand Master

DonBo

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Originally Posted By: DonBo
NW Missourri is full of birds but probably not for long. Saw easily 1,000,000,000 birds yesterday-all headed north, northwest. Saw birds on the drive home today through the southern half of Iowa.

You saw a billion birds?

wink

Yeah, sorry, blush after about five zeros they all start to look the same. I did mean a million and I believe that to be quite conservative.

And firfyter, we were with First Flight Finishers.

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rattlem'up Community Regular

rattlem'up

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There are guys decoying snows in SD. Averaging 30 bird days. It should only get better from here on out. There are some groups of snows that are bypassing and flying further north but thats just the norm. I'll be heading out on Thursday night and hunting through monday. good luck to all that head out in the next couple weeks, should be some good hunting.

oh and as far as the snow depth map goes theres not a whole lot of truth to whats being shown.

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carpshooterdeluxe Mentor

carpshooterdeluxe

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an update on the conditions out here in eastern sodak: the birds are pushing hard...feeding and then migrating...not really roosting in any traditional areas this spring. so far our crew has had a 12 bird day, 21 bird day, and a few sub double digit days. its been really tough. setting up for migrators day after day gets old after a while. only bonus is, so far we've managed to keep the gear pretty much mud free, which is not the norm for most guys. some car washes are closed right now because of so many people getting muddy vehicles just trying to navigate gravel roads....those roads that arent washed out that is. things have finally started to pick up, with birds starting to roost in the area that we have relocated to for hunting, but things arent looking great. we need one more south wind sunny day like we had wednesday to get those juvies up through nebraska. our contacts down there were still shooting adults on wednesday, so there are more birds yet to come, but the birds we are on right now will be in central north dakota by monday afternoon if the weather does what is forcast.

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rattlem'up Community Regular

rattlem'up

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Yes, birds are pushing hard. Talked to a lot of guys in the north central part of sd that were decoying and they weren't getting much at all! I was out there hunting friday through monday morning and mangaged 88 birds. These were all shot pass shooting and jumping. Also alot of hunters in the area. I would say we saw close to a million birds atleast. Oh and if youre thinking of heading out there good luck on the roads. Lots of closed roads. Lots with overflowing water. Found a bunch of washed out roads also. Came upon a guy that thought he could jump one and pay for it. Broke drive shaft,axle,gas tank, 1 rim and tire. And he was only out there for 1 day. All i have to say is take it easy and be carefull. Dnr also said that the birds are concentrated in big groups. Bigger than usual in some areas. Make sure you stay safe, ask permission and hunt hard and you will get'em!

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TylerS Mentor

TylerS

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Have seen flock, after flock, after flock fly over Fargo for the past few days heading in a general Northwesterly direction. With the way the snow is melting and the favorable weather, I'd say if you're not out after them NOW, you're gonna miss 'em.

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RumRiverRat Grand Master

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Yeah, sorry, blush after about five zeros they all start to look the same. I did mean a million and I believe that to be quite conservative.

And firfyter, we were with First Flight Finishers.

I agree about the zero thing.

laugh

Probably is a conservative guess.

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