Early Goose

[hunter322]

got 2 this morning, not a lot flyin but a lil more than yesterday. lets hope it cools down some.

[Storm]

Ended up with 4 more today. A little clouds and cooler weather would be nice.

[Todd Caswell]

Had a good shoot, 28 birds Saterday afternoon in a barley field in the Cromwell area.

[Matt C]

Nice job Todd! And great photos!

[Shane Z]

After getting set up Saturday morning, we waited...and waited. We all knew that this was a loafing field ( with a couple ponds in it), but not seeing a bird until 9:30 really got us concerned. FINALLY it was a like a flick of a light switch and from every direction, birds started to come in. We decided not to set up near the pond due to the unfavorable wind direction. Picking birds up by increasing speed and volume of cadence worked extremely well! After we had shot 12 birds, and with more coming in we decided to end our hunt. Around 50-60 birds landed right by the pond, and when picking up our decoys. blind ect. they didn't seem phased by it.

The next day we KNEW that we had shot at a total of 3 of the 8 flocks that came in. We knew that taking the birds that truly decoyed and not taking foolish shots would pay off the next day. The next day turned out to be a complete bust. Since these geese were only 40-60 yards from the roads and LOTS of people stopping and looking at them (honking horns, and possibly shooting at them ) We had only seen to small flocks come within distance of calling.

All in all, it was a lot of fun Saturday morning. All shots were within 20 yards from us leaving only three to live another day.

[Maxxed Out]

28 on Saturday, 16 on Sunday. It didn't take long for the birds to adapt to the pressure. Birds fed in the a.m. on Saturday but after getting banged at use the full moon to their advantage and fed at night Saturday then nothing on Sunday a.m. Sunday p.m. was a different story. Great hunt with some good footage.

[TylerS]

Well, even though Nodak's season has been open for a few weeks, I still don't really feel like it's fall until September. Got the first "fall" hunt of the season in the books Monday. A buddy scouted the night before and said a field was getting absolutely bombed by ducks and had about 200 geese in it. I was skeptical, but thought what the heck.

Went out the next morning, and he definitely wasn't exaggerating about the number of ducks. Conservatively, I'd say we decoyed around 1,000 birds right into our spread. Lots of mallards, gaddys, widgeons, pintails and, believe it or not, at least a hundred woodies. Been seeing more and more of those little buggers every year out here.

After a good 45 minutes of watching ducks decoy, we finally saw the first few flocks of geese get up -- and head well away from our spread. I knew it was going to be a tough morning after a flock of 17 flew right toward us, then veered off about 100 yards out. The ducks might be stupid, but geese that have been shot at since mid August apparently graduated the school of hunting! We did our darndest to get birds, but only wound up with 4 for three guys. Called it quits by 10 a.m. because it was already 75 degrees. If not for the epic duck display, I'd have been a bit disappointed after such a stellar scouting report. But Remy and his bro, Asic, got to make some great retrieves. Labs got nothin' on those wirehairs!

[CANOPY SAM]

Beautiful pics guys! Thanks for posting. Another hot one out there today, but weather looks to cool down later in the week...at least a little.

[CANOPY SAM]

Nice video resume' Bryce! There's more truth there than what that little parody eludes too. Ha ha ha...

[Quackaddict9]

Opening weekend was slow with two of us shooting 5 Saturday and 1 on Sunday. Went out myself Monday morning and shot 5. Numbers have increased since the first weekend with the NW winds lately... Two of us shot 5 each Saturday morning... Sunday was different with the fog and did not clear until 8:45 am or so and only shot 2, did not see many flying during or after the fog cleared.

Saw a few blues and snows as well... Hopefully more small geese move in during the week.I'll chime in with new reports next week. Hope ya'll are having luck!

[Shane Z]

Last weekend we shot a 2 man limit. Birds are getting very weary and have started to bunch up in corners of the field from what I've seen. This is a GREAT time to start hunting the edges. If you can find a favorable wind with good cover don't hesitate to leave the layout blinds behind and sit in the tall grass.Geese that have been shot at will more than likely come in high and scope out the area before they even think of landing.

It's been a weird year so far, with geese not too vocal, and a lot smarter than what I had expected for the second weekend. Remember to really pay attention to detail as far as how the geese are sitting in the field you intend to hunt. Family groups have started to bunch up it seems and the ratio of lookers to feeders have def. gone up. If the geese have been using this field day in and day out there is no need to flag or to be heavy on the call...They already know where they are going. Really the biggest threat to creating a successful hunt right now (if you've got birds) is you and your hunting partners. Stay well hidden, keep the calling to a minimum, and let your decoy spread do the work.

[paceman]

Great advice Shane!

[Gordie]

Another thing to try is less decoys sometimes geese get used to seeing big spreads and will not commit,

I noticed this during the Youth hunt because I used 4 goose decoys and on the other side of the lake a couple of guys had 3 dozen out all the geese seemed to be drawn to the small spread of geese I had.

My guess is due to the family groups that they keep.

Anyways as the old saying goes "sometimes less is more"

[Quackaddict9]

I was after it again last weekend and we shot 9 and 3 bands that were banded in MO for two of us on Saturday morning and invited another friend of mine and went all in with our decoy spread for a traffic field on Sunday morning and felt like we were on the spot and finished with our 15 plus a band. I'll post a few pics on the photo thread.

Geese were all over the place, found great fields with good numbers but did not get permission or find land owners. Sunday morning with the N wind there were migrators flying south all morning. Looks like I'll be after the geese Saturday then Ducks on water. Looking forward to another good weekend! Good Luck everyone.

[HugoBox]

Shot 9 last Sat. Got some video on my iKam glasses. Shouldn't have let utoob "fix" the lighting and shakiness but it still turned out okay. Good luck to all of you this weekend.

[shnelson]

Early goose was a blast, as always. Ended up with 18 last weekend.

[Gordie]

Great videos guys

[Scott K]

So when does goose season end? according to the link on line, it doesnt.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/seasons.html

[PerchJrkr]

Early goose closes today at sundown. regular season opens tomorrow.

[Scott K]

But when does the duck, goose season end?

The reason I ask, is, my dog needs surgery, and I was just wondering if he is going to make any duck hunting this year if I have it done now.

[PerchJrkr]

DUCK SEASON

■In the North Duck Zone (north of Highway 210), duck season will run from Saturday, Sept. 22-Tuesday, Nov. 20.

■In the Central Duck Zone, duck season will run from Saturday, Sept. 22 to Sunday, Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 6-Sunday, Nov. 25.

■In the South Duck Zone (south of Highway 212), duck season will run from Saturday, Sept. 22 to Sunday, Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 13-Sunday, Dec. 2.

In the North Duck zone, goose season will run from Saturday, Sept. 22-Sunday, Dec.16. In the Central Duck zone, goose season will run from Saturday, Sept. 22-Sunday, Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 6-Friday, Dec. 21. In the South Duck zone, goose season will run from Saturday, Sept. 22-Sunday, Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 13-Friday, Dec. 28.

[Scott K]

Thanks!