how's everyone doing with scouting?

[delta hunter]

a friend and I have been scouting local geese, or I should say trying too! I've had some decent luck in the morning, but we have trouble locating birds in the evening. Just wondering around what time everyone is see them fly in the afternoon or evening?

[fishingmike0770]

around here, i have been seeing them fly mostly around 7:30 till 8:00 and thats when they go to their roosts for the night. . . i would drive around at around 6-7 pm and find a good flock in your area and then just watch where they go. . .alot of times, the flocks in the fields will split apart and go to different roosting spots but other geese may call this place home as well so you might find a good evening spot on the water this way. . . .

[walleyewacker]

I have been scouting SD for a couple weeks now and have seen quite a few birds but many 30-40bird fields that are moving in big flocks, only a couple fields with a little over 100. As of late last week, most of the geese I have been watching were feeding too close to the roost so I have held off knocking on doors to see what happens in the next couple weeks, more so looking for other wheat fields close. I have seen feeding both sides of the day and coming out about 6:45pm on a clear day so that is good news. I am hoping I will see the birds get out from the roosts and bunch up a little better before the first, I am so pumped.

[Rost]

We've been out quite a bit here in SoDak as well. We have been seeing about the same as Walleyewacker. Fields or pastures with family groups of 20-30. It's still just a touch early to figure anything out. I'll start really getting excited once the farmers start chopping corn.

[Sartell Angler]

I did a little scouting early sunday morning and found a tilled-under wheat field holding around 1000 birds! Not gonna get permission for it because the same people hunt it every year but hopefully by opener they are elsewhere anyways. Lots of doves in the field as well...

gonna try and get out tonight for a little local scouting as well.

[Fish&Fowl]

Just got done scouting ducks on the across the border into Ontario. Seeing lots of ducks so far and heading to some big grain fields also in Ontario that we got permission to hunt. Lots of honkers around is what we're hearing and hopefully we'll get some good mallard shooting as well. It's been a long summer but fall is finally here. Bring on the cold fronts and big flocks!

[fishingguy]

Delta Hunter, right in our area (NU) Many of the geese have pulled a fast one. They have been mixing it up alot. I've seen them head out, right over my house west of town, to feed as late as 8pm and back to the roost after dark. Then other days they are feeding as early as 4 and back by 5 or 6. Alot of hunters watching the same geese thou. Infact, I heard that one field a couple miles west of town may have as many as 20 people having permission.

I've been consentrating on more of the out of the way places. With less hunters and hunting pressure. Not as many geese moving in those areas yet, and not expecting opening morning, or even the first couple days to be any good where we have permission, but after they get busted out of every field within 4 or 5miles from they're roosts our fields will do ok.

[delta hunter]

fishingguy, I've noticed what your talking about! I've got permission on a couple fields south a clear lake south of new ulm. But I need to get out and scout some more and try to get some more permission. Not a lot of geese but its better than none! Its funny how they'll feed or rest in one field one day and around the typical time, and then go out there again the next day and they'll be on another field 1000 yards away and at a different time of the day, but there all flying with in range that I might be able to call them in plus a flagging might help. I guess just have to keep at and see what happens!!!!!!!

[IceHawk]

Over the last few weeks of scouting I have noticed that most of the birds are in the fields around 7:00 -7:30 Am and around 6:00-7:30 pm in the evening. They have changed there schedules because of weather and temps but in all this has been the average in areas I'm hunting.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

ive got three different flocks of birds patterned somewhat good right now; now the only decisions i need to make is what birds have the chance of getting busted off the roost or sky blasted from another field on the way to "my" fields. hopefully with a few more phone calls and the day off on friday i can get a good line on whats happening in the areas im hunting and provide two guys new to the goose game a good shoot!

[ortonville]

my buddies and i just looked up our last field. we where scoutong and saw a farmer cutting silage.it was a kid my brother went to school with so we stopped and asked him and he said sure.so the way it looks is we should kill them come saturday. cut corn right off the refuge

[koonie]

I'm afraid I'm going to have to skip the early goose because where I'd usually hunt there are just too many deer. They are feeding in the water like moose. I watched two does chase ducks around a little stand of reeds tonight. It was pretty interesting watching them interact. One of the deer was about five feet from a couple of geese and needless to say the deer was the one to move off.

[Quackaddict9]

once the deer smell human, they'll leave so you should be fine.