Late Goose

[Lowrider06]

Cant wait till December here, heading back to Rochester for the late goose hunt, always have a blast plus fill out too, who will be taking advantage of the late season like i am or anyone going to Rochester also?

[Scott Stein]

ill be out around here and north of nicollet....came back from montana sat and from fargo to alexandria on 94 geese were thick! i bet we seen close to 5-6 thousand no lie it was crazy

[fish4cats]

This time of the year and through the late season is my favorite time to be in the goose field. Lots of birds and usually good shooting. Only thing I have found is that the birds are unpredictable this time of the year. Seems like they change their patterns daily, feeding times and fields that they hit. Anyone else find this to be true?

I would love to see about 4" of snow on the ground!

[jeepguy]

I will be going to Rochester with a guide mid december, we always seem to have a good time going down there for one last hunt of the year.

[dan z]

yeah thier movin from feild to feild day in day out even changing feeding times.

[Where's Walter?]

How difficult is it to get permission in the Rochester area? I would expect to find it tough going, especially if the outfitters are willing to work hard and put their hunters in layout blinds in fresh fields (not sure if any of them do much of that). Seems like most fields around the refuge are leased.....I suppose if they are full of hunters every day, the geese will be out on more "accessible" land.

[Quackaddict9]

very difficult as I have heard. Best way is to go with a guide or get away little ways from Rochester and you can find some fields and get permission. Less pressure too.

[Scott Stein]

hey quack any geese up your way yet? some around here but most water is froze except for river hopin some of those birds from the fergus/alex area move down

[Gordie]

its a blast ive got some fleids 1 1/2 mile off of the miss near monticello that I cant wait to set up on.

[Quackaddict9]

Quote:

its a blast ive got some fleids 1 1/2 mile off of the miss near monticello that I cant wait to set up on.

so do you have extra room for another gun!!??

[Lip'em]

Its been my experience that geese are very tough to pattern this time of year. Take this weekend for example: Scouted weds evening, nothing. same thing on thursday. Scouted Friday in the same area (because I knew the birds were around, they were stacked up on the river during the day only a mile away) in the evening and the birds were everywhere.

Hunted sat morning, didn't even see a goose. Hunted sat evening and they were all over us but the problem was they all came off the river at the same time only a few minutes before legal time and one volley was all we had a chance for.

Figured it was not worth hunting sun morning since the pattern was telling us they were flying in the evening. Big mistake, woke to the sound of geese flying over head all morning long in perfect small groups. Sunday evening was a repeat of sat evening with the birds all getting off the river at the same time 10 minutes before legal time. We still managed to get 10 geese out of twelve for 3 guys this weekend but they were really hard to pattern.

Anyways, I digress. Moral of the story, get out and hunt any chance you can even if the pattern is telling you something different.

[stretch]

elwood, i am in the same situation but i have a bunch of fields about 1/4 mile away from the river in monti. so i am pretty pumped.

[Ryan Berger]

Its been my experience that geese are very tough to pattern this time of year. Take this weekend for example: Scouted weds evening, nothing. same thing on thursday. Scouted Friday in the same area (because I knew the birds were around, they were stacked up on the river during the day only a mile away) in the evening and the birds were everywhere.

Hunted sat morning, didn't even see a goose. Hunted sat evening and they were all over us but the problem was they all came off the river at the same time only a few minutes before legal time and one volley was all we had a chance for.

Figured it was not worth hunting sun morning since the pattern was telling us they were flying in the evening. Big mistake, woke to the sound of geese flying over head all morning long in perfect small groups. Sunday evening was a repeat of sat evening with the birds all getting off the river at the same time 10 minutes before legal time. We still managed to get 10 geese out of twelve for 3 guys this weekend but they were really hard to pattern.

Anyways, I digress. Moral of the story, get out and hunt any chance you can even if the pattern is telling you something different.

difference being sunday was quite a bit warmer than saturday, thus the birds feeding twice on sunday...

[Mowing4aLiving]

That has got to be some great fun for you guys that have the fields to hunt by Monti!! Everytime I drive through that area during hunting season i get jealous.

[PierBridge]

We have found the evening hunts to be much more productive then the Morning hunts of late. Weather hasn't had much effect on the this either way.

[stretch]

ya the hunting can be just incredible. but i still have to scout hard to find what fields the birds are in. and also it is super hard to get permission to hunt the fields around here. i just have one advantage, one of the local farmers is a close family friend and they farm alot of land. so it's great form me. can't wait for this weekend. it should be good!

[ABreuer]

I got a field to hunt near Shakopee MN but i sold all my field hunting gear for the most part. If anyone wants to hunt on it send me an e-mail and we can go out there anytime. I brought a half dozen decoys and a flag out there sunday i should of had a limit but only got 1. shoot me an e-mail if interested [email protected]

[riverrat56]

difference being sunday was quite a bit warmer than saturday, thus the birds feeding twice on sunday...

Waterfowl need to feed more when it is colder out to keep their body temp up, so I don't think the temp change was the reason for the change in feeding areas.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

Originally Posted By: LundDuckBoat

difference being sunday was quite a bit warmer than saturday, thus the birds feeding twice on sunday...

Waterfowl need to feed more when it is colder out to keep their body temp up, so I don't think the temp change was the reason for the change in feeding areas.

thats not necessarily true. we hunted last late season on a day that was 15 below zero. the birds didnt even fly to feed at all. they did that for 2 days before finally heading out to feed. we experienced a change in feeding patterns this past weekend also, and based on my observations, it was partly due to temperature, but also partly due to cloud cover as well. watch honkers long enough and just when you think you have it figured out, they will switch it up on you and leave you looking like a rookie again.

[jvjohnson]

e mail sent Baldpateslayer08

[riverrat56]

Other reasons may have been in play on those hunts like wind or possibly the birds were leaving after dark to feed? As warm blooded animals, they need to burn calories to produce body heat and the only way to get those calories is to eat more. Now as far as watching geese long enough and them doing something completely unexpected well now that is something we can agree on....

[dan z]

alot of geese around this area. in fact i think there is more geese here then there been all season.

[TDomaille]

We have a ton of geese around the Rochester area right now. We have been shooting limits every day. With this fresh snow, they have been very easy to work.

[Labfan1]

I will strongly agree!!!

[Gordie]

Quote:

its a blast ive got some fleids 1 1/2 mile off of the miss near monticello that I cant wait to set up on.

so do you have extra room for another gun!!??

Quack there just might be room for a couple guns. I'll keep in touch when they start hitting those fields. sorry it took so long for the reply for got to check this post and I know its a cardnil sin but I'm omly human