bigbuckhunter88
PMA Member
Well me and some guys headed down to SW Iowa to hunt snow geese this past weekend and it was a good trip. It's getting better and better for us each time we do it. We have made a couple connections and have access to over 12,000 acres to hunt. The geese don't always cooperate, but its fun trying to get on them. Living 5 hours away from where they migrate through we can't invest in a spread so we sneak on them. Some people say its cheating, but they are causing a problem on the breeding grounds and we're just out having fun and trying to thin some out. We left Friday morning around 1 AM and arrived to our grounds a little after 630. There were alot of geese around but they were either landing in spots we couldn't get to or couldn't get permission on so we spent the day shed hunting. Friday night the geese were up early and we managed to get in on 3 different groups. None were huge groups and none were in ideal spots but we managed to scratch out 11.
Saturday morning started out with the geese being up before it was light. It didn't take us long to see them tornadoing down in a field that we had permission to and they were right on the top side of a terrace. We were able to sneak up within 25 yards and pop up over the terrace. We knocked down 23. We then found another flock that we snuck in on only to have them bust before we were in position. We didn't fire any shots and were leaving when we saw more geese going down in the same field. We split up with two bellying crawling through a culvert and down a fence row while 3 of us looped around to the far side of the field hoping to pass shoot a couple. The crawlers ran out of fenceline and couldn't get on the majority of the flock, but managed to dump 22 out of the front line. We then had to quit for the morning to go eat breakfast with one of the landowners and BS for an hour or so.
Saturday night we split up hunting two completely different areas. Three of us followed a flock and were trying to get permission on a field when we ran into two local high school kids who had permission on the majority of the section and told us to tag along. We snuck in on quite a few flocks but we had to deal with alot of trespassing and skybusting on the gravel roads. We made quite a few long stalks/crawls only to have people shoot at the flocks off the roads or come in where they didn't have permission. We managed to scratch out 17, while the other three in our group got on one good flock and knocked down 39.
Sunday morning it was cold and the geese flew with the wind back towards Missouri and it was hard to find huntable flocks. We were again split up. My group managed to get in on a small flock and dump 12, while the other half of our group put on a good belly crawl sneak and dusted 17. It was a fun filled weekend and one of the better migration periods that we have hit. It would be awesome to be able to hunt them over decoys, but its quite a sight to be laying on a terrace with thousands of geese within shooting distance and having thousands more bombing in from a mile high. We are hoping there are still some geese around next weekend and we might make a return trip. If we do I'm definitely taking a Go Pro.
Saturday morning started out with the geese being up before it was light. It didn't take us long to see them tornadoing down in a field that we had permission to and they were right on the top side of a terrace. We were able to sneak up within 25 yards and pop up over the terrace. We knocked down 23. We then found another flock that we snuck in on only to have them bust before we were in position. We didn't fire any shots and were leaving when we saw more geese going down in the same field. We split up with two bellying crawling through a culvert and down a fence row while 3 of us looped around to the far side of the field hoping to pass shoot a couple. The crawlers ran out of fenceline and couldn't get on the majority of the flock, but managed to dump 22 out of the front line. We then had to quit for the morning to go eat breakfast with one of the landowners and BS for an hour or so.
Saturday night we split up hunting two completely different areas. Three of us followed a flock and were trying to get permission on a field when we ran into two local high school kids who had permission on the majority of the section and told us to tag along. We snuck in on quite a few flocks but we had to deal with alot of trespassing and skybusting on the gravel roads. We made quite a few long stalks/crawls only to have people shoot at the flocks off the roads or come in where they didn't have permission. We managed to scratch out 17, while the other three in our group got on one good flock and knocked down 39.
Sunday morning it was cold and the geese flew with the wind back towards Missouri and it was hard to find huntable flocks. We were again split up. My group managed to get in on a small flock and dump 12, while the other half of our group put on a good belly crawl sneak and dusted 17. It was a fun filled weekend and one of the better migration periods that we have hit. It would be awesome to be able to hunt them over decoys, but its quite a sight to be laying on a terrace with thousands of geese within shooting distance and having thousands more bombing in from a mile high. We are hoping there are still some geese around next weekend and we might make a return trip. If we do I'm definitely taking a Go Pro.
