Wednesday 14 May 2014

Snow geese are hard enough to decoy. Level the field with guided snow goose hunting!

Snow geese are hard enough to decoy. Level the field with guided snow goose hunting!
 Even if you are a veteran waterfowl hunter, guided snow goose hunts make good sense. But for beginners or casual sport hunters, the only way to successfully harvest a good number of bird is if you are guided on a hunt. Why? Because, unlike other types of birds such as Canadian geese or Mallards, snow geese are extremely shrewd, fly in very large groups and are very sensitive to their environment. They are quick studies, and learn the patterns of danger fast, thus flying past a decoy setup at the slightest sign of peril from afar.

Guided snow goose hunts are conducted by trained and professional goose hunting guides, who are avid waterfowl hunters themselves. They therefore they have a much better idea of how the snow goose thinks, and how they will react to any given situation. These are experienced groups of individuals that are skilled in the art of decoys. But they are also intimately familiar with the hunting terrain. This trio of skills puts them in a much better position, more so than even seasoned hunters, to ensure that their guided snow goose hunts result in harvesting the most number of birds possible.

Many novice hunters might equate a waterfowl hunt to scenes they see on TV, where a vortex of thousands of birds circle overhead for a brief moment, and then descend onto a virtual killing field, only to be harvested by eager shooters below by the dozens. The truth is far from that, especially when it comes to snow geese. These magnificent and intelligent birds have been hunted for thousands of miles during their long migratory trek from the breeding grounds and back. So by the time they fly past a particular field, their keen sense of survival is horned sharply by recent experiences.

Professionals conducting guided snow goose hunts know this, and that's why they put in place a number of factors that entice the snow geese to descend on the fields they fly over, including:

the best time of season that will result in the most abundant harvest
the type of habitat that is most likely to attract the geese
the type of decoys that must be used to make the field a convincing landing place
the number of decoys that are ideal to entice the birds to finally land
the exact patterns and placement of decoys to make the fields look realistic
the need for simulated snow geese calls using electronic devices

While one can easily pick up many of these tricks and techniques by reading a few books or surfing the internet, guided snow goose hunts offer more than just "second hand knowledge". The experience and the resources that a professional guided hunting service can offer is much more than most individuals or groups can get on their own. Just the time, cost and effort involved in acquiring, positioning and staging the decoy setup will often convince even seasoned hunting parties to opt for a guided hunt. 

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