Winter seems determined to hang on for a little while longer, a mixed blessing for hunters hoping to get in on some light goose action during the special Light Goose Conservation Season.
Hello, folks, and, as always, welcome to Waterfowler.com.
Whether you are on the birds or just waiting for their arrival, be sure to log your light goose migration report on Waterfowler.com’s real-time Migration Mapping System. With the help of fellow hunters this map should greatly reduce the guesswork when planning to meet the returning flights of snows during the Conservation Season. Also, be sure to keep an eye on the new Snow goose tracking page for the latest from fellow Waterfowler.com users who share the passion for the special season snow goose hunts.
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Members are also reminded to take a few moments in the coming weeks to check their mailing address to help ensure delivery of the Spring Issue of Waterfowler.com Journal, our quarterly members only print magazine. Simply log on and click on your user name in the “Current User Level” located at the top of the left side menu of the Waterfowler.com home page.
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And now, on to the Snow Goose Migration Report.
After a short hiatus, winter returned to much of the US this week bringing the return migration of light geese to an abrupt halt and even sending some birds back south as snow fell across much of the lower Midwest and southern Mississippi River valley.
The coastal areas of Texas and Louisiana continue to hold strong concentrations of geese but recent heavy rains have flooded most fields and disrupted feeding patterns of the geese in those areas. Where dry, unplowed fields can be found, light geese are feeding in high numbers but access is tough due to wet field conditions.
The same holds true for much of the lower Delta of Mississippi across to east Texas. Heavy rains have sent many rivers out of their banks and re-flooded the drained rice and other fields of the south. The cold weather has kept birds in the area, and hunters able to locate high ground should be able to pinpoint hot fields before the birds move back north.
Mid–tier states are still waiting for a warm up to draw the main concentration of snows back into their area. Localized concentrations are reported along the Kansas/Nebraska border as well as Northern Missouri and Southern Illinois, but these smaller bodies of geese are proving to be very wise and tough to decoy. A slight warming trend over the next ten days should restart the northward move of light geese and hunters at or above the Mason-Dixon Line could be in for a major push of birds if the weather continues to ease back to a more spring-like pattern.
In the Atlantic flyway light geese still appear to be scattered along the states of the southern coast. As the current cold front moves east, with snow and freezing rain reaching down into North Carolina, snow goose numbers may begin to build in mid-coastal states while hunters at the northern end of the flyway wait a few more weeks for any significant return flight.
Winter seems intent to hang around for awhile, and with that comes opportunity. The current weather pattern has light geese returning to their breeding ground at a slower-than-usual pace, providing hunters with a way to draw out the waterfowl season of 2002-2003.
It is also a great time for hunters in the lower portions of the flyways to get out and do some post–season scouting. With many areas now holding higher bird numbers than they did throughout the hunting season, the time is right to hit the field and see what the ducks are up to when not being chased all day by avid waterfowlers. Now is also a great time to get young people out into the field. With no pressure about harvesting birds, scouting trips give new waterfowlers a chance to learn and enjoy the ways of the birds. So before you stow away all the gear and start thinking about next season, take a camera and a future waterfowler out and share the sights and sounds of the return migration with them.
