It’s SNOW TIME! This year’s Light Goose Conservation Season is underway and the action is heating up, even as the temperatures cool down. With several months of waterfowling action still ahead, hunters across North America are gearing up and heading out to take part in the special snow goose season.
Hello folks, and as always, welcome to Waterfowler.com.
Winter is making another stand and the potential is there for a back-up of light geese as the return migration runs into colder weather across the mid-tier states of the Mississippi and Central Flyways. For the next few months all eyes will be on the snow cover line as hunters plot and plan to intercept the return migration of light geese.
The northward migration of light geese can be tough to predict. Slight changes in snow cover, precipitation and wind direction can move the front line of the migration hundreds of miles in a few days. To help keep our readers “on the X” Waterfowler.com’s weekly Migration Reports will focus on the movement of light geese until the white wave is back on the nesting ground. Stay tuned to Waterfowler.com to make the most of your late season snow goose hunting.
And now, on to the Light Goose Migration Report.
MISSISSIPPI and CENTRAL FLYWAYS
The number of light geese along the far southern edges of the flyways has dropped in the past week. While some portions of Texas and Louisiana coastal reaches are still holding scattered pockets of geese, the bulk of the action for these states has moved north. Huntable concentrations of snows and blues are still holding in northeast Louisiana and parts of northern Texas. With colder weather on the way the birds should remain in these areas for the time being. The cool down should also increase flight and feeding activity as the birds bulk up for the move north.
In the mid-tier states snow goose numbers have begun to rise. From Nebraska to Missouri, significant increases in light goose numbers have been reported over the past few days. With much colder weather in store and snowfall predicted for the mid Mississippi Valley, the migration should begin to back up in portions of northern Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee. Snow cover in South Dakota, combined with ample food and colder weather for Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Colorado should hold the birds well south of the South Dakota border. All of the states mentioned above have reported an increase in bird concentration in the last week with the most significant increases occurring in Nebraska and Missouri.
Snow goose numbers in southern Illinois are holding steady but in the most recent survey, are somewhat below the five year average.
ATLANTIC FLYWAY
Light goose concentrations are more generally dispersed across the mid to upper flyway. Reports indicate good numbers of birds in North Carolina, with scattered pockets of snows ranging as far north as Delaware and eastern Pennsylvania. With snow in the forecast for portions of New York and Pennsylvania and temperatures moving back down into the seasonal averages, the movement of light geese up the east coast should be kept from moving too far north over the next week.
Waterfowler.com encourages all our readers to take part in the Conservation Order’s special light goose season. By doing so, hunters are helping take part in the management of light goose populations to ensure the long term health and stability of light geese and their arctic breeding ground.
