Welcome to Waterfowler.com’s state-by-state hunting report page. Hunter Report posting is FREE but restricted to registered users and MEMBERS of Waterfowler.com. Login or register to post your report and use the comment form below for your hunting update.
JetBank03,check my post on Missouri web page for some interesting information on nesting in N. Dakota.
Boy it sure is quiet on here????????
I am assuming it’s not hunting season.
Well, now that spring is here it is time to pick up on some boating and camping. We had a fun 2 week chase of them white birds. We probably could have stretched it 1 maybe 2 more weekends but oh well. The new e-caller I purchased was 100% AMAZING. it is a 2 channel 4 soeaker system powered by 2 amp’s. It run’s solely off of 1 light weight battery and 2 MP3 players. I encourage you all to go to http://www.snowsmacker.com/start.htm and check it out. Well worth the money! Andy and the boys at snow smacker will take great care of you! Be sure to tell him I sent you!! Well fella’s until next fall have a good, fun, and safe spring and summer. Let the spring hatch be great and the fall migration be awesome! JB
Hunted in Southern Iowa yesterday, after scouting on Friday. Saw mostly small flocks (500 or smaller around) mostly around Corning and West. (Note – the birds are spread out in Southern Iowa) I was able to locate a field with good huntable numbers, so I decided to give it a chance.
Was extremely glad I did, had good action until around 10:00 am or so. Ended up with a nice mix bage of adult birds and some juves. I believe that the Southern Iowa area still has good pockets of birds to hunt. (Not over yet – here are my results from Saturday’s hunt in Iowa)
U.S.S. Magnum
Great picture. Looks like another awesome day in the field for you.
For the Iowa boys wondering about conditions out west. Almost no snow and no water except on the Platte River. I covered a large section of ground today
Traveled from Blair across to Columbus, over to York and down into Kansas.
Birds just moved into Columbus area this last weekend 3/16. Conditions in the area are still dry but the birds are around the river east of the city limits of Columbus out to maybe as far as 20 miles east of town Snow early on the ground. At noon heading down the highway everything was heading back to the river for water. Huge flocks in the thousands grouping the tens of thousands over the river.
Several flocks in the York area moving all directions, but mostly south and east. It was 4:00 in York area. Looked like they were in between feeding. No high flyers. Flock size over 500.
South of York several flocks cited moving south. I followed on flock fifteen miles before I called off the search and got back on the main highway.
Sighted birds all the way down into Kansas. Medium size flocks (500 or less) broken down into smaller flying groups. Some as small as a couple dozen. Could have been juvies playing catch up. All flocks sited were headed north.
I did not see a spread of decoys or anyone hunting. No water for the birds to drink. I could not find and ponds or groups sitting on a water. Platte River has birds all over it. Some of the ponds in north Kansas were covered with ducks but no snow geese sighted on water. Plenty of birds to hunt in the area.
Friday was a solid day for bird movement. I also think there is still a great deal of juvie birds down south to still come.
Just got back from hunting NW MO area Thursday & Friday and finally had some new birds moved into the area. Three of us was lucky enough to haverest 82 birds.
I’ve attached some photos of the field spread and the results.
Didn’t see as many mirgration flocks these past two days, but I heard that Central and Southern Iowa had a ton of birds these past two days while I was gone. Scouted today in Central Iowa, didn’t see much, my guess that most of the adult birds crossing the state and headed West toward NE / SD. I still think there is a ton of juveve flocks down south that haven’t arrived yet.
U.S.S. Magnum
The set up!
Now that’s a spring hunt. Grats!
Hunted Friday and Saturday. Gail force winds was sure tearing up some decoys. Most of what we saw was adult birds as you can imagine. Tough to work em. We only managed 11. Getting after it again this weekend for hopes of a little better hunt…..bring on the juvies! Thanks to @klobkilzdux for the invite!
@klobkilzduk
You ready to hammer it again this weekend or what?
Having pros right next door didnt help matters any…..oh well
Hunted N.E. Mo. on the 7th, big flight but they flew right over the snow covered field we had, did manage 1 snow. Fri. no luck so on Sat. we decided to head South to the snow line. Found a field to hunt in by Ted Shanks, got set up in the late afternoon and shot 5. Sunday we shot 10 in the rain in the A.M.
Thanks you Davenport pricks for snakin in on our spot….
Who would you be talking about.
Hunted NW MO this past weekend, extremely tough conditions. The ground was frozen still, so the only options was our full body decoy spread which only total around 350. Wasn’t enough to fool the adult birds, especially when they have been in the area over a month or so. Trust me, the warm weather will be welcome and then get ready for mud wrestling my friends! (The fields are going to get nasty)
U.S.S.Magnum
Only hunted on Friday in NW MO due to the rain this weekend. My group did happen to shoot over a dozen or so birds, which was nice. Seem like we picked up some new birds, that helped. There is no snow on the ground in Western Iowa and the ponds are starting to all open up due to the rain, which has helped get the birds starting to migrate North again. Still plenty of time to hunt the snows, it’s far from over.
U.S.S. Magnum
Game on this weekend @klobkilzdux !!!!
Hunted N.E.Mo. the 17th & 18th. two of us shot 5 on Sun. &14 on Monday morning before the rain set in. Have not hunted since then with the bad weather but it looks like a nice warm up for the end of next week, plan on going the 7th through the 10th. Hope to catch them coming back.
Does anyone know if Riverton refuge is holding any snows yet
thanks, josh
Very little…..nothing to get excited about. With the weather forecast I am guessing they will all be bouncing back south.
Squaw Creek numbers dropped from over 1 million back to 199,000.
Two steps forward one back. This should make for a nice extended spring season.
Squaw Creek down to 42,000 now.
Big jump @ Squaw……
Yep — jumped from 60,000 to over a million in a week.
hope they go back soon
Sunday looks like it could be a good day to get after them….other than that the 10 day forecast does not look too promising.
Snow Goose Update:
I traveled down central MO to KC (I-35), across the state to St Louis (I-70), then up the Mississippi to Davenport Iowa.
On the way down I started seeing staging birds about 40 miles south of the Iowa border. Seveal flocks in the air in the central part of the state. Coming up the east side I saw several groups of several thousand birds in each group. Largest concentration was around Hannibal and north to LaGrange. Everything was coming back south in the afternoon.
I talked to a local that shot a dozen birds last weekend. He said the larger nubers of birds moved in during the middle of the week. He was expecting to many more this week as it warms. He thought things were about two weeks ahead of schedule again this year.
Did not see anything but honkers once I came over the iowa border.
Hunted N.E. Mo. Fri. & Sat. shot 7 birds over the 2 days, 1st time out it took awhile to get things right. Saw birds all day off & on, but the weather never was as good as it was supose to be. Driving home Sat. afternoon it was the same for us, once we got to Iowa we did not see any snows.
Birdk9, thank you for the feedback! Looks like we are slowly getting closer to “that time” here in IA…….a cold snap for the later part of next week may slow it down a touch. Hard to say!
last report from Squaw Creek on Feb.5th,shows 60,000 snows.No where near peak of 300,000 plus which I expect in the next week or two.Good luck on your trp.
Normally the peak at Squaw is 1-2 Million not 300,000 although that is not a bad number.
I have seen 600 to 700 thousand on there and that is a sight in its self, would love to see 1 to 2 million that would be awsome!
I am finally getting used tot he new layout of the site!!! Where are the snows???
We will be hunting Mo. Fri. Sat, & Sun. Will post a report on Monday.
I just ordered the snow goose e-call and some new dekes today! I can’t wait!
Patience Danielson…..
Patience…….what’s that????? I am going crazy not killing critters Jack!
I was thinking of taking the kids for a snow goose hunt this spring but Mound City is just too far for a quick weekend with them.
Can you guys recommend a guide anywhere in eastern Iowa? The kids don’t need to stack them up. Coming homing with a few would be a win.
Idea?
Where in eastern Iowa are you from.
On the IL/WI border NW of Chicago actually. 🙂
We hunt eastern Iowa and NE Mo. Have hunted Mound City area with Upnorth Outfitters 5 times, good time but its a 5 1/2 hour drive and gets pricy. The 4 of us, my 2 sons and nephew and I decide to take the money and try it on our own last year. We have 450 decoys, not alot by Mound City standards (2000) but we are off the beaten path and it worked at times last year.We shot 27 last year for our first year over 8 days of hunting. Its a hit and miss for our area we hold some birds but you need to hit flight days. Would be willing to work something out with you if I can, can’t promise you anything, I hunt some days on my own due to the boys working. Send me some info and we can see, we are in Muscatine Iowa just south of the quad cities.
Thanks. I’ll shoot you a private message as soon as the site launch debugging gives me a breather 🙂
I cruised up the Mississippi this week, Lots of birds in Pike County on the IL side.
No yet but soon, very soon.
outside — you can reply to individual posts now. just click the reply button in the post instead of the larger one at the bottom of the page.
Is it snow goose time yet…..already bored!
Yeah the season on just went too fast here in IL and the drought really limited our duck chasing. It feels like the itch never really got scratched.
Agreed! Gearing up for the dirty birds now!