The Beginner's Guide to Snow Goose Hunting

Snow goose hunting is said by many to be the most work you’ll do waterfowling for what can be the biggest payoff in amazing moments. Thousands of birds poetically and chaotically draw downwards over the top as the spin begins, bustling about full of greed; weary yet competitive. The shot is called, and tubes are emptied. It’ll get you in your bones. The first time I experienced laying under a big spin of finished white geese I nearly forgot to shoot; a phenomenon I myself have witnessed a couple of times over the years bringing new snow goose hunters afield with my group of self proclaimed snow goose hunters. Like any other hunt, it’s never a slam dunk, and you are going to be beaten back by the white devil from time to time—but the wins are worth the pursuit.

Their southern migration begins in September in Northern Saskatchewan. Leaving their breeding grounds on the tundra, snow geese begin the great migration towards their wintering grounds. During the first leg of their journey, much like honkers, they remain only mildly social, feeding in smaller groups for a few weeks before eventually amassing giant and unruly flocks and feeds across ag fields along their journey. October rolls around and the migration continues southward into the Dakotas and further south, with a majority of the first waves of travelers being adult birds- tougher and wiser to fool than their juvenile, drab-grey counterparts. Every snow goose hunter smiles when they see a lot of grey in the field, juvies play nicer. Ultimately their migration takes them down to Texas, Arkansas, and other southern US states to winter shortly before returning north towards the tundra in spring. All along their grand passage hunters actively hope to get under them in fields.

What is a snow goose?

Snow geese, blue geese, and Ross's geese all bear the moniker "snows" when we’re speaking white geese jargon. The lesser snow goose is most common, with the greater snow goose mainly living in the Atlantic Flyway. Blues are simply a color phase snow goose. They are gorgeous and often highly varied in plumage patterning. Ross's are smaller, and some say easier to fool than your typical lesser snow goose. Snow geese populatuions have been eating away at their northern breeding grounds, so you’ll find that bands are not uncommon as biologists are actively monitoring populations and hunter impact on populations. There are plenty of good reasons to want to hunt snow geese, and it isn’t necessarily tough to become a snow goose hunter.

So you wanna be a snow goose hunter?

Like any other successful waterfowler, you’re gonna have to scout. Does it even need to be said? The good news is, you can’t miss them if they're around. Snows often roost in extremely large numbers, and their tornadoes into fields is unmistakable—even from great distances. When you find them (be it in a dry field, a semi-permanent wetland, or large roosting water) it’s best to let them use it for a day or two and pattern them before you set the trap. In the fall my buddies and I exclusively hunt dry fields, but come spring we split our snow goose hunts between slough loafs and dry feeds, mainly targeting patterned birds, and occasionally trafficking migrators. Snows are tough to traffic when they aren’t actively migrating and have been around an area for a while, but migration days and uncomfortable weather can be on your side if a few other things fall into place as well. The answer to what those other things are, is your spread and your hide.

Snow goose decoy tactics

I may think that from time to time that we’ve arranged the decoy spread wrong, but I have never felt that we’ve set out too many decoys. Snow geese are greedy. You’ll often see them jumping over each other to get to untouched ground as they feed through a field. Going with a big spread is the most common and usually a very successful method, and it’s best to leave a large gap in the middle of your decoys for birds to key on and aim to land in. Go big, wide, and moderately deep with your kill hole. Simulate the logistics of birds landing in the less dense blobs of decoys and walking outwards to feed. If possible, set flyers and clones along the edge of the hole closest to the blinds for closer finishing birds. My group of hunting buddies run 300-600 full body snows/blues decoys with motion. Socks are great for starters and to mix into your full bodies, so don’t feel like you can’t get your own white spread going with just a few dozen socks, though you are going to want some wind when you're hunting with just socks for realism and movement. If hunting over water, floaters are very deadly and we will often run 5-10 dozen of them and set up with the wind at our back or coming alone one side of us.

As always, concealment is key, especially with large wads of birds and the number of weary eyes in the sky. Hides are usually layout blinds on an edge or inside the decoys, or we simply lay on backboards in the decoys dressed in white to blend in with the birds and decoys. Occasionally A-frames in the field or on an edge will be a prime choice as well. Whatever you use, limit personal movement as much as possible when laying in the spread and practice firearm safety always. I like to set hides with the wind at our backs for shooting birds finishing in front of us, but sometimes will set perpendicular to the wind to side-shoot birds and take their focus off of the hides when running with more than a half dozen hunters.

Final tips

My last tips would be on calling and readiness. When and where it is legal (usually in spring during the light goose conservation order,) an e-caller is extremely helpful as birds are wary having been hunted for months during their migration. When e-callers are not permitted a snow goose call or two usually is helpful, though strong winds and large groups of loud birds will make it seem some somewhat pointless, but you should still let it rip with a few barks and clucks. When the shot is called, make each shell count and then reload. Snow geese are not very tough to bring down when a pattern of shot is sent at them, and when a big spin is working in they will sometimes leave the spread after being shot into to regroup and then work back into the decoys among the confusion. It’s a sight to see.

If you are able to, book a snow goose hunt with a reputable guide and use what they do as a template as you get into hunting white geese. Whether you are able to do that or not, start building your decoy spread and get after those white devils. As a final side note, don’t believe what you’ve heard about them being poor tablefare. As an avid hunter and wild game cook, take my word that a juvy snow or blue goose makes an amazing meal. You’ll be surprised at the great flavor, just as you will be by that bark of a random single snow goose pitching into your decoys when everyone's chatting between shooting.

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