After a year of waiting and planning our snow goose trip to Missouri it finally arrived. This was it, our inaugural snow goose hunt in the Mid-west. In my conversations throughout the year with Outfitter Scott Robinson, he told me time and time again that everything about snow goose hunting in the Mid-West was different. They were totally different, even wearier birds than the Canadas. He assured me I probably never had experienced anything like it before. Boy was he right!
Seven of us headed out. Jimmy, my dad, Don, Brandon, John, Bob, myself and of course Drake.
Drake resting on John on the trip out.
Don getting Drake out to stretch his legs.
Group leaving Denny's after breakfeast.
We drove through the night and 17 hours later arrived in Mound City, Missouri. The snow goose capital. Our first stop was at the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge. We stopped out at the entrance to take a few pictures of the sign and could see geese in the air above the refuge.
Drake and I.
We could hear them but had no idea what we were about to encounter. The weather was warm that day, 81 degrees with a 40 mph wind. So when we first laid eyes on the water we weren’t sure if it was a mirage or there were that many geese. I soon had my answer. It was geese!! And a lot of them. Reportedly 1.2 million geese were sitting on the refuge that day.
A white sea!
I can honestly say for the first time during the trip we were all speechless! Geese everywhere. The water looked white! Every species of waterfowl; ducks, geese, you name it was sitting or flying on the refuge. My dad had never waterfowl hunted before and we asked him to come along to hunt a little and help run a second camera. He was totally astonished. We all were. I thought last year at Middle Creek Refuge here in PA was a wondrous sight. This was a thousand times that!
Brandon, Don and Drake on the Platform taking in the view.
It was just so much to take in. Remarkable! The sound of the geese was almost deafening. Then to eyewitness the spectacular “Lift off” the geese would lift in large, meaning hundreds of thousands large, all simultaneously and move on to another location on the lake.
"White out" It looked like a blizzard!
These birds are nothing like Canadas when they lift or land. They go straight up and land on the water straight down without a splash, ripple or drift. The sights didn’t end with the snow goose phenomena; we were able to see tons of muskrats, bald eagles, turtles, and a smorgasbord of waterfowl. Every duck made, every species of goose, it was all there right before our eyes. It was simply breath taking.
Bald Eagle waiting on dinner.
Muskrat
Swans
Canada geese
Specks
Even though I was on the tail end of the flu I came down with the day before we left, I seemed to forget my ill health as I witnessed the sights before me. After a couple hours at the refuge we headed for the hotel and then off to the local gas station to buy our $6 Missouri Conservation Snow Goose permit.
Friday morning we were up and ready to go. We arrived at the meeting place and were greeted by one of the Waterfowl Specialist Guides, Cory. Scott arriving just a few minutes later. We then were off. Headed about 40 miles North to the field Scott had picked out for us. Dad and Don set up the cameras and the rest of us headed off to our blinds. Scott gave us our shooting instructions and explained that we would be shooting about 80-90 yards in the air at times and he would call all the shoots. That was due to the fact we had no wind. However, most of the birds we killed we around 30-40 yards. After a few more explanations we were ready to go. We could already hear the geese in the distance that were roosting on a small lake. Scott said there were about 100,000 snow geese that dumped onto the small farm lake the night before. One thing I learned…these geese fly at the crack of dawn, I am talking barely light. As I was witnessing the beautiful sunrise from my blind we heard it… the roost erupted with a cloud of snow geese that did their usual circle for elevation and took off. I got chills and I could hear Jimmy beside me breathing heavy! Scott told me the wind was wrong. Instead of the geese coming straight to the field like he thought they were they were headed more North. But he assured me it was ok, they would be back. Within 10 minutes he called out the first shot. Gun barrels rang out repeatedly. We were shooting almost laying down straight up. Wow! This was different! It took us a couple times, but we soon got the hang of it and were starting to drop geese.
Juvenile snow goose
Mature snow goose (top) and a Ross goose
Brandon with a blue phase snow goose. We were told the brown on thebirds head is stain from eating peanuts down south
We sure were in the right field. Although the geese were too high to shoot, the first 4 ½ hours we saw thousands and thousands of geese and ducks flying over. Every kind of goose, snows, Canadas, specks they were all flying over. It was amazing! Scott did say that the wind was wrong. How was the wind wrong? There was NO wind! Hunting snow geese he explained wind is a necessity! The birds school in large flocks and they are always moving. With no wind the decoys look almost dead. And snow geese are very very weary!
Bob Taking A Look
These birds hover and fly sky high. Canadas fly flatter and although very smart, they will circle your spread and drop as they come in. These birds fly high, hover and drop down on top of you. They will take their time dropping in. They will hover and circle for 10, 15 sometimes 20 minutes just viewing the spread before they commit. After a couple hours, I realized quickly that the spring snow goose hunting is indeed, unlike the fall Canada goose season! Jimmy’s wish was to drop a blue phase snow goose. He got his wish. A blue dropped in and guns fired, then he flew in front of Jimmy and with one shot he dropped it right in front of us. A mature beautiful blue! He was tickled! Needless to say, he yelled out” That’s goin on the wall!” So Scott made sure Corey took extra care on how the bird was handled.
Jimmy with his blue phase snow goose.
Bob's trophy Ross.
Bob downed a Ross goose that was a trophy. The Ross goose is a smaller version of the snow goose. This goose had warts all over it’s beak. As Scott explained that is a trophy in snow goose hunting. The older the bird, the more warts it will grow on it’s beak. This bird he said was the second most warted bird in the thousands and thousands he had seen taken over the years. So that really tickled Bob…needless to say…that one’s going on the wall too!
The first day landed us 23 birds which wasn’t bad for a slow day with no wind. Didn’t matter we were all thrilled at what we had been experiencing and I loved learning more about this elusive quarry!
Gang with Guide Corey and some of our birds.
John, Jimmy, Brandon and I with the days take
The next morning we awoke to violent thunderstorms and me running a fever and severe sore throat. As much as it killed me to stay back, I was much too sick to go and didn’t want to shorten the guys hunt if I had to leave. Don and dad were able to hunt and not film and that made up for me having to stay home. Drake kept me company while I lounged, slept, drank orange juice and tried to heal for the final days hunt. The guys went south this time near the Kansas border. This is what I was so impressed with Scott’s outfit. They had so many fields available to hunt.
The guys ended up with 11 birds that day and hunted with a Guide named Alex or “Cheffy” as they so fondly nicknamed him because of his day job as a Chef! They came back to the hotel with stories of the day and everyone was having a great trip. Dad’s first opportunity to shoot waterfowl and he loved it. I think it’s safe to say he’s hooked!
Jimmy's all smiles
Jimmy and Dad
Don retrieving downed birds.
The Gang second day.
Our final day we awoke to pouring down rain and high winds. The temperature had gone from 70’s on Friday to the low 40’s on Sunday. But nothing was stopping me from hunting that day. I felt a great deal better and we headed off. Sunday our Guide was Ryan. Ryan in the off season is a Taxidermist from Michigan. Again, another knowledgeable Guide from Waterfowl Specialists. We headed north and set up in the back of a cow pasture and small ponds. Only a few birds came in and it seemed like the few that did come in we couldn’t hit. Whether it was the wind or our sore shoulders. Then here comes one, we all shoot and the bird flips a little and Jimmy rings out the last shot and down it comes.
Another Ross goose with a warted nose! Jimmy was thrilled.
Jimmy's Trophy Ross
The morning was slow and then around 11 AM not only did we feel numb from the cold and muddy wet blinds, the winds really started to howl. Ryan got warnings on his cell phone about tornado warnings. So we decided to head back to the hotel, get dry clothes and then we would meet Ryan for the evening hunt. Ryan was headed out to another field to pull a spread and relocate it near a small farm lake for the evening hunt. When we arrived, Ryan and Alex had a great looking spread and blinds all ready near the water’s edge. Ryan had his dog Sophie and Drake was ready for action. I was excited because Don had the cameras set up and Dad was able to hunt with me and Jimmy. Three generations together hunting waterfowl.
Dad ready for action!
The wind was right and we were ready.
Guide Ryan and the guys putting finishing touches on the blinds
We downed a couple more singles coming in and then it happened. Right before we anticipated the birds to start coming in, the winds stopped. We saw birds, lots of birds, but none wanted to stop by and say hello.
Views from my blind.
We ended up with 5 birds for the day. But the laughs and memories we made were ten times that. We got to watch Drake and Sophie retrieve and enjoy each other’s companionship that evening.
Sophie on retrieve.
Drake on retrieve
Before we even headed out of town Monday afternoon we all concluded we would be back. There is nothing like hunting snow geese in the Mid-West. The sights are extraordinary! We all had a great time and made memories to last a life time. I know I personally learned so much from Scott and all the Guides we were with while on the trip. These birds are so hard to kill. They are so smart in a different way than the Canadas. They demand your respect. It is no wonder their numbers are increasing so drastically. Their tenacity is astounding.
I want to thank my family and dear friend for sharing this time in the field with me. For the laughs we shared both in the field and in the long ride to and from Missouri. I can’t think of anyone better to have experienced this all with. I would also like to give a shout out to Scott Robinson, Waterfowl Specialists and Guides, Corey, Alex and Ryan. You all were awesome guys and we had a bunch of fun hanging out and hunting with you guys. Not to mention all the schooling you gave us on hunting the magnificent snow goose. We’ll be back! Thank God for providing the wondrous sites we saw. The pictures of nature will forever be in my mind!
We all know how hard it can be hunting the wild, weary and educated big gobblers. I know every year I am looking for an advantage to out smart the boss gobblers. This year I have an A-Way Hunting Turkey Skinz to try out.
