Late Season Canada Geese Strategies

Posted by: Jay Longhauser

When most people hear the words, “late season goose hunting,” thoughts of frozen water, snow, ice, and bitter cold come to mind. This is certainly true in many cases. When the highs are in the single digits and lows are measured at below zero goose hunting can be feast or famine. Birds become very concentrated and when you find geese it’s usually a lot of geese. That also means that you can drive for miles and miles through areas that geese were using a few weeks earlier and not find any.

In my experience, when the temperatures become extremely cold the birds make a noticeable shift in demeanor and become very focused on conserving energy and surviving the cold. They fly with a purpose. They fly to go eat and fly to return to the open water and that’s about it. Birds become very concentrated on the open water available and they feed in huge numbers in a few select fields. Often they may not leave the roost until eleven o’clock or later in the day to go to the fields to eat. If the temperatures remain consistent for a couple weeks it can be relatively easy to pattern these birds once you find a good roost. Location has never been more important. If you are in the field they have been going to for the last three days by the thousands you can probably land flock after flock with two dozen full bodies and a good hide. If you are off the line by a half mile and trying to run traffic it seems that often thirty dozen full bodies and great calling won’t be able to convince them to alter the flight they are taking. These are birds that have been hunted and usually roost in big groups on open water in “safe areas” where hunting isn’t allowed or access is difficult. Open holes on ice covered lakes or rivers are a good bet. When it’s really cold, go the extra mile to gain access to where the birds want to be. Conditions are tough and the right equipment is often a requirement to get to these birds.

In some states the Canada goose season is open into mid February, and many years this allows for a big warm up right at the end of the season. As the temperatures rise from the deep freeze geese become more active and will fly farther and explore a larger area then they were using when the weather was colder. They often separate into smaller concentrations of birds on multiple open water areas and feed in small groups in multiple fields around a roost. On a big south wind it’s not uncommon in the Midwest to see migrations of birds moving north in February. It’s also common for geese to fly twice a day again and loaf on open water during the middle of the day. I often try to hunt open water loafing areas when this happens. These hunts offer in your face shooting, and if you hunt smart you can have great shooting in one location for several hunts. We hunt these areas with a small realistic decoy spread and want to be finished setting up just before the first geese start to leave the fields from their morning feeding. If you don’t shoot into big groups, and if you can finish a limit with the first groups of birds that come in you can get out of the spot without any of the other birds who are using the area ever knowing you were there.

The late season goose hunting can vary greatly depending on the weather. Freeze or thaw great hunts are possible. I’ve been able to enjoy some great opportunities by focusing my effort on how to get to the spots the birds want to be rather than focusing on trying to get the birds to come to the spot I want to hunt.

To sum up, follow these seven late season tips and you will put more geese on the ground:

1. If at all possible be where the geese want to be. They have been hunted hard by this time and if you are in the spot they are going to, you have half the battle won.
2. Shoot small flocks and get in and get out so you can hunt the same areas for multiple hunts without educating lots of birds.
3. Use small realistic decoy spreads. Late season, 300 decoys on a windless day usually means birds sliding off the spread or landing wide.
4. Understand what the birds in your area are doing related to the weather.
5. Call less than you want to, and sometimes no calling works too.
6. Hide well. If your setup allows for a close crossing shot use it to your advantage. If birds are focused on the blinds on the final approach they are more likely to pick them out.
7. Be patient with working birds. This time of year they tend to circle live birds on the ground. Give them time to commit.

Straight Shots,
Jay Longhauser