Maggie's Farm

You would be surprised. First of all you are unlikely to ever get close enough for a flock shot even at airborne geese.

I have been doing my part to protect the tundra since 1980. First went to Manitoba in 1975 for Canada geese and ducks. It was kind of embarrassing then to say we were hunting snow geese. They were easily decoyed with cheap shell decoys or even rags on sticks or white paper bags. Not so today. Those days are gone. Collectively a flock of snow and blues is way smarter than the Republican party. I last went up there in 2019. The wheat field country has changed and the old adults have been around the track often enough that the average hunter can't put out enough high quality decoys to bring them in. And forget about your goose call, they don't even respond to an e-call. How many days did I walk out among my decoys trying to figure out why the geese were flaring 200 yards away? I understand that professional guides now put out huge spreads of decoys with mechanical fliers. So be it. I might have to give it one more try. But my word, are they ever beautiful. The snow goose migration might be the last great migration in North America. Can't think of anything else comparable; maybe the sandhill crane migration. But a cloud of snow geese coming off Delta Marsh at dawn is breath-taking. If I can take my last breath while recalling snows and blues overhead I will be a happy man.