Squaw Creek Snow Geese

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One of the local papers had an article about Squaw National Wildlife Refuge south of Mound City, Missouri close to the Missouri River.   The article discussed the migration patterns of  Snow Geese through our area.  It is only a 1.5 hour drive south for my wife and I.

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Every year they go through, and now they are stopping at DeSoto Bend Wildlife Refuge just east of Blair, Nebraska. That is a 45 minute drive for us.  As they make their way up the Missouri river to their nesting grounds above the arctic circle, it is a sight to see.  The snow geese have become so plentiful that there are now no limits as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife want to thin the numbers before Mother Nature does.

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 Mother Nature is not very kind when it comes to thinning the numbers.  Hunting them in the fall at our blinds has not been very successful as they fly over in enormous flocks, flying very high, and going from refuge to refuge.

When stepping out of the vehicle at Squaw Creek, the first sound you hear is a high pitched yelping, that when multiplied by many thousands, will leave an indelible print on your memory.  When massed together they look like an enormous island of geese. Then all at once they begin to yelp, rise up off the water, swirl around and land back again.  We stood for an hour and watched this spectacle several times. 

I truly believe snow geese are smarter than other waterfowl.  If there is one important lesson that snow geese have learned and learned well, it is that there is safety in numbers.  When my friends and I began hunting the birds during the mid 1960s, snow geese migrated across Iowa in small flocks that usually consisted of anywhere from a dozen on up to 20 or so birds.  The migration was well distributed statewide, and the geese stopped wherever there were suitable marshes. 

How times have changed.  Today, most of the snow geese are hunted in open fields with big spreads of decoys and with the use of electronic calls.  They do not decoy as in the past.  If you do get them to start coming in, a 20 yard shot is about all you can get.  I really believe the snow goose is the hardest bird to deceive and that includes the wild turkey.

Squaw Creek is not only a stopping off place for snow geese, but for waterfowl of all types.  There was also a migration of Trumpeter Swans which we were able to photograph.  They stayed at a considerable distance.  In addition, there were bald eagles everywhere in the trees. 

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Good Hunting, Good Fishing and Good Luck.  Hank

How to Hunt Like a Gentleman

New book by Hank Huntington is now available...get yours today!
Price decrease. Get yours today; click on the picture. 

We see bison meat in some grocery stores priced at about nine dollars per pound or more.  Is it cheaper to hunt one or just buy the meat in the store?  From a personal experience if all you want is the meat, go and buy it in the store.  It tastes just as good, and it is a whole lot safer than a hunt on the plains where they roam.  But it is not nearly as exciting.

 I have hunted buffalo and if you buy my book, it tells you all about it and how to do it.  I have done all the research for you the reader.  

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I have hunted with Northern Plains Outfitters in north central South Dakota in January on a 12,000 acre ranch.  This is the land of the Sioux with rolling planes and is almost totally treeless.  The sky is the bluest of the blues.  The cold is severe but without high humidity.  All you need to do is protect your self from the cold and the wind.

The first thing your guide does is locate the bison on this sprawling ranch.  We drove the prairie in an SUV to keep warm till we could spot one.  Then comes the work and the potential danger.  You have to stalk him. Over the rolling plains, you are walking in knee deep snow and at other times no snow at all as the wind has moved it around. This is hard work and you must keep track of where you are in relation to the bull. You must position yourself downwind from the big boy otherwise he may come over and pay you a visit.  That could consist of having the daylights stomped out of you and possibly being gored to death.  These are not your usual house pets. We started at over a 1000 yards, positioning ourselves within three hundred yards for the shot.  Buy the book and it will tell you all about it.
After sitting in the duck blind one day when it was really slow, the conversation turned to how to prepare our harvests.  Of course, duck is always at the top of the list then comes deer.  Most of our club members hunt deer or accept some cuts as a gift.  The conversation can go on forever about how to prepare deer from aging to marinating. The list is endless.

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Conversation ranged from deer to elk to moose and one day it was caribou.  The entire blind knew someone that had hunted caribou and found this to be the meat of meats when it came to wild game.  Only one person in the club had ever hunted them before.

When I got home the decision was made that the next fall there would be two.  That is when I started the research.  If you buy the book "How to Hunt like a Gentleman," It tells you all about it.  It was a lot of fun just going through the research and planning on how to get this done on a budget and as close to home as possible.

You can hunt caribou all the way from New Foundland to Alaska in the northern latitudes of Canada.  I ended up in the northern most reaches of Manitoba in Canada.  The lodge was on Commonwealth Lake north west of Hudson Bay. We had excellent facilities considering we were on the tundra reached only by float plane.  This was a hunt of a lifetime and you can read about  it by buying the book and clicking on the picture at the top of the page.

On an elk trip into the Teton Mountains a few years ago, we hunted elk in the morning and black bear in the evening until dark.  Bob Barlow, owner of Barlow Outfitting, gave me a lot for my money.  The area we were in was noted for a healthy population of black bear.  Bob is a native of Jackson and really knows the mountains in the area.  Plus, he knows the great spots for bear.  We would get on site around 3 p.m. and wait until the scope could no longer gather light.  Hunting close to berry patches showed that bear had been in the area.  This experience got me hooked.

The decision was made for the following year to head back to Wyoming and hunt with Bob again, but this time the hunt was dedicated to a trophy black bear.

A quick drive out to Tetonia, Idaho was where the lodge was located and they have excellent facilities.  We would travel east into the mountains crossing the Idaho border into Wyoming where the bear hunt would take place.  In the fall they are stoking up for the winter and are foraging heavily.  Bob had spotted bear in the summer locations where many had been hanging out feasting on the berries and other morsels in the area.

If you have ever wanted to go on a bear hunt, buy the book and read about the excitement of what it takes to harvest a really nice bear.  Click on the picture at the top of the blog and it will take you to Lulu and you can make a really great purchase for yourself or as a gift.

 

Good Hunting and Good Luck,  Hank

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