Tag Archives: Mound City

Guided Snow Goose Hunts, Snow Goose Guides, Snow Goose Hunting, Snow Goose Hunting Guide

Fully Guided Spring Snow Goose Hunts – Mound City, Missouri – Muck Boy and Snow Goose Guides

The Muck Boy crew will be in Mound City, Missouri the weekend of March 2nd, for our 2nd spring snow goose hunt. As all waterfowlers know this hunt will be subject to the birds migration. You can only be in the path of Snow Goose Huntig - Full Body Spreadthis spring migration, the rest is up to the birds. With this winter being more like a normal winter, we are hoping our timing will be a little better than last year, when we arrived a little late. As like last year we will be hunting with Snow Goose Chasers. We had such a great experience with Scott our outfitter, George the field boss (guide) and JP, George’s trusted assistant, choosing them again to guide our hunt was a no brainier.

2/6/13 – Geese are starting to move. Up until about Wednesday most reports had the geese in the south of Missouri but the picture on the left was taken near Vandalia IL. and JP one of guides for this trip reported just seeing the first geese around the Mound City Area.

2/14/13 –Let the hunting begin – more and more geese are arriving everyday into the Mound City area. Today one of the crew members had a nice hunt prior to our trip in 12 days, with Snow Goose Chasers– (Note: Scott has a few openings left if you think you ay want to try a hunt like this – just give him a call.

2/23/13 – Snow, Snow and now more Snow on the way – If this isn’t bad enough, most of the geese that had arrived have moved back to southern Missouri and Arkansas. Our Outfitter Scott has asked us to reschedule to the weekend of March 15th and 16th. If your planning a trip next week or weekend first check with your outfitter.

3/18/13 – The hunt is over and we have our complete report posted by the end of the week. Make sure to check back.

The Hunt – 3/ 15/13 Friday –We arrived at the Kwik Stop in downtown Mound City at 6am where we met up with out outfitter Scott of Snow Goose Chasers and Guide George for today’s hunt. We had four other hunters along today, a father and son team from Indiana, alocal Grandfather and Grandson and George’s trusted companion J.P. The morning started slow with a lot of Canadian Geese and a few flocks of Snow Geese around but nothing was Guided Spring Snow Goose Huntsworked the spread. Around 9am a six pack came from the north and headed straight to us losing altitude the whole time. They circled once and came directly overhead about 60 yards. It was a difficult shot out the back of  the lay out blinds and unfortunately only one bird fell. By this time the temperature had reached the mid 60’s and there was hardly a wisp of wind or a bird in the sky. This gave us a chance to get out of the blinds and stretch our legs and check the blinds and decoys. Just before our lunch break a snow dropped in but only came to within 50 yards and looked to be hooking off so George yelled “take’em” and this poor bird ran into a wall of steel shot.

After getting lunch we ran over to the Squaw Creek Wildlife Refuge to see how many Snow Geese were there and the latest count by the refuge staff was at 615,000 birds. It looked like every one of them was there at lunch, it is quite a sight to see that many birds in one place at one time. We all showed back up to the spread at 2pm and stayed until end of shooting time. Temperatures by this time were in the high 70’s to low 80’s but the wind had shifted to the northwest. We turned the blinds and made sure they were camo’ed up good for the afternoon hunt. There was a little more action with the group taking five more singles. The temperatures by the end of the hunt had started to drop and the winds were already due north. Everyone was excited about the prospects for the morning. With over 600,000 birds less than 5 miles away, a strong North wind and the temp’s in the 40’s we thought we were going to be in for a special hunt.

Fully Guided Snow Goose Hunts - Mound City, Missouri3/ 16/13 Saturday – We arrived back at the field around 6:30am with temperatures around the 40 degree mark and a stiff NNE wind at 20 to 25 mph. We took two large adult snow geese early and watched bunch after bunch of ducks buzz the spread. About 9am a couple of us had to go back to the truck and get our winter bibs and coats because the temperature had dropped to the very low 30’s and the wind had not let up. With nothing much flying, around 11am the group from Indiana headed home. This gave us a chance to catch an early lunch and head to the refuge to check the bird numbers. To our surprise they were all gone, from 600,000 to around 1000 birds overnight. Mother Nature never ceases to amaze. Knowing there were not many birds in the area we still went back to the field and hunted till about 5pm. As expected, we seen very few snows that afternoon but still enjoyed the comradery  of the hunt and the efforts of George.

We are still figuring out Snow Goose hunting and have adjusted our plans again for next year. Our schedules limit our flexibility but we know that Snow Goose Guides will always do everything that they can to make               sure that we have the best chance for success on the weekend we are there. We look forward to the 2014 migration and have our fingers crossed for better luck, because you can count on us buying our tickets for the Snow Goose Lottery again.

 

 

 

Guided Snow Goose Hunts, Snow Goose Guides, Snow Goose Hunting, Snow Goose Hunting Guide

Guided Spring Snow Goose Hunts – Missouri Spring Snow Goose Conservation Season – Opening February 1

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Guided Spring Snow Goose Hunts

Call NOW before we are booked!

The migration is on the move the numbers of snow geese in the Squaw Creek NWR Refuge are climbing again. It is time to make some memories.

Decoy Spreads Available

  • 1000 full body decoys, 500 sillosocks, over 30 flyers -hilltop cornfield
  • 700 deadly decoys, 200 floaters, over 20 flyers – pond / cornfield
  • 1500 Sillosocks, over 25 flyers – to go spread (go where the snow goose are at)
  • 750 shells decoys (Avery 5/8s, full size, and motion shells)
  • over 15 location that we can hunt in the Mound City / Squaw Creek NWR area

Big Days in Mound City, Missouri are still coming!

February 10 – March 15

Spring Snow Goose - Mound City, Missouri - 402-304-1192

855-473-2875

  • Heated Pit Blind Hunts $250 per hunter / per day
  • Guided Spring Snow Goose Hunts in Missouri from Grand Pass to Mound City.
  • Book and Hunt before February 15 and pay $175 per hunter/ per day
  • Fully guided hunt in stalked cornfields with over 1000 decoys in each spread including Avery full body decoys, silo socks, flyers, E-callers
  • NO LIMITS, NO PLUGS
  • Visit Snow Goose Guides
  • Purchase Your Permit!

Top 5 reasons to book your hunt with us this season!

1. All of our hunts take place over Avery & Bigfoot full body goose decoys, 5/8 Avery Snow Goose Shells and Sillo Sock Decoys.

2. We have 10 years of Spring Snow Goose hunting experience and we live here. We know where the geese are and we will do our absolute best to put you on them.

3. We hunt all day and are in the most predominant flyway in the United States.

4. 1000’s of  geese killed in the past 10 year.

5. We want you to have the best hunting experience as possible. Your success is our business!

The Missouri Conservation Action Season opens February 1,  We have some openings for the beginning of the season.

Special Early Season Price

All hunts Feb. 1 – 15th will be $175.00 the snow geese already in Missouri and the hunting should be fast and furious.

Guided Snow Goose Hunts - Mound City, Missouri - 402-304-1192

 

  • Exclusive fields available
  • Maximum of 10 hunters per field
  • Avery, GHG, and Silosock Decoys
  • Stalked cornfields
  • Layout ground blinds

Pricing – $175 per hunter / per day

 

Guided Snow Goose Hunts, Hunting Tips, Snow Goose Hunting, Snow Goose Hunting Guide, Waterfowl Hunting

Snow Goose Hunting Adventure – Part 2

Snow Goose Calling

Dozens of good goose calls are available, all of which are effective in the hands of a good caller. It’s helpful to listen to wild birds and try to imitate them with your calls. There are no better teachers. But unless you have a friend who is a skilled caller who can teach you, you also should purchase an instructional CD, DVD or audiotape that will allow you to hear the actual sounds of geese and good calling by practiced goose hunters. Study this and try to duplicate the sounds used for various situations. After some practice, record yourself on a tape recorder and decide for yourself if you’re good enough to start calling in the field. Listen for weaknesses in your repertoire, then practice to improve them.

Snow Goose Hunting Tips

There’s no such thing as a casual snow goose hunt, one reason many waterfowlers don’t participate. This sport requires large goose decoy spreads and constant scouting.

First, you must study movement patterns of geese where you want to goose hunt, then secure permission to hunt where concentrations are located. (Most hunting is on private hunting lands.) When geese start using a field, they stay until the food supply is exhausted. Being there after they’ve started using the field and before they’ve eaten it out is the trick.

Elaborate ground blinds are nice but not necessary because a goose field usually produces only one or two good shoots before geese move elsewhere. Many goose hunters simply lie on their backs in the goose decoys and wear white or camouflage-pattern clothing. Pit ground blinds, portable ground blinds and makeshift ground blinds made from natural materials on-site also can be used, depending on where you hunt.

When it comes to snow goose decoy spreads, bigger usually is better. The decoys should be in place before sunrise to take advantage of the snow goose’s propensity for flying early.

The most important thing goose hunters should remember is to remain well hidden and motionless until birds are well within shooting range. Snow geese are wary, and if they see or hear anything out of place, they’ll avoid it. If approaching birds seem reluctant to land, flare off at the last minute or land consistently outside the decoys, chances are they are spotting the blind, hunter movement or something else that makes them nervous. Adjust as necessary.

Avoid the temptation to shoot when the first geese start dropping into your set-up. Veteran waterfowlers hold off until the lead geese are touching down and geese in the rear of the flock are well within gun range before making their move.

Remember this rule of thumb as well: If, when aiming, the end of your gun barrel covers more than half the bird, the goose is beyond 45 yards and is too far away for a clean kill.

If you’re not up to the tasks just outlined, consider hiring a hunting guide. These guys can show you the ins and outs of snow goose hunting, and after you’ve experienced a hunt first-hand, you’ll know whether you really want to make the required investment in time and hunting equipment to hunt on your own. Best of all, hunting guides do all the work. The hunter need not spend hours scouting, gaining hunting permission, and setting and retrieving goose decoys. For a reasonable fee, reputable hunting guides do all this and clean and pack your birds, too.

Snow Goose Hunting Conclusion

Snow goose hunting is challenging, for sure. Nevertheless, it’s a sport many of us find irresistibly attractive. Goose hunting allows us to perfect our skills with a shotgun and to go afield with men we enjoy and admire. Most of all, it gives us another excuse to be outdoors. Until you have sat in a goose spread and watched a fall or winter day unfold, develop and decline, you have missed one of life’s greatest pleasures.

Snow Goose Recipes

Duck or Goose Prosciutto

Duck or goose prosciutto is an old Italian tradition that originated in the country’s Jewish community, for whom regular prosciutto was forbidden. The process was designed for domestic ducks and geese, and by all means use this recipe for those critters if you’d like.

But air-cured wild goose breasts (most wild duck breasts will be too small to really do this recipe justice), are something special. Slice it as thin as you can on the diagonal and serve it with melon, figs, good cheese, on top of a fried egg, with bruschetta — you get the point.

I will give you two recipes: One for a “sweet” cure, the other for a spicy one. This is what I do when I want to make Italian-style goose prosciutto: You can mess around with the spices as you wish, but until you do this a few times, don’t change the amount of salt and sugar.

The sweet cure needs watching as it dries — it is more prone to mold than the spicy variety. Remember that white, powdery mold is OK, white fuzzy is not harmful but should be wiped off, green fuzzy needs to be wiped off the moment you spot it, and black mold is bad: I toss the breast if I get the black stuff. When sketchy mold does appear, I wipe it off every other day with a paper towel soaked in red wine vinegar.

How long to cure? From 2-6 weeks, depending on the size of the breasts and the amount of fat and the temperature and the humidity. Suffice to say you need to watch it every other day or so.

Once the goose prosciutto is cured, you can eat it straight away or wrap it and store it in the fridge. It also freezes well for a year or more.

SWEET GOOSE PROSCIUTTO

Makes 2 slabs of cured goose breast.

Prep Time: 30 days

  • 1 goose breast or domestic duck breast, both halves (skin on)
  • 3/4 cup kosher salt or pickling salt
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon ground fennel seed
  • 1 tablespoon ground white pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground clove
  • 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

SPICY GOOSE PROSCIUTTO

Makes 2 slabs of cured goose breast.

Prep Time: 30 days

  • 1 goose breast or domestic duck breast, both halves (skin on)
  • 3/4 cup kosher salt or pickling salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon mild paprika
  • 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 tablespoon dried, crumbled oregano
  • 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
  1. First a note on the meat. When you breast out the bird, leave as much skin and fat on it as possible; you’ll get these “tails” of skin on both the tail and neck end of the bird if you do, and this is what you want: They will come in handy later. If you haven’t already, peel off the “tender” on the meat side of the breast. Deep-fry in batter and enjoy!
  2. Mix all the spices together in a large bowl. Coat the goose or duck breasts in the mixture well. Massage it into the meat, and make sure every bit of it has cure on it. Pour any extra cure into a non-reactive container just about large enough to hold the goose breasts. I use Tupperware. Place the goose breasts on top and cover.
  3. Cure in the fridge for 1-3 days. The longer you cure, the saltier the prosciutto will be. The saltier it will be, the longer it will keep — but the thinner you will need to shave it when you eat it. A Ross’s goose or an Aleutian or Cackler needs only a day; 36 hours at the most. I give domestic ducks, snow geese or whitefront geese two days. A big Canada or a domestic will need three or even four days.
  4. Flip the breast once a day to ensure even contact with the extra cure.
  5. When it’s done, rinse off the cure and dry the breasts thoroughly. A lot of people will tell you to rinse off every smidge of cure, but I don’t like this — I like the few remaining bits here or there. But you need to get most of it off, and it is imperative that you dry the goose breasts off after rinsing. Let the breasts dry on a rack, skin side down, for an hour or two.
  6. Now it’s time to hang them. You will need a humid place (60-80 percent humidity) that is between 40-65 degrees to hang your goose prosciutto. I keep my curing fridge at 70 percent humidity and 55 degrees. Poke a hole in one of the skin “tails” and either run an “S” hook through it or some string. Hang on a rack so it does not touch anything else for a few weeks.

 

Snow Goose Recipes

Scottie’s Snow Goose and Wild Rice Soup

Here’s the recipe:

In a caste iron skillet, place:

  • Six strips bacon, cut into small pieces.
  • Cook until crisp, set aside, and leave two tablespoons bacon grease in pan.

In skillet, add:

  • Two cups snow goose breasts or thighs or both, cubed.
  • Season with salt and pepper and sauté until cooked. Set aside pieces on paper towel.

In same pan, sauté:

  • One cup fresh mushrooms until cooked.

In separate sauce pot, add:

  • One and a half cups snow goose stock (use chicken stock as substitute), ½ cup each diced onion and carrot, and two cloves minced garlic.

Cook until tender, then add:

  • One can (10 3/4 ounces) of cream of potato soup. (Note: Doheny also likes to add cubed day-old baked potatoes to the recipe).

Stir mixture, then add:

  • Two cups half and half, bacon, snow goose meat, mushrooms and one cup cooked wild rice (more if you like), and pepper to taste.

Simmer for about 45 minutes, remove from heat, and serve with shredded Swiss cheese and minced fresh parsley.

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Lesser Snow Goose

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Latin: Anser caerulescens caerulescens
Average length: M 29″, F 28″
Average weight: M 6.1 lbs., F 5.5 lbs.

Description: Lesser snow geese have two color phases: a dark (blue) plumage and a white (snow) plumage. The two color phases are variations within the same race and do not indicate separate races. The sexes are similar in appearance in both phases, but the female is often smaller. Lesser snow geese can hybridize with Ross’ geese, which are similar in appearance. They have pinkish bills with black grinning patches, and the feet and legs are reddish-pink. In the dark phase they have white heads and upper necks, with bluish-gray bodies. In the white phase they are completely white except for black wing tips. The head can be stained rusty brown from minerals in the soil where they feed. They are very vocal and can often be heard from more than a mile away.

Breeding: Lesser snow geese breed along Queen Maud Gulf, Baffin Island, Banks Island and Victoria Island; in the Northwest Territories and on Hudson Bay. They nest on low, grassy tundra plains and broad, shallow rivers near the coast, and on islands within shallow inland lakes. Lesser snow geese nest in colonies and lay an average of 4-5 eggs.
Migrating and Wintering: Lesser snow geese historically migrated from their northern breeding grounds down the Pacific and Mississippi flyways, to winter in the Central Valley of California and the Gulf Coast of Texas, Louisiana and Mexico. There, the abundant emergent vegetation of the brackish and salt marshes provided both food and cover. Recently, they have expanded their winter range to interior agricultural lands in states such as Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, where corn, rice and pasture grasses provide abundant food supplies.

Guided Snow Goose Hunts, Snow Goose Hunting, Snow Goose Hunting Guide

Special Early Season Hunting – Missouri Spring Snow Goose Conservation Season – Opening February 1

The Missouri Conservation Action Season opens February 1, 2012 We have some openings for the beginning of the season.

Special Early Season Price

All hunts Feb. 1 – 15th will be $150.00 there are snow geese already in Missouri and the hunting should be fast and furious.

Snow Goose Hunting, Waterfowl Hunting

More Spring Snow Goose Hunting Tips – Mound City, Missouri

  • When hunting snow geese, the more calls you have the better. Try using two electronic calls plus your mouth call.
  • Nebraska, Iowa, Northwest Missouri, South Dakota and North Dakota are some of the most popular states for spring snow goose hunting.
  • Gun Loads (for 12-Guages): 3-inch BB, BBB, or T-Shot in steel. In Bismuth and Tungsten, BBs and 2s are the loads of choice.
  • Choke: improved to full, depending on how your gun patterns with the large loads.
  • Call your state Wildlife Agency for general information on season dates, regulations, and snow goose staging areas.
  • For detailed tips on hunting spring snows, check out Ron Spomer’s article, “Strategies for Spring Snows,” in the Jan./Feb. issue of DU Magazine.
  • Decoying: Most guides use 1,000 or more decoys, but if you aren’t going with a guide, 400 to 600 decoys will do the trick.
  • Arrange decoys in a teardrop shape, large at one end and small at the other with your blind in the center.
  • If the geese aren’t coming all the way to your decoys, switch from white clothes to camouflage and set up 100 yards downwind of your decoys.
  • Scouting is key. Try to hunt a field that birds were in the night before.
  • Flags and wind socks add movement to a decoy spread. Some hunters also use black and white balloons attached to poles to create the same effect.