Spring Snow Goose Guide in MO

Squaw Creek Refuge - One of the best staging areas in the spring

Our spring snow goose hunts take place near a major staging area for snow geese in NW Missouri. Several hundred thousand birds are common and, given the right conditions, peak counts can exceed a million snows. These staged birds, combined with untold numbers of migrating flocks, provide great decoying action. Peak hunting occurs approximately February 20-March 20 during the Conservation Order. This special season has liberal laws allowing the use of electronic callers, unplugged guns, and generous bag limits.

Missouri usually leads the nation in the total spring snow goose harvest. NW Missouri is the most consistent and productive region in Missouri and likely the Midwest. The attractiveness of this region is the quality of hunting and the long period of time that snow geese stay staged.

The hunts take place on private leases over large spreads of Deadly Decoys full bodied windsocks. I co-designed these decoys with my business partner Damian Kuzmin. Together we design, manufacture, and sell them through our partnership in Deadly Decoys, Inc (Check out our Snow Goose Decoys). They are an ultra-realistic windsock decoy that has an internal BackBone™ support that gives them a full body appearance, striking feather detail, and unrivaled realistic movement. The blinds we use are Final Approach lay down blinds. These blinds provide excellent concealment, comfort, and mobility. Our electronic callers are capable of producing sound quality of the utmost clarity without the background noises or distortions that plague other callers and recordings. A large spread of realistic decoys, movement, and sounds are the keys to successfully decoying snow geese. We have put a major emphasis on refining these areas over the years. Additionally, we have several subtle tactics that we use to set us apart from other guide services. These little things are what make our hunts more consistent and successful then the competition.

We hunt semi-permanent setups. This means we hunt the same fields often, moving as necessary. We don’t move spreads every day but instead hunt near very large concentrations of staged and migrating flocks, decoying them as they fly over our spreads. Throughout the past 9 spring seasons this has proven to be a very successful strategy. Our measure of this success is not the nearly 30,000 snow geese we have harvested but rather the high percentage of repeat clientele.

We take pride in being able to successfully decoy these wary birds. While we have many amazing days in the field each year it takes the right conditions and a little luck to have those 60, 80, or 100 plus bird days. Most years we have a couple fields that get zeros and a few that exceed the century (100 +) mark. Hunters should come expecting to harvest between 10-40 birds/field/day with a potential for much larger days.

Weather can play a significant role in the success of spring snow goose hunting. We run our snow goose hunts over the most productive parts of the spring conservation season; however, we never know what Mother Nature has in store. When weather issues develop we rely on our years of snow goose hunting experience and the weather forecast to try to predict how conditions will affect the geese in our area. Our policy is we hunt under all weather conditions unless they become hazardous. Occasionally hunts have been postponed when we feel the number of birds in the area drops to insufficient numbers to be successful.

The 2009 season began with high expectations and ultimately it ended up our being our best season ever in Missouri and our second best overall. Our Missouri hunting started with a bang on Feb 13 with a 90 bird field as the first snow storm of the season moved through the area. We did have some slower periods as every year does but overall hunting was good. If you looked at the weather forecast for March 11 it wouldn’t stand out as a “good day” to hunt snow geese. The day started out very cold but the combination of a reverse migration of birds from the north fleeing a snow storm in South Dakota and a large push from the south sandwiched Mound City from both ends. To say the hunters piled them up is probably an understatement. We crushed our previous high field record of 154 with a 216 bird day. Together all of our hunters harvested 588 snows that day. Both of these are records for us. The rest of our Missouri season had good hunting through March 21 when we pulled spreads and moved north.

Our 2009 total harvest was 5471 geese. Five fields approached or exceeded the 100 bird mark. Two 90’s, 145, 147, and 216 bird days. Low field for the year was a zero. The upcoming 2010 spring season will be our 10th anniversary. Over the past 9 years our annual harvests have been 5471(2009), 3850 (2008), 5653 (2007), 4442 (2006), 3653 (2005), 3583 (2004), 1266 (2003), 1049 (2002), and 469 (2001) snow geese. This is just short of 30,000 snow geese harvested in 9 seasons.

Order the Video

There has been a lot of hype created around the spring snow goose season. Some of its warranted. Some of its overblown marketing. As you can see from the pictures we have many truly amazing days in the field each year. These are above average days and show the potential. It takes the right conditions and a little luck to have those 60, 80, or 100 plus bird days. Hunters should come expecting to harvest between 10-40 birds/field/day with a potential for much larger days. These are decoying birds with most shots being called in the 25-50 yard range. In reality, snow geese are the toughest of all waterfowl to decoy. The enactment of the spring season and its liberal laws are testament to this fact. We are highly successful but we don’t guarantee birds. Slow days or even a rare zero are a part of hunting occasionally.

Rates:

We recommend hunting a minimum of 3 days. Our standard packages are a 3 day (Fri-Sat) or 4 day (Mon-Thurs) hunt. We prefer booking the 3 or 4 day hunts as listed. We also realize that it’s not going to work for everyone. If you require something outside this structure call me. Normally I can make something work for both of us.

Every day in the field is a chance at a band or a neck collar

Have a chance to see A LOT of geese!

Use large, realistic decoy spreads

3-Day Weekend Package: $500 per hunter - Youth: $450

This hunt package is Friday-Sunday. Friday & Saturday are full day hunts (legal shooting time until sunset) and Sunday is a half day hunt (legal shooting until 12:00 pm).

3- Full Days: $525.00

4-Day Weekday Package: $675 per hunter - Youth $600

This hunt package is Monday-Thursday. Monday-Wednesday are full day hunts (legal shooting time until sunset) and Thursday is a half day hunt (legal shooting until 12:00 pm).

4-Full Days: $700

1. Prices don't include lodging, license, bird cleaning, or gratuity.

2. Party size of 6 hunters guarantees your own field. Groups of less than 6 hunters can reserve their own field for an additional fee. Otherwise groups of less than 6 hunters will be combined with other smaller sized groups to reach 6-7 hunters per field. No dogs allowed on combined group hunts, no exceptions! If you have your own field, well mannered dogs are allowed.

3. Full day hunts run legal shooting time to sunset. Half-day hunts are until to 12:00.

4. Youth are those under age of 18 and must be accompanied by an adult.

Payment:

One person in your party needs to be the contact person. I will need this person’s contact information. They will be the one sending me payment, receiving the confirmation letter, and any other communications concerning the hunt.

A deposit of 50% is due within 14 days of booking your hunt. Full payment is due by January 15th. Those booking after January 15th are required to make full payment. Payment can be made with personal check, money order, or credit card (Visa/MC/Discover). For those paying after January 15 credit cards are preferred.

All monies paid are non-refundable. If you can’t make the trip it is acceptable to find a replacement as long as the party size doesn’t change. If you can’t make the hunt and can’t find a replacement you forfeit your deposit. If full payment has been made then the 2nd half of payment will remain as a credit for a future hunt. If we have to postpone the hunt it will be rescheduled in the current or next year’s season as the schedule allows. When we postpone a hunt it is with your best interest at heart. This payment policy we feel is fair. Most of your payment is used to pay our expenses incurred in preparing for your upcoming hunt. By sending payment you are agreeing to these terms.

Lodging:

Missouri Snow Goose Hunts

Lodging is at the local motels. I will provide you with the local motel numbers once you book the hunt. It is your responsibility to call and make those reservations.

Licenses:

Missouri Spring Snow Goose Hunts: February 19 - March 21: There is no daily or possession limit. Unplugged guns and electronic callers are legal.

License: Conservation Order Permit ($40 non-residents/$5 residents...new requirement for 2010) & Hunter Safety Certificate if born on/after 1-1-1967. Those that have not completed a hunter's safety course can still hunt if they purchase an Apprentice Hunter Authorization ($10) in addition to the two permits. This Authorization waives the hunter's safety requirement.

Apprentice Hunter Authorization (This is not a permit to hunt.) Allow the purchase of firearms hunting permits by persons born on or after January 1, 1967 and at least sixteen (16) years of age without display of a hunter education certificate card. The holder of this authorization also must purchase a firearms hunting permit and hunt in the immediate presence of an appropriately licensed adult age 21 or older who is hunter education certified. This authorization may be purchased annually for two (2) consecutive permit years (March 1 through the last day of February).

Bird Cleaning:

Bird cleaning is the hunter's responsibility. By law a wing needs to be attached to the meat for identification purposes. We will dispose of the cleaned carcasses for the hunters. For those not wanting to clean their own we can typically find someone to clean them for a fee. Storage of the cleaned birds is the hunter's responsibility with most using large coolers.

We keep you informed:

This website has a password protected page that allows our hunter’s access to a whole host of information. By clicking the blue button at the top of the page that says “enter reports”. You will be prompted to enter the password that I provided you in your confirmation letter. You now have access to field reports, weather, lodging, licensing, bird counts, and more. I believe we are the only outfitter providing this wealth of real time information to their hunters. You can easily track our entire season from your computer.

What you need to bring:

We provide all of the blinds, decoys, electronic callers, and any other equipment required in the field. While we appreciate the offers to bring your own equipment we prefer to use ours as it is proven, effective, and familiar to us.

• Non-toxic shotgun shells.
• Most use 12 gauge, 3 or 3½ inch steel shot size 2’s to BB’s.
• Camo clothing and face mask for warm and cold weather. Waterproof (Gortex) is preferred. Bring plenty of clothes. You can always take some of them off if you get too warm.
• Food or drink (non-alcoholic) you may need while in the field.
• Camera to capture the hunt on film.
• Rubber boots or field boots are all that is needed most of the time. Waders (neoprene) are not necessary but if it is muddy you won’t regret bringing them.
• Hunters are required to help with the decoy spreads as necessary.