Month: February 2021

This weekend saw pretty slow hunting but a ton of birds have moved into the area. Steady streams of snow geese came from the south even in the cloudy rain. Today was the last day of our Arkansas snow goose season. None of the groups hunted because it rained pretty hard. Jim, being Jim, hunted … [Read More]

The weather today was cloudy, gloomy, and wet. The hunting was ok for 2 of the 3 fields. Our highest field shot 12 on our lowest got a 0. There was a big push north but it was hard to get any to peel out to work the decoys. The 0 field had a huge … [Read More]

Friday we finished setting the last two decoy spread we brought up from Arkansas. The first day we had no problem poking the decoy in the ground but on day two we moved farther west. The ground was more frozen so we pull out the cordless drills. The first day we saw a good number … [Read More]

  Watch this video on YouTube The blinds disappear against these terraces. It was a long day. We set 7200 decoys, 80 flyers, 16 rotary machines, and adding camo 36 laydown blinds. Truman and Nate raked up many cartloads of stubble. The temps were nice, but we didn’t see a snow goose. We saw a … [Read More]

Watch this video on YouTube   Both of our Arkansas groups of hunters shot in the ’20s. A young man got his first snow goose…made lifelong memory. A tremendous number of geese pushed north, many snow geese, but an equal number of specks. Both fields said there got specked over, meaning a big flock of … [Read More]

Smartphones and 10-day weather forecasts make being a guide a lot harder.  When the weather doesn’t look good the phone starts ringing. I knew better, but I was getting it from both ends. My guides and our hunters. All but a couple we have been able to hunt NW MO or SW IA by the … [Read More]

For 10 days we have been waiting for this cold weather to break. It finally did, south wind and 50 degrees. Yet we saw very few migrators. Most of the flocks that we saw showed up after 5 pm.  Ideal conditions didn’t lead to ideal hunting. Tomorrow will be warmer with a stronger south wind. … [Read More]

The planned move to Iowa is set. Up to 4 groups will hunt in Arkansas through Feb 28.  Wednesday six of us drive up to Iowa. Thursday, Friday, and maybe Saturday we will start to set decoy spreads. Most likely, we will be drilling them into the ground given the temperature this past week. On … [Read More]

It was a rather nice day. The sun was out, the snow was melting. A big feed showed up next to one of our decoy spread. Finally, our plan to transition is complete. I will communicate it to all of you tomorrow. I want a night to sleep on it just to make sure I … [Read More]

We needed to get out of the house so we worked on the decoy spreads. One of them has a ton of snow in it. Some of the others not as much. It was a beautiful sunny day so the snow was melting. I think by Monday when we have hunter the spreads will look … [Read More]

This is why I hate a long-range forecast, and why it is so hard to base our hunting on it. You know what, tomorrow the temperatures will change.  The guides are restless. It’s just as hard on us, likely harder than it is on our hunters.  As of now, those hunting through Feb 28 have … [Read More]

It snowed again! What the heck is up with the weather this year? It’s super stressful and hard to base a plan on an inaccurate 10-day forecast. Right now we are sitting at the house in Arkansas waiting for Monday when we start running hunters again. The guides are getting restless, we need the structure … [Read More]

We drove to the crawfish field to see how the spread looked. It can be hunted with a little work thanks to the Deadly Decoy supports that don’t collapse. There are about 25-30% of our spread is juvy and blue decoys. Some guys like running all whites but I like a little color in my … [Read More]

You know it is cold when a wood duck is at your front door. It snowed about 4 inches I would guess. It is hard to tell since there was so much drifting. We had a few feathered visitors. Curt’s truck jelled up so while trying to shovel snow so we could get his truck … [Read More]

Howling north wind and 12-degree temp made for a brutal morning hunt. The longest group lasted until 10:30 am. This is Iowa cold! I don’t remember it being this cold in AR since we have hunted here. Many of you have talked with my Valentine Denise. She said it is the 9th day in a … [Read More]

  Watch this video on YouTube Everybody got birds today but these guys had a really nice day by this year’s standards. It was a cold one, but they braved it well.  The forecast this coming week shows snow Mon, Wed, & Thu. Each day 1-3 inches. On the bright side Sat & Sun Feb … [Read More]

Some of you are starting to put the cart in front of the horse. You need to take a deep breath. The weather is going to play out how it plays out. There is nothing neither you nor I can do about it.  Just to recap I gave those hunting this weekend 3 options. Hunt … [Read More]

Watch this video on YouTube Yesterday morning my farthest east fields turned around because of icy roads. There were vehicles going in the ditch everywhere. It was just not safe to continue. The rain and sleet continued through the night and only one group decided to brave the ice and cold this morning.  I drove … [Read More]

There were a lot of birds that came from the north today. In them are some birds that like to decoy. It wasn’t anything crazy but it was way better than watching birds fly on by not even breaking a wing beat.  High field shot 39, they saw a ton of geese. About 11 am … [Read More]

There were definitely birds coming from the north today. Some of the flocks are starting to work, nothing huge yet but they are giving us a way better look than last week. Tomorrow we are going to reset a field we pulled on Saturday to a new area. The day after the youth duck hunt … [Read More]