Even for professional waterfowlers,  snow goose hunting is a different story altogether. These birds are more cautious, sensitive and ‘educated’ when it comes to predicting traps and can pick up any suspicious activity at a moment’s notice. To make sure you enjoy the thrill and adventure, it is best to opt for guided snow goose hunts.

Experience

• Perhaps the first reason that hunters book guided hunts for snow geese is the knowledge and experience of the outfitter. They know how to set the spread, adjust decoys so that they are in full view of the birds and select the right time to take shots. The ability to study and read the birds’ behavior comes with practice and this proactive skill can prove to be invaluable in a hunt.
•  In guided hunts, the experts have years of experience learning about the birds and their behavior. Just by looking at the flock they can analyze whether they are close knit families, a mixture of young birds or adults, or just random geese jumbled together. Imitating what you are seeing above with the decoys on the ground will lower the chances of snow geese suspecting that what they are seeing below are actually just decoys.

Decoys

•  With a professional guiding  your group, you will have a professional analyze what type and how many decoys are needed to get the attention of the bigger flocks of snow geese migrating north. Snow geese are highly suspicious and cautious, and as they fly  in large numbers, you need to have a spread of around 1000 to 1500 decoys. Experienced professionals on guided goose hunts know how to set and reset fields for the best results.
•  The types of decoys used also matter. First things first, use high quality decoys that even you can’t tell apart from a distance. Plus, aside from looking like real geese, your decoys should also not be completely stationary. Snow geese are always moving, so make sure your decoys are moving too or they will send an instant sign of danger to the geese flying above.
•  To create movement in decoys, most experts on guided goose hunts use rotaries. These rotaries help attract the birds’ attention. On the other hand, most experts advise having combination of full body decoys and windsocks in the field. Windsocks will move with the wind while during no wind conditions, moving full body decoys will do the trick.

Going on guided snow goose hunts can prove to be a wise decision particularly because of the substantial investment that one puts in from buying equipment to leasing land for the hunt. You don’t want to waste it all plus miss out on all the fun and thrill just because of the lack of experience. Therefore, going with a guide is the better option