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Category: Waterfowl
Published: Wednesday, 18 December 2013 10:52
Written by Greg

Sub Zero

Sub-zero degree weather in early December is unheard of for us here in urban Utah, but this year the frigid artic air blanketed a big part of the lower 48. While extreme temperatures may kick the waterfowl migration into full swing a little bit earlier than usual, the cold weather pounced on us way too fast to benefit our December 7th goose hunt in eastern Wyoming.

Eastbound I-80 was a mess, the road conditions were snow packed 95% of the way to our destination, but we luckily made it without incident. After discussing the current weather conditions we decided it would be okay to setup decoys just after daylight since we figured no goose would fly at the crack of dawn with temperatures well below zero. We were wrong.

 

sub zero weather, twelve degrees below zero  flock of Canada geese

           Down right frigid                                                  Missed opportunity as they slid past

 

Shooting time started at 7:04 a.m. It was just after 8:00 a.m. when we spotted our first flock of Canada geese flying low and directly at our almost completed decoy spread, busted. As it turned out, that missed opportunity was the difference between our limiting out on geese and ducks, and not.

 

Conditions were tough, no wind and cold cold temps meant few birds flying. When the geese did decide to feed, they came in big wads that mostly descended on the dirt field next to us. It was difficult to compete with live birds. Our attempt to scare the geese off the field next to us worked in the sense that we got rid of the live birds, but once they flew they did not come back looking for feed in the afternoon.

 

i went hunting Canada geese hunt, retriever with cold paws
                              Our retriever's paws got cold in a hurry

 

By late afternoon, the temperature had warmed to a balmy 9 degrees Fahrenheit and the few geese that were flying didn’t want to commit to our decoys. The ducks, however, were bombing into us like crazy! But unfortunately for us we were more interested in trying to get the geese to work close enough for a shot, so we passed on duck after duck after duck.

 

Canada goose hunt, duck hunt, wigeon ducks
                              A few of the wigeons

 

Canada geese, mallard ducks, wigeon ducks, greenhead mallard ducks
                    Mixed bag of Canada geese, wigeons and greenheads

 

All-in-all it was a good day, we ended up with 10 geese and 9 ducks, with the opportunity to have limited out on ducks!