Diary of a snow goose hunter:  Entry 1, 3/15/15

by Bret Amundson

I’m a little late getting started on this diary as we’ve been on the road for close to a month now.  I was invited to come with Tony Crotty and Mid Migration Outfitters to hit the road for the spring snow goose season.  We started in Nebraska and will work our way up through South Dakota.  This year has been crazy to say the least…I’ll have more on that and what we’ve experienced already in a future entry.  For now, check out this video below…

We started seeing sandhill cranes migrating through a couple of days ago…one actually landed in our decoy spread.  I took a couple of pictures and told stories of how I hunted them near Thief River Falls a few years ago.  “Ribeye of the sky” is their nickname and it held true the first time I grilled one up.

Today I’d be spending the afternoon in the spread alone.  Tony had to take care of some business so I was left in charge.  The snows had slowed and I was busy scanning the sky for pintails, redheads and other migrating waterfowl.

Then the cranes came.

Their shrill call is unmistakable and they glide through the sky gracefully as they’ve done for millions of years.  Their long legs stretch out behind them like rudders while their necks straighten with their beaks for aerodynamics.

A couple of flocks passed over when I noticed a single lagging behind.  I grabbed Tony’s Bill Saunders snow goose call and began to mimic what I’d seen Cory Loeffler do with a goose call.  A similar sound can be made and I tried to call this bird in close.  What I didn’t realize was just how close he’d come!

Watch the video to see for yourself.  This made the long, quiet afternoon sit all worthwhile.  In fact, this may have completely made my spring:

(I filmed this with my tactacam…it’s a little shaky since I just held it up with my hand)