Snow Goose Report

The Minnesota DNR 2008 Migration Report is reporting numbers of snow geese entering northern Minnesota. We are always happy to see Canada freeze up as it pushes these birds south.

A good-solid freeze is our first chance to look at the 2008 / 2009 snow goose migration. According to their reports:

Thief River Falls:

"There still remain a large number of (Canada) geese but they are in very large groups (40-100) and have been observed field feeding in harvested soybean fields. Some snow geese are in the area as well."

Thief Lake WMA:

"Some geese (mostly Canadas, but still some snows) are present and a few are being taken in the CHZ."

This is all good news to us. It's a little early to get too worked up about the spring snow goose hunts but we can't help it. Early migrations of snow geese means the tundra ponds are freezing over but more than likely it also means that the snows are eating themselves out of the area. That means good numbers for our hunters in South Dakota next spring.

We'll keep you posted but in the mean time, we suggest calling Dean now to put your name on a trip now. We're starting to fill up hunts and you don't want to miss out on this year.

Goose Hunting Report - 10/30/08

We hunted hamburger hill today the first time in 4 days. We're trying to let birds get in there so we can have more productive days in future. We shot 14 birds today, just short of limit but a quality hunt.

Everybody agreed if we shot a little better we easily would of filled out our limits of geese. Birds are coming out of refuge more often and that is creating good opportunities to harvest birds.



Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight staff

Goose Hunting Report - 10/27/08

We had 3 unguided hunters today and they were successful shooting 4 birds. Birds were sluggish in morning but flew well in afternoon. The hunting has certainly picked up this last week, great time to get down and enjoy a hunt.


Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight Staff

The First Snow Goose Hunting Report of 2008/2009!

Friends of ours spent the weekend hunting geese in in North Dakota over the weekend and saw the first Snow Geese of the season!

They were completely surprised when a small flock of juvenile snow geese buzzed their decoys in morning.

We already have our preliminary South Dakota Snow Goose Hunting leases established and we are ready to start chasing the spring flocks. We will start in Missouri around February 20th and then follow the birds up into South Dakota as the weather allows them to move north.

We had a successful year in 2008, including a great weekend trip hunting snow geese with Babe Winkelman and his wife Kris.

Contact us today to sign up for a 2009 hunt.

Duck and Goose Hunting Report - 10/27/2008

A heavy front blew into the area Saturday night and it really stirred the pot for Sunday morning hunts. The forecast was for winds out of the NW at 20-30 MPH with gusts to 50 MPH - snow flurries were possible.

Mississippi River Ducks:

Two of our hunters chased ducks in the Mississippi River valley to the East of Rochester. They saw a LOT of ducks but the success rate was low for the entire area. Birds were flying fast in the wind and they weren't slowing down for decoys. Only 3 ducks were taken by the 16 hunters we spoke to at the Winona landing.

Rochester Geese - morning:

Hunters in 2 fields had mixed success, taking a few birds. We hunted through high winds and snow flurries and the conditions were tough. The birds didn't fly in large numbers so we had few opportunities.

Rochester Geese - afternoon:

We will occasionally hunt the afternoon if the morning hunts are tough. Sunday was a good example of a tough morning. By afternoon the wind had subsided into the 15 MPH range and the heavy snow had calmed to a light dusting.

Birds started streaming out of town at about 2pm and the return flight occurred at 5pm. We saw hundreds and hundreds of birds streaming out to feed before dark.

Goose Hunting Report - 10/26/08

There are a lot of new birds in the area and we saw our fair share!

Saturday was clear and windy the entire day. We weren't sure what to expect with the cold, clear skies but it proved to be a successful day. We didn't quite know which way the birds would fly in the morning so we divided 25 hunters across 4 fields and hoped for good fortune.

We killed 44 birds and missed a lot more before we wrapped it up mid-morning. It was a good day for so many hunters in the field!

Canadian Goose Hunting Video

Join Bill Urseth and Trevor Goudy in a late season hunt for a giant Canadian goose in Rochester, MN.

We guided Bill and Trevor on a late season hunt were they had all the opportunities for giant Canadian geese that we could throw at them. Before you watch the video, we suggest you pay special attention to the calling of the guys in the pits. They can really put the birds in your lap.

Watch the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNnCPckIfHo

Goose Hunting Report - 10/23/08

We had 6 people out today and had a great day of goose hunting. We had several small flocks come in and had our 12 bird limits by 8:30.

We are seeing a substantial increase of birds that moved in, and birds moving outside the refuge. The temperature is going to drop over weekend and the geese will have to increase their consumption of food, good news for us hunters.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight Staff

Harvest back on track

After a slow start the farmers are going at the harvest at a good clip now.Hamburger hill is on track to get cut on thursday.Hunting over weekend was a little slow due to warm temps and lack of wind.Did see new birds come in today with north wind.We had three hunters in fergus today they shot their birds pretty easy.



Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight staff

Duck Hunting Report - 10/18/08

Two of our hunters ventured away from the Rochester basin on Saturday to chase ducks in the rivers just East of Rochester, Minnesota. The goose hunting in the Rochester area has been strong but the duck hunting has been hit or miss in the fields.

A cold front last week supposedly pushed the teal and wood ducks out of the area. The cold marked an arrival of early wigeon, mallards and ringnecks to southern Minnesota.

Two of us decided to take advantage of the early migration and chase puddle ducks in the marsh.

Weather:

The weather created some obstacles for us. The wind was calm and the temperature at day break was just below the freezing mark, which combined for a nice frost. As the morning warmed, the frost cleared, and a heavy fog set into the valley. Visibility went from darkness, to blue skies, to a fog so thick that we couldn't see the outer decoys.

The Decoy Spread:

We set up on a small 8 x 60 foot island in the backwater weave of the river. We set a dozen mallard decoys in the shallow current at the head of the island. A half dozen more mallard decoys went into the slack water behind the island. We sprinkled in additional pintail, wood duck, teal, feeder butts, shaker mags, and 2 Mojo mallard decoys throughout the spread.

We hid in the thin river willows so that we could shoot either side of the island with the west wind was coming in from the current side. The ideal situation would have put our backs to the wind but in a marsh hunt sometimes you have to make do.

Hunting Report:

The migration report was incorrect for the area. Wood ducks were gone but there was a huge variety of ducks. The day quickly became a lesson in duck identification through the fog. We saw blue wing teal, green wing teal, mallards, ringnecks, wigeon, canvasbacks, and geese.

Daybreak produced multiple flocks of ducks within the first hour of legal shooting time. The first group to commit was a wary set of wigeons. They shopped our decoys for a minute first going to the rear, then the front, and then the rear. We called and whistled to them as they circled front and rear. Finally they passed behind us, turned, and locked up their wings to buzz 10 feet over our heads. They came in with wings locked, feet down and to land in our laps.

The drake fell hard into the river and Gracie, the female yellow lab, made a nice retrieve.

Four more ducks fell to the water during the first hour and then the fog set in. For three hours it was all we could do to watch the decoys and keep track of the dogs. There was nothing we could do but eat snacks and wait it out.

Eventually the sun warmed the air, the wind picked up and the fog began to clear. Two green wing teal hens marked the arrival of a 2nd shooting time by landing in the decoys. They both found their way into the bag.

The sun eventually burned through and the birds came back. We took a few more birds and killed the final green wing teal at 1:30 in the afternoon.

We were a few shy of the 12-duck limit with a variety of birds. Included in the bag were mallard, green wing teal, ringnecks, and wigeon.

A Snow Goose Tornado in South Dakota

We get asked all the time, "What's so great about snow goose hunting?"

The answer is simply, "Have you ever watched a snow goose tornado?"

There's no way to answer that question without bringing up the topic of a true snow goose tornado. In an effort to describe what we mean by a true "tornado" we have taken a few pictures and written some text to go along with it.

The pictures you see are real photos taken by one of our hunters during a real live snow goose tornado during one of our South Dakota hunts. The first birds of this very group of birds slid through the Vortex machine and locked their feet at 6 feet off the ground.

Some of them didn't survive the experience!

New Products Added to the Site

We are proud to announce our latest addition to the GooseGrinders.com website - GooseGrinder Gear

Our full line of t-shirts, hoodies and instructional CD/DVDs are now available.

Please take a minute to peruse our products and contact us for purchase.

Crop Harvest Behind Schedule

As of today beans are a little over half harvested and to find a corn field cut would be hard to find.We have a corn field getting cut this weekend that should help us out.With a full moon coming on the 14th I'm expecting a good push of new birds.Most birds are eating in refuge right know,but with an increase of birds they'll eat it out fairly quick.still space available to book hunts.our season runs until december 22nd.Look forward to hearing from new clients and all past clients,should be a great year.


Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight Staff

Successful Minnesota Duck Hunting Season Opener

Water levels are hit or miss around SE Minnesota but there are plenty of ducks in the area. The MN DNR reports for Winona states: "Unusually good numbers of wigeon around, large rafts of coot, good numbers of wood ducks and teal. "

Our hunters in SE Minnesota reported excellent numbers of ducks in the area with good success of Wood Ducks and Blue Wing Teal on Sunday.

Two of our hunters reported limits of Wood Ducks while hunting Wednesday with geese and mallards in the bag.

This year we will continue to offer mixed hunts of Canada Goose and duck hunting out of the Rochester area. We had good success last year and we expect great things in our new fields ths year!

Goose Season Is Here!

The season has started with a bang with good numbers of geese being shot.



We had decent success during the early Goose season in Rochester. Now the regular season has begun and we are already taking birds. The weather has been mild and dry.



The MN DNR reports:


"Crop harvest is just beginning. Soybeans are 5-10% harvested. Some corn is being chopped for silage. "



We have access to our old standby fields. Plenty of private access is available so we will be set up in the path of feeding geese.



Come on down to Rochester for an amazing hunt!