Rochester, Minnesota Goose Hunting Reports

Year end hunting report

2010-01-18T17:03:00.000-08:00

Well we got through another season and what a season. I can't remember the last time we had to deal with this much snow during our season. We ended with 1147 birds, down from last years record, but overall good year.

I would like to thank everyone who made it down this year and look forward to seeing you all next year. We start up our snow goose hunts around the 15th of February in Missouri and move to South Dakota around March 15th. We have some dates still open, please call for more information and availability.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight Staff

Late Season Goose Hunting in Rochester

2009-12-14T23:51:00.000-08:00

We're getting ready for late season hunts that start Saturday, with a little digging out we're ready to go.

It's looking great so far we been getting steady stream of birds in from north and they seem to be staying in Rochester. The season runs from 19th to the 28th and we still have room left for some awesome hunts. We have birds moving in all directions around town and with a little warm up this weekend should be great hunting. Hope to see you down here for the notorious Rochester late season.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight staff

Goose Hunting Report - 11/29/09

2009-11-30T11:09:00.000-08:00

The colder weather is pushing birds into Rochester in good numbers. We had success over the weekend with some limits being taken around the city. The birds are getting wary as the season progresses and this is the time of year when our high-quality fields pay huge dividends.

The weather forecast shows cold temps with flurries late in the week. This could be the weekend to load up!

Here's two heavy honkers from Sunday:

Thanksgiving update

2009-11-23T17:58:00.000-08:00

I'm back from deer hunting and back in the groove I was fortunate to shoot a respectable 10 point.

Had an excellent weekend of hunting we shot 68 birds over the weekend. The DNR is reporting 28,000 birds here not so sure there's that many but we're seeing substantial numbers on all sides of town. With a cold front coming we're expecting more birds to show up the next couple days so book your hunt and let's go get a couple.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight Staff

Goose Hunting Report - 11/19/09

2009-11-19T16:44:00.000-08:00

We are seeing geese in good numbers and our clients are taking birds. Here's some pictures from a week back from of our client Bill Grillo and his son Jon:

One:

Two:

Three:

Thank for the photos guys! Keep it coming!

Goose Hunting Report - 11/4/09

2009-11-04T07:30:00.000-08:00

Overall we had a good week of hunting even with a full moon. Took home many limits on several days.

We had a good migration on Monday we're seeing a lot of new birds. Harvest is still slowed down by wet crops but we have made some progress. Hopefully everyone can go out and kill their deer this weekend and then focus on waterfowl.

Flagging Canada Geese

2009-10-21T21:27:00.000-07:00

We get a lot of questions about how to flag Canada Geese and it's finally time we show you what we're talking about. Now we can finally SHOW you what we're talking about.

In this video you'll hear one guy calling and 2 guys are flagging with 2 different types of Flagman flags. We like to mix it up a little so they don't see the same old thing all the time.

Flagging distant geese

The trick is to make the flag look like the wings of a goose in their last few feet of flight before they land. Hold it high over your head and give it a good flap. Then 5-6 fast flaps before you slap it into the ground. They are attracted to the flapping black wings.

You can really let the flag have it when flagging distant geese.

Flagging geese at close range

One word - Don't.

Put the flag down and let them come. Why ruin a good thing?

Watch us in action via YouTube:

We're in full swing of the goose season. Call Dean and book your hunt today!

Goose Hunting Report - 10/21/09

2009-10-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

Well we did get two more fields out in our couple day dry spell.

We're still seeing a few new birds coming in and getting outside refuge to feed. We shot birds over the weekend and shot 17 in our new field on Wednesday. With the rain now, it'll be a while before farmers get back in fields.

Got a busy weekend of hunting coming up so hopefully weather holds out and we kill a pile of them

Goose Hunting Report - 10/12/09

2009-10-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

Had a good past weekend hunting. On Saturday we shot 10 birds and on Sunday we shot 14. Both days we hunted hamburger hill.

We're seeing more birds show up daily not a huge migration, but a lot of calender geese. We expect with the cold temps that will continue. We still have some room for MEA this weekend.

Crop cutting will be on standstill for a few days due to snow and rain, but we have four fields ready to hunt as of Tuesday.

Crops Starting to Come Out

2009-10-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

As of today we have three bean fields that have come out and two of them are already holding birds. Season opens Saturday at 9:00 a.m.

Looking forward to another great year!. We added 3 new fields in key locations which will give us more options on places to hunt.

Remember we have a split this year first season ends December 11th and reopens December 19th for ten days.

We're taking reservations for the upcoming season. We're doing duck hunts in Missouri and Arkansas and booking spring snow goose hunts starting in February.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight Staff

Premier Flight on Facebook

2009-08-24T11:06:00.001-07:00

Premier Flight is now on Facebook!

Do a quick search for Premier Flight Guide Service and you will find our page. Become a fan and suggest it to your friends. We will be posting our blog updates on the Facebook page this season. You may even see us updating the page with photos in real time - from the fields!

The season starts in just 12 days!

2009 waterfowl season

2009-08-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

Well another season is approaching fast.We finally got a split season again which will give us some great hunting opportunities.

Early season starts Sept. 5th ends Sept. 22nd, regular season starts October 3rd to December 11th and reopens on 19th until the 28th. We picked up three new quality fields this year that we're excited about. Rochester is offering a early 5 bird limit that's new for us this year also.

Start making your reservations know to assure the days you want to hunt. Look forward to hearing from longtime clients and new ones, make this the year you go on a guided goose hunt.

Snow goose update

2009-03-13T15:47:00.000-07:00

The snow goose season has been as good as anticipated we're taking advantage of the great hatch we had this year.We have one more week in Missouri and will be starting in South Dakota this coming Thursday.Birds are starting to get into Yankton and surrounding areas so timing should be great.Still have limited spots left for spring hunt in S.D. so give us a call and make your reservation.

snow geese have arrived in Missouri

2009-02-22T18:24:00.000-08:00

With the big warm up a week ago the snow geese have showed up in big numbers the guides are telling me it's the most geese they've seen there at one time in years.The hunting has been excellent guys are getting a lot of shooting and seeing tons of birds.Days that are warmer with good winds have been the best hunting.We had a cool weekend that brought are numbers down slightly but still some good shoots.We have a warm up coming so be prepared for some awesome hunting.We still have some weekday spots open in Missouri,should be there until middle of March.

Dean Tlougan and Premier flight staff

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T09:54:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year from us at Premier Flight to all of you!

Hunt safe in 2009!

Record year for Premier Flight

2008-12-24T12:36:00.000-08:00

Well after a long season we're wrapping things up in Rochester. In review Premier set another single season record killing 1423 birds. The harsh weather at the end the season didn't help sending most of the birds packing south.

This is the first season I can remember that this many birds had left town mostly because silver lakes turbine was down and didn't keep the water open in which the birds that migrated late just kept going.

I would like to thank everyone who made it down this year, even with the economy in the toilet hopefully that will improve. We're focusing on our spring snow goose hunts in Missouri and south Dakota. We will start up Feb 10Th and end around April 10Th still have space available for both states.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight Staff

Minnesota Late Goose Season 12/13 - 12/22

2008-12-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

The Minnesota Late Goose season is set to begin in another 5 days and we are ready to go!

There's a very important reminder if you come to Rochester to hunt the late goose season.

-- You must purchase and carry a Late Season Goose Permit. It's a $4 that you must have in order to hunt the December season. We are checked by Game Wardens all the time so have it with you.

Watch Babe Winkelman Shoot Geese With Premier Flight

2008-12-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

Watch Babe Winkelman shoot Canada and Snow Geese with us Online!

What better way to while away the office hours while no-one is looking?

http://www.goosegrinders.com/winkleman_guiding.html

Snow on the Ground!

2008-12-01T15:55:00.000-08:00

We ended up with a great weekend of hunting, we shot 63 birds on Saturday in 8 different fields.

The birds are hitting most of our fields now. Shot 35 on Sunday with the arrival of fresh snow. With the grass being covered up the birds have to come out to eat, that's what we have been waiting for.

We shot another 23 today with minimal hunters.

The time is right if you are thinking about a Rochester Guided Goose Hunt.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight Staff

Goose Hunting Report - 11/24/08

2008-11-24T15:46:00.000-08:00

Hunting has been very consistant the birds aren't flying heavy in mornings most of them going to grass.The evenings have been far better which is a trend I hope ends soon.We are killing birds that are transferring from bodies of water to grass, but evenings there going into grain fields.We shot 51 birds on Saturday and 28 on Sunday.Great time to book a hunt from now until end of season.With the north wind today I saw several migrating birds with many more to come.

Goose Hunting Report - 11/16/08

2008-11-18T07:24:00.000-08:00

The ponds are frozen, the ducks are nearly gone but the geese are in the area!

There are a ton of geese in the area right now and we're having good success putting birds on the ground. The migrating birds have seen just about everything at this point in the season so our presentation really has to be right to get them into range. We're setting our best dekes out in front and taking our time calling the birds. It's easy to over call and blow them out of the spread at this time of year so everything has to be right.

We had multiple sightings of greater Canadian geese mixed in the flocks this weekend and we killed one greater in a field to the north of Rochester. There's nothing quite like hearing a 20-plus pound honker hitting the ground!

We're in full swing of the season down here! Call Dean today to set up a hunt.

Good migration over weekend

2008-11-11T17:41:00.000-08:00

Little late on report this week had to do some deer hunting. Hunting has been excellent shot 23 on Saturdays and 35 on Sunday. Tuesday we had 3 three groups out and everybody shot their limit. Ended the day with 41. One of the fields got a flock of 12 in and shot 10! Not bad for a bunch of rookies from Tennessee.

Hunting has been great and should continue to be.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight staff

Goose Hunting Report - 11/09/08

2008-11-11T07:41:00.000-08:00

We saw a big migration of birds over the weekend with the cold weather pushing them south. Our guided hunters had no problem on Saturday and Sunday - shooting limits and near limits from our fields on the west side of town.

Our unguided hunters had mixed success. Every team of hunters saw a lot of birds but hunting success was mixed. Teams on the north side of town had a hard time finishing birds into shooting distance.

The birds in Rochester are plenty - but they're also plenty wary of hunters at this point in the season. It takes a team of highly-experienced callers to bring them all the way striking distance.

Contact Dean today for a guided goose hunt. Not only will you shoot birds, but you will learn a lot from listening to the guides working the geese all the way to the ground.

Minnesota Snow Geese Building in Numbers

2008-11-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

It's official, the snow goose migration has started. Shallow ponds and small lakes are freezing up throughout Canada and the northern states. Now we are hearing multiple reports of snow geese around Western Minnesota and Eastern South Dakota.

From the 11/06/08 Minnesota DNR Waterfowl Migration Report:

Tamarac NWR:
A flock of 35 snow geese were noted flying over the refuge earlier in the week.

Slayton:
Noticed a few snow geese have moved into the area along with a trickling of mallards and a few swans. Maintaining good goose numbers.

We're still shooting Canadian Honkers around Rochester but the snow geese are heavy on our minds. We already have a good number of hunters booked for the spring hunts. Contact Dean soon to lock in your weekend in Missouri and South Dakota.

New Snow Goose Hunting Pages

2008-11-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

We try hard to continue building the informative content of our website. It's not just about taking clients out on a guide hunt for us - we also want you to learn about what we do so you can do it yourself down the road!

Today we posted the following snow goose hunting pages to our snow goose area:

What to wear
Information about the spring snow goose flocks
A bit about our snow goose guides
Our strategy behind the hunt

The geese are flying south but we are already thinking about spring hunts. Give us a call and talk with Dean about a spring trip to South Dakota.