Got back from a spring goose hunt in South Dakota a couple of days ago. I had fun on the hunt but it was to cold and windy for the right conditions. The first day was -1 with the wind chill. The wind was blowing about 30-35 MPH. So that really threw off all the Sillo Socks. The next couple days were up and down on the wind and weather but mostly just cold and windy. It did not rain or snow, except for when we drove through Montana.
I ended up going with an outfitter because it was our first time for spring geese. Pretty good setup, 2 of the 3 guides I hunted with were great. There was hundreds of thousands of geese in the area. Just flight after flight of birds. Pretty impressive to witness. But with the conditions so poor we were only get singles, doubles and an occasional small flock. I would go back with the same outfitter but I would look at the weather and cancel my reservations if it was the same conditions. I guess ideally you want a 6-10 mph wind for the socks and 50-70 degree weather so it pushes up more geese (not so shot over) from the south.
You could get away with a DYI if you had the dekes and new how to hunt them. Just start knocking on doors. I thought there were some differences in methods used, methods the guides say they use by themselves or with a buddy. Learned a few new tricks and overall had a good time aside from the cold and wind. I am sure with the right conditions we would have had better success.
