Dumb goose question

[Stein]

The question is dumb, not the goose.

I have a deer spot in MT and probably 10-20 flocks of geese fly over me every afternoon about 2-3 pm.  I'm going to try to get my deer early (hah) and see if I can traffic them into the field I have access to.  They always land on the same field about a half mile away but it's not open to hunting.  They all pile in to the same field from different directions in a pretty short period of time and are gone by daylight.

My question is where are they likely coming from that time of day?  River?  Another field?  I know the general cardinal direction most of them are coming from but was hoping to narrow it down a bit so I could try to scout them from wherever they are coming from to see if I can get access to them earlier in the day.

I know next to nothing about honkers but am looking to learn as there are tons of them around and I haven't seen a single guy hunting them in the area.

[C-Money]

I would imagine they are coming from water? Observing Moses Lake over the years, there is always a morning flight out to fields, they return to water usually around or after 10am, and then head out around 2-3 pm for the fields again. Always exceptions to this rule, but a lot of birds do this pattern...

[Stein]

Thanks, that was my hope as water is limited compared to the number of fields out there.

[ctwiggs1]

I'd say the same thing but it's odd that they're done flying by daylight.  My experience with geese has been that they tend to sleep in and start flying a few hours later than ducks.

Maybe call a local bio to get better info?

[Stein]

Good point, I don't really keep track of them in the morning, usually headed out in the dark so they could stay in that field longer.  Probably something I should keep track of as it's easier to follow them to the water instead of driving around randomly checking places to see if they are there.

It's not a huge population, maybe a couple hundred birds total with many flocks of 10-30 coming in from different directions.  I'm guessing they are small groups using small open water pockets here and there as there aren't any large bodies of water in the area to concentrate the birds.

My hope is to find access to one or two of the small pockets they hold in during the day.

I'm also going to do some door knocking, seems like the odds might be much better going for geese when everybody else is focused on deer & elk.

[h2ofowlr]

If you can't hunt that spot, see if you can drive in a few pieces of conduit in that field and tape some big black lawn and leaf bags to them.  Spread those around the field and it will keep them out.  Might push them over towards your location.

[ctwiggs1]

Good point, I don't really keep track of them in the morning, usually headed out in the dark so they could stay in that field longer.  Probably something I should keep track of as it's easier to follow them to the water instead of driving around randomly checking places to see if they are there.

It's not a huge population, maybe a couple hundred birds total with many flocks of 10-30 coming in from different directions.  I'm guessing they are small groups using small open water pockets here and there as there aren't any large bodies of water in the area to concentrate the birds.

My hope is to find access to one or two of the small pockets they hold in during the day.

I'm also going to do some door knocking, seems like the odds might be much better going for geese when everybody else is focused on deer & elk.

I'd rather have 10 small flocks hit my decoys sporadically than one large flock at once.  Sounds like it could be a sweet opportunity for you.

[follow maggie]

Good point, I don't really keep track of them in the morning, usually headed out in the dark so they could stay in that field longer.  Probably something I should keep track of as it's easier to follow them to the water instead of driving around randomly checking places to see if they are there.

It's not a huge population, maybe a couple hundred birds total with many flocks of 10-30 coming in from different directions.  I'm guessing they are small groups using small open water pockets here and there as there aren't any large bodies of water in the area to concentrate the birds.

My hope is to find access to one or two of the small pockets they hold in during the day.

I'm also going to do some door knocking, seems like the odds might be much better going for geese when everybody else is focused on deer & elk.

I'd rather have 10 small flocks hit my decoys sporadically than one large flock at once.  Sounds like it could be a sweet opportunity for you.

  Several smaller flocks is definitely better than a single big one.

[Stein]

Yeah, that's my thought in trying to traffic them rather than finding a dozen different ponds scattered all over that each hold a few and most are probably not on land I can get at.  We'll see, it won't cost much to find out.

[medruckman]

MT? Montana?