Missouri's Rice Fields: Where The Geese Graze

A free article on Hunting

By: Jim Olivero

Thanks to the efforts of Missouri's Department of Conservation and goose-hunting enthusiasts and groups from around the state, people are discovering that populations of snow geese are in great abundance in Missouri's southeast region.

Missouri's Your Best Bet

While Kansas, Nebraska and Illinois are great places for hunting trips, it is Missouri that can boast of ideal waterfowl hunting, inexpensive permit fees and liberal bag limits. Three major watersheds contribute to Missouri's reputation for waterfowl hunting. These watersheds are located in the lower Missouri River basin and flyways.

It used to be that hunters looking for quality snow goose hunting, would have to choose places for hunting geese either in the far southern part of the nation along the gulf coast or to the north in Canada. These days, hunters can choose from thousands of available acres in Missouri for hunting waterfowl.

Rice farming has flourished in the southeastern segment of the state and as rice fields "crop" up, so do the geese. Hunting trips have become easier these days: instead of waiting and wondering whether or not the geese will fly by, hunters can now go to where the geese winter.

Snow Geese Hunting in Missouri

People who manage private wetlands are building their areas complete with levees, duck pits, pipes and reservoir lakes. It is by combining farmland, water and it's geographic location on the edge of both the Mississippi and Central flyway that makes Missouri a hunter's paradise for snow geese and all waterfowl.

When planning a snow goose hunting trip, make sure you read some waterfowl reports, particularly for snow geese as the numbers of bagged birds vary from season to season with the numbers of Juveniles from the seasons hatch. If you're a beginner, you may want to join a guided hunting trip. With guides, you learn the fundamentals of goose hunting plus you get valuable tips on reading the birds and decoy spread placement. As you adopt this "sport" and become more confident with your skills and have acquired enough equipment, you can go on your own hunting trip.

The Fall Snow goose hunting season in Missouri begins in November and ends in late January. There are three zones: north, middle and south. The dates as outlined by the Conservation ordered season run from around February first through April . During this time, residents and non-residents only require a six dollar Missouri Migratory Bird Hunting Permit. No licence or stamps are needed during this Conservation Ordered season.

Depending on the kind of weather you get during your hunting day, some guides will conduct hunts using either the pit blinds or layout style blinds. The entire hunting trip can last from before sunrise until sunset. Ideally, the number of hunters should be limited to six per group so that the hunter comes out of the experience feeling that it was a quality hunt but in some instances more can be accommodated . For an example of a great hunting trip for waterfowl in either the southeast or NW Missouri regions,visit showmesnowgeese.com/snowgoose.htm.

For those who aren't aware, snow geese can be tough to decoy. Inexperienced hunters may encounter many problems. These challenges, however, make snow geese the most rewarding waterfowl to decoy. The idea is to find a hunting group that uses large spreads of quality decoys, snow goose sounds and has access to quality tracts of land.

Over five hundred thousand snow geese at any given time during the spring migration - that's the promise of the NW Missouri Squaw Creek National Wildlife Reserve. They pass through the Reserve as they make their way back north to the breeding grounds. Of course, the Reserve is only one of the many staging areas; Missouri's rich rice farmlands are catching up as an excellent and abundant source of snow geese.

Information about the Author:

Jon Eaton, has been actively been hunting waterfowl since he was in grade school just outside of Houston Texas where his passion for snow geese started back in the 70's. Now residing in Missouri where he owns and operates Show Me Snow Geese a waterfowling guide service. Running duck and guided goose hunts and early spring snow goose hunting from SE Missouri then in mid February moves the whole operation to just out side of Squaw Creek in northern Missouri.

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