snow goose flock

[branthunter]

Those of us who live here in Delta and/or hunt the snows know that this year mother nature has taken a severe hand in managing the Wrangell Is. snow goose flock that over-winters here on the delta. For the last several years the flock has been mushrooming . It seemed that at times the grey juveniles outnumbered the white adults. As a result there have been numerous changes in how the birds behave. They are feeding in places they never used to go before and using sections of the marsh that they never used to frequent. The marsh feeding grounds have been overgrazed in some spots. And, of course, they have been much easier to hunt, both for the guys with punts and big decoy sets and for the casual hunter afield pass shooting.

This spring a cold front swept over the nesting grounds on Wrangell Is. (in the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia) just after the eggs hatched, resulting in the death of almost 100% of this years hatch. Now the flock is almost 100% white adult birds. The marsh is empty of what had been commonplace over the last few years, namely small flocks of largely juvenile grey birds zipping around everywhere and sailing into decoy sets with blind abandon. It has been somewhat eery to be out there with rarely a goose in sight, except for the far off sound of the flock. The adult birds stay together in large bunches and mostly move around that way too.

Here are some pics of bunches of birds taken in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Note the almost total absence of grey birds in the 2008 pics. Clicking the image to go to a larger image will help see the distinction grey v. white.

2006
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=11187&ppuser=9540

2007
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=11188&ppuser=9540

2008
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=11190&ppuser=9540
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=11190&ppuser=9540

[4ptbuck]

yup gotta agree
typically I'd be pulling limits by this time.
So far this season I took 5 white birds on one hunt. 2 years ago it would have been a limit.
Have been out a few other times, and zippo.
There's no much moving around out there in the marsh.

kinda erie...

[f350ps]

Ya, it's been tough out there. I've already put the set away and put the duck decoys in the punt. I was looking around today and was shocked at the amount of birds in the fields. It wasn't uncommon to see them later in the season behind Blacks but now there everywhere. I saw a huge flock low over Hwy.17 looking for a spot to land in those fields. We'll be shooting them in Chilliwak one day probably.