The polar vortex that descended on Arkansas and many other states prompted hundreds of duck and goose hunters in Arkansas to ask if birds had finally arrived.
With warmer-than-normal conditions across northern states during most of the season, ducks didn't have to travel far to find the food and cover they need to prepare for breeding and nesting season. Meanwhile, lack of unpressured flooded habitat may have prevented ducks and geese from flocking to traditional haunts in some parts of Arkansas.
Hunters still can enjoy plentiful shooting and help conservation efforts by hunting snow geese during a special waterfowl season that runs into spring.
Snow geese are a medium-sized goose, roughly the size and weight of the white-fronted geese many hunters enjoy chasing during regular duck and goose seasons. The two species of snow goose (lesser and greater) both have two distinct color morphs, one being solid white with black wingtips and the other having a sooty blue-gray body with a white head.
A third goose species in the conservation order is Ross's goose, which is nearly identical to snow geese except it is somewhat smaller and has a short, stubby triangular bill and a more rounded head. Older Ross's geese will begin to develop small wartlike bumps on the base of their bill called caruncles.
The light goose conservation order is open until April 25, but most of the action typically occurs throughout February and into early March. During the conservation order, hunters have no daily limit on birds, they do not have to limit their shotgun's magazine capacity and they may hunt from 30 minutes before sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset. Electronic calls are allowed, which are strictly forbidden during regular duck and goose seasons. All of these liberalizations are in an effort to increase harvest as much as possible on these geese.
"Many regulations in place to manage harvest are suspended during the conservation order," said Luke Naylor, waterfowl program coordinator for Game and Fish. "But that doesn't mean snow goose hunting is easy. They travel in huge flocks, which presents some unique challenges for hunters."
One obstacle to overcome is to convince the birds in the air that your spread is large enough to be worth joining. A large spread of duck decoys may number close to 100s, but 100 decoys isn't even close to a good spread for snow geese.
Windsocks that look like geese fill out the spreads of snow goose hunters to add motion and numbers.
The large flocks flying overhead also mean you have that many more eyes to fool when they come down to take a look. Some hunters will use layout blinds and completely grass them in, while others try to become one with the decoys.
Large flocks of snow geese also mean many mouths to feed, and snow geese are notorious for picking one field clean one day then moving to another nearby field by the time hunters are able to get set up for the next day. Hunters looking for snow goose success have to gain access to as much land as they can, knowing only a few acres of the thousands they cover may be productive.