6 Tips for a Top Snow Goose Hunt with Your Retriever

Snow goose hunting offers its own special kind of excitement in the realm of waterfowl hunting. Spring seasons, generous or no bag limits, the use of electronic callers and unplugged shotguns all contribute to a ripper time when you're fortunate enough to encounter countless thousands of birds in your hunting area.

Not only is this an exciting type of hunting unlike any other, it's also probably different than anything your retriever has experienced. Whether you're a seasoned snow goose hunter or learning the ropes, here are some thoughts on how to make sure it's a good experience for both you and your dog. Pay attention to these six items before you head to the field.

Make sure your dog is ready for loud gunfire. When you're out snow goose hunting, you might be out there with six, eight, or even a dozen shooters with unplugged shotguns. If your dog isn't prepared for that, it's asking for trouble. Make sure you've got your dog used to some group hunts with heaps of people firing at once.

If there was ever a time when your dog might break, this is it.There's heaps of excitement during a snow goose hunt. Everyone's on the electronic callers now, so there's a fair bit of noise. Then you've got the geese themselves, which, especially on bluebird days, seem to take ages to come down into shooting range. There's just a lot of anticipation building up and then it drags on for a while. And finally, when everyone starts having a crack at the decoying birds, the temptation to break has hit its peak.

If you've got a young dog, or a dog that for whatever reason you can't fully trust to stay put, my advice is that you have a way to tie it up. You can use a screw-in ground stake to keep your retriever situated within the spread right where you want it, and then simply unclip the dog when it's time to go to work.

Be smart about where you put your dog's hide. While it might be sensible or even necessary for your dog to be right beside you for some types of duck shooting, when it comes to hunting snow geese, think carefully about where you set up your dog's hide. With heaps of gunfire going off, I reckon the easiest way to look after your dog's hearing is to place its hide at least 6 to 8 feet behind your own.

Keep the focus on retrieving manners. High-volume shooting, on a good day, means heaps of geese on the ground that need retrieving. As a handler, you've got to stay in control of the situation and not let your dog just start running around willy-nilly picking up whichever birds it wants. Or worse, a dog might be coming back with a bird and then spot another bird flapping in the decoys and drop one bird to chase after the second.

This is where all your off-season obedience training and retrieving drills come into play. You wouldn't let your dog get away with dodgy retrieving manners during training, and you shouldn't let things slide while hunting, either. Don't hesitate to switch into training mode and make a correction when needed, even if it costs you a few minutes of hunting time.

Be ready to hunt with a few dogs. In my neck of the woods in Arkansas, it's pretty standard for an outfitter and their mob of hunters to knock over 100 to 200 birds in a day. Having a bunch of dogs out in the spread is pretty much essential. That means your dog isn't gonna snag every retrieve. Once again, good behaviour is key. Make sure you've worked on respecting other dogs during your pre-season training, and be sure to enforce this respect when hunting in a group. Back to what I was saying earlier, if you reckon there'll be issues in this department, be ready to use a tie-out stake.

Long days require heaps of energy. Most dogs are used to relatively short hunts. If most of your outings consist of short, morning duck hunts, an all-day snow goose chase will be a massive change. If you’re having a ripper of a day and the birds are really flocking to your decoys, there isn’t much time to rest or have a kip. You’re probably scoffing down lollies and knocking back coffee or energy drinks. Keep in mind that your dog is burning heaps of energy too. Bring plenty of water for your retriever, along with extra tucker, bickies or other snacks that you can hand out during the day.

I guarantee that planning for the challenges that define snow goose hunting will pay big dividends when that first big snowstorm floats into your decoys, the guns start blazing and your dog gets to go to work.