Eastern Colorado Goose Hunt
Recently, the 1 Shot Team was invited on a snow goose hunt in Eastern Colorado. Even with the lack of snow, we decided this would be the perfect time to set up a massive decoy spread and place ourselves right in the middle of it in our Sitka Gear Nodak sets.
We arrived at Double Barrel Hunting Lodge around 2:00 in the afternoon and went over the plan with the guides. They informed us that the snows had been returning to the roost right at sundown like clockwork for the last week or so. After all the introductions and plans had been made, we hopped in the trucks and drove down to the reservoir. It was a cold and windy afternoon, so we all geared up in our lighter layers and then trudged down to the water, where the trailer had been staged with thousands of decoys.
Each of us grabbed as many as we could and made our way across a small channel of water to the sandbar where we had decided we would place our spread. Those who had waders started setting deeks out in the water, while those of us that didn’t began to set the spread on the shore. We left a small hole for each of our layouts. As the spread started to take form, I stepped back, grabbed my camera, and started to take some shots of the mass of white before me.
Never having been on a dedicated snow goose hunt before, I was more than a little blown away by the size of this spread and the amount of work that goes into the setup for the hunt. Where you can get away with a much smaller spread for darks, you can’t sacrifice even one decoy for lights. We set out thousands of full bodies, socks, and dive-bombs in a race to beat the sunset.
As the light began to fade and the spread was about ready, the wind picked up even more. This, coupled with us becoming less active, led to the cold starting to penetrate our lighter insulation layers. We rushed to throw on our heavy insulation and then stacked our all-white Nodaks over the top. Once fully geared up, even the strongest gusts failed to bring down our morale. As everyone began to find their place in a layout, I hung back a little longer to snap a few more shots.
I watched as each hunter lay down in the spread and vanished into the sea of white. All that was left was to wait for the birds. If you have never been on a dedicated snow hunt, I highly recommend picking up a good, durable all, white set like the Sitka Nodaks and heading out to try it for yourself.
It’s incredible to watch the thousands upon thousands of birds swarm overhead and incredibly rewarding to go home successful after all the hard work put into setting a super spread of lights. Call up a good guide like Double Barrel and get out while there is still time left in the 2022 season if you have the chance!
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