Rochester, Minnesota Goose Hunting Reports

Snow goose update

2009-03-13T15:47:00.000-07:00

The snow goose season has been as good as anticipated we're taking advantage of the great hatch we had this year.We have one more week in Missouri and will be starting in South Dakota this coming Thursday.Birds are starting to get into Yankton and surrounding areas so timing should be great.Still have limited spots left for spring hunt in S.D. so give us a call and make your reservation.

snow geese have arrived in Missouri

2009-02-22T18:24:00.000-08:00

With the big warm up a week ago the snow geese have showed up in big numbers the guides are telling me it's the most geese they've seen there at one time in years.The hunting has been excellent guys are getting a lot of shooting and seeing tons of birds.Days that are warmer with good winds have been the best hunting.We had a cool weekend that brought are numbers down slightly but still some good shoots.We have a warm up coming so be prepared for some awesome hunting.We still have some weekday spots open in Missouri,should be there until middle of March.

Dean Tlougan and Premier flight staff

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T09:54:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year from us at Premier Flight to all of you!

Hunt safe in 2009!

Record year for Premier Flight

2008-12-24T12:36:00.000-08:00

Well after a long season we're wrapping things up in Rochester. In review Premier set another single season record killing 1423 birds. The harsh weather at the end the season didn't help sending most of the birds packing south.

This is the first season I can remember that this many birds had left town mostly because silver lakes turbine was down and didn't keep the water open in which the birds that migrated late just kept going.

I would like to thank everyone who made it down this year, even with the economy in the toilet hopefully that will improve. We're focusing on our spring snow goose hunts in Missouri and south Dakota. We will start up Feb 10Th and end around April 10Th still have space available for both states.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight Staff

Minnesota Late Goose Season 12/13 - 12/22

2008-12-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

The Minnesota Late Goose season is set to begin in another 5 days and we are ready to go!

There's a very important reminder if you come to Rochester to hunt the late goose season.

-- You must purchase and carry a Late Season Goose Permit. It's a $4 that you must have in order to hunt the December season. We are checked by Game Wardens all the time so have it with you.

Watch Babe Winkelman Shoot Geese With Premier Flight

2008-12-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

Watch Babe Winkelman shoot Canada and Snow Geese with us Online!

What better way to while away the office hours while no-one is looking?

http://www.goosegrinders.com/winkleman_guiding.html

Snow on the Ground!

2008-12-01T15:55:00.000-08:00

We ended up with a great weekend of hunting, we shot 63 birds on Saturday in 8 different fields.

The birds are hitting most of our fields now. Shot 35 on Sunday with the arrival of fresh snow. With the grass being covered up the birds have to come out to eat, that's what we have been waiting for.

We shot another 23 today with minimal hunters.

The time is right if you are thinking about a Rochester Guided Goose Hunt.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight Staff

Goose Hunting Report - 11/24/08

2008-11-24T15:46:00.000-08:00

Hunting has been very consistant the birds aren't flying heavy in mornings most of them going to grass.The evenings have been far better which is a trend I hope ends soon.We are killing birds that are transferring from bodies of water to grass, but evenings there going into grain fields.We shot 51 birds on Saturday and 28 on Sunday.Great time to book a hunt from now until end of season.With the north wind today I saw several migrating birds with many more to come.

Goose Hunting Report - 11/16/08

2008-11-18T07:24:00.000-08:00

The ponds are frozen, the ducks are nearly gone but the geese are in the area!

There are a ton of geese in the area right now and we're having good success putting birds on the ground. The migrating birds have seen just about everything at this point in the season so our presentation really has to be right to get them into range. We're setting our best dekes out in front and taking our time calling the birds. It's easy to over call and blow them out of the spread at this time of year so everything has to be right.

We had multiple sightings of greater Canadian geese mixed in the flocks this weekend and we killed one greater in a field to the north of Rochester. There's nothing quite like hearing a 20-plus pound honker hitting the ground!

We're in full swing of the season down here! Call Dean today to set up a hunt.

Good migration over weekend

2008-11-11T17:41:00.000-08:00

Little late on report this week had to do some deer hunting. Hunting has been excellent shot 23 on Saturdays and 35 on Sunday. Tuesday we had 3 three groups out and everybody shot their limit. Ended the day with 41. One of the fields got a flock of 12 in and shot 10! Not bad for a bunch of rookies from Tennessee.

Hunting has been great and should continue to be.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight staff

Goose Hunting Report - 11/09/08

2008-11-11T07:41:00.000-08:00

We saw a big migration of birds over the weekend with the cold weather pushing them south. Our guided hunters had no problem on Saturday and Sunday - shooting limits and near limits from our fields on the west side of town.

Our unguided hunters had mixed success. Every team of hunters saw a lot of birds but hunting success was mixed. Teams on the north side of town had a hard time finishing birds into shooting distance.

The birds in Rochester are plenty - but they're also plenty wary of hunters at this point in the season. It takes a team of highly-experienced callers to bring them all the way striking distance.

Contact Dean today for a guided goose hunt. Not only will you shoot birds, but you will learn a lot from listening to the guides working the geese all the way to the ground.

Minnesota Snow Geese Building in Numbers

2008-11-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

It's official, the snow goose migration has started. Shallow ponds and small lakes are freezing up throughout Canada and the northern states. Now we are hearing multiple reports of snow geese around Western Minnesota and Eastern South Dakota.

From the 11/06/08 Minnesota DNR Waterfowl Migration Report:

Tamarac NWR:
A flock of 35 snow geese were noted flying over the refuge earlier in the week.

Slayton:
Noticed a few snow geese have moved into the area along with a trickling of mallards and a few swans. Maintaining good goose numbers.

We're still shooting Canadian Honkers around Rochester but the snow geese are heavy on our minds. We already have a good number of hunters booked for the spring hunts. Contact Dean soon to lock in your weekend in Missouri and South Dakota.

New Snow Goose Hunting Pages

2008-11-06T20:56:00.000-08:00

We try hard to continue building the informative content of our website. It's not just about taking clients out on a guide hunt for us - we also want you to learn about what we do so you can do it yourself down the road!

Today we posted the following snow goose hunting pages to our snow goose area:

What to wear
Information about the spring snow goose flocks
A bit about our snow goose guides
Our strategy behind the hunt

The geese are flying south but we are already thinking about spring hunts. Give us a call and talk with Dean about a spring trip to South Dakota.

Goose Hunting Report - 11/03/08

2008-11-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

With the temps on the rise we surprisingly had good weekend of hunting. We shot 16 birds on sat and 19 on Sunday. Today I took 4 hunters out west and shot limit in 30 minutes.

Looks like we got cold front coming in over weekend which we'll embrace with open arms. Should bring in more new birds.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight staff

Snow Goose Report

2008-10-31T12:46:00.000-07:00

The Minnesota DNR 2008 Migration Report is reporting numbers of snow geese entering northern Minnesota. We are always happy to see Canada freeze up as it pushes these birds south.

A good-solid freeze is our first chance to look at the 2008 / 2009 snow goose migration. According to their reports:

Thief River Falls:

"There still remain a large number of (Canada) geese but they are in very large groups (40-100) and have been observed field feeding in harvested soybean fields. Some snow geese are in the area as well."

Thief Lake WMA:

"Some geese (mostly Canadas, but still some snows) are present and a few are being taken in the CHZ."

This is all good news to us. It's a little early to get too worked up about the spring snow goose hunts but we can't help it. Early migrations of snow geese means the tundra ponds are freezing over but more than likely it also means that the snows are eating themselves out of the area. That means good numbers for our hunters in South Dakota next spring.

We'll keep you posted but in the mean time, we suggest calling Dean now to put your name on a trip now. We're starting to fill up hunts and you don't want to miss out on this year.

Goose Hunting Report - 10/30/08

2008-10-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

We hunted hamburger hill today the first time in 4 days. We're trying to let birds get in there so we can have more productive days in future. We shot 14 birds today, just short of limit but a quality hunt.

Everybody agreed if we shot a little better we easily would of filled out our limits of geese. Birds are coming out of refuge more often and that is creating good opportunities to harvest birds.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight staff

Goose Hunting Report - 10/27/08

2008-10-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

We had 3 unguided hunters today and they were successful shooting 4 birds. Birds were sluggish in morning but flew well in afternoon. The hunting has certainly picked up this last week, great time to get down and enjoy a hunt.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight Staff

The First Snow Goose Hunting Report of 2008/2009!

2008-10-27T07:33:00.000-07:00

Friends of ours spent the weekend hunting geese in in North Dakota over the weekend and saw the first Snow Geese of the season!

They were completely surprised when a small flock of juvenile snow geese buzzed their decoys in morning.

We already have our preliminary South Dakota Snow Goose Hunting leases established and we are ready to start chasing the spring flocks. We will start in Missouri around February 20th and then follow the birds up into South Dakota as the weather allows them to move north.

We had a successful year in 2008, including a great weekend trip hunting snow geese with Babe Winkelman and his wife Kris.

Contact us today to sign up for a 2009 hunt.

Duck and Goose Hunting Report - 10/27/2008

2008-10-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

A heavy front blew into the area Saturday night and it really stirred the pot for Sunday morning hunts. The forecast was for winds out of the NW at 20-30 MPH with gusts to 50 MPH - snow flurries were possible.

Mississippi River Ducks:

Two of our hunters chased ducks in the Mississippi River valley to the East of Rochester. They saw a LOT of ducks but the success rate was low for the entire area. Birds were flying fast in the wind and they weren't slowing down for decoys. Only 3 ducks were taken by the 16 hunters we spoke to at the Winona landing.

Rochester Geese - morning:

Hunters in 2 fields had mixed success, taking a few birds. We hunted through high winds and snow flurries and the conditions were tough. The birds didn't fly in large numbers so we had few opportunities.

Rochester Geese - afternoon:

We will occasionally hunt the afternoon if the morning hunts are tough. Sunday was a good example of a tough morning. By afternoon the wind had subsided into the 15 MPH range and the heavy snow had calmed to a light dusting.

Birds started streaming out of town at about 2pm and the return flight occurred at 5pm. We saw hundreds and hundreds of birds streaming out to feed before dark.

Goose Hunting Report - 10/26/08

2008-10-27T07:11:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of new birds in the area and we saw our fair share!

Saturday was clear and windy the entire day. We weren't sure what to expect with the cold, clear skies but it proved to be a successful day. We didn't quite know which way the birds would fly in the morning so we divided 25 hunters across 4 fields and hoped for good fortune.

We killed 44 birds and missed a lot more before we wrapped it up mid-morning. It was a good day for so many hunters in the field!

Canadian Goose Hunting Video

2008-10-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

Join Bill Urseth and Trevor Goudy in a late season hunt for a giant Canadian goose in Rochester, MN.

We guided Bill and Trevor on a late season hunt were they had all the opportunities for giant Canadian geese that we could throw at them. Before you watch the video, we suggest you pay special attention to the calling of the guys in the pits. They can really put the birds in your lap.

Watch the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNnCPckIfHo

Goose Hunting Report - 10/23/08

2008-10-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

We had 6 people out today and had a great day of goose hunting. We had several small flocks come in and had our 12 bird limits by 8:30.

We are seeing a substantial increase of birds that moved in, and birds moving outside the refuge. The temperature is going to drop over weekend and the geese will have to increase their consumption of food, good news for us hunters.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight Staff

Harvest back on track

2008-10-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

After a slow start the farmers are going at the harvest at a good clip now.Hamburger hill is on track to get cut on thursday.Hunting over weekend was a little slow due to warm temps and lack of wind.Did see new birds come in today with north wind.We had three hunters in fergus today they shot their birds pretty easy.

Dean Tlougan and Premier Flight staff

Duck Hunting Report - 10/18/08

2008-10-20T07:51:00.001-07:00

Two of our hunters ventured away from the Rochester basin on Saturday to chase ducks in the rivers just East of Rochester, Minnesota. The goose hunting in the Rochester area has been strong but the duck hunting has been hit or miss in the fields.

A cold front last week supposedly pushed the teal and wood ducks out of the area. The cold marked an arrival of early wigeon, mallards and ringnecks to southern Minnesota.

Two of us decided to take advantage of the early migration and chase puddle ducks in the marsh.

Weather:

The weather created some obstacles for us. The wind was calm and the temperature at day break was just below the freezing mark, which combined for a nice frost. As the morning warmed, the frost cleared, and a heavy fog set into the valley. Visibility went from darkness, to blue skies, to a fog so thick that we couldn't see the outer decoys.

The Decoy Spread:

We set up on a small 8 x 60 foot island in the backwater weave of the river. We set a dozen mallard decoys in the shallow current at the head of the island. A half dozen more mallard decoys went into the slack water behind the island. We sprinkled in additional pintail, wood duck, teal, feeder butts, shaker mags, and 2 Mojo mallard decoys throughout the spread.

We hid in the thin river willows so that we could shoot either side of the island with the west wind was coming in from the current side. The ideal situation would have put our backs to the wind but in a marsh hunt sometimes you have to make do.

Hunting Report:

The migration report was incorrect for the area. Wood ducks were gone but there was a huge variety of ducks. The day quickly became a lesson in duck identification through the fog. We saw blue wing teal, green wing teal, mallards, ringnecks, wigeon, canvasbacks, and geese.

Daybreak produced multiple flocks of ducks within the first hour of legal shooting time. The first group to commit was a wary set of wigeons. They shopped our decoys for a minute first going to the rear, then the front, and then the rear. We called and whistled to them as they circled front and rear. Finally they passed behind us, turned, and locked up their wings to buzz 10 feet over our heads. They came in with wings locked, feet down and to land in our laps.

The drake fell hard into the river and Gracie, the female yellow lab, made a nice retrieve.

Four more ducks fell to the water during the first hour and then the fog set in. For three hours it was all we could do to watch the decoys and keep track of the dogs. There was nothing we could do but eat snacks and wait it out.

Eventually the sun warmed the air, the wind picked up and the fog began to clear. Two green wing teal hens marked the arrival of a 2nd shooting time by landing in the decoys. They both found their way into the bag.

The sun eventually burned through and the birds came back. We took a few more birds and killed the final green wing teal at 1:30 in the afternoon.

We were a few shy of the 12-duck limit with a variety of birds. Included in the bag were mallard, green wing teal, ringnecks, and wigeon.

A Snow Goose Tornado in South Dakota

2008-10-15T23:31:00.000-07:00

We get asked all the time, "What's so great about snow goose hunting?"

The answer is simply, "Have you ever watched a snow goose tornado?"

There's no way to answer that question without bringing up the topic of a true snow goose tornado. In an effort to describe what we mean by a true "tornado" we have taken a few pictures and written some text to go along with it.

The pictures you see are real photos taken by one of our hunters during a real live snow goose tornado during one of our South Dakota hunts. The first birds of this very group of birds slid through the Vortex machine and locked their feet at 6 feet off the ground.

Some of them didn't survive the experience!