“The conservation seasons were developed as a socially acceptable way of attempting to keep the lid on their population size.” So, they were destroying the sensitive arctic habitats that they share with many other bird species by quite literally eating themselves out of house and home. The dramatic increase in the agricultural food base of wintering populations of white geese over the last 100 years has allowed their populations to grow to the point that the supply of food on their breeding grounds was no longer able to support their increased numbers. Not only was our hunting party there to enjoy the fun and fellowship of the DU hosted event, we were also participants in an ecosystem conservation effort to reduce the overabundance of mid-continent snow geese.ĭU chief scientist Scott Yaich said “The ‘conservation season,’ oddly enough, is called a conservation season because it was created to help conserve arctic and subarctic breeding ground habitats. By the sounds of things, our timing was right. Arkansas is one of the prime wintering spots for light geese and their numbers continue to explode. The weather had produced some strong southern winds the previous few days and tens of thousands of snows had moved into the dry fields near the Mississippi River bottoms. This was hunting after all and the predictability of waterfowl isn’t always reliable. They had found “the spot” but didn’t want to jinx the hunt. Despite their tempered observations, those paying attention could sense the excitement in their voices. They scouted the area pretty hard, driving miles and miles and watching the snows' flight patterns. Halbert and his assistants tried their best to be conservative in predicting how the hunt would go in the morning. My only real recollection was the huge decoy spread … and the one lone snow goose our group shot. I had been on one “professional” snow goose hunt about 15 years ago. But in all honesty, I am not sure Greg or I knew exactly what to expect. Most of the participants had never been to Arkansas before and even fewer had ever hunted snow geese. The lodge featured an outstanding great room that made mixing and mingling with new acquaintances easy. We had photographers, writers and marketing guys from mostly national magazines in vertical industries that cross paths with waterfowlers. Greg and I were some of the first guests to arrive as many of the other hunters were from various parts of the country and flew into Memphis to make the quick drive east. Carlson and Chad Halbert provided the guides through their Arkansas Duckmasters guide service. Our accommodations for lodging were courtesy of Kirby Carlson’s Great River Lodge near West Memphis. No brainer.ĭU Director of Communications James Powell and Senior Communications Specialist Matt Coffey were running point for the mid-February hunt.
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That all changed last February as Ducks Unlimited extended an invitation to its annual spring snow goose hunt for members of the media.Ī DU sponsored hunt, top-flight lodge, free ammo (kind of important on a no-limit goose hunt), easy driving distance from Little Rock and in the peak of the snow goose northern migration in northeast Arkansas. We get all fired up about the opportunity then interest fades as we settle back into non-duck season schedules. After every recent duck season, hunting partner Greg Churan and I find ourselves saying “We’ve got to do this” when we receive several invitations to spring conservation goose hunts.
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