Snow Goose Hunting with Flatland Flyways
Will Poston for SPLIT REED
Snow goose hunting drives many a waterfowler crazy. But for what: epic rainouts, kill pics of hundreds of birds; popping off eight shots at birds 60 yards away? Recently, snow goose hunting has become more accessible, and in a good hatch year, even the novice snow goose hunters can kill their share. Technology has played a huge role in the rise in popularity of snow goose hunting and hunters’ effectiveness, as well. Motorized ‘cyclone’ decoy rigs, electronic callers, you name it have all contributed to the harvest of millions of snow geese.
These factors have contributed to a strange uniformity in snow goose hunting and subsequent education of the population. Most groups run the same—or very similar—spreads, consisting of a couple of thousand silhouettes or silo-socks, two or three spinners, electronic callers turned up all the way, and hunters in white coveralls hiding in the spread. Well, it should come as no surprise that birds become accustomed to these spreads, and hunters start having trouble getting birds in range, especially when the majority of birds that are killed earlier in the season are the juveniles.
Last week, we had the chance to sit down and talk with one of our favorites, Alex Russo, owner of Flatland Flyways. Through the course of our conversation, one thing became adamantly clear: at Flatland Flyways, snow goose hunting is a completely different endeavor and more rewarding experience, if you ask me. Since its beginning, Flatland Flyways has strived to elevate itself—no pun intended—as a waterfowl outfitter—snow goose hunting is no exception. Alex and the Flatland Flyways staff work all year to make each client’s experience unique, safe, and rewarding. Every factor imaginable is examined under a microscope and tweaked to ensure clients have the best possible experience at Flatland Flyways.
Alex is no stranger to snow goose hunting either and has personally witnessed an amazing progression of snow goose industry. When he first started years ago, Alex was, “using wind-socks and rags. You know they didn’t have any of these motorized decoy contraptions.” His group was happy with 5-10 snows back then because it was just so much different. Then, however, Avery and GHG came out with full-body snow geese decoys, and the “A-Team,” as Alex called them began killing huge amounts of snows. Well, you probably guessed it, but the “A-Team” was Tony Vandemore, Tyson Keller, Fred Zink, and the Hudnall brothers.
At that time 15 years or so ago, Alex and his crew began accumulating full bodies, and they realized that you could kill more snow geese over fewer amounts of full-bodies. But more importantly, you were getting closer, more ethical, shots over full bodies. There is always a place for wind-socks, but he found that over all potential conditions, full bodies were much more effective.
Around that time also, snow goose hunting was becoming more and more popular. People realized a couple of things: one, you could kill them in the fall, and two the advancements in decoys, motion systems, and electronic callers you could kill A LOT of birds. But as is the case with technology, it comes to a point where you ask yourself, “where can we go from here?”
Alex and Flatland Flyways have a guiding principle: they want all of their guests and clients to have a memorable time. For Flatland Flyways, however, that is not always measured by the number of birds shot, which is not to say they don’t shoot tons of birds—because they do. But rather, Alex and his crew want to get to know each of their guests, they want to decoy birds as close as possible, and they want their guests to understand that they are doing everything possible to improve the quality of that experience. So, for snow goose hunting that meant making the investment into those expensive full-body decoys, making sure the spread looks and SOUNDS like actual snow geese, and completely concealing the entire hunting party. Alex wanted to reinvest his clients’ money into Flatland Flyways to increase their success; that meant the highest quality snow goose decoys and Dave Smith Decoys.
Fast forward to two years ago, Alex ran into Dave Smith at Game Fair in Minnesota and a light went off in his head: “I’m charging a premium price for a premium product [the Flatland Flyways experience]. Well, I have to have premium equipment.” So, at Game Fair, Alex was telling the Dave Smith Decoys guys that he wanted “four or five thousand snow goose decoys made.” At first, they all were laughing about it, but then it took on some life, and the DSD guys went to work. The process took a couple of years, hundreds of emails, countless details tweaked, but then a couple of months ago DSD released their Snow Goose decoys.
Alex opened the boxes of these brand new decoys and was taken away by the quality and realism. “The coloring, the detail, the head and body positioning, the way the wing feathers fold on the mold, all those things were so finely tuned. It exceeds everything I wanted,” Alex said. The goal of these decoys is to kill more snow geese, plain and simple, especially finishing these “Einstein” mature snow geese.
The plan at Flathead Flyways for their conservation season is to run 1,000 brand-new DSDs, make sure the e-callers sound like hordes of snow geese actively feeding with their beaks in the ground, completely brush each blind in the spread and with the vegetation from that field in EVERY STUBBLE STRAP, all for the hopes of giving clients a lasting memory. In the end, these decoys are completely new to the market—whether or not they get more mature birds in shooting range remains to be seen. “Are they going to change the success? Are they going to give the adults that hang up at 80-90 yards one more pass of interest to get down to 40 yards? I don’t know, but the one thing I do know is that when you see them out in the field, there is no comparison—it looks like a lively, natural feed.”
Alex certainly believes these decoys will elevate Flatland Flyways’ snow goose hunting. Sure, they are expensive, especially from the point of view of guys that think snows “don’t decoy” or are “carp in the sky.” But as Alex reiterated: these decoys are definitely a premium price and a premium product, but if they elevate his clients’ hunt and decoy more snow geese at closer ranges, then he has to have them. That is the type of outfit Flatland Flyways is. They want you, the client, to have as good of a time as you possibly can; they want to get to know you; and, they want to see you have an amazing trip and keep coming back with higher and higher expectations.
Unfortunately, due to the worldwide effects of Coronavirus, Flatland Flyways is closing all Spring operations. However, this pandemic will not undermine Flatland's efforts to give their guests the most memorable hunting experiences possible. While the spring snow goose season just took a gutshot, Flatland Flyways will remain resilient and is excited about the Fall migration. If you are in the market for a hunting trip later this year, look no further than Flatland Flyways and think about supporting them now! Check out their website and follow them on Instagram, you won't regret it.
Click here for a Split Reed Original Film with Flatland Flyways
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