Missouri Snows

The spring snow goose season could be described as challenging this year in Missouri.  Once again we were reminded that mother nature has the last say in how our hunting goes.  Our "typical" start up date for Missouri had to be postponed a couple weeks because of a late snow and cold front that came through the Midwest.  We weren't affected with much snow but just south of us got blasted a couple different times and that put a halt on the migration for a couple weeks.  Once the weather changed for the better and we had warm temps, the birds pushed hard and we had 2 weeks of good hunting.  The temps were phenomenal after week one with everyday in the 70's and sunny with a good wind.  Everything we ever want and hope for when we are chasing snows!  The only problem with the temps that warm was the geese were able to keep pushing north with no snow line to hold them back.  I was amazed at how stretched out the migration was this year.  We thought it was spread out last year but that was nothing compared to what we saw this spring.  I had good friends killing geese in southern Arkansas and other friends killing geese in northern North Dakota all on the same weekend! 

 

The beginning of the season for us is always exciting and is always a grind to get decoy stakes in the ground and blinds stubbled.  This spring was tougher than normal since we had to use a drill bit to help us get through the frozen ground.  It was brutal setting up our first 4 decoy spreads!  Bryce and I are lucky enough to have some guys that really bust their butts to get the job done.  Bob, Mike and Charlie worked their tails off and we can't thank them enough!  Even when the huntings tough, and the weather sucks, these guys just have the attitude to get the job done and we appreciate that. 

 

Obviously with us hunting as much as we do in the spring, we see some pretty cool things.  I'm trying to remember some of the neat things we saw or experienced this spring.  I'd have to say that this year we dealt with more coyotes than in any other spring that I can remember.  Every field lost geese to coyotes and there were some days we lost multiple birds.  On one hunt Hawk couldn't retrieve the glided birds fast enough and we lost 5 snows to yotes!  It's very frustrating when you rain a flock of geese and one glides 300 yards and you watch a coyote come out of a tree line or waterway and grab it and race back into the brush.  Last Pass did get even a couple times with the coyotes.  The first run in happened when Charlie was guiding and his group glided 3 birds besides the ones they dropped in the decoys.  Charlie was walking along a little brush line on his way to the first downed bird when he startled a coyote out of the brush.  To bad for the coyote, Charlie has fast reflexes and was able to halt the dog in his tracks!  The other "getting even" story was with me and my dog Hawk.  We also were out picking up geese throughout the field when one of the snows took flight and flew into a thick waterway about 70 yards away.  Hawk was on it and me and one of the hunters from that day walked towards where we saw the bird go into the waterway.  We were standing there talking when we saw a white dot bouncing through the weeds.  We figured it was Hawk with the snow but then we saw a coyote come out of the waterway with the goose!  Then it dropped the bird because Hawk was a mere 5 feet behind and was chasing the coyote and nipping at its heals!  I'm glad I had another hunter there to see this otherwise no one would ever believe this story!  Hawk chased the yote for about 100 yards and then turned around and returned to the snow, grabbed it and brought it back to me!   

 

Bryce and I would like to thank all our hunters that decided to come and hunt with us this last spring.  It was fun seeing all our old friends and meeting a bunch of new ones!  We know you have many choices on who you can hunt with and we feel privileged that you choose us.  Thank you to everyone and we look forward to hunting with you all again this next spring!

 

 

 

 

The Boys Getting Gear Out On Another Field.  Lots Of Drilling Decoys In The Ground.  Notice The Generator In The Pic?  That Thing Is A Life Saver And A Time Saver!

 

 

Hours And Hours Of Drilling!  Bryce Runs The Drill And Mike Sets The Decoys.

 

 

A Good Afternoon Shoot With A Fun Group Of Guys

 

Tim and Matt With 23 Birds Shot In The Last Hour Of The Day

 

 

All These Geese Were Harvested Within 25 Yards!  The Wind Was Whipping At 20+ MPH So We Had To Let The Geese Get In Tight. 

 

One Of Many Flocks This Spring That Worked Down Into The Boot Bags!

 

 

This Hunt Was Amazing To Say The Least!  We Had One Of The Biggest Spins I've See In A Long Time.  There Were Geese Coming Into The Tornado From Miles And Miles Away

 

Charlie With The Mornings Take.  It Might Not Be The 100 Bird Shoot That Everyone Wants But These Guys Were Having The Time Of Their Lives And That's What Its All About.  Even When Hunting Was Tough These Guys Enjoyed Themselves!

 

Hello Juvies!  Welcome To Mound City!  Unfortunately Your Flight North Has Been Cancelled!!! 

 

I Had The Privilege Of Hunting With These 2 Well Behaved Retrievers.  They Were A Joy To Hunt With (And Their Owners Were Well Behaved Too!)  A Good Dog Is Always A Treat To Hunt With.

 

Do You Think Missouri Is A Flyover State For Planes?  I Loved This Pic Because Of The Sun Setting, The Planes And The Geese Flying Through

 

Hawk Enjoying A Water Retrieve On A 75 Degree Day

 

The Chad With A Morning Haul.  Chad Has Been Hunting With Us Since The Spring Of 2010 And He Is A Blast To Have In The Field.  He Just Loves Being In The Field, Taking All The Sights And Sounds Of The Spring In.  Plus When We Have A Good Rainout Its Awesome To See How Jacked Up He Gets!!!

 

Hawk With A Banded Snow

 

Get Ready Boys, Here They Come!!!

 

That's A Wrap!  Time To Head North And Call It A Season.  Thanks For The Memories...

 

 

 

That's a Wrap!

 

 

The 2014 Canada Goose season has officially come to an end for us guys at Last Pass Guide Service!  Like I say every year, its a bitter sweet feeling.  It's nice to have a break from the grind of hunting hard for the last 4 months but after having a month off I really start to miss being out in the cold and wind with big slob geese backpedaling in the decoys! Lucky for us the Canada season might be done but that just means the snow season is right around the corner! Its like the old saying says, when one door closes another door opens.

Before we move onto snow geese I'll discuss the fall hunting we had.  This Canada season was the best I've seen since 2005.  We had a lot of memorable hunts this year and two hunts where we zeroed and we'd like to forget!  There were 11 hunts where we harvested 30 geese or more and a pile of hunts where 20+ geese were taken.  The good hunting started on the early goose season in September and went all the way till the very last day of the season.  We did have two weeks in December where the hunting got tough with the warm temps, rain and fog.  October this year had us having some of the best hunts.  The best part about our October hunts is they were usually a mixed bag of geese and mallards. This year we harvested more mallards than I ever remember!  In fact I think we shot more ducks during this season than we have the last 5 seasons combined!  November brought us our big push of geese into Rochester when the rest of the state all froze up.  Unfortunately we lost a lot of our ducks but the goose hunting was phenomenal.  Like most years, we had a pile of ducks still decoying after the duck season ended.  Like I said, this season was described with one word... Memorable!

The last couple weeks of the goose season had us putting a hurt on the birds.  When we should've been struggling with stale birds we were harvesting big piles!  Bryce and I hated to see the season end with how great the hunting was.  We had 2 amazing hunts to finish the year off.

When You See This While Setting Decoys, It's A Good Sign!

 



 A Great Hunt With Lots Of Close Geese 

 

My 2 Boys... Kelton On The Left and Hawk With a Goose

 

Start Them Young!

 

A Great 24 Goose Shoot

 

 

Hawk With The First Goose Of 2015

 

 

The Last Day...30 Geese By 11:00!

 

 

We Had 1 Goose Sail To The North of Us So Hawk and I Made The Long Walk To Retrieve It. When We Came Over The Hill There Were 2 Eagles Picking It And This Is What It Looked Like!   

 

 

One Of Our Guides, Charlie, Was Hunting When He Had A Visitor Come And Try To Eat One Of His Decoys.  After the Coyote Pounced On A Decoy Charlie Let Him Have It!

 

 

 

As you read this we are working our tails off getting ready for the grind of the snow goose season.  It is looking to be a great season with a huge hatch of juvies this last spring.  If you still want to go give us a call ASAP!  We want to give a big thanks to the team members at Last Pass.  You guys are a huge help to us and we really appreciate it.  Also we would like to thank all the people that came to hunt with us this last season.  We have so much fun hunting with everyone and all of our hunters are good people.  Bryce and I know you have a lot of options who you can hunt with and we are thankful that you choose us.  We hope to see everyone again next year!

Merry Christmas!

Its hard to believe that we are already celebrating Christmas!  It seems like we were just cutting up the turkey at our Thanksgiving dinner.  Wow where does the time go?!  Things have slowed down the last two weeks around Rochester and have brought us back down to reality.  We have had warmer than normal temps and rain and fog which has really brought the good hunting to a screeching halt.  Instead of the 20-30 bird shoots we have had the 5-15 bird shoots with a nice 22 goose hunt last Saturday.  With the temps starting to drop in the next few days it should get these geese out of the grass in town and start looking for corn and beans!  We will be hunting until January 5th so its not to late to get down here and shoot a fat goose or three!

 

Most of all, Bryce and myself want to wish everyone a joyous and heartfelt Merry Christmas!  

 

 

Picking Up Decoys Is A Family Event!  My Wife Wendy, Daughter Aubrey and Son Kelton Helped Me Pick The Spread

 

 

Foggy Hunts The Last Two Weeks

 

Hawk With A Rochester Giant

 

8 Geese In The Fog With The Moshel Group

 

Terry's Group On A Good Shoot!

 

A 36 Bird Whackfest!

 

Who Wants To Shop On Black Friday When You Can Be Doing This?  Awesome Hunt!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a great week of hunting we've been able to enjoy!  The new geese that migrated in a couple of weeks ago have made a lot of happy hunters at Last Pass.  There have been many big shoots taking place and its always a joy to see such happy hunters.  I can't believe how great our season has been and just when we think it should slow down, it ramps right back up for another fun hunt! 

For years Rochester was a resting spot for EPP (Eastern Prairie Population) Canada geese but lately they've been migrating more towards the western part of the state and we've seen more "local" geese that have been raised in Minnesota.  Well this year and last year we have seen a shift in the migration back to Rochester!  A lot of the geese harvested around town have been the smaller EPP geese this last week. 

Thanksgiving is about recognizing what we all should be thankful for.  Today in between eating turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie and before the kickoff to one of the three football games, think of what you are truly thankful for.  I'm thankful for many things...  The first and foremost would be my family.  I'm blessed to have a supportive wife and two beautiful children.  This time of year they sacrifice a lot of time spent with me during the grind of the season and I appreciate them always being there for me.  I'm also thankful for God giving us such wonderful birds like waterfowl.  Ducks and Geese are such an amazing bird and we are lucky to be able to hunt them.  Last I'm thankful for all the hunters who choose us as an outfitter!  Bryce and I are lucky to do what we do and without all our loyal hunters we couldn't do this. I hope everyone that hunts with us realizes that we try to go above and beyond when it comes to goose hunting. 

All of us at Last Pass Guide Service wish everyone a safe and joyful Thanksgiving! 

Snow Days!

Monday and Tuesdays snow created great hunting conditions for us in Rochester!  It also brought in many new and uneducated geese which are always a pleasure to hunt.  Three of us ventured out Tuesday to try our luck and it paid off...in about 35 minutes!  The first sign that we would have a great hunt was when I had 20 decoys out and a migrator flock of 40 balled up and came down to 35 yards before realizing that the truck and trailer in the middle of their plastic friends probably represented bad things.  We barely got back to the pits when the first flock of 18 came down and finished at 10 yards.  We next had another good group of 14 come right into the kill hole and Eric and Trevor finished their limits.  Five minutes later a pair did it right and we were all done for the day.  During the action I was able to take a few photos of the geese and how close they were landing!

Trevor, Chad and Eric

 

This pair was beautiful

Another Bunch Getting In Tight!

 

 

Thursday Bryce took a group out and they barely had enough time to eat a sandwich before the shooting was all over.  The geese came out fast and they were hungry but to bad for them there were 6 guys waiting with a good looking trap set!  The boys shot well and by 10:45 when the smoke cleared there were 18 geese laying on the ground.  A great hunt with good people!

Thursdays Whackfest!

 

 

Obviously the geese are here and they are the ones we love to hunt.  Bryce and I have been saying all year to get here and take advantage of these great hunts.  Believe it or not but hunting will get tough one of these days.  I hope it isn't soon because all these great hunts are a ton of fun to be on!

 

Call me or Bryce to get in on one of these hunts!

Get Ready!!!

It's getting to be that time of year again! Cold, snow and lots of giant canadas!!! There has been a slow trickle of new geese coming in and they are easy and naïve to decoy spreads and calling. We watch the start of a small migration Saturday and it carried over into Sunday. Sunday afternoon was a very good hunt with a lot of these new birds decoying well for us. We had a fun group out there and the four of us were able to shoot our 12 geese and eight bonus mallards!

Before we hunted on Sunday we went out to one of our new fields and got that one ready. This new field is going to be a burner for us! "The Windmill" is a nice hilltop overlooking a traditional great flight path. They'll decoy into this field perfectly since it has a beautiful flat for a landing zone!

Eric, Christian, Skylar and Kelton

Hawk 

Skylar with another big goose 

The crew working on "The Windmill" 

Before...

 

After! I'd say the pits are INVISIBLE!

 

 

Pete and The Chad with a greenhead shoot of a lifetime!

 

These next two pictures showed what we got to witness for over an hour and a half.  The show that these mallards gave us will always be etched in our minds!  Simply amazing watching hundreds of mallards backpedal at one time in front of us only 10 yards away.  Thank you to Chad and Pete for not wanting to shoot into the mass and letting us enjoy the show!  True sportsmen through and through.

Monday and Tuesday brought us a dusting of snow and even more birds for this coming weekend.  If you are thinking about hunting geese this year it is officially GO TIME!  These geese are new and they are fun to hunt.  A few of us went out on Tuesday and had a great time decoying geese up close and personal.  Pictures and a blog will be up soon on Tuesdays hunt and Bryce has a group going out tomorrow.  Give us a call to line up a hunt of a lifetime!

The Grind Continues

The hunting continues to be amazing to say the least! I'm starting to sound like a broken record but I love it!  We are picking up some new geese in Rochester which is adding to the good hunting.  Bryce and I are very fortunate to have the hottest field in Rochester and we have been taking advantage of it!  We aren't over hunting it and that is keeping the birds in our "zone".   Besides all the geese we've been shooting, this is the best duck hunting we have ever seen...EVER in Rochester!  Ducks are always a bonus for us and this year we've had plenty of bonus birds!



10 Mallards and 7 Geese

 

The Chad and Jeremy on another successful hunt

If you listen closely you can hear a rumbling sound going on out in all our fields.  That rumbling would be a sound Bryce and I have been anxiously waiting for since September 6th... The rumbling of combines harvesting our fields!  Most people think of the beginning of November as Deer season and this year I'd have to agree with them because that's all I can think about too.  Except my thoughts aren't about a giant buck walking under my stand, my thoughts are about a John Deere and hopefully getting all our fields clear of corn and beans!

 

By the end of this next weekend we will have all our fields up and ready to hunt.  A lot of people don't realize the time and effort it takes to get these fields huntable.  We have a great group of guys that step up and bust their butts to help me and Bryce out and we would like to thank them!  These guys remind me a lot of offensive linemen in football... When the hide is good in these fields and Bryce and I put guys on a good hunt we look good but it is truly the guys behind the scenes that helped put our hunters in a well hidden pit!  A big thanks to Charlie, Dave, Bob, Jeremy, Trevor, Christian and Eric.  Take a look at the pics below and let us know if you think they did a great job!

Before... 

After!

 

Sunday afternoon was a hunt that Bryce and I have been planning/dreaming about all summer.  We wanted to take our sons on a nice warm goose hunt where the geese would cooperate and the boys could watch as flock after flock finished perfectly.  Since it was an afternoon hunt the boys had to wait all day for us to go to the field.  Kelton was actually pacing in the house waiting for us to go!  Both Brady and Kelton were jacked up ready to watch mother nature at her best.  It wasn't long after setting up that the first birds came out.  It was a pair that bellied in perfectly and Bryce sat up and shot both of them as Kelton, Brady and I watched.  We then had a good group of 12 come in and Bryce shot his last one and I whiffed twice and recovered for a bird on my third shot.  A short time later 3 geese came in perfectly dead center of us and I shot my last two!  The kids were ecstatic going out with us to pick up our limits of geese!  This hunt will go down as one that I will never ever forget.  From Brady singing while geese are coming in to Kelton yelling geese every time we had birds on a string.  There were so many things we were laughing about out there its hard to remember them all.  Kelton put it simply as this, "Dad there are geese...EVERYWHERE!  This is awesome!"  And he was right, this hunt was awesome!

Kelton Hauling Back A Rochester Giant

 



 

Last Pass Guide Service Future Guides!  My Son Kelton On The Left And Bryce's Son Brady On The Right. 

 

Packing Up The Trailer