Merry Christmas

From our family at Last Pass Guide Service to yours, Merry Christmas! We hope your stockings are stuffed with shotgun shells and your Christmas dinner was a goose you shot on a great hunt with us! We hope you had a great time with your family... Now let's get back out after geese! 

The great hunting has continued through the month of December! We are looking to go out with a bang the last 3 days of the season. The goose gods gave us a fresh coat of snow for Christmas and we plan on making the best of the final leg of this 2013 Canada goose season! I have other pics that I would like to post and will do it after the grind of the season is over! Christmas is a great break for the guides and the geese. Our batteries are charged and we're ready and excited to charge through the end. 

A Great Hunt! 21 By 10:30

It's On!



A lot of things have changed since our last Blog update.  The obvious is about 20,000 new geese in town!  Thursday December 5th was a monster migration into Rochester with flock after flock coming in from the north.  We had a really good feeling about Saturday and Sundays hunts but even our expectations were blown out of the water!  We knew hunting would be great with the new geese that we have in town but the hunting was phenomenal to say the least.  There were huge smiles throughout the pits both days.  Saturday morning the low was -6 and usually the geese won't fly until after noon but we were dead wrong on our assumption!  We had geese coming into the decoys while getting the clients settled in at around 10:00 or so.  Nothing lifts the spirits like just getting set into the pits and having 15 giants feet down at 20 yards literally minutes after getting into the field!  We cut 8 out of that first flock and that set the tone for the rest of the day.  We ended up with a 36 bird limit on the day!

 

Sunday was another curve ball with 2" of snow falling throughout the day.  We were still able to make the geese pay and put a 8 man limit of 24 on the ground by 1:00!  We only had a couple small flocks come in nice today with a lot of pairs, 3 packs and singles doing it nicely.  It was one of those days when the geese would just materialize out of nowhere and then just glide on in.  These two hunts were amazing to say the least.

 

Unfortunately we did have a group that backed out on Friday afternoon so this left us with some spots open for the weekend.  We called all the clients we could think of to get up here and hunt.  If you would like us to get your name and number for hunts like this give me or Bryce an email or call and we'll put your name on the list.  These hunts will be on a drop of the hat style where we will call you a day or 2 in advance to come up here with us and shoot some!

 

Our season for Canada's goes until December 28th so there is still a few weeks left to get up here and shoot some of these new geese!  Don't wait because everyday they just get more and more educated to the hunting game here in Rochester.  We look forward to receiving a call from you and putting you on a great hunt. 

 

Also don't forget that the snow goose season is fast approaching and we already have a couple weekends booked solid.  Don't miss out on a great juvie hatch with a lot of big numbers projected to come this spring!

 

Kids and Geese... Is There Anything Better?!

 

 

Tuesdays Hunt with Russ, Steven and Cole

 

 

Saturdays Blood Bath! 36 On the Ground For the Day

 

 

Hawk Collecting 1 of the 24 From Sunday

 

 

Another Goose Dropping In For It's Last Pass!

 

Sunday's Crew With the Pile!

 

 

Last Pass Guide Service, LLC

Chad Foster (507) 269-1817

Happy Thanksgiving!

At Last Pass we have many things to be thankful for. Family, friends, land owners and wonderful hunters! We are truly blessed! From our family to yours... Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Last Weekends Hunts

Last weekend we had two different groups that were able to come out and take advantage of the new geese that came into town recently.  Friday we had the opportunity to help a young boy harvest his first goose!  He did an outstanding job both in shooting and also handling his gun safely.  Friday was a fun hunt with good people.  We had a good amount of decoying birds Friday and the guys had a great time shooting.  

Sunday the hunters decided to hunt the afternoon instead of waking up to early and it was a great idea by the way the pile of dead geese looks.  Once again we had a father and son hunting with us and once again we had the opportunity to help a kid harvest his first goose!  The smile that was on this kids face was priceless and hopefully he continues helping us harvest geese in the future!  The guys finished Sunday afternoon with eleven geese but could've probably finished out their limit but chose to end early while the geese were still flying.  

Monday brought the first white blanket on our field and I went out to one of our fields and shot my 3 geese in less than 10 minutes.  And that includes setting decoys!  A very quick set up (5 doz black and whites) and even quicker shooting!  With Mondays and Tuesdays cold temps we saw a good push of new geese into town.  I'm not going to lie... Tuesday morning was brutally cold! I was out duck hunting and it was 9 degrees out.  Everything was froze solid! 

 

 



The hunting is really heating up and we still have plenty of season left to get out and shoot some geese!  Give us a call and we'll get you out after some of these Rochester Giants.

 

 

 

 

Chad Foster

Hunting Has Started

Its hard to believe its already coming up on the end of October and Halloween.  This is by far the best time of year for all of us waterfowlers!  The leaves are colorful and dropping from their trees, crops are coming out at a steady pace and the full moon has brought some much needed "calendar" birds!  I love walking outside in the morning and smelling that crisp cool air.  I think to many people take small things like that for granted in life but not us hunters.  Unfortunately to many people don't take the opportunity to sit in a goose spread and watch a beautiful sunrise like all of us do.  As waterfowlers we get to see and experience some truly amazing sights.

 

A little recap of the last month.....

 

We took advantage of the early duck opener and chased around the teal and wood ducks that call SE MN home during the summer months.  Woodies are one of my favorite ducks and I love spending the first couple weeks of the season targeting these birds.  We had some really good hunts and we enjoyed a great buffet of bacon wrapped wood duck and wood duck fajitas! 

 

The crops have started to come out and we have a few fields ready to rock and roll.  I'd like to thank all of our crew that came out to help.  I say it every year, but Bryce and I are very fortunate to have all of these guys around to help us get our fields up and running!  Thank you to Jeremy, Eric, Dan, Dooby, Adam, Bob and Bob's 2 daughters Ashley and Abby. 

 

After getting the fields all taken care of we just had to try them out and were pleased to have a couple flocks work in perfect.  The sight of big canandas locked up coming into the decoys never gets old to me.  I'll never be able to get enough of it!

 

With new geese showing up everyday we are starting to run hunts.  This time of year is when we have some of the easiest and most fun hunts.  I say easiest because whatever flock flies over the field is usually getting shot up.  They aren't quite wise to the game yet and we like to be the welcoming party for them!  October and early November hunting isn't like our December hunts because this time of year you don't see the thousands of geese we do later in the year.  But unlike the wise old December birds, these geese are young and dumb and love to maple leaf all the way down!!! 

 

We still have openings for this fall but our December weekends are filling up fast.  Give us a call as soon as you can so you don't miss out on the action!  And just a reminder that the spring 2014 snow goose season is coming up and we already have a couple weekends booked solid.  Get your dates booked so you don't miss out on one of the most amazing hunts you'll ever be on.

 

Hawk with a nice drake woodie

 

 

 

 

Getting Our North Field Ready

 

Jeremy and Eric on a great hunt

 

 

This mild weather doesn't push a lot of birds down in big bunches but it does allow us to take our little kids out hunting with us.  Sunday was a nice day out and Bryce was able to bring the whole family out for a hunt.  Words won't even come close to describing how excited these kids were when Bryce harvested these 3 geese.  To say they are hooked is an understatement.  Brady (2) and Skylar (8) had so much fun that they were already setting up plans to come out with Bryce this next weekend!  Nothing better than kids enjoying a great hunt!

 

Brady And Skylar

 

 

 

Chad Foster 507-269-1817

Last Pass Guide Service, LLC

 

 

September Hunting Continues...

We had a couple more fun hunts this week.  Tuesday 3 of us went out and set up on a loafing spot and waited for them to come back from the fields.  It was a fun hunt trying to coax the geese in to a spot they typically don't hang out at.  Our marksmanship needed work on this hunt with everyone shooting holes in the sky!  Oh well, it was still a ton of fun.  Plus it was 92 degrees so picking up decoys in shorts felt phenomenal!

Thursday 2 of us hunted a sweet corn field and shot 9 in a hurry.  We decided to pick up and get out of the field instead of shooting the 10th and final goose.  With the goose movement this morning there is no doubt in my mind we would've shot the final goose but we chose to let the geese get in the field and save it for another day. 

We had the first 4 geese of the morning work right in to the kill hole and we knocked them all down.  We were all smiles when Hawk brought them back one by one and all 4 were banded!  It made a great hunt even better! 

Check back on the Blog this weekend as we look forward to knocking down a pile of canadas.  We'll be out chasing them so hopefully they get the memo and show up in big numbers.

The phone and emails are starting to come inquiring this years hunting, and also 2014 spring snows.  We did sell another membership this week so we only have a few left for this fall.  Don't put it off another day.  Call ASAP to get your money down on one of these.  Trust me you won't be disappointed.

Chad Foster

Tuesdays Decoy Set

 

Hawk Taking a Mid Morning Snooze

 

Me and Hawk

 

Hawk With Another Canada To Add To The Pile

 

Sweet Corn Hunt From Thursday

 

A Beautiful Sight!!!

Early Season Has Arived!

 1....2....3....4....5....6....7.....8.....9.....10!  Ready or not Canada geese, HERE WE COME!!!

Early season FINALLY is upon us and we are out chasing the big canadas.  The season started for us on Sept 1st down in the SE area of the state.  Of course August was beautiful weather with highs in the low 70's but like clock work the week before we could hunt the temps shot up to the 90's.  It made for some tough scouting but in the end things seamed to work out. 

Opening day found us in a cut sweet corn field.  The birds were typical early season birds with a few flocks short stopping us in our field and also a couple flocks coming in with the wind.  Young birds just don't understand that they are suppose to land into the wind and finish in the kill hole!  We did have some nice finishing birds and the 4 of us were able to take 12 on the morning hunt.  It didn't help that all the geese came at once.

Monday was totally opposite of Opening day.  We only saw about 25 geese but were able to harvest 9 of them.   It was a slow and weird day with no bird movement.  The only explanation is that they were pushed off their roost and flew off in the opposite direction. 

Just a reminder that the regular season is right around the corner.  We have been taking calls and booking people this last week.  There are a lot of good days left but they will be filling up fast.  We have a few memberships still available.  Give me or Bryce a call and we can hook you up with one of them.  Its a great deal for a guy that wants to hunt a lot but doesn't have the decoys or fields to do it in.  Basically you can hunt whenever we hunt! 

Also we are starting to fill up the weekends for our 2014 spring snow goose season.  I say it every year, but hurry and reserve your groups spot before its to late!  We always have a group that misses the dates they want and are bummed out about it.  Don't wait!

Scouting in 97 degree weather is a new one for me!  Glad I had air conditioning in the truck and didn't have to hunt in this heat.  Sunday was hot enough in the low 80's!

 

An early morning flock that finished perfect for us!  I look forward to many more of them this year.

 

 

Dave, Bob, Bryce and Chad after a good hunt

 

 

 

As a lot of you know early season gives us the chance to hunt with family and friends since most of our guiding doesn't happen until October through December.  Bryce and I take advantage of September to get our kids out as much as we can.  This last weekend I was able to take Kelton out on his very first hunt.  It worked out great because we could hide in a cut corn field and it was an afternoon hunt with good weather.  To be honest I didn't take him out there to watch me shoot a limit of birds.  In fact I had a flock of 15 and another flock of 5 come in to the decoys and I never even shot.  He is only 2 and the "hunt" was all about him.  He liked setting decoys, eating snacks and hanging out with his buddy Hawk!  When the flock of 15 came in I looked at him and he told me that he shot 2 out of the flock!  I was one proud dad out there!!!

 

 



 

Kelton and His pop gun!

 

Kelton Having Fun with his Pop Gun and Ear Muffs

 

Kelton and His Buddy Hawk

 

Wiped out after the hunt!!!

June Is Here

June is finally here and its starting to feel like spring/summer!  What a wild May we experienced in Rochester with 25 out of the 31 days having some form of rain.  With all the rain it means that alot of farmers have been sitting back waiting to get into their fields.  We should be ok with most our fields rotation being beans this year.  I talk to one of our farmers where the field is corn and he is still hoping to get it in the ground soon.

As for the waterfowl everything seems to be back on track.  The canadas have had their goslings out feeding trying to fatten them up for this fall.  From what I've seen it isn't as bad as what we thought for the hatch.  With the cold weather and late snow storms we were affraid the hatch would be way down but to me it looks normal.  The snows even got back on schedual after spending most of May sitting out snow storm after snow storm in the Dakotas.  They should be getting to their nesting sites anyday now and should start laying eggs sometime in the next 2 weeks.  Lets hope for another good hatch from them!

As for us here at Last Pass...  We've just been enjoying the outdoors and our families.  Bryce ended up shooting a nice turkey in all the snow we had at the beginning of May.  As alot of you know, now he's busy catching MN walleyes.  I've been out fishing a few times but the last 3 weeks have been busy helping friends fill their turkey tags and taking Aubrey and Kelton out gathering morel mushrooms.  Kelton's only 2 so he doesn't quite understand but Aubs is 5 and she is a shrooming machine! 

I hope everyones summer goes well for them.  Its hard to believe but the goose season is right around the corner and we look forward to seeing everyone this fall. 

Chad Foster 



Morels!

Fuzzballs!

Looking forward to this family visiting us this next November!



Spring Time Fun

May is a time for trout and walleye fishing, turkey hunting, mushroom hunting...and SNOW???  Seems like Mother Nature has thrown another curve ball into our spring plans.  I should be out with friends chasing turkeys or catching some nice walleyes on the Mississippi river but instead I'm shoveling sidewalks and building a snow man!  Today I had to check the calender, I thought it was May 2nd but wasn't sure because of the 15+ inches of snow that has fallen so far!  Wow is all that I can say!!!

This is a pic of Hawk's kennel.  Thats his dog house in the center of the kennel.  I had to go out and help my buddy dig out of his igloo!

This is what we should be doing and not shoveling...

A fun hunt for this April tom.  Hoping to see another one hit the dirt this weekend!

I'm hoping for nice weather so I can start on some of our summer projects at Last Pass.  The waterfowl season never stops only the shooting does!  There seems to always be something for us to do.  I hope everyone has a great spring and is able to get out and enjoy every season that the great outdoors can give us!  We look forward to seeing everyone this fall.  Check back soon for more Blog updates.

Last Pass Guide Service

Chad Foster

2013 Spring Snows

Even though there are still a bunch of geese in South Dakota, the 2013 snow goose season is over for all of us at Last Pass Guide Service.  This spring had its ups and downs but overall it will go down as the spring that wouldn't quit snowing!  From the first hunts in Missouri all the way through South Dakota we fought through snow storms!  It was physically and mentally draining but we wouldn't want it any other way because this is what we live for!!! 

As for the hunts this year... We had a couple groups that had really tough hunts dealing with cold temps, snow and more snow.  We never had a skunk but did have 2 days with only 2 geese harvested out of the field each day.  On the flip side we had some really good days and a couple phenomenal days. 

I'll try to get some of the pics from Bryce and Mike to post up here during the spring/summer time.  My pics are scattered on 3 different cameras so I'll try to get them all on here soon.

Thank you to all the guys and girls that hunted with us this year!  We appreciate everyone that hunts with us and we hope to see you all again next spring!!! 

Now its time to switch gears and get out fishing for some walleyes and chasing some big old gobblers!

Chad Foster

Tornado Warning!!!

Hawk with a Morning Shoot

Cal and Bob With 23 Adults

John, Chris, Joe in Front and Eric and Mic in Back



Spring Snows Cont.

Working In Tight!

Pictures Like This NEVER Get Old!

Sunrise In the Snow Goose Decoys... Can't Beat It

Both These Groups Had To Deal With Tough Hunting Because of the Weather But they Handled it Like Champs!  Thanks Guys for Understanding!



Setting Themselves Up for a Disaster!

"Hawk"

Me and My Boy Hawk