Cold snap sends geese to central SD

The 41-year-old Spring Creek man, who works for BankWest and guides pheasant hunts for Cheyenne Ridge, said he’s noticed a number of geese on the Lake Oahe Reservoir.

Chris Hull, communications specialist with South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks, said the cold front north of here toward Mobridge combined with snow pushed geese to the area. Hull said the birds arrived earlier than normal.

“When I moved here 26 years ago, you could almost count on geese being here on Nov. 1,” he said. “All of this has to do with weather. A lot of agriculture practices north of us and better food up there, (keeps the geese there). The bad weather pushes them down.”

A mid-November blizzard dropped 2 feet of snow in Bismarck and 10 inches in Grand Forks.

Longtime Pierre goose hunter Sam Koenecke agrees with Hull.

“When North Dakota gets 18 inches of snow, we are bound to get them coming in,” Koenecke said about the geese. “We’re the next stopping point for the migration patterns.”

Sometimes, the geese will do a reverse migration, he said.

“They will go back,” Koenecke said. “I’ve seen it happen in the past.”

He’s noticed that the number of geese has dwindled the past 20 to 30 years. Koenecke believes it’s due to the weather, global warming, weather pattern changes, migration changes and farming practices.

Last year’s goose numbers in the region were low, Hull said.

“The geese showed up for a couple weeks,” he said. “I think a lot of it was the weather. We didn’t get bad weather.”

The birds will likely stick around places like Lake Oahe, Lake Sharpe and the Missouri River until the waters freeze. From here, the geese will migrate to places like Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, wherever they can find open waters and food, Hull said.

The local goose hunting season runs from Oct. 31 to Feb. 12. Hunters can take four geese a day, seven days a week.

Public land along the Missouri River gives hunters places to set up decoys for morning hunts.

“I think goose hunting in Pierre and Fort Pierre has a long tradition,” Hull said. “People travel a long way to hunt geese here. It’s still popular, it’s good accessibility and we have public ground.”

On Monday, Dunes Golf Course owner Cullan Dies received approval from the Fort Pierre City Council for discharging guns for his annual goose hunts. The golf course lies within city limits.

Dies, who has operated the golf course for 28 years, sells hunts to non-resident hunters, who should see more geese this year.

“There’s always geese here, but because North Dakota got buried, it pushed a bunch this year,” he said. “It’s to keep (the geese) from eating me out of house and home. The geese will destroy the greens.”