In Mississippi, the Snow Goose Conservation Season begins right after the close of duck season, usually around the last week of January.

Generally the Snow Goose Conservation Season starts the Monday after the close of duck season. Mississippi’s snow goose population has exploded over the past couple of decades. Having the Conservation Season is an attempt to slow down the over-population of snow geese that’s being seen in the Northwest Territories of Canada. “The snow geese population in Canada has exploded so rapidly that the birds are destroying their habitat there,” John Gordon, longtime snow goose hunter from Hernando, Mississippi, who operates Mid-South Goose Hunts, says. “The snow geese are referred to as ‘grubbers,’ because they pull the grass up and destroy the roots. When they get to the Northwest Territories, they’re destroying large areas of tundra – often faster than it can grow back, due to the short growing season in Canada.”

About 15-years ago, the federal government enacted the Snow Goose Conservation Season to slow down the destruction of the tundra, the snow geese’s habitat and their nesting areas. During this Conservation Season in Mississippi, hunters can take as many snow geese as they want to take. Hunters also can take the plugs out of their guns, so their guns will hold five shells instead of three. Too, hunters can use electronic callers to call in the snow geese during this season. During the traditional goose season, hunters are forbidden to use electronic callers. Some states still restrict the number of snow geese that can be taken. They have their own set of rules and regulations for the Snow Goose Conservation Season in their areas. Before you decide to hunt snow geese in your home state, be sure to check the season, bag limits and other regulations pertaining to the hunting of snow geese during your state’s Conservation Season.

“But even though we can hunt snow geese until the end of March, most of the snow geese in our area have migrated north by the first or second week of March,” Gordon explains. “Usually after the first or second week of March, there are no snow geese in the Mississippi Delta, although the Conservation Season is still open. By the second week in March, most of the geese that have been in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas are either in Missouri or states farther to the north.”

With deer season and duck season ending around the end of January, and turkey season not starting until sometime between the first or middle of March in some states, snow goose hunting in February provides a time, a place and a species for us to continue hunting during the month, when there’s very little hunting. That’s why I was so excited when my friends Mike Jones and Tommy Akin invited me and my nephew Jason Berryhill to come to Tunica, Mississippi, to hunt snow geese during February. Because the snow geese are migratory birds, Gordon is constantly scouting during the month of February to locate flocks of geese for his hunters. So, a wise waterfowl hunter will call Gordon ahead of time to make sure he’s found some geese before you plan a hunt.

To learn more about Mississippi Delta snow goose hunting with John Gordon from now until mid-March during the federal conservation snow goose season, go to www.midsouthgoosehunts.com, or call him at 901-606-7878.

For more information on the outdoors, click here to get John E. Phillips’ print and Kindle eBooks.

Next: How to Call Snow Geese during Mississippi’s Conservation Season with John Gordon