The Juvies May Be On Their Way!

Fingers crossed that this year's hatch was a good one.

The fall and winter of 2021-22 marks my 52nd year of waterfowl hunting. Since 1969, many a goose has flown from Canada to the South and then back to their breeding grounds in far northern Canada.

In my lifetime, I have seen the rise and fall of goose hunting in Texas and Arkansas. Some years are phenomenal, others, well, meh. Through those 51 years of observation, I have learned that the one constant that always makes for consistent goose hunting is an ample supply of juvenile geese.

Whether it be snow geese, white fronts or Canadas, the juveniles are just more gullible. When they are decoyed, a lot of their buddies follow them.

The good news is that the 2021-22 fall flight forecast is, at the very least, an average production of juvenile birds.

Those predictions are based on weather patterns at the breeding grounds in Canada. Actual on-the-ground observations are not available because of Covid restrictions in Canada.

But frankly, I’m optimistic. In Arkansas, we have seen three straight years of sub-par reproduction, so an “at least average hatch” seems statistically very likely.

However, it is Nature we’re talking about here, which means the lowly human being has no control over how many young birds survive the goose hatch in the cold climes of northern Canada.

But I can pray to the great goose gods that, as the forecasters have predicted, we’ll see a lot of young birds this year, which will make for damn good goose hunting.

Hope to see you in the field!