The Final Snow Storm

**David Rearick** · #1 04-22-2009, 10:40 AM

Date: March 28th, 2009

Location: New York

Sunrise/ Sunset: 6:38 / 7:27

Weather: Warm and sunny

Temperature: 40-65

Wind: Moderate

Equipment Used: Avery® Finisher Blinds, Avery® Power Hunter Blind, GHG® T&T Snow Goose Shells, GHG® Full Body Snows and Blues, Avery® Floating Gun Case, Avery® 6 Slot Decoy Bags, Avery® Guide Bag, Avery® DIY Lanyard, Avery® Power Flag, Avery® Field Caps, and Avery® Fleece Skull Caps.

Hunters: Rick Murphy, Frank Clifton, John Lafleur and Avery® Pro-Staffers David Rearick and Mike Bard

Journal Notes:
It had come down to what appeared to be the final day for spring snows in the section of New York we were hunting. Opting to scout on Friday AM rather than hunt, proved to be what we needed to do with the lower number of birds migrating through the area. After the Friday morning scout and gaining permission, we did a quick hunt in the evening and got picked up and packed up to await the next morning’s early wake up call.
With many days in the field this spring hunting snows, the set-up time went quickly, and everybody got into their grove and we quickly put out our spread of 700 decoys. With daylight upon us, it was time and some early birds put our bodies in gear and we were all tucked in to await the morning show, and it wasn’t long until the show began.

With birds on the move, it wasn’t long before we got our first action of the day. With little wind and an early flight, the birds would work well and get to that 40 yard mark on each pass. The extended shadows due to the intense sun in the early morning and the zero mph hour wind just kept these groups from finishing in our face like we wanted them to. While we could have many times had parts of the group shoot or taken that 40 yard shot, our goal is to always shoot them dead center within 20 yards to capitalize on every flock to the fullest extent possible. When the stars aligned throughout the morning, we did our best to take what we could when we could. A few singles dropping in out of nowhere kept us entertained, but it quickly became apparent that today was the day for the birds to push north with no thought of return. As the time clicked on, we re-called old hunts and talked about the upcoming spring turkey season, as we watched 3-4 gobblers try their best to gain the eye of the hens they surrounded. We also started talking about what we were going to do next year in the spring.

With thoughts of the future looming, the weather man calling for an intense rain storm in the afternoon, the blistering sun beating down our necks, and the general consensus that the birds had moved north, we decided to call it a day at about 3 PM. While many times the last pic of the season is a dreadful one for all the hunters, as they are not interested in giving it up just yet, today was different. No longer were we dreading the long wait till next season, we were anticipating it and already working out plans in our minds about how we would be chasing snows again in a short 10 months and only 5 months until early goose season rolls around. Game On!