Molt Migrators

Young Canada geese are often referred to as non-breeders, juveniles or molts. These young birds make up a large portion of molt migrators. Essentially, molts are large groups of “teenagers” that will not be breeding that spring. Canada geese don’t pair up & breed until they’re a few years old. So, these molts spend their summers free of responsibility without a true “home”, floating from area to area as it suits their needs.

Every Spring breeding pairs of adult geese are the first back to the breeding grounds to establish and hold their nesting area. These are the loud pairs of geese you see on the ice of smaller ponds waiting for spring so they can start their job of nesting.

Molts on the other hand are much further behind. These groups of geese can be seen rolling north in large “V” formations during the month of May. They take their time migrating north spending time where food is abundant, and the threat of predation is lower (these molts are generally flightless for part of this period). During the month of September these geese will start making their migration back south and they can be very predictable.

Here are some things to look for and tips that can help you on your molt migrator Hunt.

Weather

A prime molt migrator day will have strong North or Northwest winds (15-20mph are ideal). A low ceiling with thick cloud cover is the icing on the cake as far as perfect conditions go for a molt migration hunt. They still push south without low ceiling and clouds but much fewer numbers and will taper off by mid-morning when it starts getting too warm. Temperatures in the 50’s with clouds will keep you seeing birds all day long.

The Right Field

The great part about molt migrator hunts is the field you hunt doesn’t have to have geese in it ever at any point. You’re looking for a field with a good hide and provides great visibility for your decoy spread. What’s more important is finding a field in a good flight line-this is the part of hunting molt migrators that’ll take some time looking for.

Calling

In my opinion, calling is second only to your field and the flight line it’s in. It’s going to be windy and the geese are going to very high, so having a call that you can get fast & loud on will be very important to your success. A big, visible decoy spread may catch the attention of a few birds but without the aggressive calling they will probably never look to see the spread. It is crucial to see the birds while they are still north of you, get their attention before they get over the top of your spread. Waiting too long in most cases results in birds continuing south instead of fighting the wind to come back to your spread. For this type of hunt, the more noise you can make, the better. Having five to ten callers is often a very productive technique.

Hide

This is a hunt where the large spread of decoys is also part of your hide. Big spreads give you the ability to attract high flying molts and better conceal your blind(s). A good grass hide, whether it be with lay-out blinds or A-frame style blinds, always does the trick.