The northern half of the state experienced the worst of this cold snap.

"We had a few reports of large numbers of eggs freezing, including one (report) from the Mora area. A wetland (there) that is being monitored by a student saw 60 to 80 goose nests all with frozen eggs," Cordts reported.

The southern portion of the state was not affected by the spring freeze as much, because the birds arrived there earlier and most were incubating at the time of the cold weather.

Rave said it will still be a good year overall, but there might not be as many young birds around as in the past.

"This means hunters are going to have to be on top of their game and do their scouting a bit more if they want to get those older geese," he added.

Nylin is excited about the goose season this year as well.

"I think it will be one of the biggest years for goose hunting. There are just more opportunities and more time to hunt them than ever," he explained.

Minnesota's goose-hunting history is really quite a story because it's basically gone from nothing 30 years ago to the finest in the country.

"There were years when we didn't count a single goose in May," Cordts recalled.

That history is enough to give many waterfowlers reason to be cautiously optimistic for the future of duck hunting in Minnesota.

2006 Season Wrap-Up
The 2006 September Canada goose season harvest was estimated at 91,439 birds, making for a successful hunt. Large numbers of birds were taken from the area around Lac qui Parle in mid-October. That was unusual because recent trends have shown geese not arriving in the area until mid-November.

When the regular season opened in October, there were large numbers around Lac qui Parle, and hunters did very well, especially during the first four days of the season when about 26 percent of the harvest took place. The cold weather in October last year pushed many geese into Minnesota. When the weather stabilized and stayed nice, those geese just stayed here, making for some excellent hunting.

For the December hunt, most of the state was ice-covered through the month, but because of little or no snow cover, most geese stuck around, Cordts said; as a result, there were good goose numbers well into January last year in the southern third of the state.

"Geese are much more severe weather dependent, and it used to be that they'd pick up with some snow and ice cover," he said. "But now, it takes more prolonged snow cover, cold or a severe weather event to push them farther south."

There are always some geese that hightail it out of the state when the snow flies and water freezes. But the movement on the water of large flocks of geese can keep areas of water open even when the temperatures remain below freezing. Rivers are also an area where geese congregate during the late season when still waters are locked up.

"They don't need all that much open water. I'd say snow is probably a bigger deterrent because once it's too thick, they don't have access to the crop stubble," Cordts pointed out.

Locations
As many goose hunters know, Minnesota can be divided into a variety of habitat ranges -- the three broadest being the forests, the prairie and the transition zone between them. Goose numbers are highest in the prairie and transition regions where the birds have plenty of water for roosting and nearby fields in which to feed.

Throughout the season, Minnesota waterfowlers enjoy hunting two significant populations of Canada geese -- the local giant Canada geese that breed here, and the eastern prairie population of Canada geese that migrate through the flyway and nest in Canada.