"There are some definite honeyholes around the metro, andm any of them are regularly used by some area guides. For the average guy finding a place to hunt is pretty tough," Lueth said.

Following the Migration
Waterfowlers are becoming more and more tech savvy and for good reason: There's a ton of information online that enables hunters to monitor the pulse of the goose migration.

Information that can be accessed online includes weather forecasts, crop reports, waterfowl abundance, habitat conditions and migration chronology. All of this enables a waterfowler to keep an eye on conditions and better plan a hunt for that time when there are better odds for a successful hunt.

Weather information is best found online at www.weather.com, published by the Weather Channel; or at www.weather.gov, published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Both Web sites contain detailed information on continental and local levels, and are quite easy to navigate.

The state of Minnesota officially has a tremendous online resource for waterfowlers in the form of a weekly migration and hunting report. The report is a compilation of state and federal wildlife manager reports and waterfowl surveys across the state. It can be found on the MDNR Web site at www.dnr.state.mn.us. Click the link for "Hunting," then on the link for "Waterfowl."

Depending on the weather and the progression of the migration, one of the best ways to find out when geese are coming through Minnesota is to find out what's going on in North Dakota and South Dakota. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service publishes waterfowl reports from North Dakota throughout the waterfowl season online at mountain-prairie.fws.gov/pressrel/nd_waterfowl/index.htm.

A similar report from the USFWS provides waterfowl count numbers for the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife Refuge at http://midwest.fws.gov/uppermississippiriver.

One of the reasons Minnesota is a popular stopping point for migrating geese are the many millions of acres of grain fields. One of the best times to get into an area to hunt is fresh after farmers have knocked down the crops. Weekly crop/weather reports for Minnesota are online at www.nass.usda.gov/mn.

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Be sure to "tune in" on the WriteOutdoors.com podcast for tips and advice on e-Scouting and other successful techniques for goose hunting throughout the 2007 seasons. Good hunting!