In January, geese feed heavily in rice stubble, but they also take advantage of other food sources such as rye grass, clover regrowth and winter wheat. Photo by Keith Sutton.

Late-season goose hunting can be downright demanding.

By January, the birds have been shot at from Canada to Cameron Parish, and even the young birds start to wise up. Owing to lower hatch estimates on the birds' arctic nesting grounds, hunters will face tougher goose hunting this year than they did last season. Combine this year's less-than-stellar hatch with similar numbers from the previous year, and it's fairly easy to read the writing on the wall: the birds will be really tough to hunt. Hunters serious about shooting geese need to know how to catch the birds with their guard down and how to identify where the birds will concentrate in the greatest numbers.

In Louisiana, that means rice country. From just north of Interstate 10 south to the coast, rice country composed of rice farms, cattle operations in coastal prairies and marshlands offer the variety of habitat on which both light and dark geese thrive.

First, let's talk food sources.

GO GREEN
Goose hunters should think "green" for late-season snows in particular.

"By the time January starts rolling around, you want to look real hard at rye grass, which is a key food source for geese," said veteran waterfowler Ed Kestler. "They will start hitting it and, in some cases, ignore just about everything else. Out in the rice country, it is very common for farmers to plant rye grass and have it growing by the latter part of the season.

"There is a definite point where the birds start feeding really heavily on rye grass, and success often becomes an issue of who has access to green fields."

Other similar sources in the Louisiana rice country are clover regrowth on dry ground and winter wheat crops.

"A lot of hunters get caught up just thinking the birds are feeding in the rice stubble, which is certainly important," Kestler said. "But the later the season gets, it is the other food items in rice country that tend to draw in the most birds. . . . (Hunters with) access to these kinds of crops definitely have the best success."

Something else to consider is grit. I have hit passing shots on birds flying from grit pits on several occasions and know hunters who routinely use the habit of "gritting" to their advantage. For those who do not know, all waterfowl need grit -- or, essentially, hard material -- in their diet to allow their gizzards to mill what they are eating. Domestic goose farmers often supply their birds with limestone, shell and even flint and sometimes give them coarse sand. There are "grit pits" on most federal refuges where geese congregate to get their essentials, but these birds will get it wherever they can from shell roads to sand pits. Knowing when and where the birds will utilize grit can aid hunters with limited access to agriculture. The key is learning the flyways to lure birds into your spreads and understanding which groups of birds are utilizing key gritting areas, as well as determining areas on which they are feeding and roosting.

SPOT THE ROOST
Equally important to identifying food sources is learning where the geese are roosting. Concentrations in this part of the world can range from 500 to 50,000 birds, and it is the hunter that spends the most time scouting that will know where the geese are coming from and where they are feeding during different parts of the day.