Another portable blind by Avery is the "NeoTub," which allows hunters to lie down and stay dry in the water. The NeoTub's bottom is made of 3mm-thick waterproof neoprene with an almost-indestructible polyester-laminated outer layer. The sides and top are constructed with camouflage neoprene, also 3mm thick. All seams are glued and blind-stitched just like waders. It's perfect for hunting surface water, flooded cornfields, rice fields and soybean fields.

Abandoned, manmade structures can make good blinds if they are in good locations. I once saw duck hunters using an old boat wreck as a blind. It had been drug into the shallows and was covered with brush. Apparently, it was set up right along a flyway, and the hunters simply sat in it and shot ducks and geese as they flew over. On farms, there always seems to be abandoned tractors or trucks. If placed in the right location, they can be good blinds. The birds are used to seeing this kind of thing and do not seem to mind their presence.

Over the last few years I've used portable ground blinds like Primos' Double Bull to hunt ducks and geese. Portable ground blinds, which you can set up exactly where you need to be in less than five minutes, enable you to play the wind and sun. Most of the time these blinds are used by bowhunters, but they're great for waterfowl hunting as well. Veteran bowhunter Mike Cascio gave me a great tip for using these ground blinds. Since most of them have black lining, he advises wearing black shirts, gloves, facemasks and makeup. "That pretty much renders you invisible," he said.

TAKING REFUGE
A final factor to consider for snow goose hunting is what I call the "refuge effect." While federal and state hunting refuges are a huge benefit to hunters who use them, they can be troublesome in some ways for those hunting private lands.

The refuges along the coast have a huge impact on goose distribution and population growth -- this according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report entitled "Factors Contributing to High Populations of White Geese."

"During the 1970s, changes in hunting practices near refuges included a reduction of firing lines, creation of no-hunting zones, manipulation of croplands to provide food, and a restricted harvest of geese on refuges and off refuges," the report reads. "The management practice of half-day hunting was initiated to hold migrant geese longer to increase hunting opportunities and local harvest, but its success also appears to have influenced distribution.

"These factors led to such migration sites functioning as true (refuges). Long-term reduction in the hunter harvest is consistent with the hypothesis of disproportional growth of population units using refuges. These refuges might thus function as (locations) for population growth and exploitation of surrounding 'new' agricultural foods."

This all gets back to hunters being prepared for what they will face in the field. A hunter who knows where the birds are roosting, flying and feeding -- whether it is on a federal refuge, private land or a state management area -- will be well suited to face the challenges goose hunting can offer.

Goose hunting is like no other sport. It takes an immense amount of work, dedication and time -- but when you set up in a field and have dozens of geese fall out of the sky and into your scattergun's range, everything that you've put into it will seem well worth the effort.

It's a certainty that your shoulder will be bruised from firing your gun and your bones will ache from lying in a cold field. But as is often said in sports, "No guts, no glory" -- in this case, "No guts, no geese."