Usually February signals the end of a short season for waterfowlers; a time to pack up the gear and lock up the guns for another long dry spell of warm days and quiet skies.

Not so fast.

In the late 1990s, a new season was created for waterfowlers designed to control an overabundance of mid-continent snow geese causing significant damage to critical arctic and sub-arctic nesting grounds. At the time, the light geese (snow, Ross’ and blue geese) population was ballooning out of control and needed to be reined in before they not only destroyed their breeding ground on the tundra, but did significant damage to waterways here in the states as well.

With the help of Ducks Unlimited and the Canadian Wildlife Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service created the Light Goose Conservation Order, which takes place every year during the reverse migration (February thru April) and is a heavily deregulated season.

The eased-up restrictions include:

• The ability to use electronic callers
• The ability to use unplugged shotguns
• Shooting hours extended to a half-hour past sunset
• No bag limit
• Hunters must possess a valid hunting license from any state.
• Shooting hours during the Snow, Blue and Ross’ Goose Conservation Order are one-half (½) hour before sunrise (local time) until one-half (½) hour after sunset (local time).

The reverse migration is a spectacle, to be sure. At any given moment, you’ll witness tens of thousands of birds straight overhead on their way back to Canada, but don’t get the idea that you’re about to whack a couple hundred birds.

Snows are hunted from September through May across all latitudes and longitudes of Canada and the United States. If you can fool a flock of snows down out of the atmosphere into your spread, you’ve really accomplished something. For first timers and seasoned vets alike, having the right guide who hunts the conservation season year after year and knows how to decoy highly-adaptive birds is the best way to go.

But whether you take two or two hundred, simply having the opportunity to see the massive flocks at peak migration is something every hunter needs to experience in their lifetime.