Lots of pre-planning still doesn't guarantee success with snows. As Hindman explained, they often show little to no respect for even the best-laid plans.

"The problem is, you can go set up your 700 decoys in a field they were on yesterday morning," he said. "And the birds can come by and light a half-mile or mile down the road, and you have no access to that property. That's the problem. And as anybody who hunts them will tell you, snow geese are tough. So by and large, a lot of our waterfowlers don't hunt them.

"The few who do, often hunt with an outfitting service that specializes in snow geese. Or they hunt with a group of guys who've learned how to hunt snow geese -- and have access to lots of properties."

In recent years, bag limits for snow geese have been liberal and the seasons lengthy. This has more to do with hunting's limited impact on population than any dire need to reduce snow geese numbers.

Though mid-continent lesser snow geese have multiplied to a level where significant destruction of breeding habitat has occurred, this isn't the case with the greater snow goose, the species commonly found in Maryland.

"We get very few lesser snow geese here," notes Hindman. "The greater snow goose is the most numerous. The habitat destruction of tundra breeding areas hasn't occurred with the greater snow goose, which is a much smaller population.

"The spring count around the St. Lawrence River was around 1.4 million birds. That was before they went north to breed. The fall flight should be in the neighborhood of 1.3 million.

"The snow goose population has gotten a lot of media coverage, which has led to liberal regulations such as a spring conservation hunt in the Midwest for the lesser snow goose. We get only a few of those birds here.

"Conservation hunts have had an impact on the lesser snow goose population. To what degree is unknown, because there's no good way of estimating the total size of lesser snow geese. But they're still damaging their breeding areas in the tundra."

Odds favor the Canada or snow goose hunter who has access to private lands, or who enlists the services of an outfitter. But there is opportunity for hunters who choose to hunt public lands, particularly for Canada geese. And a reciprocal agreement between Maryland and Delaware gives Free State hunters the option of hunting snow geese in Delaware with their Maryland licenses.

"Wye Island Natural Resource Management Area (NRMA) is probably our highest-quality Canada goose public hunting area," said Hindman. "It's got the Wye River and plenty of agricultural land. They have goose pits available by way of a lottery draw. But if somebody doesn't show up, standby hunters have a chance at the blinds."

Located between the Wye River and Wye East River, Wye Island NRMA covers nearly 3,000 acres. In addition to its waterfowling opportunities, Wye Island provides important wintering habitat for native and migratory birds.

Hunting days on Wye Island have traditionally been Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays during the Atlantic Population Canada goose season.