One of the environmental factors making Red Rock so attractive to both resident and migrant honkers is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' flooding of the area to encourage the production of millet, smartweed and other wetlands grains. The controlled flooding has been a highly effective method of ensuring a high-end hunting experience in the area. The additional waterfowl refuges provide a level of protection for geese that they don't enjoy in much of the rest of the state.

Open water on Red Rock leaves a lot of room for the geese to roam, but you'll want to check the open-water areas near the grasses first. When honkers can have both food and open water in the same location, they have little reason to leave for the proverbial greener pastures. When the birds are on the move, the only way to know where they're heading is to do the required scouting.

A lot of resident birds can be taken from the area even in the late season. If snow geese are still traveling through the area, look to find them by the thousands.

Red Rock is in Marion, Polk, Jasper and Warren counties north of Knoxville. Additional information on Canada goose hunting opportunities at Red Rock can be found by calling the Red Rock Unit at (515) 961-0716.

MIAMI LAKE WMA
Though this wildlife management area covers a mere 766 acres, Schmitt said, it'll see good numbers of Canada geese during the late season. At an area this small, geese can be easily spooked, but the shooting can be fast and furious when the birds are there. Opportunities are available for both the boat hunter and the field hunter.

If the 135-acre lake has open water, the area is especially attractive to geese. Though geese will be spooked when the shooting starts, it's a great spot to check out on a morning during deer season when you've got a gun in the rack.

"I like to hunt geese in the morning and go deer hunting in the afternoon," said Schmitt. "At this time of the year in southern Iowa, hunters are a lot more focused on whitetail hunting than on the geese. The guys that waterfowl-hunt this time of the year have some pretty good success stories, but they've got to do their homework. We're talking southern Iowa roads that can take you a couple miles out of your way before you reach where you're going, but waterfowl hunters need to get out there and see which fields the birds are using."

Canada geese will gladly spend the night on the lake and then fly out onto the surrounding fields in the morning. Setting up in time to intercept the outgoing flights (early in the morning), or when the geese return in the evening are the windows of opportunity.

The Miami Lake WMA is an out-of-the-way spot on SR 137 in Monroe County, two miles north of Albia. The Rathbun Unit can be reached at (641) 774-4918.

DUNBAR SLOUGH WMA
According to biologist Ron Munkel, this WMA spreading out for miles and consisting of county, state and federal lands open to public hunting is one of the state's best waterfowl destinations.

"If there are geese in the area they'll even sit on the ice," he said. "In December, the shallow marsh can be frozen if there's sustained cold weather. The surrounding wetlands are even shallower, and will freeze up first, while the main marsh will stay open a little longer."

When worst comes to worst, the only open water may be the deep gravel pit on the WMA, which will be used by Canada geese long into the season. The pit, a mile and a half south of the main marsh off county Road E57, isn't accessible by boat; hunters are limited to shoreline or field hunting. As long as the food holds out in area fields, the birds will stay, said Munkel.

The waterfowl refuge at Bays Branch can harbor a lot of birds. Shooting will move the geese onto the protected property at times, and waterfowlers will have to set up on flyways or in the fields where the geese are feeding.