Saturday, November 5, 2022 | Country Acres South • Page 1 PRSRT STD ECR U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #278 Madelia, MN 522 Sinclair Lewis Ave Sauk Centre MN 56378
SOUTH Saturday, November 5, 2022
Volume 1, Edition 11
Focusing on Today’s Rural Environment
Guiding the gun
Tlougan runs goose hunting service, provides learning, fun BY GRACE JEURISSEN STAFF WRITER
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OCHESTER – At 3:30 in the afternoon, a group of hunters waits patiently, using their calls every few minutes to lure the geese closer to their home base. It could be 15 degrees in December, but avid huntsmen will brave the elements to have a successful hunt. “For me it’s about being able to provide a memorable experience,” said Dean Tlougan. Tlougan has been growing and building his reputation as a man of many talents. He has been a body builder, real estate agent, dental technician, but his favorite titles are as a hunting guide around the Rochester area and owner of Premier Flight Guide Service. Since 1997, Tlougan has been running his own guide service, specializing between September and December on Canadian geese and between February and April on snow geese. The Rochester area, Tlougan said, is a flourishing area for goose hunting. In 1962, the DNR was gathering data on the Rochester
wintering area for geese and had a discovery. The Giant Canada Goose, thought to be extinct, had direct descendants making homes in the area lakes and ponds. “I’ve been scouting and mapping their migration for years,” Tlougan said. “I have it all in my head, all of my contacts and all of my hunting knowledge.” Tlougan, along with a number of other people including his son, Brendan, takes groups of hunters for usually a half-day hunt out to a field that Tlougan has pits built into. He sees the most action from flights at the warmest point of the day. The pits are large containers assembled below ground in the fields used for goose hunting. They provide a place to camouflage in the landscape of the field. “I’m fair with the groups that come out,” Tlougan said. “If they don’t get anything in the first half of the day, we will usually give them the option to come out again in the afternoon.”. Tlougan runs 12 fields that he leases from area farmers to put his pits for goose hunting in. The farmers
(Above) Once hunting pits are installed by Premier Flight Guide Services in the Rochester area, they will remain there for the whole year. When the weather starts to turn, there are propane heaters to keep the hunters warm during hunts.
get paid by Premier Guide Services to use that area, and the farmers farm around the pits, which stay in the ground yearround. Once hunting season gets close, Tlougan goes to the fields and weaves cornstalks over the flaps of his pits. This makes the field look normal to the birds as they are migrating. Below ground, the pits have propane heaters, making it easier for the hunters to stay out during the mid to late fall cold snaps.
(Left) Landon Tlougan holds his geese after a hunt in October. Landon is Dean Tlougan's grandson.
Tlougan page 2
PHOTOS SUBMITTED
Dean Tlougan holds up a goose after a hunt. He has been running Premier Flight Guide Services since 1997 and strives to provide a meaningful experience for all parties involved in a hunt.
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