This pond hunts differently than the shallow pond to the east, and it helps to know that going in. Most of the birds you’ll work here are traffic birds looking to roost or rest, not birds coming in to feed. Resident divers are the exception. Birds often take more convincing than they would on an active feed pond, so your decoy spread, calling and the low pressure on private land do most of the work. If you’ve only hunted shallow mud puddles, plan for a different kind of hunt.

The water gets deep, so come ready to set decoys and recover birds from open water. A dog, longer decoy strings, extendable decoy poles or a bank and shore spread all make it easier.

Once the pond locks up, the ice can bring some of the best goose hunting we see. A few things we’ve learned:

Ice safety is your responsibility. Bring a way to test ice thickness and proper water safety gear. If you aren’t sure the ice will hold, stay off it. No bird is worth your life or your dog’s.

Geese lie down on the ice. When they roost or loaf here, a shell spread looks more natural than standers. What we’ve seen work is shells facing into the wind, or into the sun on calm days, with full bodies and silos kept on the bank.

Don’t leave early. Unless geese fed all night under a full moon, they usually leave the roost to feed once it warms up, often between 8 and 11 a.m. The best action tends to come when they return looking for a safe place to rest.

Hide well. Geese are quick to spot a poor hide. Cover your face, cut sun glare, and when you think your blind has enough brush, add twice as much. White sheets help when there’s snow on the ground.

Johnson’s Corner West Pond is a 5-acre DIY duck and goose hunting pond near Gilcrest, Colorado, in Weld County and Colorado’s Northeast Zone of the Central Flyway.

The pond sits at about 4,800 feet in the South Platte River valley, one of the most productive stretches of the flyway, with the river roughly 5 miles away serving as a major regional roost. It is much deeper than the shallow pond on the neighboring listing to the east, and that depth changes how birds use it. Shallow, mud-bottom ponds draw puddle ducks in to feed. This pond works mainly as a mid-day loafing spot and overnight roost, even when iced over, and resident diver ducks feed on it through the season.

Overhead duck and goose traffic is steady all season and at times exceptional, even by Front Range standards. Later in the season, once the pond freezes, geese use the ice to roost and loaf, making it one of the better late-season goose spots in the area.

Check Colorado Parks and Wildlife for season dates, legal species, shooting hours, and license and stamp requirements before your hunt.

Reservation fees are due at the time of booking and are non-refundable. Outdoorsman fees will automatically process 48 hours prior to the adventure. It is the responsibility of the party organizer to ensure each attending guest is added to the adventure at least 48 hours prior, so they are charged accordingly.

For waterfowl, fishing, and other small game adventures, cancellations made 48 hours or more prior to the scheduled adventure will not be charged. Cancellations made within 48 hours of the adventure will be charged the full outdoorsman fee.

If there is a lapse in availability, please do not be discouraged to reach out to IO. All calendars are set and managed by landowners, and unavailability is set by them. However, IO is willing to reach out on your behalf, to check on available dates. Other reasons for unavailable dates include biologist recommended hunter/harvest quotas that landowners implement, as well as state season dates not being released.

You are not legally allowed to access the property, for any adventure, prior to your selected access day. If you try to access the property at all before your selected date(s), without prior approval from IO, you will be subject to trespassing and punishments therein.