A lot of sunrises have passed since we enjoyed the liberal shooting and liberal limits associated with the September goose hunt. The hunting is by far tougher, the birds more educated and the bag limit has changed drastically from five geese per day to two.

With all that bad news, all that's left is simply more than 60 days of great late season goose hunting. Two a day or even one, dedicated goose hunters will be out there banking them in and laying them down. There are those whose goose hunting is limited to passing shots from a morning duck hunt, and that's fine. But there are those that would rather stake themselves out in a layout blind in a cold field than a warm duck blind.

Wherever you stand in the goose hunting lineup, there's something special about turning a gaggle of geese in your direction and them leading them in like a dog on a leash. For beginners to veterans, we've laid out some late season strategies for you this week that'll help guide you through the next two months of goose hunting in the Volunteer State.

J.R. Adkins is a pro staffer for Bass Pro Shops' RedHead Hunting Team and Knight & Hale Game Calls. He's also a Tennessee State Champion goose caller and knows a little about taking geese down.

Adkins said the biggest key to being a successful goose hunter in the late season is doing your homework and finding where they go to get their groceries. He said he can't stress enough how important it is to keep tabs on geese in the late season because, believe or not, he's found their diets change according to what the temperatures are for that day.

For example, on warm or milder days where grass blades aren't frozen or frosted over, they seem to still prefer pastures or planted wheat and rye fields, but on a typical frozen winter morning when a bird's metabolism is crankin' to keep his body temps up, their store lists change to foods higher in carbs. Adkins said that means one thing here in the Tennessee River Valley - cornfields. The birds can spend less time and energy foraging for food much higher in protein and carb content.

When it comes to late season calling strategies Adkins has found you can't make the same mistakes you made in September and get away with it. He explained, by this time, even the young juvenile birds know what bad calling sounds like, and Adkins doesn't just mean sour notes. He said the biggest turn off to late season birds is calling too much, too often and at the wrong times. Once you get the birds' attention, lay off the hard stuff, keep their attention with feeding calls and softer notes, but do not blow them out of your dekes.

Looking at decoy spread options, Adkins can narrow his late season choices to just two. The "X" and "J hook" patterns work best hands down for him. In moderate to variable wind conditions, he likes the X pattern because it gives you three pockets to take advantage of. If the wind changes, it's much easier to turn your layout blinds than to reset the whole spread.

"On a hard, windy day, the J Hook has worked wonders for me," said Adkins. "I'll always get in the back or bottom of the "J" with another good caller or two because you want them to finish all the way in the back so everyone in the party can get in on the action."

Every day is different and you just have to be out there to experience it, but Adkins said different days have different primetimes. Keep in mind, on colder days, he said geese tend to hang tight on the roost. Normally, your top time to be in a field setup is from 7 a.m. until 10 in the mornings and then 4 in the afternoon until shooting time expires in the evening.

Adkins said if you're hunting the lake or a river just the opposite is true. For the morning hunt, 10 a.m. until noon is prime for birds coming back the water from fields to rest and gravel. The last few minutes of shooting light are the best in the evenings for catching birds coming back to roost, but Adkins doesn't recommend this unless it's the last days of season or just your last day to hunt for the year because of the effects it has on the birds the following days.

"When I'm experiencing variable winds I like to set my layout blinds in a crescent moon shape so the ends of my blind sets are somewhat facing away from each other to prevent any birds from flanking my spread," instructed Adkins.

Regardless, set your layout blinds with one thing in mind. Adkins said the wind better be always blowing on the back of your head - period, no questions asked. Birds always use the wind to finish.

"In fields again, I like the X and J Hook," repeated Adkins. "Using family groups to establish the X pattern makes it look more realistic. For the most part I only use the J on super windy days because of the composition of the spread and how they use it to funnel into the back of the hook, that's what makes it so deadly, and its awesome for the guys on up the side of the J to watch geese pass by at mere yards to get to the callers in the back of the hook.

"If I'm hunting a river with a sandbar or an island on the lake, I like to pile full bodies in a line on each side of the bar or island funneling the birds back to me with some shells and sleepers at the back of my spread along with some floaters along the edges of the water, to create the most realistic look I can," added Adkins.

Goose hunting isn't always textbook, and you're going to make mistakes. But you can be more successful by avoiding a few that you can control. Adkins said to not get into a rut doing the same things over and over or just resorting to trying to kill them around your duck spread.

"To be successful at killing geese in the late season you have to target geese, even though I've killed a pile of them around my duck spread with good calling," remembered Adkins. "Most are just passing shots and not decoying geese. Although similar, ducks and geese sometimes prefer different feeding and resting areas in the late season, but if you're a student of God's great creation, it's very possible to put together some very special days in the field."

Strategies definitely change from early to late season after birds have been called to and shot at a number of times. Adkins said to pay more attention to detail by keeping your Carry-Lite decoys free of mud and your layout blinds dressed to match the surrounding vegetation. He said scouting for birds in places you may have overlooked earlier in the year and shooting the highest quality of loads you can afford like the Winchester extended range HD in 2s and BBs, are all ways of turning a late season around.

Federal frameworks for Canada goose season were extended in the Kentucky Lake Canada Goose Zone and will allow 72 days of hunting across the state. Tennessee will effectively have only two functional Canada goose zones in the Statewide Zone and the Northwest Zone. The Statewide Zone dates for Canada goose are Oct. 4 - Oct. 11 and Nov. 28 - Jan. 30. The Northwest Zone dates are Nov. 15 - 16 and Nov. 29 - Feb. 8.

Season dates and bag limits for light geese (snow, blue, Ross) are similar to last season with a shift for the calendar. The standard season will run from Nov. 24 through Feb. 8. Federal Conservations Order provisions allow the use of electronic calls and unplugged shotguns for the Feb. 9 through March 10, 2009 portion of the season. Look for column on late season goose strategies in the near future.