Pass shooting

I was going to field hunt today, however when I got to the field and the wind was coming from the wrong direction. So I headed for home, on the drive I had an ide'er. I'll chill at the house for a while, then head down to the local frozen body of water for some pass shooting. Now once I got there I had determined that under no circumstances shall I shoot at flocks passing from behind me. The outcome would have the goose land on the ice and I would have no way to get it.

Yeah that lasted all about 2 flocks coming from behind me. The second flock flew by and one goose was in the way of the 3 1/2" BB I sent his way. Ok.....Ok so I sent 3-3 1/2" BB his way and he ate all but one, and kept flying. They were probably just inside of the effective range of my full choked steel shot choke tube. I knew I hit him at least twice so I kept an eye on in him. Disgusted at my goose flying away I reloaded when I looked back at him I saw him drop and skid on the ice to a dead stop.
Now the fun starts..... how do I get him?
I packed up and went back to the car. I got permission to park and walk to the waters edge. I stood on the ice and realized there is no way my skinny butt is going to get out to my prize. Within 3 minutes I had a plan, go to the house and get a fishin' pole and some weights and hooks.
When I got back to the ice I put my plan into action. After multiple casts, 5 hook ups, and 1 broken line, I was able to snag my goose and drag him over to the edge.

Now how's that for a story?
The only thing I have yet to figure out, did I need a hunting license, a fishing license or both?

Today I slept

I couldn't sleep at 12:30 am, so I got up had breakfast and coffee. I went to lay down at 2:30 am, got up at 2:40, still couldn't sleep. Went downstairs and watched some tv. Finally around 5:30 am it was time to get ready to go. So I packed up my gear and headed for the goose field. I got to the field in plenty of time to set up my dekes and layout blind. Around 11:30 the clouds cleared off and the sun came out. That is bad news for a cold weather goose hunter. If the geese haven't flown by the time the clouds clear and the sun comes out chances are they they won't fly 'til late. I closed my eyes around noon and hunted with my ears. I woke up at 1:30 and came to the conclusion that it's just not going to happen today, so I packed up my gear and headed for the house. I only had 5 flocks of migrators fly near enough to see my spread throughout the day. Apparently they had somewhere else to be and a schedule to keep. I called to beg them to come down for a visit, but they're wings never even skipped a beat So..... no pics, no geese to clean, nothing to do but dream about tomorrow's hunt.

Merry Christmas

Well I hope this finds everyone lazing around and content after the Christmas holiday. The bad news is for the first time in as long as I can remember.I didn't get to go goose hunting Christmas day. The wind was very bad and we had rain all day long. I hate hunting in the rain.

So I ended up just lazing around with my wife, we watched some movies and did some cleaning, sad isn't it? Anyway last Wed I went out with weed again to my property it was the fourth time I've shot it and the birds knew it. They really weren't skiddish and flaring but they knew something was up. We finally had a flock work pretty good, until they got into within 45 yrds. Then they just kinda lifted, we were able to bring one down. Most of the birds made a B-line to a field about a mile from us, so after the hunt I went down and got permission to hunt it. I was going to hunt it Christmas day, but we've already been over that. I'll save it for Tues or Wed when I'm off. This day shift I've been on, is really screwing up my hunting.

Now just keep in mind that this next picture, for all intensive purposes was a joke. No matter how well it worked, and it worked well. Since I've been field hunting the one problem I've had is, the birds are having to come from behind me to get to my spread. I have been going home with a sore and stiff neck from cranking it around to see if birds are moving. My solution is "the goose view mirror". It really worked good, I just placed it so I could see behind me where the birds usually get up from. Anyway if your done laughing (I'll wait for you to wipe the tears)....... Here's the pic.

Now who's the problem solver?

Last day duck hunt

My definition of addiction: Laying in a field waiting for some ducks or geese to cross your path, through snow,wind (13-20mph),temp drop (25-12 degree's), from 2 and a half hours before sunup to sundown.
That's how I spent the last day of duck season. 9 and a half hours of mostly watching clouds pass by. I did see alot of waterfowl flying in the distance. You see, I wasn't hunting the X but the closest field that I could get to the X. There was a pond a half a mile away that wasn't froze up and it has alot of ducks and geese on it.
Even though the day didn't have me shooting my limit, it was still a great day. You see the ducks that did decide to visit me worked awesome. Classic duck response, they would come right over but they would circle 4-5 times getting lower and lower on each pass until finally committing. The wind was blowing soo hard that it was hard getting them into position for the shot, they would be high one second and in range the next. As soon as you squeezed the trigger they were off and out of range. They just lifted up into the wind and poof, gone.
I had 3 flocks (12-15 birds) come over and work.
The first flock came over and I muffed the shot (that was only after 6 hrs in the field).
The second flock came over and wanted to drop on my right, when I sat up to take the shot I remembered that there was a road to the right, so I didn't squeeze the trigger.
The last flock to come over worked great and dropped right where I wanted them too. This was only after I moved my spread around to accommodate the new wind direction. After the smoke cleared 1 duck had fallen.

Yep all day for one duck, and he was beautiful.

Third field shoot this year

With the SE wind today a field hunt was my best bet. So I got up this morning @ 5:15 am and threw the dekes and layout blind on the cargo carrier on the car and off I went. I got to the field and set out my meager spread of 2 dozen geese and 1 doz mallards. Laid back in the blind and waited. Around 8:30 I had a flock of geese come through and I peppered the closest one but didn't drop him. I watched him for as long as I could and he didn't drop so I figured he's ok. The next flock through was the one I was waiting for. They came over me just a talkin.' So I started talkin' back to 'em real sweet like. I let 'em get out 100 yrds and hit 'em hard, man they doubled over and hooked right to me. I couldn't have asked for a better working flock, they slid right in front of me, and I dropped my 2 geese. Limit of geese by 9:23, so I settled in for some mallards. While I was waiting for the mallards I was covered up in geese. I had 6 land 10 yrds from me, they milled around for at least 30 min. before joining a passing flock.
Here's the pic:

Here's the blow up of the 6 geese

Even though you can only see three heads there's six out there.

The bad news is I only saw 4 mallards, of which I should've had at least one. I had a hen make 2 passes getting lower each pass, so I was going to give her one more pass. Well she never gave me the third pass, she just up and evaporated. Oh well, I had a great day and would've had some great video but my batteries died.

Well another great hunt until next time, be safe and get out there.

Well it happened again

I got out yesterday for a duck/goose hunt. Unfortunately someone forgot to tell the ducks and geese.........or maybe someone did??? Not a whole lot flying yesterday, only had 1 shot at a highflyer. All the ducks and geese around here are really stale. The majority of the resident flock is staying in town, and not venturing too far. No cold weather means no new waterfowl. Coulda shot a couple divers but decided to give em a pass.

Here's the pic.

The second half of the day was spent on a hope and a prayer coon hunt. I knew the moon was going to be full (bad for me) and the winds would be gusty (also bad for me).I went down to some public property to try for some coon. Only saw one set of eye's, by the time I figured out it was a coon and not a possum. He figured out I was trouble and vacated. So with the wind gusting more and more, and the moon getting brighter and brighter I gave up and went home after only 4 hours. I sure hope we get some cooler weather sooon.