Been a couple weeks

My duck and goose opener started out pretty good. Since the corn is still up around here it's pretty much all water hunts. So I started this year at one of my favorite water spots. I really didn't see alot of ducks or geese but I had 1 dumb wood duck and 1 dumb goose come by. The next day it rained and blew all day, I never even squeezed the trigger.

sorry about the indoor pic

Every Mon after I get off work, I drive around to all the properties I have permission to hunt on to see if the corn has come down yet. Well, even though none of the corn has come down I did find a field the geese were using. It is a field I had permission on last year, so I asked if I could hunt it this year and the owner said I could.
That is the great part, the bad part is it is a bean field this year. That means there is absolutely nowhere to hide, you are just out in the middle of the field in your layout blind, which is stubbled the best it can be with whatever kind of vegetation  you can find.
So I set this hunt up with two of my buddies - Weed, who has been in here quite often, and Chad, this is the first time I have hunted with him.
Well I think the 2 things that stand out most about this hunt is:
1. Since Chad rode with me I noticed that as soon as he got into the truck that he had cologne on. Now this really isn't a big deal since ducks and geese don't rely on smell. However I did make some mention that whoever the next person is that uses that ground blind might question the goings on, on the last hunt.
2. Even though he had mentioned that he has hunted before, he still came walking out to the truck with a gun,a lunch bag, and the bestest part a white plastic bag that I can only assume had his gloves and face mask in. He assured me that he has a camo backpack, but his son had borrowed it and now he couldn't find it.
I'll be sure to update you on that when I see the backpack. By the way I did tell him I had a bag he could have if he needed it.
So we got to the field and got set up, waited only a half hour or so when we had 5 coming in just like I wanted them to. When they got into the kill zone I called the shot and 3 geese dropped. The other 2 didn't want to leave so we kept calling, the fourth goose got close enough and we winged him. He went down in the next field and since he wasn't moving we decided to leave him there. We kept working on the last goose but he finally took off.
I was keeping an eye on the wounded goose when I noticed him up and walking. We didn't want him to get away so I loaded up and went after him, by the time I got within a block of him he had made it across the road and parallel to some corn. Fortunately the owner of the property showed up as I was crossing the road, I let him know what was going on and asked if I could chase the goose on his property. He said that I could, so I looked over and saw the goose with his head down "hiding" by the corn so I walked up to within 20 yards and shot. MISS, what? now the goose is up and running, shoot again, MISS, Really?? Shoot the last round aaaannnnndddd got him. I started walking over to him to pick him up, got within 2 feet and this goose stood up started running and flew away over the corn.
SON OF A, so I went into the corn to see if I could locate this goose, I spent at least a half hour walking the corn rows looking for this bird but without a blood trail I was unable to find him.
So we ended up with 3 geese for the day, we had a good time, got some sleep and didn't get rained on. What else could you ask for?

Weed, Chad, and Me

Time to pick up.

My Deer Opener

I finally got a day off today and was able to start my 2011 Deer season. 15 minutes after shooting time my deer season was over, well at least my Buck tag was filled.

He weighed out at 167 pounds

 After I shot, he only went about 45 yards laid down and passed. I gave him plenty of time because of the extreme angle of the shot. After I field dressed him and started dragging him, I realized that I had to find a better way to get him to the car. Tom was at bingo (he won some pop tarts and mac and cheese) so I went over to the neighbors and asked to borrow their gator. Thank god they said yes or I would still be dragging that deer to the car. This is the biggest buck I have taken on this property, not the biggest I have seen though. This typical 8 point is going on the wall, since it's probably the last buck I'll take here.
Tom- the old property owner, sold the farmland to Mike- the guy farming it, and he plans on tearing out all of the fence rows. I can still hunt there, but without the fencerows it's uncertain where the deer will go through at. So I'm making hay this year and hope to put 1 or 2 more in the freezer before the 15th.
Now I can just fun hunt (does) until duck season opens on the 15th.