I am alive and have been getting out.

Alright, so I have been out a handful of times since my last post. For those who don't know I have been going through a rather tough year, which left me in a new house that I am doing some work on that takes up alot of my time.
Anyway, on to the good stuff, I have been chasing geese and coyotes over the last couple months and have had some luck.
The first hunt was back in November with myself and Mike. We hunted a field of corn half picked and half standing- which makes for a great hunt. The geese don't have any problems with cruising right over the top of the corn and landing within feet of it. If anything it could be said they fly and land too close, at least that's what I'm going with. We should've had limit, we certainly had the geese.

 It was pretty nasty but the better excuse was the geese were too close.
The next hunt was the next day and was in a field that we would've hunted this day if I couldn't get permission. So having two good fields and two days to hunt them found me in the other field the following day. Unfortunately, Mike couldn't make it and Sean was busy so I was solo. The day was pretty warm and uneventful until it got closer to sunset, then the fun started. I had ducks and geese landing in the decoys. Of course, that didn't last long with me shooting at them, it's amazing how quickly they figure out where the bad spot to land is. The bad news was they all pretty much came at the same time, so once the shooting started I had to make it count.

 I did drop another goose that I had to go get after this pic was taken, so that made 2 geese and 2 ducks.
So as many of you were aware we had a cold snap the last couple weeks. With that came the geese moving out, and the idea of coyote hunting took priority. So Sean and I headed to Salamonie to try our luck. Luck was with us when it came to seeing the coyotes. As far as shooting went, well there were some issues.
The first coyote came in on our 2nd stand and I was the one shooting.When he entered the field it looked as though he was going to stop at any moment so I didn't feel the need to try and stop him. Unfortunately, he kept a steady lope across the field, I launched the first round when he was around a hundred out. Miss. When my call switched over to pup in distress he checked up around 150. Miss. Then it was off to the races again before he got out of the field I threw one more at him. Miss. Then the unbelievable remorse started, from my experience on these public properties if you see one coyote a season it's been a really good season. So to just have blown my first and in my mind only encounter this year was devastating.
After a few more stands and kicking myself the whole time we got to a spot that I always call but have never seen a yote at. After the 11 min mark, I saw movement across the grass swale and had a coyote heading my way. Sean was to my left and I didn't think he could see the coyote headed down the trail in my direction. So I waited until he was clear of the scrub tree line and squeezed the trigger on the dog stopping him in his tracks. That's when I noticed the other 2 coyotes that were behind him. Well, the shot wasn't perfect so he was yelping and the caller had switched to pup in distress, and I was hoping Sean would be able to get one of the other yotes as they head for the hills. After it was all said and done I asked him what had happened, he said he hadn't racked his first round in forcefully enough. So he had actually been hunting all day with a gun that wouldn't fire. I thought that was kinda funny, he not so much.
Anyway, for the day I saw 4 which I have never seen that many in a day, with 3 on one stand is just awesome. One got to ride in the truck, in the back of course.

It was a pretty big dog and a very long haul I was a little warm.
This week, the warm temps had returned, so it was back to the fields for some geese. I had a field that had around 300 geese in it. So since the next day was going to be warm (30's) and foggy I thought I would have some time to get some errands done in town before I had to be set up for the first flock. Boy was I wrong by the time I got to my field at 10:30 and it was already covered in geese. So I switched from a decoyed shoot to a pass shoot in a matter of seconds. I parked the truck grabbed my sled, gun, shells, and clothes and walked across a different field I have permission on. I found a good spot on the edge of the field to put the sled down and lay in it to wait for an unsuspecting flock to fly within range. It took a couple hours but that very thing finally happened with 4 birds flying in range. After 3 shots I had 2 geese down, and I was pretty happy with that considering the other 296 geese flew to the North and South after the shots were fired. So I picked up the close goose, pulled the sled with the gear and goose to the path and walked up to retrieve the other goose. I got up to him and started back, when I got halfway back there were at least another 75 geese that took flight. I knelt on the path and waited for an opportunity at my limit goose. One goose got too close and joined his buddies on the ride home in the bed of the truck.

So there you have it, all caught up as of this week. Since I only have the bedrooms and baths to paint and I'm getting settled into the new house, there should be a more steady supply of stories coming your way.
Looks like next week is going to be a little colder so back to chasing the coyotes, and maybe a bonus afternoon goose hunt if I'm lucky.