All my outdoor adventures are put down here for you to see. My goal is to make you smile or maybe even learn something. If you don't, well it's a good read anyway.
Wish me luck.....
This blog is dedicated to my Auntie Nae and my Mom. They have contributed to this in their own way.
Thank you for all you have done and still do.
And a special Thanks to my Dad, he started me on my path by having time to take me hunting and fishing.
Thank you.
First the good news: while I was out coyote hunting/ turkey scouting, I found something I hadn't last week. LOTS OF TURKEY TRACKS, so now all I need to do is get drawn. Of course, that's not a guarantee to get a turkey but at least between this week and last year, I've got a starting point.
Now back to what I did wrong.... just seems the more I live I am able to keep adding more stories to this column, am I not supposed to be learning from my mistakes? Anywho, I was on my last stand of the day and was walking into a spot that I have seen yote tracks in the past. When I was walking back to the spot I was going to call from I saw a yote at the end of the field. He moved left to right of me through a fencerow and into another field. As I was walking to try and get into position I was trying to get my shooting stick out. I couldn't free it from my backpack so I thought I would be able to shoot from the kneeling shooting position. When the coyote stopped I took my shot.... and missed.
It's only 170, I am sighted in for 200 with no hold over.
So onto what I did wrong.
1. For that distance, I should have gotten my stick out, no matter what, I didn't have another rest.
2. I never dialed up my scope, so I was shooting at a small target at over 170 yards on 4 power. I bought a scope that goes up to 9 and to date I am just wasting 5 powers. 😡
3. I should've gotten more sturdy which means sitting down on the nasty, wet, cold, ground before taking the shot. I owed it to the critter to make the best shot I could.
No animals were harmed on this hunt.
So in closing I made a bad shot and would like to say I will learn from this....but as we all know the next time I'm faced with the same situation and under a bit of a time crunch.
I'll do the best I can to get the best shot I can and just let the lead fly.
P.S.- There might be a bonus coyote hunt next week.... or I'll just be working on the boat.
Either way will be a win.
Monday I headed into town for a Dr. appointment. I started getting sick last Thursday, congestion, sinus pressure, cough you know the drill. Of course, since I was in town I had to stop in at Harbor Freight, what a great store.
Tuesday I went coyote hunting, I only have this week and next to get that done. Yesterday I went down to Mississenewa to do my turkey scouting and try for a yote. I had a pretty hard time with the turkeys' but the yote came about midday. I was on a stand that I have called in countless coyotes on, but this was the first one I was able to put down.
Like I said this was midday so I had quite a few stands left when...."I found fluffy".
If there's a reward for finding fluffy you can contact me. Thanks Today I took a road trip to Cabelpro, not sure how I'm going to be liking the new store. I just keep thinking that with no competition comes steep prices. Anyway, they were having their spring sale so I went and got some "necessities" for the upcoming fishing season. Once next week is over, all I'll have to do is finish my boat for my fishing season opener in April.
Gotta love the early season LM Coho.
I was out scouting on Sunday after work East of the Fort, I was seeing birds but nothing in my fields. I gave my buddy Tom a call to see if he has seen any geese. Upon answering the phone he blurted out, "when you gonna come out and shoot these geese". That's all I needed to hear, I put the car in drive and headed to the other side of town. When I got there I was amazed at how many geese were in the field. I decided right there to hunt his property for the next 3 days.
Day 1: I gave Jake a call and he rounded up Andy and Scott and we piled into a couple trucks and headed South. This was their last hunt for the year because of work obligations. We set up on the North side of the property where most of the geese were Sunday. In hindsight, we should've set up on the corner where I usually set up. We did manage to scratch out a couple birds early.
We had birds but they just didn't want to work, the kept flying to a spot West of where we were.
Scott and I jumped in the truck and he brought me over to where I could walk up these birds and hopefully they would fly at least over the other guys. Well, after getting the go-ahead call from Jake I started up the treeline to the main field. I just about reached the corner of the trees when a shot rang out. All the birds that were in the field picked up and headed West-Northwest. I quickly got into a position to shoot just in case something came overhead. Nothing really came close enough to me for a shot, so I started walking back to the blinds. Thinking the whole way that somebody wasn't really clear on the plan. Either that or it was, "play a joke on the guide day". When I got back I found out they had a single come in quite and Jake shot at it in self-defense.
As I was walking back we had geese all over and it wasn't too long before they had a three pack do it right.
I watched it all unfold as I was walking back. When I got back we hung out until they had to get home. We ended up with 6 birds, 3 birds shy of their limit. I didn't get any on Monday but I'm sure I'll make up for it the rest of the week.
Jake Andy and Scott
Day 2: Out by myself, none of my buddies could go. I packed in 6 full bodies and a dozen white rocks. I set up in the low spot on the property and just hid in the treeline. I didn't get any video (operator error) because all the kill shots were out of frame. I shot my limit of Canada geese by 9am.
It had rained the evening prior so it was a little muddy out, but not too bad.
Day 3: Raining all the way to the property and rained at least the first couple hours of the hunt. I only had a couple hundred-yard death march through the muck which you would sink the first 4 inches. I only had to make 2 trips out and back to get all my gear and decoys out.
As I looked around I found the spot I wanted to set up, I set up for an Eastern wind. I knew the wind would change halfway through the day. The bad thing was as I brought out my second load I thought the wind had already changed so I changed the setup and got ready for the day.
When the geese started flying the wind had changed back from the East, so the birds coming in wanted to land behind me. I did drop one of the birds from the couple flocks that tried to land behind me.
Then the fog rolled in and all flights were delayed.
When the fog lifted around 2pm all flights were cleared for take off. I had a flock come in close enough for me to carve my 2 Canada's out of it. I wasn't sure if my limit was 3 or 5.... let me explain.
I have been hunting this property for better than 20 years and have seen 7 white-fronted geese, 6 of which I saw this day. This was the early flock that came in was able to take one of the birds... an adult specklebelly.
how cool is this goose?
So I wasn't sure if I could take 3 Canada's plus 2 "others" or if it was 3 geese total. I errored on the side of caution and just took my 3 bird limit. Unfortunately, when I got home and checked the regs I could've taken one more Canada goose and one more other. Oh well, lesson learned, always carry regs.
My next conundrum was to stuff or eat..... I have been on a quest to get this goose ever since I saw my first one all those years ago. I also have heard these are the best tasting of the geese. After a lot of thought and consideration, I did decide to eat him and get my next one mounted.
I may live to regret that choice.
With the taking of this prized goose, it ended the 2018 waterfowl season for me.
What a way to go out.
