The Hill

There's a storm a comin'. 

The best thing to do during a storm??? That's right, go goose hunting.

So, that's what Jake and I did. He had some geese up on "The Hill" by his house and we needed some payback. This hill has been our nemesis, either the geese refused to show up, or if they did they veered off, or they just straight up flared away from us. I tried to look up how many times we've hunted there but just couldn't nail it down, but I know it's been 3 or more. The number of geese we've taken off it was 3 back in 2020, so with the upcoming weather our hopes of a total topper were high. 

Well at least mine were 😁

I got to Jake's at 6ish in the am, we put together a blind, loaded the gear into the side by side and headed out in the dark. We got to the hill and threw out the spread of silo's and the layout's and waited for the guests of honor. 

Talk about being fashionably late, we both thought with the terrible weather that they would be there as soon as they could see but they started strolling in around 10.

A scout came by first didn't care for what he saw and bugged out. He must've gotten lost in the storm because is wasn't 15 minutes and we had 2 more coming in, and doing it right. When they were almost too close when Jake called the shot, 2 geese down, we both got 1. Then the flood gates opened and they started coming to us in 20 packs. That would've been really awesome but they kept wanting to circle and when they got around behind the spread they saw the snow covered silo's. Then they would either bugger out or land too far out. We cleaned them off the silo's every chance we got but as the day went on they would ice up faster and faster.We did have one flock that landed behind us and Jake got up flushed them and shot and dropped one. But the majority of the geese just didn't want to play right. They all seemed to come by me on the left pretty low and I could've shot a limit. It wasn't until they were pretty much done flying that Jake told me to go ahead and call the shot if I have one 😲. We had a goose filled fun hunt in the snow/rain (it was 34 degrees) we didn't top our hill total of 3 but we did match it. 

At least we're not going backwards...

Picture time is done....

All I could do was shake my head....

 With only 20 to 30 geese hitting my fields I opted to go to the river, since it was open, because it has been so damn hot....😡 

Anyway I got my gear together and headed South for the day. When I got to the river to my dismay I was not the only one hunting. And from the lights bobbing in the distance they were setting up on the spot I planned on going to.😡

Good thing this wasn't the first time I've been on this river. I knew of a spot a little further North that I've done good before so I launched the boat and headed upstream. 

This was my first spot.

Daylight came and went without anyone firing a shot, and I'm happy to say a little before 10 I was the first. I had a goose come in quiet from the North, I saw him right before he landed, one shot one kill.

Well, a half hour after that I heard the other guys shoot 2 times, I was kinda hoping they had left cause I still wanted to be where they were. As I was waiting I had a flock of 15 or so come around 3 x's wanting to land but not committing and what was worse not even close enough for a shot.

When noon rolled around I figured the other guys had given up, so I packed up the 12 decoys I had out and headed downstream. When I got to the point I saw the guys at the launch packing it in for the day, so I threw out my whole spread. By the way, I forgot to mention that when I was moving I was only 3 minutes downstream when a pair of geese came in and I can only assume would've worked.

This is my second spot

 Anyway so here I am on the first point with nothing in front of me but water. I hung out the rest of the day and only saw 5 geese until I saw a pair way off in the distance over the dam. I called a little bit not a whole lot because they weren't that talkative either. They ended up passing me on the left only to swing around me and come back a couple minutes later on my right. I was ready to drop them when they landed directly to my right.... good news right? 

Nope, I have houses not 75 yards off to my right, so I thought if I waited they would swim out to decoys and I could water swat 'em. 

Everything worked as planned until it was time to drop the hammer. I noticed I was almost hyper-ventilating and my heart was pounding out of my chest, ie adrenaline was getting the best of me. By the time they were clear of the houses I jumped up shot 3 times, sat down and shook my head in disgust. Yep I totally whiffed on the easiest 2 birds I've had shots at all year. 

Oh well, there's always next week right?

Here's the one that didn't get away.

Not every hunt...

 Can be great...

I mean it would be nice but if you didn't have any bad poor hunts, you would have nothing to compare the good/great ones to.

Well, this week was a poor hunt, Jake and I went back to the field that I almost got stuck in last week. The land owner had relayed to me that there were MANY geese in the field on Sat. I scouted in Fort Wayne Monday night and didn't see a whole lot of geese so I thought, "what the heck?"

Tuesday had the wintry mix in town along with heavy clouds, and that sounded perfect. I got there early and ran decoys to the spot, and started setting up, which is when I realized my left wader boot was leaking. I mean I knew the crotch leaked (these aren't my good waders) but forgot about the boot. So after I put the floaters out I had to wring out my soaking wet sock and put my other boots on.

That was fun...

 When Jake got to where I parked I ran up with the wheeler and got him and his gear.  

I'm the kinda guy that gets set up and lays down in the blind and maybe does a little hunting with my ears. Jake is not that guy, he likes to stand most of the time during the slow times. That's how we got busted by the loner that came in silent. He was headed right for our spread when he finally honked, which sent us both diving for our blinds. After trying to get him back until he was out of sight, we kinda stayed hunkered down. 

Quite a while after that goose we finally had a pair coming in from the West. They were low and headed right for the spread. With some reassuring calling they were on a B-line for the spread until the last 50 yards when they kinda veered off to the South, making our shots 35-40 yards. Enough with the excuses we both missed all 3 shots apiece 😡, they were killable we just missed. Anyway Jake took off around 11 and I decided to stay a couple more hours. 2pm I pulled the plug, I was running the gear back when the wheeler started spitting and sputtering, I knew I was low on gas. So I turned it to reserve and hoped I had enough gas to get all the gear back into the trailer. I was mildly amused when I realized I was going to make it and not have to push the wheeler.

All in all it was a day not great but nothing broke either. 💩

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it rained 3/4's of the day and I didn't bring my rain gear. 

Yes, gotta love the suffering.

Still better than working.

New Years resolution

 My New Years resolution is to only hunt deer for the first weeks before waterfowl opens. Then switch to duck and goose until Halloween week, then back to deer. 

Whew, hope that works out for me.

With only Monday and Tuesday left for late season duck I got a call from a buddy that he had water and geese in his field. I know that there are also usually ducks in and around this property. So I decided to give it a go... blind, meaning I didn't scout it but am 85% assured success. The unaccounted for factor was the weather, which was supposed to be rain, warm temps and alot of fog. I didn't think the waterfowl would fly til later so I took my time getting to the field. When I got there I bumped 4 ducks off the flooded field. While I was deciding where to set up I had the entire mob of geese do a fly over to assure me that I failed. I set up anyway and waited in vain for the near dark flight that never came. Lesson learned, pack up and try again in the morning?

The morning came with torrential downpours that looked like might let up by 7ish. With it being the last day for duck, against my better judgement I started the truck and headed south. I was mildly surprised when the rain stopped half way to my spot and was merely misting the rest of the way. After turning off of the paved road and onto the entrance of the small field I dropped the truck into 4 wheel drive. I only made it 15 yards into the field before my truck was stopped, tires spinning but not making any headway.

OK, I thought to myself I'll worry about getting out later, now it's time to get set up. So 2 trips out to the field and I was ready to get ready. After getting the dekes set and the blind brushed in it.... started to rain again. CRAP, I wore my rain jacket but it really doesn't keep much water out, I hate hunting in the rain.😡

The ducks came around 8:30 but wouldn't commit for a shot, they were picking me out. So I begrudgingly moved my blind to try to blend a little better. The bad thing was the ducks were done moving but the geese were just starting. I had a flock coming from behind me from the left, I called and they flew past me hooked around towards me and did it right. I however had forgotten how to shoot and barely dropped one out of the 6. As they were flying off I watched one get lower and lower and finally go into a death glide. I didn't see him go down but I was pretty sure he would be waiting for me later.

Around noon the fog started rolling in pretty thick again.... when I heard a honk. Oh boy, finally some action or at least the possibility of some. I gave a couple honks and this goose appeared out of the fog in a B line for my spread, wings locked landing gear down. When I thought he was close enough I shot, and again, and the last one in the hopes of bringing home another goose. The last one was the one, the goose went down a way's away in the field but at least I will have my second goose in hand. After a short foot pursuit, I didn't even have to run, I was able to fire off one more to tack him down. I was only going to stay until 1pm just in case I had to call my buddy to help get me unstuck. The way I was figuring it I had 3 choices:

1. get help

2. wait for the freeze on Thursday

3. maybe just back out.

So after a miserable day in the rain, with no ducks to show for it, and probably getting the truck stuck bad enough I might need a tractor, I had 2 geese with a possible third.

Hmmm not bad.

Well, I got packed up and brought all my gear back to the truck and tried to go forward. I thought with alot of the weight out of the trailer I might be able to move. Nope.... well lets give #3 a try. 

Yep, that's the ticket.

Why does every field in IN turn to snot with some rain

  I didn't like the idea of backing out because of the dip before getting back on the road, I thought it would be possible to get the trailer stuck and then I would need a tractor. But all's well I'm obviously home and so is my truck and trailer. 

 Now, where to next week?

 

Whoa, wait a minute how 'bout that third goose right???

I got him. 😁