Aplogies and Thank you's

This morning......
I want to apologize once again to my buddy Jay for leading him astray this morning. Then I want to say "thank you", to him for helping me shovel my driveway.
Yesterday....
It was the first day I could get out for late goose season, and needless to say I was excited. I went to a field that usually had geese either in it or over it and set up almost my entire spread. Well the bad news was the geese didn't want anything to do with my corn field and flew right around me to a winter wheat field.
I'm talking about a large number of geese, so as I lay in wait for some geese that want to work I started making plans to hunt the winter wheat field today.
Well around 11am the geese started to slow down and I decided to pack it in, so I got up and started getting ready to go. Then the geese started flying again, so I geared back up and waited some more. I told myself that at 1pm I will pack 'er in. Usually I would've stayed 'til sunset however I was beginning to notice that familiar twinge in my lower back that only spells bad news. Well at 1 I broke my layout blind down and started to get stuff ready to go. I walked out to get my truck and drive it down the utility road to make it easier to pack up my gear. Once I got parked I again was watching geese circle and actually had one land in my decoys. The last time I was in this field I was within 6 feet of a goose before it took flight. I tried my luck and started walking in to the far side of my spread, where my gun was unloaded and cased. When I made it to my gun the goose finally took flight made a 3/4 circle right around my giving my time to uncase my gun load it and kill the crazy Ivan.
That's how I got my only goose of the day.

So I packed up all my gear and headed home, I could feel my back was in a little pain but still made plans to go out this morning. Well when the alarm went off at 5:30 and I literally crawled out of bed made it downstairs turned a little wrong and went to the floor in pain, I knew I was in for a rough day.
I have never cancelled any type of hunting or fishing trip, these are what I hold sacred and they keep me sane. Well before I was out of the house this morning I told Sarah what happened and she got really worried. I of course am just dumb enough to soldier on and let the chips fall where they may, and if the snow hadn't been coming down the way it was I might have just done that. However with the storm raging on I was really unsure what the geese would do. If it would have been a 60/40 shot I probably would have still went, however I let the pain speak and decided to cancel. While I waited for Jay to show this morning I grabbed a push shovel and started clearing the drive,(as long as I pushed and didn't try to lift or twist I was fine). When Jay showed up he instantly grabbed a shovel from the back of his SUV and started helping me. I told him the whole story I just told you and even though I knew he was dissappointed he said he understood.
So now that this week has been a late season bust. I can only hope I will feel well enough to get out next week. There's still plenty of geese and if need be Jay can take a day off.
I owe him a good shoot.
Meanwhile my wife has shoveled the drive and walk two more times, while all I can do is watch, and think to myself ,"she might as well shovel the path to the bird feeder as long as she's shoveling."

The day before the last day of the season

Once again I headed for some open water, when I got there I had 100 or so geese take off. I hurriedly set up my 6 decoys, set up a path to get from the ice to the water, sat down and waited. The geese came back in singles and pairs, they gave one honk and landed so I didn't get any video. I did however get my limit of geese. I dropped 2 in the river and 1 flew across the river, directly behind me on the other side of the river.

So I waited 'til sunset picked up my gear, went back to the house dropped everything off. Got in the car drove back out to the other side of the river, walked in and found my third goose dead in the snow. It was a 1300 yard walk in the dark and knee deep snow but totally worth it when I found my goose.

Special thanks to Sarah for stepping outside in the cold to snap this pic.
Now it's just a couple days until the start of the late season- Feb. 1 to Feb.15- 5 a day.

5 geese in 3 days

Last weeks hunting started with a Tuesday pass shoot. Since I was only going to be hunting for 3 and a half hours I didn't wear a heavy pair of boots or put on as many layers as I probably should have. After hour 2.5 I couldn't feel my left foot, and my fingertips were a little chilly. I did the usual walk around to stay warm but in only a matter of minutes my extremities were back to numb. I guess it had something to due with the extreme cold snap in the area. With the temps in the 9 degree range with the wind blowing at 13mph it got pretty chilly. The best part is I actually dropped a goose that I had to hit 3 times before he fell from the sky. I did make a shot shell change due to the ineffectiveness of my current rounds.

I call this one my frostbite goose because I couldn't feel my foot until I made it the 650 yards to the car.
I have since moved up to BBB hevi-metal I'll let'cha know how that works out.

Wednesday found me in a field hoping to get some action. I haven't been seeing any geese in my fields but I knew they were passing over this field to get to another field.
 I was done by noon.

I thought I had some really good video of this hunt but Jack Frost zapped my battery.
I could've loaded the truck up with all the geese I had trying to land.

This goose just wouldn't leave, I already had limit and this guy fell in love with my decoys. He stayed there while I picked up and needed the last of my decoys.

The real goose is just beyond the feeder goose.
Thursdays hunt was on a local river, I have permission to cross a buddy's property to get to it. I only brought a dozen decoys, but I really didn't need more than that. I set up at noon and had to wait until 5 to get some action. The weather this day was also a little extreme: the temps were in the 4 degree range with winds at 20 mph gusting to 30. I think I was a little hypothermic by the time the action started, I just didn't feel on top of my game which would explain this....... 

The geese were really grouped tight and I didn't want to hit more than 3 with one shot. I did want to get more than the one though.
It took me 45 minutes and any other chance I would've had at filling my limit but I finally caught up with that dead goose.

As you can see I have some storage issues.

Yesterday's walk

I would've called it a coyote hunt, but I just can't justify what I did as a hunt. I must admit I got the crap kicked out of me yesterday. The only way to see song dogs is by working harder than anyone else. By that I mean calling sunup til sundown, making as many sets as possible and walking further than you would think anyone else would.
The snow I had to work through made all that next to impossible. Yesterday I made 6 or 7 sets; that does not a good day make. It took 3X as long just to get to my spots, don't get me wrong, I love hunting in snow, just not 16" worth. In my opinion the best snow to call in is now officially 2-4 inches, any more than that and it gets really difficult.
Of all the items I have been able to keep a hold of from my childhood, my snowshoes became my favorite as of yesterday.

If I didn't have a set of snowshoes I would have been done by 10am.
If I would've driven my car I wouldn't have been able to put in one set. I went to Huntington and none of the parking lots were plowed, I drove the truck with that thought in mind and wow was I right. I was the first one out hunting since the storm, so I had to forge my own way. Some of my best spots I had to pass up because the snow either drifted or was plowed up too high. I did have a shovel with me but I really didn't want to get stuck and have to waste the time shoveling my way out.
I will probably try again next week since the weather between now and then is going to do a 180. Next week water will be the problem, not snow. Hopefully I'll have better luck.

Winter Wonderland and other fun stuff from days past

I was out looking for geese before Christmas and ended up behind this RV at a local Meijer. I had to get out and get pics, if any of you have seen Vacation or Christmas Vacation you'll understand why I was giggling the whole time I was snapping pics.
If you click on these pics I think they will enlarge for you.

I took a pic of this lady and her daughter, with the RV, her name was Griswald.

 Alot of work went into this RV and it was the coolest thing I have seen in a while. If you notice the RV is the same type and color as the one Ed drove in Chistmas Vacation. 

Too Cool.

Here's some of other vehicles I saw while scouting for geese. These ones aren't as cool.....

but still "funny"...

There's a rip in the side from the drivers door past the passenger door.

I think it got hit by a snow plow.

This semi took a corner too sharp and almost flipped over.

Cop is in the turn lane, car on the median.

Geese in a field I don't have permission to hunt

Here are the pics I have taken the day of the storm and today when I got gas and went to the store.

And today

We got a lot of snow which put the area into a 'state of emergency' yesterday with only Emergency Vehicles allowed to go out. Today the sun is out, we're hovering around -4 degrees with -40 windchill.
I'm going coyote hunting tomorrow.  : )