Last week and Last week

Last Week: part 1

Well, Monday Jake and I had plans to go out to one of my properties. He gave me a call in the a.m. and had to cancel so I just decided to be lazy. It turned out to be a good day to be lazy as the sun decided to pop out after only a couple hours of clouds. With Tuesday and Wednesday also looking to be sunny I basically took the whole week off, until Thursday that is. We were suppose to be getting some weather on Thursday so I had to get out and give 'er a try. 

I hunted with my ears (eye's closed ears open) for most of the morning, with very little to report except for the 18 degree high. It turned out to be a pretty long day until afternoon. Closer to 1pm I heard a goose honk behind me. I gave a little hooty-hoo on the old goose horn and didn't hear anything back so I decided to lift my head to check my surroundings, and low and behold I had 15 more decoys in my spread and they were alive. So after a brief course of action meeting in my head I sat up, flushed the flock and was able to drop 2. 

Since there was weather that was suppose to come in, I wanted to get picking up and going by 2:30 which was around when this pic was taken. Notice the absence of blinding snow. 

 

By the time I made my first decoy trip out, the storm hit. It was literally like a wall of snow and ice blowing in from the East. After I got loaded and on my way everything in my trailer was snow covered and I was soaked. I drove home between 40-60 mph partially because of white out and partially because of slick roads.

The good news is I got super good gas mileage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needless to say I didn't make it home until 5:45 and didn't get to bed until 6:45 -ie no blog entry. The things a waterfowler will do just for a chance at a bird still baffles my mind.

Last Week: part 2

With this being the last week of goose season I looked at the weather and decided to hunt every day, except Jeffday, only because I too need a rest day, and after yesterday I was whooped.

All three days I hunted in town, Monday was non eventful, I'm pretty sure the birds new my game out there. I burnt it out pretty good, I think out of the dozen times I hunted there I set up the same way at least 6 of them. With the high of 10 degrees and birds not really wanting to work, all I really got on Monday was alot of sleep which was wonderful. 

I left the house in the dark and made it home in the dark.

Tuesday was a late day due to sunshine, I got to my spot at 3. This spot is a late season spot and it holds birds, as soon as I got there I busted out 75-100 birds of which one stayed to add to my spread. After a couple hours I had a flock come in silent, while I was watching some ducks. I dropped 2 to fill my limit for the day, I only had another half hour to hunt, so it was another long day.

Yeah my hat may look goofy but it sure keeps my head and ears warm.

 Yesterday I was back in town running a little traffic. I haven't seen geese on this property all year but with the impending snow moving in I thought it would be my best chance at a limit, because they were in the area. The first thing I had to do was get the spread out, so I drove down the lane and made trips out with decoys. It was too snowy for the wheeler so I had to run decoys old school. When I was done with the decoys I had to drive to the end of the lane and turn around. Well, it seems the tracks I was following were made by a truck that was not hauling a 7x16 double axle trailer. Needless to say I tested out 4hi, 4lo and my shovel, after an hour I was able to park the truck and head out to the blind for some much needed rest the hunt. I had some geese moving all day but it really got interesting around 2, the snow was predicted around 3 so the geese started getting up and moving. I had my first flock that I called over and was going to do it around 2:30. I say was because I never let them set up like I should have, as soon as they were close enough I shot...... and missed, maybe. I had one goose soar off 400 or so yards and go down. Off I go to try and get that goose, as soon as I got to within 50 yards he took off. So I started back to the blind, it was snowing pretty good now, halfway back I watched 75 or so geese drop into my set. With the blinding snow in my favor I stayed on the lane and walked like I was going to pass the geese and my set. When I got a little past my set and had a favorable shot angle, I turned and walked tword the geese which were now all watching me. When the flock got up I managed to put 2 down. I stuck it out until sunset, however when I picked up I used the wheeler and boat on the lane instead of running the risk of getting stuck again. 

 The weird thing about this year is, of all my properties I have to hunt, I only had geese on 3 of them. So, I had to hit them alot if I wanted to keep putting feathers on the ground. In years past I have been able to move around more so the geese didn't get wise to the game, but not this year.

The only sad thing is I went another year without a band

and I didn't get any bonus geese this year either.

 Somebody got lucky this year but it wasn't me..... they were my properties... but it wasn't me..😢

And that's how my goose season 2020 ended, all in all I had a really good year with some really good friends and I was able to put alot of meat in the freezer.

For the rest of February..... watch out coyotes....😈

All aboard the struggle bus.... HHHooootttt hhhoooottt

 Jake had alot of geese around his house this week, so we got a plan together and called in Doug to help with the carnage. We starting setting up in the dark not knowing when the geese were going to show. When the daylight finally cut the darkness we were all giddy with excitement in anticipation of the guests of honor. Who were a no show, Doug had to go by 10:30 Jake and I went to get some gas station lunch. We drove around and checked the area roosting lakes and they were looooaaaaded with geese. So we decided to hang out 'til sunset this time.... Yeah I said this time, this would be the third time I've hunted this very same hill in 3 years and have yet to put feathers on it. Back to the story... Doug called after a couple hours and we told him what we were going to do. He decided to come back out a little later. So now we were all set, the dekes were out, the blinds were set, now yet again we were waiting on the geese.

But when they showed up....

(Video)

We finally did get a flock to play and of course I wasn't recording, they didn't really give it up but they got close enough for us to scratch a couple out. Then a pair flew in and only one flew out... I along with the other two left the field with significantly lighter blind bags.... That means we shot alot.

Even though we shot terribly and only put 3 down I still chalked this hunt up in the win column. You gotta keep in mind this is the third time I've hunted this hill and the first time anything showed. The other thing is these are the same geese everyone's been chasing for 3 months, they knew the game.

Monday we went South for the big weather event. Which was suppose to be rainy, drizzle, fog all day and ended up being snowy, sleety, fog all day. Which is actually better except the blind I brought for us when it gets wet just turned black. When everything around you is iced over or white, black really sticks out.
Fortunately for Jake he got his goose before the majority of the snow showed up. We had a flock come in and almost did it right, I called the shot, changed my mind and then called the shot again 'cause Jake was already standing when I changed my mind. Really bad call on my part but Jake did manage to get a goose that sailed a good 200 yards that I went to get. This is the one goose Jake got before he had to go.

Yeah it was banded, this is the second year that I haven't shot a band. The years not over yet but, I bring him to my spot and he shoots his first speck and lands a band. What's next for him... neck collar? I don't even have one of them. Anyway, I was happy for him and when he left he lent me the layout he brought with him. The good news is I used it to put a couple geese on the ground, the bad news is I'm probably going to be buying another new blind next year.

 

 I stayed until sunset then started picking up, I didn't get limit but it was another really fun day. 

Looks like we'll have another "weather event" Sunday into Monday, not sure where I'll be but hopefully I'll be shooting better. By the way when I was by myself I did much better, I think I'm rushing my shots. Gotta slow down and conserve ammo.

Does anyone know where I can score some hevi steel 3" BB's?

And it was an awesome week

 For the past month the geese have been leaving roost around 9:30-10:30. Setting up later in the morning goes against all I believe in, but it feels pretty good to sleep in.

Monday I left the house headed for town at 7:30am, when I got to my spot at 8:30 I unloaded the trailer into the boat and headed out to the field to get set up. While I was setting up I had a flock of 8 geese flying around trying to get into the field. You might think that's a good thing but it's really not. Once one group is out, more get up to feed and if your not ready you could just be hangin' out in a field with decoys all day. Well, the front that was coming in stirred the geese up a little early and I neglected to account for it. Anywho, I finally got set up and started working some birds, who picked me out easily and headed off to greener pastures. After a couple flocks had flared I realized I needed some white on my blind to match the snow cover. So I headed back to the truck to get some white strips to weave into the blind. Once I got back I started weaving the strips in and had a four pack try to land right over me. I stayed as still as I could until they were shootable then I popped my blind door open, from the outside, grabbed my gun turned and dropped my first goose of the day. Then the hunt turned into the waiting game which I took advantage of to get some well deserved sleep. Around midday I had a single goose do it right, without any coaxing from me, he just came right in. After I shot all three rounds that damn goose stayed up for 350 yards flying down the field before he crashed. Let me tell you that was a fun walk 😠. It was now working on getting close to sunset and the end of my day, when a flock started working in from a long ways off. I worked them into the kill hole and finally ended my day, taking my last goose from that flock.

As Barney Calef would say, "stick and stay, make 'er pay".

I'm not sure if this is a true lesser but I do know it was alot smaller then the geese we usually get around here. Yeah, I know I mentioned snow but there's no snow, it snowed all day and then turned warm enough to melt it.

 

Tuesday was day off and scout in the evening.

 

Wednesday found my back in town having found birds on Tom's property. When I got there I started unloading the trailer and had made my first trip out when Jake showed up. We loaded up the rest of the gear and I made my second trip out to the field. When I got back Jake and I walked out to start setting up. We set up our blinds only to see that the snow that had fallen the previous night made them stick out like a sore thumb. So I walked the 550 yards (google earth pro) there and back with my white strips to weave into the blinds. Once I got back we came to the conclusion that that wasn't going to work, so I made the walk again to get my snow covers. As I tried to get the snow covers on the blinds we had out there I came to the realization that they weren't going to fit, since these are not the blinds they go on. The blinds that the snow covers did go on were in my truck, I again made the walk. This time I came back out on the wheeler, much easier. Jake ran the wheeler behind us to a fence row while I put the blinds together and put the snow covers on. When he got back we started packing our gear in our blinds and generally getting ready for the hunt. I had too much stuff for my blind so I had to walk a decoy bag to the wheeler (350 yards). When I got there I moved the wheeler to the opposite side of the fence row out of site of approaching geese, Jake said it was far enough that it wouldn't matter. I didn't want any technical issues to compromise this hunt. When I got back to the setup I couldn't remember if I had turned my gas off on the wheeler, so off I went to make sure that it was off. Halfway back to the setup I couldn't remember if I had turned the wheeler off, turn around and go back. After making sure all was right with the wheeler I headed back to the setup to settle in for the hunt. 

A pair of geese were the first to show up ready to play, when they got close enough Jake called the shot. I dropped one he dropped the second and we were on the board. We had a couple flocks come in and not do it. There was a flock way off to the North so we started working them, they were coming in high but they were comin' in so we got ready. They were continually getting closer and within the last 50 yards or so they started maple leafing to drop air. With landing gear down Jake called the shot, I shot twice and dropped 2 he shot twice and dropped one. With that volley I was done and we only needed one more for Jake.

After a half hour of no action Jake says, "well no reason to stick around for one goose, we can pack up".

WHAT???? I told him there was no way were leaving after all the miles I logged in this field to make this hunt happen. Were stayin' 'til you get your last goose, it was only 11am by that time. We had a good

laugh and agreed that we can start to pack up no later than 1.

Not long after that the geese started moving a little bit and we had a flock of 8 that wanted to play. We worked 'em all the way in for the perfect shot on the Jake show and..... whiff.... whiff.... whiff. 

Someone continued his ride on the struggle bus. 

After reliving the missed opportunity and how close the geese were, we waited on the next flock. Which didn't take too long, within a matter of minutes we were working yet another flock in for Jake. When the were close enough right out in front Jake sat up and put his last goose down... I can't remember if it took 1 or 2 shots, but at least we finished. 

I felt pretty good knowing I'm not the only one that rides the struggle bus from time to time.

 With all the geese in the area and the weather pushing in, next week looks just as good....hopefully.

Next week should be awesome

The only reason I say that is because according to Jake every other hunt on my properties are good. That being said we just had the bad hunt on Tuesday. I did my scouting on Monday and found birds on 2 properties. I decided to hunt the prop I hunted last Thursday. We got set up in the fence line and waited, and waited, and when the birds finally decided to fly it was 1:30 and they came in hordes. They were flying all over in the field and landing 75 yards away, but they wouldn't even come close enough for a passing shot. After they all picked back up and headed back to the roost we called it a day, picked up our 12 decoys and headed North.

Yesterday we hunted one of Jake's fields just down from his house. The geese hadn't been in that field but were in heavy across the road 350 yards to the North. It was a low percentage trafficking location at best. So weren't on the X but we could see it from the hilltop we were on, we unloaded the trailer at 9:30 and waited, and waited, and waited. I was free all day but Jake had to get home by 3 so at 2:30 without 1 goose spotted we packed up the trailer and went back to the barn. After I got home Jake texted me at 5:12 letting me know the geese were piling in. 

Oh well, at least we didn't have to get our knives bloody.

maybe next week??

 

 

pretty darn good week

 Monday I did my shopping and headed out to do some scouting. Well, it ended up where Jake and I got to hunt one of my properties, scratch that, we shot at some stuff. At least I did, I think we started out 12 shots for 2 geese, not even close to a good start. The first goose to hit the ground was a bonus- specklebelly this is the only property that I've seen them on, I shot one 2 years ago. The next pair of geese was probably the  funniest. I had a pair coming in from my right to my left and Jake was to my left. When they were in gun range I sat up turned and gave 'em 3. Only to watch in astonishment while the goose just kinda hovered in mid air, I was thinkin' why isn't Jake shooting, right about then I heard kinda in a whisper, "hey, duck". Well that's when I realized why Jake wasn't shooting, I was sitting up between him and the geese. As soon as I laid down he sat up and smacked the one I hit and it went down. We both had a pretty good laugh at the way the morning was transpiring. So now we had 2 geese down one Canada and one speck. We got busted a couple times hanging out of our blinds talkin' cause the geese were coming in from behind us. Well, I sat up and turned around to watch our backs, while Jake kept an eye in front of us. That's when they started to fly off roost and start looking for food. We had one flock fly in the kill hole and we dropped a couple, not sure how many we need Jake asked me how many left and I did a quick scan in front and said one apiece. Just then another flock was upon us and as I called the shot we both sat up and picked out a bird and squeezed the trigger. Two birds fell, we went out to take a count of the bodies in the decoys and sure enough we were done, limits reached.

This is Jake's first Speck and this is the pic he takes:

Even the one we took of the limits: 

Buddy that's a happy, happy man...

 Here's the one I like better...

Kinda almost a smile... we'll work on that.

Wednesday I took the day off. 

  This morning: 6 decoys, 4 hours, and 2 geese.

Today I went to a property I've hunted before but just got back on this year. It was just a scouting mission but I did get 2 geese and only shot 4 times, one then 3. The first one was a sniper special- one shot one kill on a passing flock. The three almost couldn't be avoided, the wind had switched and they were pretty far out there. Even though they were locked up and coming in as I wanted them to. The 2 three inch shells didn't touch 'em but the last 3 1/2" did the trick and another goose fell.

Well, I packed up at noon got home at 1, cooked the geese from Tues., cleaned today's geese, ate, showered and finally had time to sit down an write this, which by the way has put me waaayyy past my bedtime. 

It's alright though my reader's are worth it.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep this momentum going next week.

I didn't buy any fishing lures this week. 😁