I was able to get out last Saturday and yesterday for a Canada Goose hunt. They weren't cooperating last weekend and were wanting to land nowhere near us. We were in a mud hole hip deep from 6am to 6pm. It's a good thing there were no whiners but rest assured - copious amounts of bull schwaky was traded. Even had one guy bring us lunch so as not to miss any action. We were set up in a ditch running the length of a 1,000yd field with a 40acre body of water behind us. Unfortunately, we think the field was a little too frozen for their liking. We thought about switching spots but all agreed, stick it out. It didn't work out :)
Saturday's hunt was pretty sweet. If you pop over to the videos section you'll see the Goose video from awhile ago. I've had my eye on those cattails for a long time but never had a day I could dedicate to Geese at that location. I made the plunge Saturday. It takes about 25 minutes to walk there from the trail and it's perfect. Beaver dam running the length, beaver dam water on one side, 400yds of watershed on the other and cattails & weeds 10ft high, perfect cover. I was sitting pretty at 5:30am. Sunup was 7:11 so first light around 6:45. Soon as I could open the book I delved into a real page turner of a sci-fi book. I look up after one page - BAM, 2 geese already 60yds away. CRAP! They were silent, they weren't supposed to do that!! Thinking I had missed my chance I glued my eyes to sky. 10 minutes later the music started and they were Honking Dixie. Had one duo come right at me and I thought to myself - what a perfect location, "Damn I'm Good".... - 2 shots, 2 dead geese. 15 minutes later, another duo comes swinging out of the watershed, drop the first one cold, line up for the second one and I notice that the first bird's trajectory is rather peculiar. Now these are big dang birds and I hit it beautifully. Right as I'm tracking the next one I realize it might be good to move - take a side-step at the last minute and that 15+lb bird falling out of the sky at break-neck speed landed right where I was just standing. Now that would have REALLY sucked. By that time, I deemed it not wise to pull the trigger on the 4th as he was a good clip away. Music over, work begins. 2 of the birds landed close but the 2nd bird from the first group decided to glide and die 60yds away and 40yds into the watershed.
Background - the week before I asked a co-worker for a fishing pole in case I needed to fetch, waders wouldn't do as it's too deep. Another friendly co-worker offered up an inflatable raft she never uses anymore. The night before I blow up the raft with a foot pump and check for leaks, good to go.
I start hiking 60yds across the dam (no small feat with a shotgun, loose logs and a fishing pole) and get to where the bird is. The bird is stone dead on top of ice in the middle of the watershed. Get the fishing pole out, swing it back and snap.....line broke with the heavy weight & hook. Equipment malfunction, no worries, attach a log to some line and throw.....snap, line broke. Well now I'm in a pickle. The inflatable raft is back across the dam and 25 minutes to the truck, let's solve this now. Nope. Found a dead 30ft tree; drag it to the water's edge, great idea. That is until of course I realize I have no way to swing the heavy darn thing and get the bird. Back to the truck I go. 15 minutes across the perilous dam, 25 minutes to the truck through swamp, grab the raft & pump and huff it on back. 1.5hrs later I'm back where I need to be and hand pumping this raft up, cussing my fishing pole co-worker into oblivion for the entirety. (Not his fault, I didn't test it the night before). Raft is now in the water.....or not.....It's all ice, duh. The plastic oars I have aren't breaking the ice, back to land I go. Start chucking logs onto the ice to break it...no dice. So I take another 15 minutes to find the perfect handled log that is thick enough not to break but small enough to wield. Get back in the raft and jam the log into the ice, which doesn't break the sheet just merely puts a hole in it. I worked out a system where I would jam the log in, ice was thick enough I could pull me and the raft up on the ice from this log-in-hole-in-ice, jump up and down on my knees and smash the ice - icebreaker style. It took me 20 minutes of this to get to the bird. I just wish someone could've been there with me to videotape the hilarity. I couldn't rightfully take pictures of just two birds and send to my friends so after the work is done I set the camera up on a tree limb. Call it another 20 minutes to get the balance right, timer delay working and just long enough that the mere act of me hitting take pic doesn't upset it's balance, run back to the birds, hold all 3 in the air and hope the camera doesn't fall. It took a few takes :) All good, I had fun and got me 6 whopper Canada Goose breasts for some good eating.
Pheasant hunt this Saturday and if there's enough time I'll head back out to the swamp for the PM Goose hunt.
My honey-hole:
The ice trail to my Goose which was at the top right of this picture, complete with the logs I attempted to throw and break the ice and final success w/ the raft!
Big old late season Fatty's!Two perfect neck shots I might add....
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The good stuff. Take note of the nice undamaged breasts..
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