the spank
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Planet Earth Wearing My Tinfoil Hat
Thought I'd share a few pics and stories of week # 1 of our early goose season.
As you already know opening day(Tues) saw 6 of us put down 54 Canada's in a harvested barley field.
Spent the rest of the week at work and scouting in the evenings for Whyteys annual arrival. He got in around midnight on Friday and we had a field with about 250-300 geese lined up for Saturday morning. Birds were landing in a hay field then hopping a drainage ditch to feed in a standing oat field, quite the sight to watch. Saturday morning saw 4 of us limit out in about 1 hour. L to R, Chad, Myself, Jamie and Wynn.
Wynn brought the kiddies along, they loved it. They sure get excited about this stuff.
Sunday saw Whytey and I hunt alone in the same field we had hunted Tuesday's opener. There werent alot of birds there(30 at best) but there had been a huge migration during the week and alot of new birds were in the area. This being the only harvested grain field we decided to take our chances and set up. We figured we had shot plenty of birds already so decided to see if we could finish birds into the decoys and "band hunt". Plan worked out so well we were in absolute awe. Birds finished beautifully and at one point we had over 70 in the decoys walking around and doing they're thing for over 1 hour before we ran them off. Never did see any bands
So we decided if any small groups came in we would take a couple birds and call it a day. 2 pairs and a lone single worked the spread over the next hour, all finishing beautifully and we shot all 5 and picked up to go scouting for Monday.
I need help with this photo, I can't figure out who Whytey is "prostaffing" for? Benelli hat and gun, Under Armor shirt, Dave Smith and GHG Dekes...
Monday saw us set up on a pasture field of a farm I have exclusive on that had been holding close to 1000 birds since the push earlier in the week and the farmer asked if we would take his son along. He was anxious to try it out after watching us there last season so we we gladly said yes and brought along a newbie. Birds were coming in from all directions at first light, fast and furious and dropping into us better than any of the hunts to date(if that's even possible to measure). All our shooting was under 15 yards but alot of it could have been under 10 feet!!. The young farmers son was very quiet, hunkered down in the layout and said little. We were nearing our limit fast and I suggested we get an accurate count of what we had down. He pipes up and says just keep shooting, I have a status card, LOL!! We said that may be ok for you but not us. We suggested he may have his hands full with cleaning his 10 birds and thats when sensibility overcame enthusiasm and he opted to stick with his 10 bird limit, PHEW!!:rf: We had our count of 30 birds on the ground by 7:45 am and 1 was wearing a little iron! I have to work the next three days but will be off Friday to hunt the last day of the early nuisance goose season and then Saturday sees our regular season start going back to 5 bird limit as well as our duck opener Saturday. Unlike last year we have some promising looking spots for Sat-Sundays duck opener weekend. I shall keep you posted...
As a sidenote of interest to very few I am sure. I have been shooting my model 12 all week, sure feels good to have the old girl back in my hands. Yesterday I shot all my birds using 2 3/4"( thats all my gun is chambered for) 1 oz #2's. The rest of the week I shot 1 1/8 and 1 1/4 oz. #4's with awesome results. The days of "roman candles" are behind me forever. Sure like that low recoil of the 2 3/4"!!
As you already know opening day(Tues) saw 6 of us put down 54 Canada's in a harvested barley field.
Spent the rest of the week at work and scouting in the evenings for Whyteys annual arrival. He got in around midnight on Friday and we had a field with about 250-300 geese lined up for Saturday morning. Birds were landing in a hay field then hopping a drainage ditch to feed in a standing oat field, quite the sight to watch. Saturday morning saw 4 of us limit out in about 1 hour. L to R, Chad, Myself, Jamie and Wynn.
Wynn brought the kiddies along, they loved it. They sure get excited about this stuff.
Sunday saw Whytey and I hunt alone in the same field we had hunted Tuesday's opener. There werent alot of birds there(30 at best) but there had been a huge migration during the week and alot of new birds were in the area. This being the only harvested grain field we decided to take our chances and set up. We figured we had shot plenty of birds already so decided to see if we could finish birds into the decoys and "band hunt". Plan worked out so well we were in absolute awe. Birds finished beautifully and at one point we had over 70 in the decoys walking around and doing they're thing for over 1 hour before we ran them off. Never did see any bands
So we decided if any small groups came in we would take a couple birds and call it a day. 2 pairs and a lone single worked the spread over the next hour, all finishing beautifully and we shot all 5 and picked up to go scouting for Monday.
I need help with this photo, I can't figure out who Whytey is "prostaffing" for? Benelli hat and gun, Under Armor shirt, Dave Smith and GHG Dekes...
Monday saw us set up on a pasture field of a farm I have exclusive on that had been holding close to 1000 birds since the push earlier in the week and the farmer asked if we would take his son along. He was anxious to try it out after watching us there last season so we we gladly said yes and brought along a newbie. Birds were coming in from all directions at first light, fast and furious and dropping into us better than any of the hunts to date(if that's even possible to measure). All our shooting was under 15 yards but alot of it could have been under 10 feet!!. The young farmers son was very quiet, hunkered down in the layout and said little. We were nearing our limit fast and I suggested we get an accurate count of what we had down. He pipes up and says just keep shooting, I have a status card, LOL!! We said that may be ok for you but not us. We suggested he may have his hands full with cleaning his 10 birds and thats when sensibility overcame enthusiasm and he opted to stick with his 10 bird limit, PHEW!!:rf: We had our count of 30 birds on the ground by 7:45 am and 1 was wearing a little iron! I have to work the next three days but will be off Friday to hunt the last day of the early nuisance goose season and then Saturday sees our regular season start going back to 5 bird limit as well as our duck opener Saturday. Unlike last year we have some promising looking spots for Sat-Sundays duck opener weekend. I shall keep you posted...
As a sidenote of interest to very few I am sure
. I have been shooting my model 12 all week, sure feels good to have the old girl back in my hands. Yesterday I shot all my birds using 2 3/4"( thats all my gun is chambered for) 1 oz #2's. The rest of the week I shot 1 1/8 and 1 1/4 oz. #4's with awesome results. The days of "roman candles" are behind me forever. Sure like that low recoil of the 2 3/4"!!
