MLBob Furia
Well-known member
On Friday, my good friend Dan and I had the opportunity to hunt fields where I have permission. We had originally planned on a Wednesday hunt after I had hunted there alone on Monday.
On Tuesday, we had major snow, then an ice storm, then more snow. Level 3 road emergency was posted, so we bagged Wednesday and spent Thursday running other errands. We had our doubts about trying Friday, but opted for a late start (I picked him up at 9:15) and a try at one last hunt for the year. I was hoping I wouldn't get my truck stuck down in the corn bottoms. I never hunt these particular fields on the weekends, since I know that those days are the only days the landowner's sons and their friends get to hunt.
When we arrived, there were already about four trucks and an equipment trailer out in the field - the sons & friends had all taken a day off to hunt the last two days of the season (Fri-Sat). Fortunately, they knew who I was, and were gracious enough to invite us to sit in with them. One of the sons told Dan that he had been rabbit hunting the day before and had seen "about a thousand geese" gathered in the spot in the field where they were setting up [as a fellow waterfowler I knew that meant there had been at least 300 ;-)]. Sure enough, there were lots of goose tracks all over the fresh snow dusting from Thursday afternoon.
One of the best things was that we never even had to unload our decoys from the truck! Just had to help finish setting out the 300 or so decoys that these guys had all pooled (... a few more that the 5 doz. we had planned on using).
After that, we shoveled some depressions in the snow for our layouts, parked the trucks (even got ferried back out in a gator!), loaded up, and were set. All afternoon, The geese put on a show, and everyone left with his two bird limit. After I had taken my birds, it was a thrill to just lay there and watch the birds work. Most of us had flags that we used when birds were a long way off, but other than that, I don't think anyone touched a call except for one guy who occasionaly did some soft calling and clucks when birds were working (and very well I might add!) .
While we were helping stow gear at the end of the day, they said: "You guys are coming back tomorrow, aren't you?" Now those are some good people! It was tempting, but I was satisfied to end on a great note. It's been a wonderful season for this old retired guy. Today I stayed home and will start to put up gear and clean a few geese. When the weather breaks in a few weeks and the sloughs open up, I'll probably be back down at the River setting out decoys and shooting with a camera.
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On Tuesday, we had major snow, then an ice storm, then more snow. Level 3 road emergency was posted, so we bagged Wednesday and spent Thursday running other errands. We had our doubts about trying Friday, but opted for a late start (I picked him up at 9:15) and a try at one last hunt for the year. I was hoping I wouldn't get my truck stuck down in the corn bottoms. I never hunt these particular fields on the weekends, since I know that those days are the only days the landowner's sons and their friends get to hunt.
When we arrived, there were already about four trucks and an equipment trailer out in the field - the sons & friends had all taken a day off to hunt the last two days of the season (Fri-Sat). Fortunately, they knew who I was, and were gracious enough to invite us to sit in with them. One of the sons told Dan that he had been rabbit hunting the day before and had seen "about a thousand geese" gathered in the spot in the field where they were setting up [as a fellow waterfowler I knew that meant there had been at least 300 ;-)]. Sure enough, there were lots of goose tracks all over the fresh snow dusting from Thursday afternoon.
One of the best things was that we never even had to unload our decoys from the truck! Just had to help finish setting out the 300 or so decoys that these guys had all pooled (... a few more that the 5 doz. we had planned on using).
After that, we shoveled some depressions in the snow for our layouts, parked the trucks (even got ferried back out in a gator!), loaded up, and were set. All afternoon, The geese put on a show, and everyone left with his two bird limit. After I had taken my birds, it was a thrill to just lay there and watch the birds work. Most of us had flags that we used when birds were a long way off, but other than that, I don't think anyone touched a call except for one guy who occasionaly did some soft calling and clucks when birds were working (and very well I might add!) .
While we were helping stow gear at the end of the day, they said: "You guys are coming back tomorrow, aren't you?" Now those are some good people! It was tempting, but I was satisfied to end on a great note. It's been a wonderful season for this old retired guy. Today I stayed home and will start to put up gear and clean a few geese. When the weather breaks in a few weeks and the sloughs open up, I'll probably be back down at the River setting out decoys and shooting with a camera.
View attachment 13009 022 (600 x 373).jpg
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View attachment 13009 004 (600 x 369).jpg
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View attachment 13009 035 (600 x 357).jpg
View attachment 13009 022 (600 x 373).jpg
View attachment 13009 013 (600 x 330).jpg
View attachment 13009 004 (600 x 369).jpg
View attachment 13009 019 (600 x 399).jpg
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