Jim Boyer
Active member
After spending five days on the Mississippi hunting public land, this morning was a bit different. Daisy and I had “this place” to ourselves. Scouting the previous day revealed three mallards with one goose around 8 pm and about 50 geese around 10 pm.
The plan was to be setup just at shooting time because mallards (when they show up) usually come in early before geese. The second part of the plan was to educate as few geese as possible. By doing so, the small pond can be “nursed” along for 5-6 hunts before it freezes over. Leaving a few extra un-wise geese to work the adjacent corn field is the ultimate goal. Right now the corn is not harvested.
I set out only four decoys and was ready at 6:45 am. It was cloudy and very windy with rain in the forecast. The mallards didn't show this morning. At about 8 o'clock, calling geese from the west moved toward us. The chill of excitement was immediate. Daisy and I were ready. Large bunches showed up with some flying on ahead, several circled and a few family groups looked like they might drop in. It was kind of neat to see geese scattered all across the sky trying to figure out what to do next. There had to be at least 200. The family groups were definitely not organized into the large flock......yet.
Then again, this many geese at one time was not good. Any shooting would “smarten up” too many. However, it appeared they were hungry and more interested in a bean field a half-mile to the southwest. I passed on shooting at a low flying family. Daisy kept giving me the “What's with that look?" Soon, the sky was empty. My mind kept repeating “They'll be back.”
After catching my breath, eight jake turkeys came around the corner of the corn field, strolled by and then headed for the highway to cross over. What a life!
Then the perfect scenario unfolded......geese.....and just two. They came in hot with no hesitation....feet down, wings wide. They were right there like kites above the decoys. I stood out from behind a pine tree and they turned in unison to grab air back into the wind. Two shots had both geese feet up in the pond. They were big and Daisy was thrilled with her chances.
As she went about doing her job, I pulled in the two floaters (decoys) and picked up two Dokata full bodies that were up on the bank. By the time Daisy had retrieved her second goose, I was ready for a quick hike to the van. We were out of there before “anything” showed up......nobody knows (geese that is).
Friday (tomorrow morning) we'll return to see if we can duplicate another “perfect morning”. It will be Taffey's turn. Then Saturday, it's back to the Mississippi River trying to find a quiet place of our own (or not). All this hunting is a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
The plan was to be setup just at shooting time because mallards (when they show up) usually come in early before geese. The second part of the plan was to educate as few geese as possible. By doing so, the small pond can be “nursed” along for 5-6 hunts before it freezes over. Leaving a few extra un-wise geese to work the adjacent corn field is the ultimate goal. Right now the corn is not harvested.
I set out only four decoys and was ready at 6:45 am. It was cloudy and very windy with rain in the forecast. The mallards didn't show this morning. At about 8 o'clock, calling geese from the west moved toward us. The chill of excitement was immediate. Daisy and I were ready. Large bunches showed up with some flying on ahead, several circled and a few family groups looked like they might drop in. It was kind of neat to see geese scattered all across the sky trying to figure out what to do next. There had to be at least 200. The family groups were definitely not organized into the large flock......yet.
Then again, this many geese at one time was not good. Any shooting would “smarten up” too many. However, it appeared they were hungry and more interested in a bean field a half-mile to the southwest. I passed on shooting at a low flying family. Daisy kept giving me the “What's with that look?" Soon, the sky was empty. My mind kept repeating “They'll be back.”
After catching my breath, eight jake turkeys came around the corner of the corn field, strolled by and then headed for the highway to cross over. What a life!
Then the perfect scenario unfolded......geese.....and just two. They came in hot with no hesitation....feet down, wings wide. They were right there like kites above the decoys. I stood out from behind a pine tree and they turned in unison to grab air back into the wind. Two shots had both geese feet up in the pond. They were big and Daisy was thrilled with her chances.
As she went about doing her job, I pulled in the two floaters (decoys) and picked up two Dokata full bodies that were up on the bank. By the time Daisy had retrieved her second goose, I was ready for a quick hike to the van. We were out of there before “anything” showed up......nobody knows (geese that is).
Friday (tomorrow morning) we'll return to see if we can duplicate another “perfect morning”. It will be Taffey's turn. Then Saturday, it's back to the Mississippi River trying to find a quiet place of our own (or not). All this hunting is a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
