09/05/09 My Goose Hunting Debut...an outstanding morning without ever firing a shot!
All the years I’ve hunted I’ve always heard geese get up and get moving some time after first light so I figured I didn’t have to get set up in the dark...got to the little farm about 7:00am and parked on the East side of a small barn near a 2 acre pond where I'd seen them congregate in the past. Set up a blind on the West side of barn, about 40 yards from the edge of the pond, and was settled in by 7:30. For the next 15-20 minutes I had a half dozen horses, a few cows, a rooster and a guinea hen all take turns coming over to figure out what this thing was sitting behind a GI camo net at the end of the barn, but gradually lost interest.
At 7:55 I heard 10-15 quick shots about a mile away southeast where I knew there was a backwater slough off Falls Lake. A few minutes later I began hearing a large noisy flock of geese coming from that direction and eventually a flock of about 50 broke into view over the south end of the farm headed up my way. They flew north, parallel to the long pond right over my head about 50 yards up and the noise was unbelievable, went on past me making a right hand circle out around behind the barn to come back down to turn back into the south end of the pond, settling lower all the time, and eventually the entire flock cleared the trees and slid to a halt on the water right in front of me, 75 yards to the middle of the pond...what a video that would have made.
Interesting to watch and learn this morning...after landing they immediately all regrouped into a bunch as if they were still in the mentality of the single flock formation...but then by 8:30 they had all gradually separated apart into three distinct sub-flocks...and waded out onto the banks around the pond...generally remained as separated groups while working over a sandy / gravely area I assume picking up grit for their gizzards. Then at 9:00, first one sub-flock, then another, and then the other each started getting noisy again and took off to fly 100 yards or so out into the main field where they foraged around until about 10:00...then as if in reverse order, group by group they each got noisy, took off, and flew back to land in the pond again.
They floated around the pond for a while then about 11:00 began wading out, started preening, then a couple started resting with a head under a wing, etc...it had been an interesting show, but I figured that was it for the day, was getting hot and tired, so I stood up to start walking around the barn to my truck. The geese immediately exploded off the banks around the pond all heading north into the breeze, but by the time I got around to the other end of the barn they had turned and were already forming up into a couple layers of V’s, coming back south that would take them down towards Falls Lake.
I stood there and watched them straighten out from the turn, flying right down the dirt path I was parked on, no higher than the roof of the barn...if I’d have had a cane pole I could have jumped up and swatted them. On reflex I started bringing up the smoothbore as any one of them was going to be a ”˜gimme’ but then checked up and decided not to shoot at all. I just stood there and watched these huge noisy geese coming head on towards me...never in my life have I had a such large flock of anything wild come that low right at me...it had already been a very satisfying morning and it struck me that shooting one now would have just spoiled the moment...so I just stood there and soaked it all in as they bored on and went over me...what an experience.
All the years I’ve hunted I’ve always heard geese get up and get moving some time after first light so I figured I didn’t have to get set up in the dark...got to the little farm about 7:00am and parked on the East side of a small barn near a 2 acre pond where I'd seen them congregate in the past. Set up a blind on the West side of barn, about 40 yards from the edge of the pond, and was settled in by 7:30. For the next 15-20 minutes I had a half dozen horses, a few cows, a rooster and a guinea hen all take turns coming over to figure out what this thing was sitting behind a GI camo net at the end of the barn, but gradually lost interest.
At 7:55 I heard 10-15 quick shots about a mile away southeast where I knew there was a backwater slough off Falls Lake. A few minutes later I began hearing a large noisy flock of geese coming from that direction and eventually a flock of about 50 broke into view over the south end of the farm headed up my way. They flew north, parallel to the long pond right over my head about 50 yards up and the noise was unbelievable, went on past me making a right hand circle out around behind the barn to come back down to turn back into the south end of the pond, settling lower all the time, and eventually the entire flock cleared the trees and slid to a halt on the water right in front of me, 75 yards to the middle of the pond...what a video that would have made.
Interesting to watch and learn this morning...after landing they immediately all regrouped into a bunch as if they were still in the mentality of the single flock formation...but then by 8:30 they had all gradually separated apart into three distinct sub-flocks...and waded out onto the banks around the pond...generally remained as separated groups while working over a sandy / gravely area I assume picking up grit for their gizzards. Then at 9:00, first one sub-flock, then another, and then the other each started getting noisy again and took off to fly 100 yards or so out into the main field where they foraged around until about 10:00...then as if in reverse order, group by group they each got noisy, took off, and flew back to land in the pond again.
They floated around the pond for a while then about 11:00 began wading out, started preening, then a couple started resting with a head under a wing, etc...it had been an interesting show, but I figured that was it for the day, was getting hot and tired, so I stood up to start walking around the barn to my truck. The geese immediately exploded off the banks around the pond all heading north into the breeze, but by the time I got around to the other end of the barn they had turned and were already forming up into a couple layers of V’s, coming back south that would take them down towards Falls Lake.
I stood there and watched them straighten out from the turn, flying right down the dirt path I was parked on, no higher than the roof of the barn...if I’d have had a cane pole I could have jumped up and swatted them. On reflex I started bringing up the smoothbore as any one of them was going to be a ”˜gimme’ but then checked up and decided not to shoot at all. I just stood there and watched these huge noisy geese coming head on towards me...never in my life have I had a such large flock of anything wild come that low right at me...it had already been a very satisfying morning and it struck me that shooting one now would have just spoiled the moment...so I just stood there and soaked it all in as they bored on and went over me...what an experience.
