There is nothing I love more in the fall then sitting in my tree stand listening to the honking of Canadian Geese. Their honking increases as they get closer, flying in their perfect V formation making their connection on the Atlantic flyway toward their winter home. They are beautiful birds and their abundance is growing with each passing year.
Their only downfall is people. We have more and more resident birds that stay all winter due to the fact that people feed them and cater to their every whim so they will not fly away home. Now we have a real problem, the geese are very destructive and what a mess they make around the ponds and lakes that they now call home.
Camp Rockmont where I teach archery each summer has such a problem. They have a beautiful lake and you can’t get near one end of it for the goose feces and the smell that is almost unbearable on hot summer days. This is a growing problem everywhere in the southeast and other regions. Due to the fact that geese are becoming a nuisance, people now want something done about the problem. Private land owners are allowing hunters to aid them by harvesting these birds. The hope is to put the geese back into their migratory patterns.
This past summer Carol Carver, one of Team Frady Outdoor Adventure Pro Staffers called and told us that there was a summer camp not far from her that had a terrible goose problem and the lady that owned the camp was wanting some responsible hunters to come in and harvest the geese. Carol wanted to know if Jim and I would be interested in hunting the camp with her and her husband Gary. Of course we jumped at the chance.
None of us had ever goose hunted but we all have experience hunting grouse, quail, duck, chukkar and pheasant, so we knew we would have no problem with the geese.
We loaded up on Winchester shells, readied our Real Tree Camo, wiped down and practiced with our Weatherby SAS Field Grades and began our goose calling practice on our Quaker Boys Game Calls. We had several months to plan for this hunt and we were all eager for our Labor Day adventure. Our two-year-old Labrador, Nighty, was ready as well, this is what we have trained for, and it would be her first goose hunt as well.
Jim and I arrived at Gary and Carols well before daylight. They jumped in their truck and we followed them to the camp. It took longer than what we expected due to a few missed roads and misguided directions. When we arrived at the camp, the sun was just peeking up over the horizon and we were all ready to hit the wood line and get ready for that familiar honking to come our way. We were right on the edge of a pristine pond and knew this was where the geese frequented. The pond was about 150 yards across and I knew it would be a cake walk for Nighty to recover the geese in these conditions. It would be up in the low 80’s so we didn’t have the temperature to worry about and the pond edges were clear so we didn’t have to worry about Nighty impaling herself on anything at the water’s edge
The great thing about duck and goose hunting is that you don’t have to be completely silent like deer hunting. When we get together with the Carver’s we all have a great time and this was no different. We all sat with strained ear as we enjoyed each others company and the time spent together on our hunt.
10:00 a.m. rolled around and way off in the distance we could hear the first faint honks of our quarry. We all grabbed our shotguns got into position and put Nighty on stay. Here they came, closer, closer, closer, there were about 10 in the first V and when they got into range “Take Em” came from the end of the line and we all fired. We led the geese and pulled the trigger as if scripted, the sound almost as one. When all guns were empty there was only one thing missing….no geese down. Nighty looked at all of us as if we had really let her down. No geese….we all just looked at each other and then the laughter began. We were all in tears due to the fact that we had all emptied our shotguns and no one had brought down a goose. You have to understand we believe that hunting should be fun, we are all very responsible hunters but if you miss a shot you are going to be hounded by the rest of the group until you redeem yourself. With this we had all missed so all we could do is laugh at each other.
We discussed what had gone wrong and decided to take a different approach if given another chance. We would spread out more and lead them more. They say that with each beat of a Canadian’s wing they move 12 feet so we decided we had not lead them enough and were shooting behind them. We had it all worked out and were ready when the next flock came in about two hours later.
Again we heard them coming from behind us and we all got into position. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! The shotguns sang in unison and a goose folded up and went down on the far edge of the pond. We again shot until all guns were empty and the geese were out of range. I lined Nighty up, called her name and she was off like a rocket to retrieve our game. She was so excited that she was swimming high in the water trying to get there as fast as she could so she would be ready for the next retrieve.
For those of you that have dogs that you goose hunt with their first goose is an exciting moment for you and the dog. Nighty swam out retrieved the goose, turned on a dime and back she swam. She got to the bank and started to get out with it, she had not realized how big or heavy it was until that moment. I had to chuckle to myself as she struggled to deliver it to hand. She finally got it up the bank and gave it to me. We were all giving her great accolades for her effort and she was so proud of herself.
I handed the goose to Jim he said, “No, I think Gary got that one.” Gary gave it to Carol who said “no I think Lynne shot this one.” We all just looked at each other and the laughter rolled. You have to understand that in our group there are no ego’s which is very rare to find. So we all decided it was Nighty’s goose since she is the one that had done all the hard work.
We had one more flock come in late in the afternoon and again we all fired and no geese were harvested. Our first goose hunt was a success but we all learned a lot as well. We found that we had everything right except for our shot selection. We had the right choke, improved cylinder; we were using Winchester X-tended Range HD number 4 shot which is one of the recommended shot sizes for geese. But have since learned that BB or BBB is what you really need to harvest geese.
Jim and I learned along time ago that every time you step into your camo it will be a learning process. You have to remember you are playing by their rules on their home turf not yours. It was our first goose hunt, we learned a lot from it, had an awesome time and will be going back in December with Gary and Carol to see if we can’t put the odds in our favor.
The most important thing we have learned over the years is that there is nothing that can compare with spending time with great friends hunting and making memories that will last a life time.
