Not so far off topic if you squint real hard and pretend that a goose is just a really big, drab, less tasty pheasant. Though I much prefer quail and pheasant, variety is the spice of life and hunting opportunities are thin enough for many of us, perhaps, to make alternative winged prey appealing. Any one doing any goose (or duck) shooting in between armed walks?
Waterfowl?
- Thread starter KSnative
- Start date
Yes! Out here in Indiana, the farmers farm pretty much everything they can and I don't blame them. But there is a lot of irrigation here because they grow seed corn, mint, potatoes and tomatoes. That means irrigation ditches, and this year has been a good year to jump ducks. so far I've bagged a couple dozen--mostly mallards and wood ducks with a few gadwalls etc. I've trained my Lab to sneak the ditches with me; he sits back about 5-10 yards when I move in to jump the birds, then retrieves when they fall. Lest anyone think this is easy, I can tell you the birds move and you lose perspective when the ditch is a half mile long or so. The trick is to pinpoint exactly where they are--easier said than done--if you're 25-30 yards off and they flush away from you it can be frustrating! That dog has saved me a lot of steps, since most ditches don't have many places to cross and the banks are steep. And you need to drop them dead, especially the wood ducks; they'll dive and juke on the dog and they can hide in the damndest crannies along the bank. I use the new 16 gauge A-5 because it's light to carry and it very rarely jams. Number 5 or 6 Bismuth hits 'em hard. Our first split season ends December 15 and comes back in from Dec. 26-Jan. 3. If it doesn't freeze up I usually do very well in the second split. I like to jump ducks; it's part art/part science . We get a few chances to set up and decoy but not many so this fills a gap.
Sounds like a whole lot of fun.
KS--It sure is! What I like about it is its nature--you really feel like you're HUNTING and not just shooting, because planning the approach is a big part of it, and of course the dog is excited and he must be controlled too; first thing I had to do was to take all of the "jingly" tags off his collar so he didn't sound like a wind chime when we got close to the birds. You get surprised too because you can see maybe 2 or 3 ducks, you plan the sneak, flush them and you can be looking at 6, 8 or many more as they all come out of the weeds and nooks in the ditch or along the creekbank. Then after the shooting, it's fun to watch the dog work as the retrieving begins. And most exciting is when, occasionally as you're stalking the ducks, you flush a rooster and your heart starts hammering even harder......
Concur. A gaggle (right term?) of Canadas coming in for a landing is absolutely majestic but a pile of them flushing off a farm pond as you race up over the berm is akin to flushing a covey of 12 lb. quail. Th perfect adrenaline fix - and no hours of laying out decoys and waiting in a cold blind, either. Of course, its all over in a matter of seconds but such is life - tradeoffs must be made.
Munster927
Well-known member
I always buy my waterfowl license in my home state for those cases where I jump some ducks or the opportunity presents itself but never buy one when I go to other states, just gets too expensive license wise.
It's also just a good purchase for conservation. Alot of years I don't even shoot at a duck while pheasant hunting but so much of the money from your duck stamp goes to conservation it's worth it. I wish everyone that hunted anything (upland or big game) bought a duck stamp each year.
I've also read in articles that if anti hunters would buy duck stamps or hunting licenses in support of conservation, maybe us hunters would take them seriously in their pursuit of caring about wildlife.
It's also just a good purchase for conservation. Alot of years I don't even shoot at a duck while pheasant hunting but so much of the money from your duck stamp goes to conservation it's worth it. I wish everyone that hunted anything (upland or big game) bought a duck stamp each year.
I've also read in articles that if anti hunters would buy duck stamps or hunting licenses in support of conservation, maybe us hunters would take them seriously in their pursuit of caring about wildlife.
Kismet
UPH Guru
KS? Geese have a number of names:
A group of geese is called different names depending upon whether the birds are in the air, in the water, on the ground or on land. When on land, the group is referred to as a gaggle. A group of geese flying in the air is called a skein.
and from wikipedia:
The term "goose" is more properly used for a female bird, while "gander" refers specifically to a male one. Young birds before fledging are called goslings.[1] The collective noun for a group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; when in flight, they are called a skein, a team, or a wedge; when flying close together, they are called a plump.[2]
(I think skein is the coolest name...watching them go over in migration is a semi-annual pleasure.)
A "plump"? Yikes, the stuff I do not know! FWIW - I misspoke. I do not shoot at "gaggles" (on the ground). Just in case we are being monitored by the authorities here. What do you call a bunch of geese on a pond? (Trick question - I call them "dinner").
Goosemaster
Well-known member
My cousin wanted to hunt geese,but nobody wanted to go to Saskatchewan!! Lol
Sounds like a good idea, but how do you handle the "if we catch you with a lead pheasant load in your pants pocket and a goose in your hand, we will own you" problem? Just shoot all non-tox loads for everything from quail to cranes?
Munster927
Well-known member
Yeah I pretty much shoot nothing but non toxic when I have a waterfowl license in my pocket and I'm pheasant hunting. There has been times when I have lead and I could have shot some ducks but couldn't because I wasn't legal with non toxic.
Our duck season ended January 3, and this year it was a good one. I was fortunate enough to bag 31 ducks, some over decoys but most of them were jumped off the several irrigation ditches in our local area. The total consisted of 21 mallards (17 of which were drakes) 5 gadwall, 1 pintail and 4 wood ducks. I had a stash of 16 gauge 1 1/8 oz. Bismuth No-Tox which worked very well on the waterfowl, nearly all of which were taken with my Sweet 16 A5. I did not get a chance at geese this year. My 12 year old Chocolate Lab retrieved some of the ducks, but most were retrieved by my feisty 14 month old Yellow Lab who shows great promise of being a competent upland-waterfowl dog. I'm very sorry to see the season end!
Miforester
Well-known member
This year i got both my waterfowl and upland license for SD not a real big waterfowl guy but enjoy any type of wing shooting. I will say I really enjoyed watching and hearing the areas around the water come alive as we waited for birds to come in. It helped also determine where we would start pheasant hunting as often times it was right where we were fowl hunting. One particular spot my buddy and walked opposite sides of the pond/lake once 10am hit. He had his lab and I had my brit, it was amazing the number of ducks my brit pointed in the weeds just at the waters edge, several were winged birds. I was very shocked how quickly a duck and run thru the weeds when winged, not quite like a rooster but they sure can boogie......The shear number of snows in the air will be something I never forget. I will try to get my fowl license from now on just to add some variety to the hunt.
Goosemaster
Well-known member
One year, I was fortunate enough to hit the trifecta. A goose, a rooster, a sharptail, and a Gobbler.All in the same day.
AtTheMurph
Well-known member
I have done quite a bit of water fowling in my days. Not so much recently as I moved away from my property but I do go a time or two during the year.
I own a farm with a 7 ac lake (I say lake because the state has it listed as such and it is on the maps with a name). As a lake it is technically open to the public but to reach it you have to cross my property, so unless you are coming by sea plane or helicopter it isn't going to happen legally.
It is in East Central Wisconsin, not too far from the largest cattail marsh in North America (over 50,000 acres) and another that is nearly 6k acres. They are full of ducks and geese and all sorts of birds. We get hundreds of geese and ducks. I've killed too many to remember but I do remember some!
Like the goose I shot from my little Herter's duck skiff that fell probably 40 yards straight down into the boat. Hit so hard I thought for sure would punch a hole and sink me. Or the Male Bufflehead I tried to get mounted but the taxidermist died and the wife cleaned out the freezer. Or the greenhead I wounded and watched swim across the lake with my Weimaraner in chase. She found it after it had gotten up into standing corn and retrieved it. We estimate that was close to a one mile retrieve.
I've shot grouse there, pheasants there, huns there, turkey there, my best deer, rabbits, squirrels and watched otters, eagles, osprey, muskrats, etc. As a young guy who loved hunting it was heaven.
I own a farm with a 7 ac lake (I say lake because the state has it listed as such and it is on the maps with a name). As a lake it is technically open to the public but to reach it you have to cross my property, so unless you are coming by sea plane or helicopter it isn't going to happen legally.
It is in East Central Wisconsin, not too far from the largest cattail marsh in North America (over 50,000 acres) and another that is nearly 6k acres. They are full of ducks and geese and all sorts of birds. We get hundreds of geese and ducks. I've killed too many to remember but I do remember some!
Like the goose I shot from my little Herter's duck skiff that fell probably 40 yards straight down into the boat. Hit so hard I thought for sure would punch a hole and sink me. Or the Male Bufflehead I tried to get mounted but the taxidermist died and the wife cleaned out the freezer. Or the greenhead I wounded and watched swim across the lake with my Weimaraner in chase. She found it after it had gotten up into standing corn and retrieved it. We estimate that was close to a one mile retrieve.
I've shot grouse there, pheasants there, huns there, turkey there, my best deer, rabbits, squirrels and watched otters, eagles, osprey, muskrats, etc. As a young guy who loved hunting it was heaven.
gimruis
Well-known member
I didn't duck hunt for the first time in 16 years this past fall. The primary reason is that there aren't very many ducks. I used to see a lot more about 10 years ago in the same areas I still hunt. They just aren't there anymore and the migration route has shifted too. I could probably find some new spots if I put the time in to scout and ask permission but I just don't have the time or motivation for it.
Its hard to justify spending 40 bucks on waterfowl stamps when I only shoot 5 ducks/season and go three times. The main migration is often in November when deer season is open and I'm not leaving my stand to hunt ducks since deer season is only 9 days. Plus they have that stupid temporary closure here in Minnesota in October when I would normally be able to hunt. I went fishing instead this October and it was ridiculously successful so I think I'm going to do that from here on out unless I get an invite to hunt ducks at a good spot from someone else.
Geese are fun to field hunt if you get on an active field but they aren't edible. I will NEVER try eating one again.
Its hard to justify spending 40 bucks on waterfowl stamps when I only shoot 5 ducks/season and go three times. The main migration is often in November when deer season is open and I'm not leaving my stand to hunt ducks since deer season is only 9 days. Plus they have that stupid temporary closure here in Minnesota in October when I would normally be able to hunt. I went fishing instead this October and it was ridiculously successful so I think I'm going to do that from here on out unless I get an invite to hunt ducks at a good spot from someone else.
Geese are fun to field hunt if you get on an active field but they aren't edible. I will NEVER try eating one again.
I do quite a bit of goose/duck hunting. Goose meat is just like any other wild game, if it's inedible to you it's probably because it was handled poorly or cooked wrong. I've got a couple recipes that are good plus we make a lot of jerky out of ours. You'd have a hard time telling the difference between goose jerky and deer jerky, it's good. Another thing we've down in the past is save all our meat and then at the end of the season take it to the locker and have sticks and summer sausage made. Again, not much difference in taste with it and venison.