Dave McCracken
Moderator In Memoriam
It's a little after 11 AM and I'm exhausted. My legs are cramping, my back is a mess of outraged neurons and I'm grinning like an absolute idiot. Old men shouldn't work this hard having fun. But if I could go goose hunting again tomorrow, I would.Heck, if I could go now.....
Here's the deal. Last month I had my birthday, and the family wanted to know what I wanted for my "Big" present. I looked the Permanent Head of The Budget Committee (Wonderful Wife) right in the eye and said, "I want to book a hunt with a goose guide".
Naturally, she then asked how expensive it would be this time. I told her I'd check and get back to her.
I did some Googling and found Black Duck Outfitters in MD, and called them. The price was affordable on my budget( Wife and I finally agreed on Her figure, as usual) and they did take single hunters at times. Today was the time.
A nice surprise awaited. Instead of going over on the Shore, with all that entailed, we met 10 minutes from here and were to hunt just a couple miles from where I grew up, if indeed I ever did. Howard County still has some farms, but it might be easier to get into Fort Knox. What Howard County does have in plenty is geese. Many are "Resident" geese of non migratory habit and huge size.
At the meeting point it was myself, Scotty the guide, Mike, who owned the farm we were to hunt and another hunter named Ed with his Father In Law, whose name I never did get. He was from Great Britain.
To keep the number of vehicles down, I left my Jeep at the meeting point and rode over with Mike in his Hummer. That's the first one I've ever seen off road.
It was still dark when we started setting out the dekes. All 150 to 175 of them.
Did we use silohuettes, shells, full body, bobble heads, etc?
All of the above. With some shells mounted on stakes, the whole Mizpocha moved like a live flock.
We used layout blinds, a first for me. They're called coffin blinds sometimes. I did feel like I should lie there holding a lily instead of a shotgun. Had a touch of claustrophobia at first, but soon adapted.
Of course,I used Frankenstein, suitably clad in camo tape. Ammo was Hevi-2s, my choice for this and I used a Carlson's tube with 28 POC. I could have gotten away with much less choke. Shots were less than 30 yards.
Scotty was called away to help another party and Mike took over.
Anyone can buy a mess of goose and duck calls, but Mike's lanyard contained 12-14" of bird bands, goose jewelry, as well as a small fortune in double and single reed calls. He spoke fluent goose. He also flagged to add even more action to the set.
A pond nearby had a good bunch of birds and we had the first single bird in around 7:30. It still lives, I fumbled getting up out of that blind and the safety.
The next bunch fared worse, all three of them dropped to our shots. Another bunch were called in and slaughtered. We admired our birds, some definitely were Residents from the sheer size.
It was a crystal clear, frigid day. Not the best for waterfowling. About the time the morning flight stopped, Mike spied a bunch way out there, so high and far they probably showed on the radar down at Dulles. He called and flagged and these came in like they were on a wire. I've never seen geese called in that far before.
Zen lesson time. We fired 9 shots at the bunch, the same shots we had been making, and only one goose dropped.
That pretty much finished things up. We took a few pics and started picking up all those decoys.
A note on equipment. Shotguns there included one 870, a Nova,a Browning 10 gauge semi and an A-5. The A-5 jammed, no other malfs.
Later, I'll fire up the gas grill for some goose breast marinated in garlic, Olive oil, hot oil from Asia and Worchestershire sauce. MMmmm....
Here's the deal. Last month I had my birthday, and the family wanted to know what I wanted for my "Big" present. I looked the Permanent Head of The Budget Committee (Wonderful Wife) right in the eye and said, "I want to book a hunt with a goose guide".
Naturally, she then asked how expensive it would be this time. I told her I'd check and get back to her.
I did some Googling and found Black Duck Outfitters in MD, and called them. The price was affordable on my budget( Wife and I finally agreed on Her figure, as usual) and they did take single hunters at times. Today was the time.
A nice surprise awaited. Instead of going over on the Shore, with all that entailed, we met 10 minutes from here and were to hunt just a couple miles from where I grew up, if indeed I ever did. Howard County still has some farms, but it might be easier to get into Fort Knox. What Howard County does have in plenty is geese. Many are "Resident" geese of non migratory habit and huge size.
At the meeting point it was myself, Scotty the guide, Mike, who owned the farm we were to hunt and another hunter named Ed with his Father In Law, whose name I never did get. He was from Great Britain.
To keep the number of vehicles down, I left my Jeep at the meeting point and rode over with Mike in his Hummer. That's the first one I've ever seen off road.
It was still dark when we started setting out the dekes. All 150 to 175 of them.
Did we use silohuettes, shells, full body, bobble heads, etc?
All of the above. With some shells mounted on stakes, the whole Mizpocha moved like a live flock.
We used layout blinds, a first for me. They're called coffin blinds sometimes. I did feel like I should lie there holding a lily instead of a shotgun. Had a touch of claustrophobia at first, but soon adapted.
Of course,I used Frankenstein, suitably clad in camo tape. Ammo was Hevi-2s, my choice for this and I used a Carlson's tube with 28 POC. I could have gotten away with much less choke. Shots were less than 30 yards.
Scotty was called away to help another party and Mike took over.
Anyone can buy a mess of goose and duck calls, but Mike's lanyard contained 12-14" of bird bands, goose jewelry, as well as a small fortune in double and single reed calls. He spoke fluent goose. He also flagged to add even more action to the set.
A pond nearby had a good bunch of birds and we had the first single bird in around 7:30. It still lives, I fumbled getting up out of that blind and the safety.
The next bunch fared worse, all three of them dropped to our shots. Another bunch were called in and slaughtered. We admired our birds, some definitely were Residents from the sheer size.
It was a crystal clear, frigid day. Not the best for waterfowling. About the time the morning flight stopped, Mike spied a bunch way out there, so high and far they probably showed on the radar down at Dulles. He called and flagged and these came in like they were on a wire. I've never seen geese called in that far before.
Zen lesson time. We fired 9 shots at the bunch, the same shots we had been making, and only one goose dropped.
That pretty much finished things up. We took a few pics and started picking up all those decoys.
A note on equipment. Shotguns there included one 870, a Nova,a Browning 10 gauge semi and an A-5. The A-5 jammed, no other malfs.
Later, I'll fire up the gas grill for some goose breast marinated in garlic, Olive oil, hot oil from Asia and Worchestershire sauce. MMmmm....
