Thread: Goose Hunt

Ive allways considered the goose the most cunning and rewarding water fowl to bag. I havnt bothered hunting them since they lost there game bird status , and last year they got hammered by fed farmers by chopper (dont get me started) .
For those that dont know Lake Ellesmere , the geese leave the lake ,fly off to the high country to molt in december then fly back in late january.
So to the story, got a phone call , "the geese are back and flying " and ok numbers too . Sweet count me in please (bribes with crayfish work miracles),and the fact ive been watching a mob of geese grow as well .
Get another call " we hit them on saturday " , what do I need to do ? , "nothing all taken care of , mud holes dug , decoys set , dont be late "!.
Ive been lucky with this invite as with geese its the prep that pays dividens , and the two that have done it have been shooting the lake more than 60 yrs (120 yrs combined) .
3am my alarm clock roars into life , try too gather thoughts but a stark reminder from the mrs elbow , "turn that F*#" ,(you get the drift). Im a hour too early never mind , best that way round . Now just have too sneek around , not to wake dog as wasnt taking him as hes not nessary today. Bugger hes onto me ! he sees the gun ! ive got a problem now its 3.30Am and a gsp is doing back flips and telling the hole neibour hood about it as only a gsp can .
We arrive (yes dog and me) (dog ) . Its windy , great gives us some direction to adjust decoys if nessary. Find my possy and wait , normally the geese wont fly on the first light , but it pays to be set before as the geese will be trading from the lake , if they are close they can see you and may avoid your area . Its just light and geese in the air , the sound of ahonk ...... ahonk...... we are trying to get them to see our decoys , a mob of 30 are intent of flying past us and into another area , they are straight in bugger , this is not good as this will start a trade , and it did .
We manage to call in a mob from another bay in the lake , we have geese on the ground now , but still geese pour into the paddocks behind us . This is goose shooting and why when you get it right you savour every moment . We stick it out and end up with 22 in hand . Not dissapoined , but left thinking what if those geese had still wanted too feed in our area still , they had for a week . Never mind next time .