Thread: Lake Ellesmere Goose Hunt

Well I got away on the goose hunt, leaving after knocking up dinner for the troops on Friday, and headed off with the old battle wagon full of goose hunting paraphernalia, tent, tucker and bed, headed for the upper Selwyn huts. A few yarns were spun, beverages consumed, and goose calls compared whilst everyone arrived from Winton to Amberley and many places in between. Everyone was divided into teams with a mixture of new and experienced goose hunters, and we set off to set up decoys and blinds. My group had the furthest to travel to a 'hot spot' that had at least 60 geese grazing on it the previous 2-3 days; half the battle is being where they want to be.

We eventually reached the property and made our way to the appropriate spot and set up the gear, including about 60 decoys in the dark before heading back to HQ for more beverages, yarns, goose calling and general shenanigans and malarkey. Most of the crews hit the hay about midnight with alarms set for 4am (0400h for some of you) ready for an early head out and be well in place before the bright thing popped up in the east. On arrival shotguns and callers were readied and we clambered into our layout/laydown blinds. At this point I struck a problem; where is the cover for my blind? A bit of frantic searching and nothing turns up! Next best thing, I dive into my bag and grab my ex British army issue DPM Gortex wet weather gear, face veil and camo hat. Then settle down for all the action.

The sky brightens and the thick fog quickly goes nowhere, and stays like that for pretty much the entire morning with next to no wind. Conditions in the quarries favour, and they have about zero chance of seeing he decoys. About 9am we head off for a cuppa with one of the locals, before returning to the spread. After a bit of rustling from the next blind the cover for my blind mysteriously appears on the ground, from nowhere! My companions pull the pin and head off after another 30 minutes to catch up with the rest of the groups while I stay behind to see if things improve. Eventually there is one mob of about 30 geese that I manage to call and persuade to come into the decoys, magic! Then at about 75m they decide something is wrong and flare off. Bugger!

I stayed on practising my calling the geese kicking about on the water about a kilometre behind me. I'd call, they'd respond, I'd reply, ... After about 30 minutes they were well within shooting distance, I would have to admit that doing this when they are flying is a lot easier as they tend to cover the distance a bit quicker only requiring a minutes calling. While technically no longer covered by the game bird rules I will not be so unsporting for such a weary and cunning bird. After that I spent time trying out the other blinds before cooking up a feed then seeing what happened as the day started to draw to a close, before I pulled the pin about 8:30pm after a very hot afternoon. My companions arrived back at the same time, amazed that I was still there but fully respecting my reasons and tenacity.

The news that they came with was that the birds had changed location, but there was a lot about 19km away as the goose flies. So the gear was all packed up and we made our way to the new location where we set up for the next mornings effort. Then back to HQ at 10:30; a bit late to much about with dinner so a few drinks were had and snacks consumed while more of the usual banter before again hitting the hay about midnight. This time alarms were set for 5am as the spot was only a couple of km from HQ.

Alarms sounded and the crews emerged a little slower than the previous morning, but everyone was in place in time. Thankfully there was a slight wind and no fog. Birds could be heard rousing on the water ready to start the morning trade around the lake looking for food, company, whatever. I was hidden in my wet weather again in some think grass. The sky started to brighten, then the sun started to emerge.



Soon the callers were honking, and a few small mobs of 1-4 birds were draw to our spread. My calling practice the previous day had paid off. Unfortunately I was so well hidden I couldn't see the birds till they were past me so ended up with a nil score, but the other more experienced hunter managed to nail a couple. My location would have been good for nailing more birds if only I could see them. Never mind, the freezers at home are already bursting at the seams. My experience was much enhanced and it was a fantastic learning experience. I'm stoked.

After a long period of no activity we pack up, and as usual the birds start flying again with one mob of five in particular seeming to almost be on a death with appearing to almost want to come into the now empty space while we were standing there talking.



So tonight for dinner it was my stir fry come risotto thing with chopped up ham in the absence of fresh goose breast. Had the breast meat been available it would have been sliced through about 8-10mm thick before being marinated in a little soy sauce wine and a little light dose of spices. After 20 minutes it would have gone in a hot heavy frying pan for a 5 minute flash fry before resting. Then it would have been added to the dinner sans ham.

Good write up GM. Bummer about a nil score but that is hunting. I never understood risotto. Don't get me wrong, I like rice and I like soup but risotto to me is soupy rice and I just don't get that Call me heathen if you wish). Your dinner looks like something that I would wolf down though..

Thats the story I have been waiting for although I was expecting heaps of geese to be in a picture Get em next time eh. Is the lake always like that or has it dried out heaps

I have posed a report on the old forum but here are a few pics.

We nailed a few on friday evening, saturday morning was all fog. First thing a mob looked like they would come in but then turned back. We had three come in perfect and all dropped. The rest of the morning was all fog and frustration. I didn't go out sunday but will be hitting the lake mid week.

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Originally Posted by Toby

Thats the story I have been waiting for although I was expecting heaps of geese to be in a picture Get em next time eh. Is the lake always like that or has it dried out heaps

The water level is quite low at the moment as has generally been hot and dry here. It is very fickle hunting the birds on the big water as they have so many places they can go. Usually you want to be on the leeward end of the water when a big wind change comes up. This creates too much chop for the birds to sit on the water and they let the wind blow them to land. The other main option is to set up in paddocks where they move to to feed. The weird thing is I've lived here pretty much all my life and the first time I went to the lake was two years ago.

Originally Posted by Rushy

Good write up GM. Bummer about a nil score but that is hunting. I never understood risotto. Don't get me wrong, I like rice and I like soup but risotto to me is soupy rice and I just don't get that Call me heathen if you wish). Your dinner looks like something that I would wolf down though..

I'm with you. I do a stir fry rice instead. The nil result is nothing. Being out there, meeting people and learning far outweigh the bird score.

getting closer mate, one day the pieces will fall into place.

Good story GM

Great write up mate. It will happen one day soon
Just a thought for your deek spread why are all the feeders out on the mud when they got all that green grass behind them.

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Originally Posted by SHOOTA

Great write up mate. It will happen one day soon
Just a thought for your deek spread why are all the feeders out on the mud when they got all that green grass behind them.

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The local that was organizing it decided that they would be better there as they were more visible. The half dozen super magnum shells also help with visibility but are better put further away from the regular sized shells as the geese seem to flare off if too close. Two years ago I had a crack at them using just the super magnums and would have pulled the birds in from at least 1km away. Shot my first goose then and spent the rest of the afternoon just calling them in and getting them hovering 5-10m above us, let the fly off and do the same with the next mob. Wasn't sure what do do with the birds cooking wise so stopped at the one.

saturday i missed out cos my saftey was on at the only opportunity we had but i managed to bag two on sunday

Originally Posted by Dundee

Good story GM

+1 nice work mate, keep getting amongst it!

Originally Posted by Dougie

+1 nice work mate, keep getting amongst it!

+2 :thumbup:

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Good story GM . Key to success is plenty of homework ie going to the lake and finding birds . I wouldn't get excited of any less than 200 / 300 as any less is not worth it , as they are not like ducks that will come back in twos and threes . Can wait all day for one mob and only get one shot . Also on a high lake watch out for mobs that have walked up to feed , so you need to target birds that feed well back from lake edge.

It would likely be something like my fourth shot a the geese. I was just getting started when they were hammered, so this was really a second start. Though the number of birds taken was very low the gain in knowledge was huge, including your great tips there Munsey. Also good to put names to faces from various forums I've been on over the years, starting with NZAirgunners and Digits NZRimfire.

So any advice/criticism is gladly taken on board. The old no point reinventing the wheel thing, if you've found something does/doesn't work then that knowledge is gold. Now if anyone knows how to get 36-48 hours in a day, ... with small game, game birds, large game, reloading, target shooting, clay shooting, there is so much to learn. With a growing family I need more hours so there are more for this information sponge to soak up.