Post by RJ on Sept 11, 2006 13:45:15 GMT -5
I haven't posted for awhile ... but have been real busy with getting ready for the fall !
Here are 3 threads together to show how we have progressed since early opener ...
1st thread .
Early goose opener today .... could hardly wait to get out of work !
Drove about 1hr to a spot we scouted yesterday .... not a major flyway , but an interesting spot that had a sprinkle of birds yesterday ... a mixed stubble field .
We were kinda rushed so we only set up a few decoys around the pop up chairs ...
Plan was to take birds as they set over our small flock , into an open area , although we were a long way from the barns , we didn't want to shoot near that direction and spook the landowner on this recent spot ...
Hid the truck over the next hill .... and " Sniper Adams " ... took up position in a nearby fence row to pick off fly overs ...
Had some small flocks come in at intervals .... and once we blew the dust off our wing shooting ... we managed to ground 12 long necks !
Here is Randy with some of the birds ...
Ended the night early ... picking up the spread while the sun dropped in behind the clouds .... a beauty night , and a great way to start the season !
2nd thread .
Well , Greylag and I scoped out a " smoken " field last night ( or so we thought ) ... there were hundreds of ducks and geese flying ...
Got permission from the farmer today ... called Kendo Kid and Dieter up and said " you wanted to come out for geese , well man we are going to melt down the barrels tonight ! "
The set up looked good ! ... new farm ... the field we were in was mixed cut grain field with lots of tailings and clover coming up ... the surroundings were right from the nature channel !
Dieter aligns his sights ... while Kendo Kid practices a few goose tunes as my dog Sally and Greylag look on !
I check out my shooting station after hiding the truck behind a log pile , and Sniper Adams takes up a position at the corner of the corn field . ( can you see him in the corner ? )
Kendo Kid practices in the pop up chair ...
We settle in to wait for the geese and the only thing that passes by is a plane up above , then a horse and buggy between the two farms down an old farm lane ...
Then around 6:30 pm .... the ducks start to tease us ! 1st they come in from the North / East in misc sized flocks ...
Then they tease us further by getting closer and circling above our shooting poistions ...
Then they really tease us by sailing by low , in pairs ...
Sniper Iden is in the North / East fence row and keeps getting spooked by the wing beats wistling above him ... ( he is the stump with the gun , left of the last tall tree at the left of the frame :lol: :lol: )
While every duck in the neighborhood decended on our position .... any goose flock we saw that had any size to it ( and even then there were only 20 to 30 birds to it ), seemed to be off in the distance and heading for some other field ! :lol: :lol:
We did manage to decoy in a smattering of wary geese in less than desirable shooting angles and ranges , but our shooting prowess didn't seem to come thru for us tonight ( maybe we didn't want to show each other up ? :lol: :lol: ) and we only fired a few shots !
I did manage to get some decent shots off with the camera ...
Lets just say , the ducks were a definate distraction !! :lol: :lol: This is what it looked like at the end of the evening ! :shock:
Watched the sun go down as we picked up the decoys ... another beauty night out watching the nature channel !
And Greylag , always considering the bright side says " well at least we don't have to clean birds tonight !! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Had a great time and never even downed a bird !
There is always " next time " :lol: :lol: :lol:
3rd thread .
Had some time to kill yesterday , so I headed out to confirm sight in on a couple of my bows ... The farmer has a beauty line of hay bales that work great as a rest ... brought the Paradox , the Exomax , and the Exocet 200 .
Put my block on a lawn chair at 20 yards then 40 yards ... man , 40 yards looks a long way back ( see chair beyond the bales ).
My best 40 yard group was with the Exocet 200 ...
Let the dogs run around .... Sally had fun , but Spike was bored and decided to curl up in my camo coat on the other lawn chair ...
Found an old horse shoe in the plowed field ... the farmer said there have not been horses working that field for 70 + years ...
Ended the night with a couple of buzzards watching from the fence row ... I guess they thought I was going to kill something ...
On the way home I scouted a beauty goose field just over from where we were on Friday night ( the " Duck spot " )
Got permission and set up this morning ...
Watched the sun come up ...
CH watches the horizon ...
Ducks start to filter by on the horizion ...
When the sun is up full , the geese start coming in ...
And then it is time to put the camera down !
In all the shooting ... I grounded a few birds , and I knocked down a long range double ... We had fun shooting and Sally had fun picking them up after !
Then I head down the field to work a bird with the dog , when CH gets a " quad " .... a group of 7 birds fly over ... CH sweet talks them into the spread and manages to down 4 birds with 3 shots ! ... he was not having much luck earlier and said to me " I must be shooting behind them ? " .... well with this flock , he " stoned " the lead bird and another behind flopped down as well ... then steadied on a couple of others in the line and " stoned " them one at a time !
I came back to the spread and said " keep leading them like that ! " :lol: :lol: :lol:
CH retrieves his " quad " ...
A great morning out ...
And yes ....I brought the " Lucky Horse Shoe "
Here are 3 threads together to show how we have progressed since early opener ...
1st thread .
Early goose opener today .... could hardly wait to get out of work !
Drove about 1hr to a spot we scouted yesterday .... not a major flyway , but an interesting spot that had a sprinkle of birds yesterday ... a mixed stubble field .
We were kinda rushed so we only set up a few decoys around the pop up chairs ...
Plan was to take birds as they set over our small flock , into an open area , although we were a long way from the barns , we didn't want to shoot near that direction and spook the landowner on this recent spot ...
Hid the truck over the next hill .... and " Sniper Adams " ... took up position in a nearby fence row to pick off fly overs ...
Had some small flocks come in at intervals .... and once we blew the dust off our wing shooting ... we managed to ground 12 long necks !
Here is Randy with some of the birds ...
Ended the night early ... picking up the spread while the sun dropped in behind the clouds .... a beauty night , and a great way to start the season !
2nd thread .
Well , Greylag and I scoped out a " smoken " field last night ( or so we thought ) ... there were hundreds of ducks and geese flying ...
Got permission from the farmer today ... called Kendo Kid and Dieter up and said " you wanted to come out for geese , well man we are going to melt down the barrels tonight ! "
The set up looked good ! ... new farm ... the field we were in was mixed cut grain field with lots of tailings and clover coming up ... the surroundings were right from the nature channel !
Dieter aligns his sights ... while Kendo Kid practices a few goose tunes as my dog Sally and Greylag look on !
I check out my shooting station after hiding the truck behind a log pile , and Sniper Adams takes up a position at the corner of the corn field . ( can you see him in the corner ? )
Kendo Kid practices in the pop up chair ...
We settle in to wait for the geese and the only thing that passes by is a plane up above , then a horse and buggy between the two farms down an old farm lane ...
Then around 6:30 pm .... the ducks start to tease us ! 1st they come in from the North / East in misc sized flocks ...
Then they tease us further by getting closer and circling above our shooting poistions ...
Then they really tease us by sailing by low , in pairs ...
Sniper Iden is in the North / East fence row and keeps getting spooked by the wing beats wistling above him ... ( he is the stump with the gun , left of the last tall tree at the left of the frame :lol: :lol: )
While every duck in the neighborhood decended on our position .... any goose flock we saw that had any size to it ( and even then there were only 20 to 30 birds to it ), seemed to be off in the distance and heading for some other field ! :lol: :lol:
We did manage to decoy in a smattering of wary geese in less than desirable shooting angles and ranges , but our shooting prowess didn't seem to come thru for us tonight ( maybe we didn't want to show each other up ? :lol: :lol: ) and we only fired a few shots !
I did manage to get some decent shots off with the camera ...
Lets just say , the ducks were a definate distraction !! :lol: :lol: This is what it looked like at the end of the evening ! :shock:
Watched the sun go down as we picked up the decoys ... another beauty night out watching the nature channel !
And Greylag , always considering the bright side says " well at least we don't have to clean birds tonight !! :lol: :lol: :lol:
Had a great time and never even downed a bird !
There is always " next time " :lol: :lol: :lol:
3rd thread .
Had some time to kill yesterday , so I headed out to confirm sight in on a couple of my bows ... The farmer has a beauty line of hay bales that work great as a rest ... brought the Paradox , the Exomax , and the Exocet 200 .
Put my block on a lawn chair at 20 yards then 40 yards ... man , 40 yards looks a long way back ( see chair beyond the bales ).
My best 40 yard group was with the Exocet 200 ...
Let the dogs run around .... Sally had fun , but Spike was bored and decided to curl up in my camo coat on the other lawn chair ...
Found an old horse shoe in the plowed field ... the farmer said there have not been horses working that field for 70 + years ...
Ended the night with a couple of buzzards watching from the fence row ... I guess they thought I was going to kill something ...
On the way home I scouted a beauty goose field just over from where we were on Friday night ( the " Duck spot " )
Got permission and set up this morning ...
Watched the sun come up ...
CH watches the horizon ...
Ducks start to filter by on the horizion ...
When the sun is up full , the geese start coming in ...
And then it is time to put the camera down !
In all the shooting ... I grounded a few birds , and I knocked down a long range double ... We had fun shooting and Sally had fun picking them up after !
Then I head down the field to work a bird with the dog , when CH gets a " quad " .... a group of 7 birds fly over ... CH sweet talks them into the spread and manages to down 4 birds with 3 shots ! ... he was not having much luck earlier and said to me " I must be shooting behind them ? " .... well with this flock , he " stoned " the lead bird and another behind flopped down as well ... then steadied on a couple of others in the line and " stoned " them one at a time !
I came back to the spread and said " keep leading them like that ! " :lol: :lol: :lol:
CH retrieves his " quad " ...
A great morning out ...
And yes ....I brought the " Lucky Horse Shoe "
