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Post by esshup on Feb 10, 2014 13:05:00 GMT -5
We did some scouting on on Sat. and saw some in the field around 2 p.m. We got to the field at 7:45 am, dug pits in the snow filled ditch, set out the dekes and waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing was flying except a couple of hawks and an occasional crow.
You could see we were at the "X" because of the snow filled footprints from the geese the day before. We waited until about 2:30 before we saw anything flying. 2 came in about 20 yds and tried to land. 3 shots later and they both were down. Not 20 minutes later 4 more came in, and they didn't leave either. 3 of those 4 were banded. More flew on and off until about 5 p.m. All in all, 5 of us walked out with 17 birds, 4 of those were banded. A friend of a friend helps with banding birds, and he said that the birds were banded in Leeper Park, South Bend. We were hunting a field not too far out of the city, so that makes sense.
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Post by featherduster on Feb 10, 2014 14:40:21 GMT -5
Glad to see somebody taking advantage of the February season.  Even a picture of you guys getting the once over from a CO would be good or it didn't happen. |
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Post by pigeonflier on Feb 10, 2014 17:26:32 GMT -5
Must be near the ethanol plant? I was beginning to wonder if anybody at all was out giving them a poundin!!! I haven't seen a blind set up anywhere!!! The geese did move on down the by-pass this year,, seems like they like the fields west of Mayflower now,, and my goodness,, I cant even count how many ducks have been out there with them,, so lets just say its been more than ALOT!!!! Congrats on a good time!!!!!! I will agree with featherduster on this!!! |
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Post by esshup on Feb 10, 2014 19:07:00 GMT -5
Yeah, we hunt the farm that is SW of the ethanol plant. We were in the field between Mayflower and the bypass. The farm runs all along 23 for a LONG ways. I only have 2 pics, the other guys have more. You can see the ethanol plant in the background. I don't know what happened yesterday. The number of geese that we saw flying was nowhere near what we saw in the field on previous days, not even a third of the numbers. We think the geese that we shot were on the retention pond at the ethanol plant, we didn't see any flights of geese coming out of South Bend.   |
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Post by esshup on Feb 10, 2014 19:20:53 GMT -5
Glad to see somebody taking advantage of the February season. Even a picture of you guys getting the once over from a CO would be good or it didn't happen. So you read the other post,  ?  About 45 minutes before that happened, we turned around and saw the sheriffs cars on Mayflower. Couldn't figure out what was going on, so I broke out the binoculars and looked. I was looking at a lady sheriff dressed in a red coat looking our way, then she dug out a pair of binoculars from the trunk. They looked for a bit and then left. I guess what happened is someone saw the snowmobile at the edge of the field, and the black sled with the deke bags in it and thought that someone crashed the snowmobile and was laying in the snow near it. The sheriff or whoever called it in must have contacted the DNR. The officer walked all the way out to us, and even jumped in the extra pit blind that we dug so we could work 3 different groups of geese. We told him to get in gently because in the pits that we dug we were standing on about a foot or so of snow and ice over about 18" of water. I guess one of the times he jumped in he forgot. One of the guys said he saw the CO yanking his foot up. Looking at that pit blind after he left, there was a hole in the bottom. I guess he got a wet foot. When he got to his truck, he had to flag down a couple of cars as he pulled off the road and was stuck....... Young CO, only on the job 3-4 years. One of our hunters has a sort of a history with him that I won't go into on-line other than saying both were in the wrong, the DNR more so than my buddy. He was nice enough yesterday tho. |
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Post by pigeonflier on Feb 10, 2014 22:37:12 GMT -5
That itty bitty retention/cooling pond will hold so many birds one will wonder how in the heck that many birds fit in such a itty bitty space!!!! For sure our new ICO does look like he could graduate the 2nd grade next year.......  He is cool thou,, and he seems fair!! I have not had any wrong doings with him!! I mean some fellas you can sense are gonna be hard-ass guys and some seem like they will be fair,,, he seems fair in my opinion!! |
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Post by esshup on Feb 11, 2014 0:58:40 GMT -5
That itty bitty retention/cooling pond will hold so many birds one will wonder how in the heck that many birds fit in such a itty bitty space!!!! For sure our new ICO does look like he could graduate the 2nd grade next year....... He is cool thou,, and he seems fair!! I have not had any wrong doings with him!! I mean some fellas you can sense are gonna be hard-ass guys and some seem like they will be fair,,, he seems fair in my opinion!! That itty bitty retention pond is actually 5.8 acres.  I've seen it juat about black with waterfowl when the plant was in operation. I figure as long as I do everything legal, I don't have anything to worry about. One of the younger guys was whining when we saw him walking out, and 'bout made a mess in his pants when he couldn't find his license or signed stamp. I asked everybody before we even started if everybody had their licenses and stamps and they said yes. He DID have them, just couldn't find them quick. By the time the CO got to him he found 'em. A few years ago Ritter called him over from wherever he was patrolling to write a ticket. I think he knows better now.....  I got a ticket while pheasant hunting in Illinois about 12-14 years ago. We were checked, and the CO asked if everybodys guns were unloaded (we were in the truck and had 'em all in cases). We said yes and he checked every one. His eyes lit up like it was Christmas when I unzipped my case and slid out my O/U, breaking it open. (I made 2 wooly mops out of Win AA pieces of brass - removing the plastic, setting them on waxed paper and filling the base with epoxy, setting in two wool mops before the epoxy hardened.) His face went from smiles to frowns like he opened his Christmas present and found a lump of coal. He wrote me a ticket for not having my gun "enclosed in a case". The zipper wasn't zipped 100%, it was only zipped across the butt by 3/4 of the case, not 100% leaving about 1 1/2" not zipped. I figured it would cost me more time traveling back taking time off of work to go to court than what it cost to pay the fine, so I just mailed in a check, although I wasn't happy about it. My grammar school gym teacher was hassled by the same CO in Illinois on a different hunt because he was hunting in the Railroad Right of way. Joe fixed that problem the next year. He bought shares of that RR company and carried one stock cert with him. He was confronted by the same CO the next year, and Joe just showed him the stock cert. saying "I own part of the company, here's one of the stock certs to prove it. Can you tell me that I don't own this particular piece of ground that I'm standing on"? The CO mumbled something and left Joe alone. Just goes to show you that you shouldn't mess with old folks! |
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Post by deadeer on Feb 11, 2014 10:43:46 GMT -5
I always like how we are guilty until proven innocent by a court of one CO. One tried to start something with me last year during turkey season. An idiot hunter that hunts the same property (1/2 mi away) called and said I was trespassing and poaching, and killed "his bird". The CO came to my house with a bad ass attitude. He said there was no record of my harvest, so I showed him the leg with tag, beard, and fan, and told him where I checked it in at. No doubt he was  ed I produced the tag. Later found out the check station doesn't submit the entries quickly. (strike one for him) Then the CO went on about trespassing, and I explained how I have permission (12yrs) and to go talk to the landowner. The landowner verified and told him we would all work it out ourselves. (strike two) The CO came back to my house and wouldn't even get out of his truck, he sat in my driveway and honked until I came out. (strike three with me) He then said there was no problem and was on his way to the check station. I later found out from them that the guy was a habitual troublemaker and screwed them on processing a few times, and was not allowed there anymore. I know the owner and am on good terms with him. He knows the CO and said he is agood guy, and says he told the CO that I am a good guy, an ethical hunter, and always had my paperwork accurate and in order, and that all made me feel better. He said he vouched for me from many years of past experience and at least that put me at ease about the whole situation. It still left a sour taste about how law enforcement sees you as a criminal first. I was not impressed. |
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Post by 36fan on Feb 15, 2014 19:16:28 GMT -5
I don't think I would've come out to the CO honking. Very lazy, disrespectful, and rude on his part.
LOL - A few years ago my wife's aunt pulled up in the driveway to pick up wife and my 2 or 3 yr daughter, and started honking. I went out and explained to her that I don't allow any of my ladies to to be picked up by someone honking in the driveway ... and she got out of the car and came in the house to get them :-)
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I've seen it juat about black with waterfowl when the plant was in operation.
