Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2024 i Wildfowl

THE WEATHER FINALLY BROKE after days of drought-breaking rain had flooded the prairie prior to our early May snow goose hunt in Alberta. I drove straight from the airport to a hot field, where my guide buddy, Jordan Moll, was setting up. “We got one of your readers here,” he said.“You’re gonna love him. He’s 79 and just a stud. Shoots lights out, you’ll see. He’s waitin’ on you in the blind. Been here for a week in the downpour hunting twice a day. It was tough, but we got ‘em. He just added four more days, so he’ll be here with you all week. The guy is a machine.” I ducked into the A-frame and there he was—Mr. Don Davidson from Klamath Falls. A tall, lean, angular fellow with…

❶ Band: 1188-11751Hunter: Dr. Edward Meszaros, Lakeland, FLSpecies: Canada Goose (M)Banded: 8/3/2015, Churchill, Manitoba, CanadaRecovered: 10/1/2023, Blackdale, Manitoba, CanadaComments: One of three banded Canada geese our group harvested around the Oak Hammock Marsh during this trip. I last harvested a band 15 years prior in the area. ❷ Band: 1707-74878Hunter: Kevin English, Murfreesboro, TNSpecies: White-Fronted Goose (M)Banded: 7/11/2006, Deadhorse, AKRecovered: 1/15/2023, Devil’s Bluff, ARComments: The bird was an adult when banded (hatched in 2004 or earlier); super old goose. It was a very fun hunt for me. 3,143 mile long-distance -champ- Flyway Veteran ❸ Band: 2127-26896Hunter: Jim Shaver, North Saanich, British Columbia, CanadaSpecies: Small Canada/Cackling Goose (F)Banded: 8/5/2022, Iqaluit, Nunavut, CanadaRecovered: 9/21/2023, Plumas, Manitoba, CanadaComments: This is just one of three banded birds shot on the hunt. Most likely molt…

HISTORICALLY, LIVE DUCK DECOYS were more common than geese, but the Judas goose still had an important place in each of the U.S. migratory flyways. It was hard work to raise and hunt over live goose decoys. First, they had to be acquired and were either purchased from reputable dealers or “wing-tipped” by hunters during the season. Then they had to be penned, fed, and watered year-round, usually sharing a barnyard with domesticated fowl. In fall and winter, tollers were moved close to the gunning grounds and held in wooden decoy pens. Then, before the hunt, they were collected for transport. For horseback travel, geese were placed in canvas or burlap “toe sacks” with their heads poking out. A pair of toe sacks were tied and tossed over a horse’s…

MY DUCK AFFINITY KNOWS NO BOUNDS, but when cut grainfields start filling up with migrating Canada geese, my attention shifts. The 28 gauge goes in the safe and my 12 gauge goose gun comes out. What is a goose gun, exactly? I first heard the phrase five years ago. We’d arrived at a local field at the same time as some other hunters. Instead of competing, we worked together and put out one giant spread. Twenty minutes into the hunt, one of the hunters looked over, eyed my Browning Maxus II, and said, “Dang, I like your goose gun.” It’s no brainteaser, a “goose gun” is a shotgun you pull out to drop the hammer on geese. While I may catch flack for this, my goose guns are of the…

IT’S A CLASSIC waterfowl gunning scene, one straight out of renowned American sporting artist Chet Reneson’s painting entitled Farm Hunt. There’s a wintery day depicted on canvas as several inches of fresh snowfall cover the ground, gray skies promising more snowflakes at any moment, and a stubble field with a few decoys carefully placed in front of a brushed-up blind that serves as a solid, albeit chilly hide in the northerly breeze. To complete the scene, there’s a dozen big Canada goose honkers trying to light in the decoy spread as two hunters shoulder their worn scatterguns and collect the key ingredient for a roast goose dinner. Reneson’s painting depicts a classic Canada goose hunt, the kind that was difficult to find about a century ago after habitat destruction, egg…

One day last August I was scrolling social media and saw this photo of a killer specklebelly goose spread posted by a Boise guide. Having never targeted white-fronted geese specifically, but always wanting to, I immediately messaged the poster, who put me in touch with Jon Rhoadenbaugh. The first thing I asked was, “There’s specks in Idaho?” Rhoadenbaugh, who owns Four Flyways Guide service, explained that sometime around the spring of 2010 specklebelly geese started showing up along the Snake River and surrounding ag fields in Southwest Idaho and Eastern Oregon. The number of birds coming through in subsequent springs has steadily increased and both states now have late season hunting opportunities. Idaho closes their speck season in late February so that snow goose hunters can use e-callers and unplugged…

By mid-October, Alberta is golden. Board a plane in lush drippy Vancouver and step off the tarmac a couple hours later east of Edmonton, you’ll think you entered another timeline. Golden fields flanked by golden poplars rising to meet the late-afternoon golden skies… it’s like stepping into an enchanted realm where King Midas passed through minutes before, touching everything in sight. With the exception of the waterfowl. “Holy cow, look at those,” the driver remarked. We looked out the window of the rental and saw a blanket of white geese, thick as soap bubbles, coating the surface of a flat prairie pothole. More were aloft, spiraling in. “Only six miles from the lodge. Just wow.” The mood was giddy when we pulled into camp. Five full-size RV’s (the guide quarters)…

”Boy, that‘s a tough one. There’s so many of ‘em. Dad. Me. Me and Dad.” I’d called Hunter Grounds out of the blue one rainy morning. Raining and cold in my Washington home; over 80 degrees and climbing, he told me, in southern Illinois. I’d asked the 37-year-old a simple question, or so I thought. Tell me a story. A goose hunting story. Your choice. I hadn’t talked to him in years, at least not since his legendary father, Tim, passed away as the result of an ATV accident in September of ’18. That was a sad day; it always is when one of the Old Guard leaves us. “We were up in Alberta shooting the ‘OO7’ video,” Grounds told me. “It was me, Duke LeVan, and Dad. Dad was…

Ocean swells gleaming in the fickle moonlight slowly gave way to a brooding dark dawn as the storm moved in, the wind picked up, and rain squalls began fighting for space on the horizon. Yet, black specks were already flickering about in the distance, birds in flight low on the ocean. Gulls or scoters? Murres, maybe? Or the ones that haunt our dreams, the ones we came for, the king? As the light improved, our decoys started to become more visible, and the shapes grew closer, until the distinctive outlines of king eiders appeared. Our hearts leapt. This was it. After barely sliding into camp two days late due to flight cancellations, we were out here on the Bering Sea, from the home port of the Deadliest Catch TV series…