[nodakoutdoors.com]

Wow, what a weekend.

We started off hunting the exact same field we hunted the previous Sunday, as it wasn't burnt out. We ended up a few shy of our limit, and decoyed a ton of small flocks.

Sunday was the real story though. We had a field we'd been watching the past few weeks, and was our backup spot the previous 3 outings...well we finally got to it. These birds HAD NOT seen any pressure, I'm sure of that. We scouted over 500 on a roost, and was watching a lot of migrant flocks drop from the statosphere into the slough. The next morning, they came in LOW and dropped right in. Most of the shots were within 20 yards. 4 of us were done in around 50 minutes.

Than it got funny. Jason and Mike went to go get the vehicles, while my buddy Kiedro and I stayed in the spread. I figured it would be a good chance to get some photos. Sure enough, birds were dropping in the spread. I was sitting up clearly visible, with the camera lense pointed towards the sun...didn't matter. I got a ton of photos and movies....here's a peak.

Than it went from funny to just plain insane. After laughing about having birds walk around us in the spread for 15 minutes...my buddies pull in the field with the trailer. It didn't matter, geese were still trying to land. We had 3 that let me film them at a distance of 20 yards...and I was standing up in the spread...but they wanted in. They swung over our vehicle and passed around for another landing attempt.

Truly an unforgetable morning.

 

[Robert A. Langager]

:beer:
Well done guys! Those shots of the birds coming in dumber than dumb are fantastic. Wish I was there. To those of you who shot bands, you should be sure to post the info on your birds when you get it. It would be interesting to hear the stories of your birds. Maybe we could set up some sort of Nodak Outdoors database with the band information for the season. What do you think, Chris? Good to see Kiedro out and doing some shooting!

 

[muskat]

WOW Chris that is just amazing.

 

[GooseBuster3]

Good job man!!!! we had really dumb geese to they were locking up 100 + yards out and giving use 15 yard shots it was unreal. You are the true gooseman. :beer:

 

[duxnbux]

You hit the nail on the head goosebuster, a true gooseman is an understatement! What a weekend.....Wow! Thanks to Chris and Kiedro for sharing a great weekend with us! Awesome!!!

 

[mallard]

On Friday my buddy shot one out of a small flock and about five seconds later a single came in and landed next to the dead one.We didnt see it coming,we were watching another flock in the oposite direction.

 

[nodakoutdoors.com]

That would've been the first for me. Did the bird just sit and stare at the dead one???

 

[muskat]

I finally made it back out this morning for a couple of hours before school. We managed to get 4, but really only had two groups in the coys(lack of scouting time). Nothing impressive like Chris, but I was content to just get out again for the first time since the opener.

 

[gandergrinder]

Our group of 4 had a very good weekend on both days. We decoyed a flock of lessers on Sunday which was pretty cool. No we didn't shoot any. Saturday was the strangest decoying day I have had in a long time. I know some of the birds we shot were migrators. We broke singles and doubles loose from flocks that were really really high. The field had only 50 geese in it on friday and they were roosting about a mile away. Non of these birds came back. We decoyed a flock of 4, 3 pairs and 4 singles and all of these birds came in from high and out of the north and they broke loose from bigger flocks. No circling just cupped their wings and parachuted in. It was awesome.

 

[nodakoutdoors.com]

We saw some lessors too on Sunday. I think they might've moved in recently. The night before we saw at least 3 good flocks drop in from WAY up.

I saw some high flying flocks headed south all weekend as well. Do they know something we don't?

 

[mallard]

Chris,that goose didnt really just stare at the dead one.It landed about a foot away from it and we shot it as soon as we noticed it.I wonder if the dead one was its mate.

 

[Blake Hermel]

I am still trying to scrape my jaw off the floor!!
SWEEEET!! :beer:

 

[ChrisP]

The early goose season has been excellent! I've been able to make it out quite a few times, and have had very successful hunts on all occasions except for one hunt that was interrupted early when the farmer showed up to plow his field. In addition to the geese, we've been seeing a lot of ducks in the decoys. Saturday morning's hunt I was setup in a field where the day before 200 geese had been feeding. I setup 75 or so shells, and settled in for a good shoot. The first group to fly by came right in like a flock of shovelers, they made a bee line for my spread and flew in low across the stubble field. They would have landed at my feet, but instead I sat up and made my first honest triple on geese, what a rush! Before Chester could retrieve the birds, more canadas were working the decoys, and even though he was running around they just kept coming in. At this point I didn't think I could miss a shot, so I emptied my gun twice while the geese laughed in my face. Oh well, that's the way it goes. So I loaded up once more, and said out loud "lead them 6 more feet" in honor of an old friend, who taught me how to hunt MN divers on big water, then laid down and waited for more birds. In a matter of minutes a huge flock (or several large flocks) got off a large slough to my north, and started heading my way. They pretty much filled the sky, with flocks flying every which direction. My last two birds were easy shots, as small groups started landing in my spread. What a hunt! I saw my limit before sunrise! Doug, too bad you had to work, you missed a sweet hunt!

 

[nodakoutdoors.com]

Doug's been missing a lot of good hunts lately... :wink:

Nice work Chris. It sounds like you'd been out quite a bit this year, must've saved some good vacation time!

 

[Doug Panchot]

Keep rubbing it in boys!!! Someone has to bring home the bacon or should I say more bigfoots.