When it comes to hunting migratory birds, I usually jump shoot from the banks, or hunt from a canoe, kayak and or a Jon boat parked into a decoy spread. Even sometimes sneaking up on the geese in the farm fields, crawling like a leopard. In my zone, Canada geese open earlier than other waterfowl but in farmland only.
Up at four in the morning, I got dressed and made my kit ready, then by five I was on the road heading north toward farmland. The drive is always a treat, driving through its rolling hills and dark forests mixed with coniferous and deciduous is just breathtaking. The tree top silhouettes piercing like spears through the morning fog, I rolled my window down and stuck my arm out to capture the fresh air, I felt incredibly free.
At the halfway mark, the fog got so thick it was blinding, especially with the reflection of my own lights. It is such a neat effect, driving into the fog and see it envelop you and then areas in space clear and then close up again. It reminded me of the mist that engulfed me on the river last season as I exited the forest. I remember looking back at that time and it was like the something was telling me, it was my time to leave now.
And I can tell you when it comes to our wilderness, I am extremely sensitive to energies and my eyes do not skip a beat, I absorb it all, everything. This is a relationship with nature that I respect and that I can not share with anyone, you have to experience it for yourself and it is linked to my almost instinctive hunts that I blogged about in the past.
For this hunt, I met one of my best friends, actually he is my “Girsan Brother”, we both bought Girsan MC312’s last year and share the same pure passion for waterfowl hunting and the outdoors. By the time we got to the farmland, we had about thirty minutes to place our small number of decoys and set up a small tent blind, as for me I improvised and built a long burlap sheet covered in foliage, then created a lean to with broken barn boards.
I was lying in the mud, near an olden wooden structure, neatly tucked under my burlap lean to and by sunrise we were ready, looking at the decoys. As the sky became brighter and the pink sky started to vanish we waited patiently. I placed my head into my elbow crease to give my neck muscles a rest as I was in the prone position, and when I opened my eyes again, it wasn’t geese to my right but a wall of cattle and leading the pack only three meters away from me on my right was a two thousand pound bull staring at me.
He was not provoked but very curious, I spoke to him softly and told him to move along, so that I could focus on the geese but he was not having any of it. It was not a good predicament to be in, he could crush me in an instant or give me one nasty head butt, I spoke to him softly again and carefully moved my shotgun closer and placed my hand tightly on the grip. I was getting ready to buttstroke his nose, I spoke to him again he eventually turned sideways and moved carefully in behind me.
At that instant, the Canada’s started to fly in and break their wings, calling and landing near our decoy spread, just as I had predicted. First, a group of seven came in. Then almost immediately the sentry of the group, continued calling in short bursts from flight to the ground and then more winged formations were now coming in, conducting their safety fly over and then breaking their wings also.
When geese come in for a landing they sometimes let out a very neat combo call of long and short normally repeated two to three times. Then once on the ground they can let out a short repeated sharp high pitch call, telling the others this is a good spot in burst of five or six. When geese break their wings and come in for landings, they beat their wings right at the end just before touching down and it makes a deafening sound especially if you happen to be right under them. As they glide out the fog over the treetops into the fields from all directions, it is a scene I can play over in my head and never tire. My heart is racing so fast, I can feel its vibration in my hand which is pressed against my chest in the mud.
By now the bull had moved forward to my left side, there were now thirty Canada’s in the field to our front. I laid there frozen moving my line of sight from the geese to the bull.
Then one of the cows called out and it echoed through the valley and I felt the vibration through the clay on the ground, by then the group continued to move slowly behind the abandoned barn to the south east. We were now in the clear, on my buddies queue, I stood up to one knee, this sent the birds into the air, just meters from ground level, we simultaneous released our shots and we each harvested our first geese for this year.
I can’t wait for the season to open on the river the 19th, I can use a break from a duel with a two thousand pound bull.
Canadian Small Game Hunter's Blog 