- Details
- Category: Waterfowl
- Published: Thursday, 16 December 2010 17:03
- Written by Dallas
First Canada Goose
Mark and I went hunting last Friday and I shot my very first goose!
The day looked like it would be a good day as far as the weather goes, but as soon as we got to the lake we noticed that everything was iced over! Before sunrise Mark, my dad, and I were out on the ice and we were breaking open a small area where we would be able to throw out some duck decoys. We finally got a pond out in front of us about 20 yards long and 20 yards wide, but now that I think about it I don’t know why we wasted our time! I know why we didn’t have any ducks land in our decoys, it’s because the pond that we had created looked like shards of glass poking up. Lol it just didn’t look natural. But anyway, we were lined up about 10 yards apart and starting from the left it was Mark, me, then my dad.
We were sitting behind a little ledge where the ice from the lake met the dirt when all of a sudden Mark and I spot two geese flying towards us. Mark looked over at me and I looked back at him, we were both too excited to say anything. The geese were flying in from our left and looked like they were going to fly straight out in front of us, but when they got closer I could tell that they were flying with a slight right hand turn . The geese got straight out in front of us but they were just a little out of our range. As they passed Mark and myself, they started to turn more to the right and I heard Mark say in a loud whisper, “Greg, shoot it!”…. we sit there and nothing happens. I raise my head to look at my dad and he was looking at the geese which were now behind us. My dad said that he didn’t see them until they were already past him (maybe we should have said something to my dad because the way he was looking was the complete opposite direction of where the geese had come… oops!).
The next thing I know is Mark is blowing his goose call so I turn to look at the geese and I couldn’t believe what I saw. The geese turned on a dime and were now headed straight for us! I crouch behind the dirt and start to get my gun ready. The geese have their wings cupped and I could tell that they want to land, and the only place for them to land is about 10 feet from where we are! The geese are now so close that I am ready to shoot at any second. Mark whispers to me, “You shoot the left one.” And that sentence was all I needed to hear, I jumped up and “BOOM” took my first shot. From my right I hear “BOOM” and I know Mark was now shooting. At about the same time I heard Mark's first shot I hear my dad take his first shot. It was crazy how fast it all happened! Less than one second had passed and we all had shot at the birds. With my first shot I could instantly see that my bird was hit and it was falling fast towards the ice. I didn’t want to leave anything to chance and I could see that my bird was indeed falling but was still trying to fly so I took two more shots at my goose. After that first shot I didn’t pay attention to the other goose and I was so happy that I jumped up and I might have even let out a shout of excitement.
I started to walk towards my goose that had hit the ice about 50 yards away and suddenly the goose stands up! Shocked I take a few more steps and the goose also takes a few steps. I really didn’t want this goose to get away so I jammed another shell into my gun and take a shot expecting the goose to just drop…. But nothing happens…the goose is still standing there and acted as if the shot I just fired didn’t even phase it. I continue towards it hoping to get a closer shot but the goose keeps walking every time I do. The ice that I was walking on was about 1 inch thick so I broke through with every step. The water that I was walking through was about 2 ft deep and I was also sinking into the mud about 4-5 inches with every step. So basically this was some tough walking and this goose was able to just stay on top of the ice. I kept walking and walking, and when I thought I was close enough to finally kill the goose, I would take another shot and nothing would happen. A few times the goose would try to fly but was unable to because of a broken wing.
Finally it got to the point where I only had one bullet left and I knew that if I didn’t use this one wisely then I would never get this goose. By now I am about 200 yards away from Mark and my dad and I am just dripping in sweat. I holler back asking what they think I should do but I couldn’t make out the words they were saying. The goose had sat down on the ice but was still just looking at me so I started to walk sideways as slowly as I could trying not to scare it. This went on for about half an hour and I finally was within 20 yards of the goose when it decided to stand up again. This was by far the closest that I had gotten to the goose so I take aim and shoot my last shot. I see some feathers fly and the goose drops to the ice! Finally I was within range and made the kill shot!
I raised my arms up in the air signaling my success to Mark and my dad. I walk the remaining 20 yards to the goose and hold him up for Mark and my dad to see! I was so happy that now all the hard work was done and that I had my goose. But that is when I realized that I was still almost 300 yards away from the island where Mark and my dad were and that I was really only half way done! I start the walk back and by now the wind had picked up and the ice was blowing on top of the water. Because the ice was moving at about 1-2 mph I couldn’t stop to rest or else the ice would start to knock me over! After what felt like all day, I made it back to the island and collapsed with exhaustion.
That is the story of how I got my very first goose! It was pretty exciting! The pictures of the goose were taken last Friday. The pictures of the ducks on the tailgate were taken on Sunday when I went with a friend named Russell. We had a good day on Sunday!