This season has been usually dry and clear, making hunting difficult. When we finally had some snow move through I was excited to have some friends who were ready and willing to join me. We headed out and were please to see all the birds moving. The wind never really picked up liked I'd hoped it would but when I walked down the the slough to let the dog run off some energy, a flock of geese got up near by and headed right towards our spread. It's been several years since we've shot a goose, so this was a great thing. Shots rang and one Vancouver Canada Goose fell. This was their first goose, so we were all pretty pleased with the hunt. I say "their" first goose because no one was quite sure who shot it.
The happy hunters with their first goose
We didn't have any duck action so we called it a day and headed home. We decided to pluck the goose and try smoking it so we heated up some water on a crab cooker and scalded it, then plucked it. It worked quite well. No word on how the smoking went though.
The plucked goose, waiting to be rinsed then into the smoker
In early November we had a nice high tide coupled with a storm blowing through so a friend and I headed out to the flats and had a great hunt. When we reached our spot and started setting up, my buddy realized he was missing his wind duck so he headed back to locate it along the trail. The tide was flooding in and the wind and rain blowing so the birds were really moving around.
Set up and watching the tide roll in.
The action was so fast that I had 4 birds before he returned from his decoy hunt. Once he got back to the blind he started getting some shooting, but he was having some major jamming issues with his Mossberg 935 auto-loader. At first we thought it was the older shells he was shooting but even a brand new box of 3-1/2" Winchesters would jamb him up every time. At one point after jamming on the first shot and with more birds pouring in, I just handed him my loaded Remington 870. I had 6 birds by that point, so shooting a single shot was fine by me. My 870 doesn't shoot 3-1/2's so it was fun to have some extra fire power. My last bird was a nice Widgeon outside of my usual range.
My first birds of the hunt; a Widgeon and a Pintail.
We kept hunting until the tide receded to the point that our decoys were high and dry and called it a day. My buddy didn't round out a limit but he still scratched out 5 birds. I was fortunate to shoot my first limit of the season; 5 Widgeon, a Pintail and a Teal.
My limit for the day; 5 Widgeon, a Pintail and a Teal.
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