First geese in a couple of years...

[lokidog]

...though I didn't even buy duck stamps last year as our retriever died before season.

So, I've been seeing some geese on and off while traveling between the islands to drop/pick up my daughter for school.  Yesterday morning, I decided to bring the shotgun along, but no birds in sight.  In the afternoon, I had a little extra time so grabbed the shotgun again.  Part way there, I see about a dozen geese on a little island.  While I am pondering what to do to get close enough for a shot, I see five more swimming ahead of me.  I slowly putt my way toward them to see what they will do.  Unfortunately, the current was against me so I couldn't just shut the engine off and drift in to them.  They started to get nervous when I was about 100 yards away and took off around the island.  I did not see them pop out the other side, so I motored into the gap and saw them on the water a little ways away.  I decided to keep motoring as I was moving into a pretty good current and also had the breeze in my face.  When I got about 150 yards past them, I maneuvered to try to get my drift to align with their swimming hoping they would swim back through the gap between the little islands and I might then be able to ambush them around the corner.  I slowly floated toward them, they slowly swam along the island.  Things were looking good as my drift was going in the same direction as they were.  At about 104 yards with the rangefinder, I saw two geese standing up on shore.  At about 90 yards the two geese got nervous and took off, flying toward me.  As they swung past, I did too and dropped both with two shots.  Followed up with a swat on one that popped its head up.  As I dug for more shells, just in case, the other two groups of geese were circling.  I reloaded just in time to see the larger flock passing within range behind me.  They were too bunched up for a decent shot so I let them go.  I did have to chase the second bird down though as I realized it was swimming faster than the current should be moving it.

And yes, I kept the legs....   

Didn't see any around today though.

[JJD]

Nice 
Some days you're  the dog, some days you're the hydrant.  Nice to be the dog once in a while.

[hntrspud]

Very nice! Sometimes the goose gods are looking out for ya.

[Goldeneye]

Right on Loki!  I didn't know you were a waterfowler.  Good looking birds! 

[singleshot12]

those are good size honkers it's nice you don't have to be anchored to shoot birds over there

[TheSkyBuster]

The Ol' "Spot and Stalk (by Boat)"....  Nicely done! 

[lokidog]

those are good size honkers it's nice you don't have to be anchored to shoot birds over there

The bigger one was 13 pounds, both had lots of fat on them.  Cooked one breast up tonight with herbed Panko, yummy.  My boy even had seconds on it.

The Ol' "Spot and Stalk (by Boat)"....  Nicely done! 

Not too many fields to lay down in here.     My last geese were a triple I got after drifting for over 45 minutes to get close enough to jump one and then two others flew by close enough to drop after the first shot.   

[GrampasGuns]

What load did you shoot at them?

[lokidog]

I had 3 1/2" BB's, though these would probably have gone down with 2's as they were fairly close.  I really don't like to shoot farther than 40 yards and we dropped a lot of geese with 2's when I was younger.

[hdshot]

Reading an awesome story sharing about how us hunters have to balance family life with hunting and our how hard we cope with the loss of our favorite pups, then only to end up being about the goose legs? 

IMO, sounds like this was only to slam other hunters and the rest was the set up. My mistake and sorry if I'm wrong, but just gross to play with good and bad experiences of hunting only ending up trying to prove a point about goose legs.     

[WSU]

Reading an awesome story sharing about how us hunters have to balance family life with hunting and our how hard we cope with the loss of our favorite pups, then only to end up being about the goose legs? 

IMO, sounds like this was only to slam other hunters and the rest was the set up. My mistake and sorry if I'm wrong, but just gross to play with good and bad experiences of hunting only ending up trying to prove a point about goose legs.     

I don't follow?

[pianoman9701]

Reading an awesome story sharing about how us hunters have to balance family life with hunting and our how hard we cope with the loss of our favorite pups, then only to end up being about the goose legs? 

IMO, sounds like this was only to slam other hunters and the rest was the set up. My mistake and sorry if I'm wrong, but just gross to play with good and bad experiences of hunting only ending up trying to prove a point about goose legs.     

Well, you only feel that way because you missed a discussion regarding the geese left on a public beach, and whether leaving them there with the legs attached constituted waste and gave hunters a black eye.

Nice haul Loki. I know you miss that pup!

[pianoman9701]

those are good size honkers it's nice you don't have to be anchored to shoot birds over there

You don't have to be anchored over here. You just can't be moving as a result of motor power:

From pg. 28 Waterfowl book.

Prohibited to:
Hunt wildlife from a vehicle (except
authorized disabled hunters) or from a
boat propelled by a motor, unless the
boats motor is shut off and progress due
to the motor has stopped.