Snow Goose Hunt: Semi-Auto 12 gauge? Recipes? Hunt Completed!

[bearpaw]

Thanks wadu1, in a little over 4 weeks we will be patiently waiting in the blinds! 

[JKEEN33]

Does anyone have a good tasting snow goose jerky recipe?

Here is a link to a goose pastrami recipe. It is by far the best way to eat goose I have tried.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/pastrami-canada-goose-this-stuff-is-off-the-charts-by-good-friend-rance-gamblin.170661/ 

[bearpaw]

Does anyone have a good tasting snow goose jerky recipe?

Here is a link to a goose pastrami recipe. It is by far the best way to eat goose I have tried.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/pastrami-canada-goose-this-stuff-is-off-the-charts-by-good-friend-rance-gamblin.170661/

Thank you

[bearpaw]

I left in the late evening, but had a mishap on the way, I hit a deer with the wife’s car, went into a spin on the interstate in Montana at 80ish mph, bounced off the concrete center divider, finally got stopped halfway into the ditch. Wow, I just sat there a minute absorbing what just happened! Finally got out of the car to inspect the damage. It wasn’t as bad as I figured, mostly just the grill and below was damaged. I picked up a few broken plastic parts and checked the radiator and oil, both were ok, so i started the car it seemed to run ok, then I sat a few more minutes weighing my options and if I should turn back. Finally decided to go to deer lodge and inspect the car further.

I checked the car over again while fueling up and decided to continue on for the hunt. At miles city some warning light came on and cruise quit working. I spent a few hours there reading up on warning lights and deciding if I should go back to a dealership in Billings? I finally decided the warning lights were mostly for the auto driving sensors and headed for South Dakota.

We hunted 4 days March 23-27, the first day was the slowest day, we saw thousands of birds but a lot of them were very high and most would not respond to the decoy spread or the electronic calling, we did manage to end the migration of 18 geese that first day.

The next day we went to a different field, not as many geese flying but still saw thousands, most importantly we had a lot more geese that came into the decoys and calling, and we put 32 geese on the ground. I did start having trouble with my SX4jamming, had to oil it a couple times. A friend who was hunting in another group had told me that I might have trouble using Herters ammo which I had bought on sale at Cabela’s, he had said it shoots good but has real dirty powder causing jamming, and he was right, I will never buy it again.

On the third day we went back to the same field, another great day with 33 geese retrieved that day. More trouble with my gun jamming, had to oil it a couple times. Another shooter in our group had also bought herters ammo and he had to oil his gun too.

On the 4th day we went back to the same field again, wasn’t quite as good, we managed to get 23 birds on the ground. That morning I oiled the dickens out of my gun and had no more trouble that day. I also started shooting more Winchester ammo that day. We ended up with 108 birds total, we had a small freezer and a large cooler both filled with geese.

It was a great time, we had a blast, I would definitely do this hunt again! But I would change a few things, try to avoid hitting a deer and don’t buy any Herters ammo! 

Photos of the first morning, we moved the layout blinds because the wind was coming in different than the last day that spread was hunted, then we walked through the spread and set up any decoys that were knocked over laying on the ground. There are 2000 of the wind sock type of decoys, plus 6 to 8 flying decoys and 4 to 6 spinner tornado style decoys in every spread.

[bearpaw]

More photos of the hunt

[bearpaw]

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[bearpaw]

More

[bearpaw]

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[Dan-o]

That just looks amazing!!!

Glad you're OK after the accident.

[bearpaw]

That just looks amazing!!!

Glad you're OK after the accident.

Yeah me too, I told the wife my 9 lives are running out!

It was really a great time and we had a great guide, fun guy and very knowledgeable. Its good to be on the receiving end of a guide operation every now and then just to remind a guy what's important to the hunters who are receiving your services.

[ASHQUACK]

That just looks amazing!!!

Glad you're OK after the accident.

Yeah me too, I told the wife my 9 lives are running out!

It was really a great time and we had a great guide, fun guy and very knowledgeable. Its good to be on the receiving end of a guide operation every now and then just to remind a guy what's important to the hunters who are receiving your services.

Can I ask what guide service you used?

[bearpaw]

It was https://neuoutdoors.com/

[Bob33]

That’s a great story and wonderful pictures. Interesting feedback on the shotgun and ammunition.

I’m glad to hear you survived the deer collision. I hit a deer once in Wyoming. When I got home I called my insurance agent and told the woman who answered that I had hit a deer. She put me on hold to ask the agent, and when she returned asked whether or not the deer was alive. Well, before or after? I gathered that if you hit a live deer it's the deer's fault and is covered by comprehensive , but if the deer is dead it's a collision since you're supposed to miss it.

I had a friend who was in that same area and took a picture of a car that looked like it had just hit something and was pulled over. I wondered if it was you?