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THE PRICE WE PAY TO GET A GOOSE

By DENNIS HUNT

 

Within the goose hunting arena, the saying goes -" A goose hunter will spend an unlimited amount of time and money to kill a goose"! The statement is "right on" as I look back at some of the foolish things that I have done, as well as yourself, in trying to kill a goose. Let me tell you about the different things that have been made or manufactured as well different products used, to kill a goose.

 

DECOYS

A decoy was one of the first items used to fool a goose. Here are some of them that have been used, made or manufactured over the years to trick a goose:

•  Paper products such as paper napkins, paper plates or newspapers.

•  Homemade wood, plastic and metal as well as cut up tires were used.

• Shell decoys were one of the first image decoys used.

• Full body decoys came into existence and are one of the best.

• Windsocks were invented with the North Wind company being the leader and making the decoy that has fooled the most geese.

• Silhouettes were introduced in great images and 3-D and have fooled a lot of geese. Homemade silhouettes in black and white were used years ago.

• Spinning decoys are the rave of the hunting industry at the present time with many models used and most of them attracting a lot of ducks and geese.

 

Other tricks have been used on geese and one that works is - a goose hunter dressed in camouflage and using "arm flappers". He will walk briskly down the center of the decoy spread to create movement and will reverse his direction until the geese land within the spread. I have seen this work and have heard of it working many times.

 

CAMOUFLAGE

Different methods of camouflaging the body has been used with many of them getting very expensive. There are some nice looking hunting outfits out there but the "Goose Suit" is the most exotic one that I have seen. It is the image of a Canada goose in black, brown and white. The goose hunters put the suit on and spread out within the decoy spread. They bob and weave to create movement as they kneel within the spread of decoys. Who knows whether it works or not? Geese will decoy into almost anything on some days and nothing on other days.

Other tactics that I have seen used are:

• Hiding within the "Big Momma" goose decoy. This garage sized decoy holds two goose hunters who sit within and come out a small door. This tactic works because geese have peripheral vision and cannot determine size. The bad news about this decoy is, it is not practical because you have to have a trailer to put the decoy on and have to be able to pull it out onto a field to set up as well as your decoys. The company has gone out of business!

• Hiding under a tractor. I know of a goose hunter that purchased an old tractor and hauls it on a small trailer. He hunts alone and will set it up in the middle of a likely field as well as his decoys. He "plays the wind" and wants the geese to fly over his tractor en-route to the decoys. He pulls his vehicle and trailer off the field and hides under the tractor. He is very successful!

 

STALKING GEESE

There are many ways to stalk geese but, this isn't the ethical way to hunt geese. Some of them are: belly crawling, driving at them, running at them or surrounding them. Here are a few more:

• Shooting at them out of an elevator. I know of this and it is true. They were constructing a grain elevator in Missouri and the snow geese were flying past the workers daily as they worked on the top part of the elevator. One of the workers was a goose hunter and took his gun to work one day and was very successful.

• Shooting out of a bucket. I know of a "crazy goose hunter" that worked for an electrical company that was installing wires along interstate 94, East of St. Paul, Minnesota. Large Canada geese were flying over the same route and at the same time daily. This guy took his ten gauge to work, got up in the bucket on the truck and got his goose for Thanksgiving. This is a true story!

• The "Cow Plane". This is used by a lot of Nebraska goose hunters. I have never seen it work and I hunt in Nebraska a lot. However, I don't know everything and heard that, it works very effectively! It is - two pieces of plywood hinged together with one handle on each end of the plywood. The board is painted by using the image of a cow. The board has "peep holes" cut in it and the hunters look out as they approach a flock of geese that are feeding out in the field. As they get within range, they will drop the "cow plane" and start shooting. Do Outfitters use this? I doubt it!

• Motorized airplane. This is against the law because you cannot use any type of airplane to hunt geese. It was used for a few years in Arkansas and was very successful until the users got "busted". Geese are terrified of eagles and aircraft. They cannot think or reason and know that the eagle and airplane can and will - kill them! The skilled operator of the motorized airplane would run the plane over the top of the flying geese and force them down. The geese pay attention to the airplane and not - how high in which they are flying. "Killers" standing in open fields without camouflage on, got arrested as they killed almost every goose that was being chased by the motorized airplane. In one instance, they killed 39 out of 40 that were flying.

 

I would lobby to make goose hunting simple, instead of, having so many goose hunters make a fool of themselves as they try to kill a goose.

 

Have a safe and successful goose hunt!