DUCKTALES
FIRST ANNUAL GRANDSONS HUNT
It was a perfect Sunday morning in El Campo, TX - snow goose hunting capital of the world... for fishing. About 70 degrees and bright. Not the best goose hunting weather for the snow goose conservation season. My partner Andy DeLewis and I were entertaining two of my three sons, Chris III and David, who were visiting with their sons. Chris IV was 8 and Mason was 9. Terry Karstedt, a friend and outfitter with Waterfowl Specialties of El Campo, TX., had set us up to hunt on a farm with acres of rice fields, winter wheat fields and pasture land.
With the conditions, the grandkids' highlight of the hunt would most likely be learning to drive Andy’s new Polaris 6-wheeler, certainly not the hunting. They looked like bumps on a green tractor going 'round and 'round the lodge. This went on until they had the turning, stopping and backing up down pat. I didn’t realize how perfect for young and old the Polaris ATV is; the important functions are done from the handlebars. While the kids went 'round the lodge, my sons and I talked first about the family, then hunting and how much fun the kids would have on their very first goose hunt.
After dinner a couple of the Waterfowl Specialty guides dropped by the lodge to enjoy adult beverages and sit around the campfire. As it got dark the stories came out, first my son David told of the boogey monster and then Ray told about the headless woman that lived in the old storage building on the other side of the parking area. Terry got into the act with more ghost stories. It became more believable when Andy hit the auto start on his new truck. Vroom! The 350 Ford Diesel cranked up - all by itself! Or... was it the headless woman? Terry tried to encourage the kids to go get the headless woman out of the truck. Not a step was made toward that truck. The next morning I looked in the bedroom - Chris IV was in bed with his father, same for Mason plus Chaddy the brown, year-old lab. Shame to pay for unused beds. Breakfast was by good ol’ granddad: bacon, biscuits and scrambled eggs, with milk and orange juice for the kids and orange juice with BC Powders for the adults.
"The snows are scattered." Terry reported, “The spread hunts are getting single digit birds.” With that information we opted to 'run and gun'. Now 'running & gunning' is not my favorite method to hunt any waterfowl. One of our methods is to hide in ditches surrounding the roost pond and pass shoot as the geese leave the roost to feed. The other is to find a field where the geese are feeding and have half the hunters slip up on the geese and then rise up and shoot while the other half hides in ditches and pass shoot as the geese try to escape.
A little after sunup the geese started off the roost. Each of my sons had one of my grandsons and a 20 gauge. The hunting parties were spaced about 30 yards apart in the ditch. The idea is to shoot as the geese pass over, but pointing away from the roost so as not to alert the still-roosting geese.
Guessing which direction the geese will leave the roost, now that’s the real knowledge. Knowing which direction the geese came from the evening before, is almost a certain giveaway that they will go back out that direction to feed. To the grandsons disappointment they were out of range of their 20’s but 12 were in range of the 3-1/2 inch BBB 12 gauge Winchester Supreme - Black Death. As nice a pair of eagle heads as I have seen were taken, one by each son.
Off we went in a trailer behind a 4-wheeler with Andy’s 6-wheeler following with one of the grandsons at the helm.
My two sons and Andy saw a wad of snows close to a ditch and started down. I took the two grandsons behind them and about 150 yards we along found a side ditch that ran perpendicular to the first ditch. I took the boys about 40 yards down this ditch; the wind was to our right and blowing across the field at about 10 mph. When the geese get up they should come out right over us. We climbed up the side of the ditch behind some tall weeds and got ready. I put a shell in the chamber of each 20 gauge and laid between the two boys. In a minute we heard the 21 shots from three Beneleis. For snow goose hunting the only shotgun is the Benelie auto. For a few dollars an extension can be added and the hunter has 7 shots with 3-1/2 inch shells. A few snows drifted our way. I chambered Mason’s gun. As they came over I positioned him in front of me and “bang” a snow goose rocked a few wing beats then flew on. It was too late to chamber Chris IV’s gun; the geese were gone. We jumped up and started across the field for what was to be each boy’s first goose.
The initial volley had dropped a dozen snows dead and five cripples. I took each boy one at a time, chased down a cripple and loaded a shell in the 20 gauge. In four shots each boy had 2 kills. Grandpaw got the fifth goose…. ran him down and rung his neck.
After driving the roads for about 25 minutes another group of snows was spotted near a ditch. This time I took the grandsons downwind on the opposite side of the field while the “big boys” snuck up on the feeding geese.
Another 21 shots and there were 30 snows either dead or crippled on the field. The grandsons and I “mopped-up” the cripples, shooting as well as earlier and now each grandson had 5 geese to his credit. Earlier on Saturday, ol’ grandpaw had promised a dollar for each goose the grandkids killed. Like most kids they wanted the money now. It was the best ten dollars I ever spent.
We piled in the trailer and headed back to the vehicles. The trailer was getting crowded. Five hunters and 65 geese. Finally the kids were getting tired of the 6-wheeler and David was following us back to the staging area. The enviable happened, he ran out of gas - who would have guessed that in just two days of hunting an ATV could be run out of gas. We stopped and showed David the reserve fuel switch and continued on.
At the vehicles we had drinks and sandwiches and a “shoot off”. I had a half dozen Airduck goose balloons and a helium tank. We filled the balloons, put one grandson on the firing line at a time, put one shell in the chamber and released the balloon. Andy called the shot, “Take-um” was the word as the balloon got about 20 yards from the shooter.
Each boy brought down three balloons, finished a sandwich and a couple cans of pop. Time to take pictures and head back to the lodge. So ended the first Grandsons hunt. Hopefully it will be an annual affair - with the third grandson in the fold. Could there be a better goose hunt - spending time with your sons, introducing your grandsons to goose hunting and have it all end with no accidents, great weather, everyone laughing and 65 geese - makes a great picture and even greater memories.
Chris H. Fiedler
21302 Old Ranch Road
Houston, TX 77073
(713) 864-2711
E-mail: fiedler@airmail.net
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