"WATERFOWL NOTES"

LAST MONTH OF SNOW GOOSE CONSERVATION SEASON

Much has been written about the type decoys, placement of the decoys, hunters and blinds during this time of the year.

The best line I’ve heard came from a Game Warden in Texas. The snow geese have been shot at since August. They find the Federal and State Refuges that do not allow hunting. The statement was, “Leave the geese alone for a week or 10 days, let them settle down after the end of the duck/goose season before hunting them.” He believes from years of watching the snows that they will come back to the normal feeding habit and work to the electric calls and decoy spreads. Un fortunately in that time most might have moved on, but it is worth thinking about – much like the split in duck season.

Still every phase of the snow goose hunt must be done properly. The choice of field needs to be in the flyway. The sky needs to be cloudy or foggy. The wind should be plus 5mph. The blind or hide has to be part of the landscape. This means more natural vegetation. The hunter’s must wear camo, face masks, camo gloves and those that wear glasses keep there face looking down.

The spread pattern must resemble feeding and/or resting geese in the area. The spread must have natural movement. This means windsocks or Sillosocks. The Sillosock, Texas Rag or Windtamer Rag decoys should be clean, not full of tears and holes, the Headless All-Wind, All-Wind, Shells and Full Bodies decoys must be clean – not covered with specs and smears of mud. The electric calls in working order with the proper tapes and CDs.

Decoys

If the wind is blowing hard enough to fill the windsocks, then wind socks plus heads appear to work best as a base spread. With emphasis on wind - 5 mph to about 15 mph and heads, a minimum of one head for every 10 decoys. I know this is a lot of heads but it takes a lot of heads. Use shells and/or All-Wind decoys on the downwind side of the spread, both have heads but don’t have much movement at the low end of the wind speed – they do have heads and a more realistic body size. For myself I use 500 headless All Wind snows and mix in 100 Texas Rag Blues to give the “wobble.”

If you are hunting from a low profile or pit blind, “flagging” is almost out of the question. Geese close enough to you will spot the hunter doing the flagging. Use the snow Wing Waver, attach a kite cord or 20 pound test fishing line and run it back to the blind. Place a half dozen full body snows and blues around the Wing Waver.

There are three other attractor decoys – (1) The snow Wave Magnet on 10 foot poles at the upper end of the spread with 5 each helium filled snow AirGoose decoys attached by 6 foot each 6 pound fishing lines. (2) White balloons filled the size of snow geese attached to 6 foot lengths of 6 pound fishing line and run down to a headless All Wind decoy. (3) Spinning wing battery operated decoys, mine are Mr. Lucky mallard decoys painted white with pink bills and legs, white wings with black tips on one side.

Spreads

In our area the feeding geese fill a field, thousands all in 60 to 150 acre fields almost bumping each other side by side. However, when I see resting snows in fields there are 20 to 100 and they are in “family” groups of 6 to 12. For the most part there appearance is similar in design to the big dipper. 4 to 6 in a rough square about 4 to 5 feet apart with 2 to 4 trailing off to one side, also 4 to 5 feet apart.

Place the “family groups” about 10 yards apart, leaving a 40 x 40 foot Landing Zone either in front of the hunters or behind the hunters. The family groups are clusters of 10 to 12 decoys 5 feet apart in round and square designs with 3 of the decoys tailing off to one side or the other.

For the 4 of us we set out  12 “family groups” with 10 headless All-Wind, 2 each All Wind, 2 each Texas Rags blue.

Over to one side, we place a dozen Canada shells with 4 Canada full body and 2 Canada Texas Rags in a semi round Family group. The Texas Rag decoys give movement to the group.

With the Wing Waver in an area, closest to the hunters we place the snow Wing Waver, surrounded with 2 snow full body, 2 blue full body and 12 snow shells on motion stakes.

This set up has worked to bring into harvest range 50 or so snows. Hate to admit the harvest; no one wants to admit bad shooting.

Five snow Goose Magnets, just inside the farthest three groups and 1 blue Goose Magnet in a middle group.

On windy days we set up the snow Wave magnet off to one side and 20 yards upwind of the blinds. On still days we add the helium filled AirGoose snow balloon decoys on 6 feet of 6 pound test fishing line.

Tapes & CDs

Texas Hunting Product snow goose tapes or Kirk snow with Canada CDs.

NOTE: Call (281) 821-3795 for March prices on Headless All Wind decoys (per 100), All-Wind Decoys (per 12), Goose Magnet decoys (per each), graphite 45-inch poles (per )3. Sorry but we are sold out of the Lewis Flip Top Blind Do-It-Yourself Booklets, more will be delivered in June

Below is a note from Chuck Berry, owner and inventor of Texas Hunting Products and Texas Rags. As most of you know DNG has for sale and does sale hundreds of Texas Rags and Windtamer Rags both in rolls that the hunter can assemble or pre assembled windsocks. It is important, very important. Texas Rag Windsocks work but imitation rags could cause a “bad taste” in the hunter’s mouth for all rags.

Dear Waterfowler,

There are two things that you want to avoid coming out of China – the Avian Flu and the China Rag. The China rag. The China rag is so thin that calling it paper thin would be a compliment. You can see the print through two layers of plastic. It will have the life expectancy of a soap bubble. Another problem with the China rag is that it shines like a diamond. The Texas Rag is made of a plastic that doesn’t shine.

In South Texas, ALL (not most) goose guide services use my decoys. We hunt geese here for over three months. Day in and day out we kill snows, blues, specs and Canadas over Texas Rags. Don’t be fooled. Texas Rags work and work well. I have been killing geese for nearly half a century and I know what I am doing. What really scares me is if the China rags are mixed in with mine, on a clear day they will flare geese. I’m afraid that new people coming into the sport will try China rags, and after having been disappointed will lump all goose rags into “We tried goose rags last year and they didn’t work” category. If you have a hunting buddy that has bought the China rag, tell him to take it back to the store that sold it to him and demand his money back. Also, tell him to find a sporting goods store that gas a buyer that knows what he is doing. For over 25 years, more geese are killed every year over Texas Rags than any other decoy. China rags won’t work because God didn’t make any transparent, shiny geese.

I guarantee that if it has the Texas Hunting Products label, its quality! I won’t make shoddy equipment.

Chuck Berry, Texas Hunting Products

RECIPE

GOOSE & DIMPLINGS

2 ea snow geese, cleaned, skinned
Water
3 ea chicken bouillon cubes
6 ea large eggs
4-5 cup Bisquick
2 ea carrots, chopped
2 rib celery, chopped

In a pot place geese and add enough water to fill pot plus 2-1/2 inches above geese. Add bouillon cubes, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook until meat starts to pull away from breast bone. Remove meat, retain water and pot for dumplings. Allow meat to come to room temperature, remove bones and pellets and shred, set aside. In a bowl beat eggs. Add enough Bisquick to make batter crawl up beaters. Remove beaters, sprinkle Bisquick over batter. Work batter and add Bisquick until no longer sticky. Turn onto a Bisquick covered surface. Coat rolling pin with Bisquick and roll out dough to ¼-inch thickness. Bring water to a boil over medium-high heat. Using a pizza cutter, cut 1-inch sqs of dough. Drop individually into boiling water, using a wooden spoon to move other dumplings out of the way to prevent them from sticking together. DO NOT LET DUMPLINGS TOUCH. Boil, stirring every 5-minutes for 30 minutes. Add carrots and celery. Add chicken into pot. Cook 15 minutes.

RECIPE

COKE CANADAS

4 ea Richardson Canada goose breast, deboned, skinned
Water
Cider vinegar
Randy’s Rub Me Tender spices
1 Tbls Canola oil
1 can coke cola
1 cup catchup
1/2 cup brown sugar

On a flat working surface tenderize the breasts with a Jaccard Meat Tenderizer. The thin small holes will allow for faster blood removal and more coverage of marinade. In a non-conductive bowl place breasts; cover with water plus 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Refrigerate, change water with vinegar every 20 minutes until water runs clear. Remove meat and pat dry with paper towels, discard water. Sprinkle breasts on both sides with Randy’s Rub Me Tender dry spices, rub in with your fingers. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. In a skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Sear breasts on both sides. Place in baking dish. Mix coke and catchup; pour over breasts. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees F for1 hour or until breasts reach 135 to 150 degrees F or medium-rare. Serve with Mixed Rice Pilaf and Fruit Salad.

RECIPE

WILD RICE PILAF

1 box (1 cup) Wild Rice & Long Grain White Rice Blend
Chicken broth
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 Tbls Canola oil
1 Tbls butter
4 ea green onions, chopped
1 cup fresh mushrooms, stems remove, sliced ¼-inch thick

In a skillet melt oil over medium-high heat; melt butter in hot oil. Toast almonds in hot oil and butter until lightly browned, 5 to 6 minutes. DO NOT BURN. With a slotted spoon remove nuts to drain on paper towels. Reduce heat to medium; sauté onions and mushrooms until tender 3 to 4 minutes. In a saucepan place rice and add broth in lieu of water, approximately 2 cups. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover. Cook 20 to 25 minutes until tender and liquid has been absorbed. Stir in almonds, onions, mushrooms and oil/butter from skillet. Fluff with a fork. Yield: 4 servings

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Houston, TX 77073

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