early season field reports

[royalwolf]

Got out this morning, and crushed 'em. Me and two buddies hunted a baled oat field (round bales) where I'd seen the honkers the night before.

We put out 24 decoys, various types, and while we were setting them up, the first flock came in. There were about 14 geese in it, and we dropped two only. Not bad for not even having our guns loaded yet.

Then we got set up, just hiding behind bales, depending on which way the geese were coming from. Flock of 1-4 kept coming in, we took turns shooting, and by 8:30 we had six on the groud. (One pair came in and we wounded one of the birds. Hate to see those ones fly away. )

Then just as we were going to pick up the decoys, a flock of 25 or so silently tried to land on top of us! We were shooting in self defense. Two of us have pumps and the other guy's got a over/under so that makes 8 shells loaded at any given time... well, we probably reloaded at some point in the flurry, but before they got out of range we knocked down 7 more. The flock kept coming back, even though we weren't even calling any more. But we weren't sure how many we had on the ground yet so we didn't shoot (for fear of going over our limit). One was obviously wounded and so I killed that one.

This morning we were all "on" as far as shooting goes, and the geese were very forgiving. It was easily the best hunting I've had.

I love that feeling when you pick a bird, swing, and it falls. I don't get it very often (I usually miss a lot) but today was a good day for hitting.

We spent the next 2.5 hours cleaning em and now they're in the freezer.

I love fall.

[Sartell Angler]

royalwolf- it sounds like you had a good morning...where were you at (general location)

we got out a did a little field hunting this morning...sat in some weeds that were surrounded by 3 different fields, all of which were freshly disked...basically, we set up 5 family groups of decoys on black dirt. Anyways, we experienced an excellent hunt this morning...almost every bird we saw gave us a good look, with most of the flocks decoying right into the openings in our dekes. At one point we pulled a flock of 40 down from about 70 or so yards up...boy was that fun to watch. We picked our shots, and between 3 of us we got 9 birds.
Overall, we saw more geese than opener without the pressure. We did better than we expected as well, not knowing how much the birds wanted in to the dirt field. Can't wait until next weekend when we finish out the early season and make final preparations for the opener.

S.A.

[royalwolf]

I'm in Duluth.

[decoy]

A friend and I shot 3 geese this weekend together. Friday Night he shot the leader from a flock of 5 that ended up being a banded bird. Sunday Morning I shot the leader off a 4 pack that was banded. Awesome! This was the 1st bands for both of us... It was really exciting.

The band #'s were off by 300+. We'll have to wait and see what the stat's are. A great early season 5 total geese for me.

decoy

[natebuddy]

Smoked them this weekend. Myself and 3 other guys. 15 on sat. 19 on Sunday. Hunting south of Owatonna.

[natebuddy]

How do I post pics?

[311Hemi]

Can anyone give an update for the SW MN? We hunt near Marshall but have not had any time to scout this year.

Thanks,
John

[MUSKIE11]

We hunt just east of Marshall, and the first weekend we did pretty well and got 39, between our two groups then by this last weekend we couldn't find any geese around, now I'm just starting to see a few smaller groups hear and there but nothing like a couple weeks ago.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I live in SW MN. Right south of Slayton. We hunt all around these parts. Things have been pretty slim. Before season started there were a lot of geese at Talcot and I was looking forward to a good season. I have to say that it's been kind of a bummer. But, I'm going out this weekend anyway.

[Pooh]

we up north got about 1.5 inches more rain today and it is still commming down. been raining here since 6:30 and is 2:30 now. ponds look like they may have accually came up a little. rivers look healthy again.

as for early geese we are up to about 45 geese, got one banded. man i love this time of year.

------------------
this is just my 2 cents
Pooh

[Roosterslayer05]

Boilerguy- opening day of the season at talcot there were only 650 geese in the Talcot Refuge and I saw even fewer ducks, usually the goose hunting around there doesent get decent till theres at least 2,000 birds in the refuge. Dident see a whole lot of ducks opening weekend around talcot, the few ducks I saw were woodies with a few mallerds and even fewer teal.

[B. Amish]

i've heard that the cold weather this summer put a damper on the nesting success around the northern plains. I also heard that some of the geese that nest in the northern tundra didn't even attempt to nest this year because of the cold! but whatever the numbers will be, the hunting will most likely depend on the weather and the migration this fall

[Roosterslayer05]

First goose of the season for me, shot it about 9:30 opening morning.

[311Hemi]

Thanks for the update!! Same go for the duck population for both of you or were you including that in your statement? I will be down there next Friday. Thanks again.

[Borch]

How do I post pics?

You'll need to get your photo uploaded to a photo hosting site that allows direct linking. A couple of free ones are shutterfly and photobucket. Then you copy the url address to the photo and paste it between the formating. Your photo should then show up.

Borch

[Eric Wettschreck]

311, ducks are looking good. I've seen quite a few woodies, mallards, and teal so far. Even a couple black ducks which is kind of a bonus for us round these parts.

I'm really looking forward to the duck opener. This rain we've been getting should really help keep the ponds and sloughs full.

[311Hemi]

Thats good to hear Boilerguy. I appreciate the update and am really looking forward to opener. The rain is def a plus!

[natebuddy]

[This message has been edited by natebuddy (edited 09-16-2004).]

[natebuddy]

[Sartell Angler]

hey Roosterslayer....way to represent in that goose field w/ the Abercrombie and your buddy with the Aero....lol

can't wait til opener...I think the 9am opener will mean a much larger harvest though...hopefully the local population can handle it.

S.A.