[72Camaro]

Last week was an early week for Canadian geese, and now it is closed for a month but we had a pretty good outing. Over all, the last couple days the geese had figured out they were being shot at and we only got two the last couple days but the hunting group I was with we did take 11 birds the first day. This was my first bird the first day, a long shot around 60yds with fast 3" and BB's, farthest of the whole hunt.

We shot all day Monday, and then a couple hours Friday and Saturday with hardly any birds around. My brother shot the one last goose Saturday at close range, 3.5" shells and BB heavy shot on full choke after being told what choke he probably should use, a modified. Devistated the goose and shot at one of the breasts as it was flaring to land, damn near on top of him. We did recover one full breast but the other was at about 60% as it was pelted with about a 5" circle of shot.

 

[FOUR4D4]

Awesome.....

 

[greyhawk50]

Congratulations. Sounds like a fun time was had by all. The geese in this area are so numerous that they have become a nuisance. They stay all year around and make a mess at the parks and lawns if water is near. Good to hear that the flock is being culled.

 

[72Camaro]

This was a flock figured on moving to Seattle, the big city where there is no shooting, therefore, the early season to trim the nuisance birds.

 

[Shooter]

I've had a couple of invitations to travel north and hunt those.

That pics makes me want to go.

Nice!

 

[SHOOTER13]

Nice trophy...

 

[Spoon]

Waterfowl loads

Holy smokes...don't you NW fellas shoot for the head/neck?

In the days of old...all we loaded were 2 3/4in 7 1/2 shot. An ounce for dove/quail, an ounce and a quarter for ducks and an ounce and a half in smaller lots for snow geese and sanhill cranes pushed by 23grs of Blue Dot. Some days 60yd cranes were our only shots with those wary, sharp-eyed, long-necked devils. I've killed a lot of waterfowl with factory 7 1/2s and 6s in one ounce loads over deeks.

Smaller shot = more chance of hits and in the head/neck...doesn't take much. Maybe we were so cocky due to the unbelievable numbers of ducks we had to hunt and the 60s/early 70s. We only had one other group of 2 to 5 hunters to share the bounty of the area we had to hunt. There weren't many waterfowlers those days in southern NM.

Oh how we abused the poor birds during the 10pt system days. I wish I had all those old photos (lost in house fire). 4-6 guys and 40-60 birds with pintails our preferred duck, with a few widgeons and green wings tossed in, maybe a mallard or two and the occasional suicidal canvasback (when legal) that made the last bird for any man since they are delicious. We hunted daily from mid-Dec through the 3rd week of Jan when not in school and both days on the weekends. Nirvana for duck hunters. Had too many snow geese to count, too. We fed the whole county wild ducks & geese to keep possession limits within the confines of the law. Had to...dad was a NM Game Warden that also carried a Federal Commission that he never got a dimes pay for...(another story).

Steel shot messed up waterfowling IMHO and the cost...geeze, especially for the alternative shot types. The old man and his supervisor got 'selected' to participate in the trials for steel shot way back when. Free steel shot shells were courtesy of the USF&W Service. Crippled far too many birds that should have folded dead that required an addtional load or a lot of extra effort from the dog to recover.

Get you brother trained right to lead those birds another foot or three and you won't be saddend by pulling so many feathers out of the meat. It's a challenge to shoot the heads of the really close ones with a tight small pattern from a mod. or full choke.

I'm glad you gents had a good early dark goose hunt. There's not a lot that compares with a big flight of ducks or geese, wings cupped dropping into your decoy spread. Days you'll remember forever and you didn't freeze your tails off doing it!

Thanks for stirring the memories.

 

[72Camaro]

I'm liking your story better. Cool.

 

[Spoon]

39 Pintails & 1 Shoveler Drake

I dug & dug to find the one picture I have of the good old days.

Jan 1975 while I was home on leave from USAF. Left to right, Ron Porter, SE Area Sgt NM Game & Fish, middle W.E. Weatherspoon, NM Game & Fish Officer (father), right Lavoy (I can't remember his last name). Of course I'm the one holding the darn camera! These birds were killed on marshy north end of Lake McMillan (no longer exists, damn Corps of Engineers) and now the Pecos River runs down another 6 miles to Lake Brantley, which has little cover and the northern most end is a Wildlife Refuge where the shallows are and the birds use, according to old friends there.

The first picture (1984 I believe) is what it looks like when you stop your swing on duck with a boat load of 7 1/2 shot from a full choked A5....Oops! Salvaged the thigh meat and that was it on this poor drake.

Oh and the Shoveler...we waited through a half of a box of shells for Porter to kill his last bird. We'd all been drinking coffee and swapping lies as we watched him miss bird after bird until the pretty plummed/broad-billed imitation mallard committed suicide by flying into Ron's errant shot pattern. Again...oh the memories!!!

 

[72Camaro]

Fantastic. Thanks.