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Goose hunt fun (...soooo close to a personal first)
I'm having some issues getting Windows to recognize my iPhone right now, but thankfully, a buddy got a shot of the end result on his and we could import a pic.
Bottom line: today was the first time I have ever killed a limit of Canada geese in a single flock. This means that I went 3-for-3 on shots/hits and consequently needed just one magazine-full of shells (legally restricted/plugged down to 3 total shots in the gun) to do it. Problem? One of the birds sailed far into the boggiest, nastiest cattail thicket I've ever tried to navigate. Even with a buddy helping look, we ran out of light before we could find it. I still retrieved the other two, but it's always a pisser to lose one that you saw fall. So, I sort of count it as a one-mag limit...and I sort of don't since I couldn't retrieve that last bird.
This was a quick hunt setup after work with some decent wind gust and overcast skies helping things along. That said, the birds waited until very late to fly. With just 10 minutes remaining in the legal shooting day, we had a flock come over us low in the marsh. It took almost no lead: I simply held on the tips of their bills and fired the 3" BB shot shells from my Benelli, stone-cold dropping all 3 geese. My buddy couldn't score a bird, but we'll be back again when the weather degrades later in the week. There were plenty of others flying with a little bit of legal light to spare.
Bottom line: today was the first time I have ever killed a limit of Canada geese in a single flock. This means that I went 3-for-3 on shots/hits and consequently needed just one magazine-full of shells (legally restricted/plugged down to 3 total shots in the gun) to do it. Problem? One of the birds sailed far into the boggiest, nastiest cattail thicket I've ever tried to navigate. Even with a buddy helping look, we ran out of light before we could find it. I still retrieved the other two, but it's always a pisser to lose one that you saw fall. So, I sort of count it as a one-mag limit...and I sort of don't since I couldn't retrieve that last bird.
This was a quick hunt setup after work with some decent wind gust and overcast skies helping things along. That said, the birds waited until very late to fly. With just 10 minutes remaining in the legal shooting day, we had a flock come over us low in the marsh. It took almost no lead: I simply held on the tips of their bills and fired the 3" BB shot shells from my Benelli, stone-cold dropping all 3 geese. My buddy couldn't score a bird, but we'll be back again when the weather degrades later in the week. There were plenty of others flying with a little bit of legal light to spare.
Accuracy: because white space between bullet holes drives me insane.
Replies
Where was this? In Ohio? You need to come down here next time and kill you some Speckle Bellies. They're known as the "Rib Eye in the Sky!"
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
snake - yes, this was in Ohio at a public wetland about 5 minutes from my house. I would love to do a Texas speck hunt. We never see them in season here.
Alec - the one on the right is a giant Canada. The left bird is a regular Canada. That right bird was freaking heavy. Pulled out the house scale to weight it and it rang in at 14.2 lbs (6.4 kilos). That's as big as the turkey I shot a couple of years ago on Teach's farm in Tennessee!
early - in the September/early season, we are allowed a 5-bird limit, but during the regular/late season, you can only take 3. I know why that limit is there, but part of me wishes we could take more. These birds are surprisingly delicious.
I have never done what you accomplished.
"The Un-Tactical"
Dad 5-31-13
Don't get me wrong Canada's are fantastic. First Goose I ever killed was a Canada a Great Canadian as they call em here. What about Snows and Blues?
People will tell you that Snows and Blues are trash geese and not worth messing with. Don't listen to them, that's lazy people. Skin those dudes, don't mess with plucking em'. Marinate them in your favorite rub and inject them with a good turkey frying injection before you marinate, then marinate overnight in the fridge, then baptize those babies in the Holy Peanut oil in the Turkey Fryer the next day. Fry em til they float and give em another 3-5 minutes after they float and you will swear they're domestic turkey. Except the breast isn't white meat. Actually, more like a giant Dove sorta kinda. I love shooting snows.
Also, do that with speckle bellies and you'll think you died and went to heaven and are eating at St. Peter's Table fit for the KING! And it works for Canada's as well.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
I've said this on here before, but it bears repeating: deer hunting can be rewarding, but it can also be very boring. If you want excitement, waterfowl (and bird hunting, in general) is where it's at. When things get going, they REALLY get going, and having birds work right into you lap over decoys is about as adrenaline-pumping as it gets.
If I can get back to Nebraska this coming summer, you and me need to talk about getting you over some birds.
Canada goose is an absolute favorite treat around our house. It's one of the few game meats that my wife genuinely relishes, so it always goes over well.
As for snows and blues, I may have to give your recipe a try. Honestly, the one and only time I tried to eat them I was pretty underwhelmed. The ones I cooked up last time I hunted them were fishy and gamey all at once - simply not good table fare at all without some sort of marinade to get that rough taste out.
In hindsight, maybe it's luck that I didn't find that last bird. That would've made for roughly 40 lbs. of birds on the stringer in addition to gun, gear, waders, ammo, etc. to hump out of the marsh! Getting those two out was bad enough. It's not as big of a deal when it's a deer on a drag, but hanging all of that weight off of your body directly sucks hard, especially when you're in a mud soup mixed with heavy vegetation.
Yeah, they can be pretty rough depending on where and when they were killed. But when they'been down here living in the fields for 1-2 months and eating grain from the fields, if you skin them, and marinate them well, then fry 'em up, they are a whole lot better, or at least in my experience. Sometimes Canada's can get pretty ratty down here when they hang out around the bays and brackish waters. So this recipe is good for all geese. Speckle Bellies are the prime goose down here. I've never killed one. But have eaten it. It's like good venison. Mildly wild and responds to spices.
Now I really realize why Black Pepper was such an important item back on the frontier. That and salt can make a turd taste good. Well, that's a stretch but you get my drift.
Next year, you need to come down here and I'll schedule us with Jake Huddleston. His wife was the manager at my mother's retirement home and he was raised with my kids.
Jake will show you a good time for a reasonable price, if any guided hunts can be viewed as reasonably priced.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
Life member of the American Legion, the VFW, the NRA and the Masonic Lodge, retired LEO
Now that you mention it, I've done duck jerky, but never goose jerky. That might have to change this week...
Thanks, Paul! You got some birds down your way? If I come down for deer (most likely after I move this coming Summer), I may be able to bring some gear along if you know a place you want to try for waterfowl!
If you like liver and bacon............slice the breast of a Canada up thin, pan fry it in hot pan with a little butter, when cooked add a tablespoon of water and scrape the pan into a pot......repeat until you have enough. Do the same thing with bacon, then thicken.
Serve on wholemeal toast. The goose will taste similar to liver......I guess you could make scones/biscuits instead of toast.
With geese, we like to cube it, marinate it in beer, followed by a homemade teriyaki sauce, bacon wrap it and then grill it one skewers with veggies as kabobs. The results are amazing!
I love eating Canadians, too. Marinated, on the grill.
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and politician
There's something about this that just doesn't sound quite right. :jester:
Gun control laws make about as much sense as taking ex-lax to cure a cough.
I had a brief image of John Candy with an apple in his mouth, laying prone and bound on a large silver platter, begging for mercy.
No sweat - we'll have to find some time to do a goose hunt up your way if/when I can get back out to Nebraska. Rumor has it, that won't be long...
caused more since Clean and the kids had to get out of Qtrs and went home near family.