Goose hunt: action picks up as the temps go down (way down)

Six-Gun

It's going to get close to -20 degrees tonight. It's the crowning cold day for a very cold stretch that has made for tough goose hunting for those expecting to find open lakes and ponds, but excellent opportunities for those working corn fields, ESPECIALLY cornfields that have moving/open water running through them.

Knowing that today was going to be so cold, we decided to hunt the "warm" day yesterday, with lows barely getting into the negatives and a high around 3 degrees.

We got extremely lucky this week when I scored permission to hunt a hot field that just so happened to have creek with a long stretch of open water in it. Hundreds of geese have been piling in there to sit the limited space, squawking and fighting with each other over elbow room. They were also feeding on the field heavily. So, we pulled in the trailers and put out a heavy, late season spread.






Snow covers for our layout blinds were the order of the day with the field conditions:


We did very well, dropping nine geese and my buddy killed one wood duck killed in the spread. Only 6 geese are shown here as we had a long walk to recover the other three that had flown and died closer to the creek. I got this picture as the sun was rapidly dropping before we made that hike.



I'll be doing some cleaning tonight in the garage. Way too cold to go out back!

early

Im not sure if that looks more cold than fun:uhm:
Successful though:applause:

Six-Gun

It was fun! It’s only cold if you don’t dress and prepare appropriately. We were layered up and I even had a full elk hide inside on my layout blind for added warmth. It makes a world of difference when you aren’t in direct contact with the ground and having the heat sucked out of you.

JerryBobCo

Cool! Or maybe Cold! :applause:

BTW, I must have missed your update on your pheasant hunt with your new flintlock. How did that go?

Six-Gun

JerryBobCo wrote: »

Cool! Or maybe Cold! :applause:

BTW, I must have missed your update on your pheasant hunt with your new flintlock. How did that go?

Never got to do it. I had the gun ready to go, but I brought the wrong powder flask, which had a finer (faster) granulation. I wasn't comfortable shooting it and risking damage to me and/or the gun. I ended up using my 20 GA over/under and scoring a few quail. Fun day, but sucks that I never got to use the gun that I intended.

Zee

That looks like good times.

bellcat

Nice hunt! I love a good cold weather hunt....or two...or three

snake284

Six-Gun wrote: »

Never got to do it. I had the gun ready to go, but I brought the wrong powder flask, which had a finer (faster) granulation. I wasn't comfortable shooting it and risking damage to me and/or the gun. I ended up using my 20 GA over/under and scoring a few quail. Fun day, but sucks that I never got to use the gun that I intended.

Oh relax Six, it's just a minor set back for you. You know you'll have that hunt and many more. But we are all looking forward to your report, when it happens.

snake284

I love goose hunting, maybe more than deer hunting. We have lots of Speckle Bellies here, They are known as the "Rib Eye in the Sky," supposedly the best eating of all geese. How you cook 'em? I have been frying geese for 20 something years now, as in Cajun Turkey Frying. Just inject the breast with a good Cajun marinade or as I used to do a mixture of red pepper, liquid garlic, and/or Liquid onion, salt and black pepper. I actually inject more than the breast, any place that will hold the liquid. Then rub it with a good rub of your choice inside and out and leave it covered in the ref all night. This is the very best way I have ever eaten wild meat. Just don't over cook. Fry it till it floats and add a minute or two for good measure if you want.

One thing I've found about frying geese like this, it makes no difference what kind of goose, Snow, Canada, Speckle Belly, it all turns out great.

Six-Gun

snake284 wrote: »

Oh relax Six, it's just a minor set back for you. You know you'll have that hunt and many more. But we are all looking forward to your report, when it happens.

I hope toget back out soon with it, but the snow needs togo away. The hard snow is not good for my dog’s feet. Last time I took him out on this stuff, his feet were bleeding from the ice forming between his toes chafing him raw.

As for goose meat, I always love Canada goose, but snow goose...the only time I ate it, I really wasn’t a fan. Super gamey.

Diver43

Looks like a good time, even if cold.

I have never tried it. How does goose taste?

Six-Gun

You should try it, Diver. It’s a favorite game meat around out house, very much like lean beef. Makes for excellent kabobs.

snake284

Six-Gun wrote: »

I hope toget back out soon with it, but the snow needs togo away. The hard snow is not good for my dog’s feet. Last time I took him out on this stuff, his feet were bleeding from the ice forming between his toes chafing him raw.

As for goose meat, I always love Canada goose, but snow goose...the only time I ate it, I really wasn’t a fan. Super gamey.

What I was taught was skin Snows and Blues. It seems to make a difference. However, by the time they get down this far they all taste gamey. We stumbled upon frying them when we were in Louisiana one year for Thanksgiving and were planning on frying a turkey the next day. My nephews had just killed a bunch of ducks and geese and were cleaning them and I ask him if he wanted to try and fry some with the turkey. So we treated them like turkeys and seasoned them up. The next day after the turkey was fried we did a couple geese and some mallard ducks. The tradition was born right then. I think it's more the marinading than anything else, but it really brings out the best in ducks and geese. But like I said, don't over cook. Just til they're done. I got a little revved up on devil rum one year and fried them a few extra minutes and they were dry and tough as a boot.

Linefinder

Had goose (domestic) for the first time last year. I am now a huge fan of goose.

I can't believe I lived in Louisiana for 40 years and never went on a goose hunt.

Oh well...it's been so long since I shot a shotgun, I likely couldn't hit one anyway. Too much time peering through a scope plays heck with your shotgun skills I've found.

Mike

Jayhawker

cpj wrote: »

I wonder if those are performed different than the Canadian type.

They have more fat on them than wild geese due to lack of exercise.....

Linefinder

I've never cared for turkey until I ate a wild one. Totally different critter. Domestic turkey equals crap. Wild turkey equals fantastic.

If the difference between domestic goose and wild goose is the same, wild goose must be the meat of the gods...after moose, of course. Nothing's better than moose.

Mike

Six-Gun

Wild turkey breast meat is awesome. The legs require special care, but they are amazing when slow-cooked. Goose meat doesn’t take much to make it great. We fo kebobs, but also used it in a stroganoff over noodles that came out great.

Linefinder wrote: »

Had goose (domestic) for the first time last year. I am now a huge fan of goose.

I can't believe I lived in Louisiana for 40 years and never went on a goose hunt.

Oh well...it's been so long since I shot a shotgun, I likely couldn't hit one anyway. Too much time peering through a scope plays heck with your shotgun skills I've found.

Mike

That’s painful to hear that you never goose hunted while down there, especially with your duck exploits down there. Hunting those big birds over equally huge decoys is some of the most thrilling fun you can have. That said, it’s a lot of work to setup and fullbody goose decoys ain’t cheap.

As for your southern birds, we love the rare sight of specklebellies up here, but almost never get shots at them due to their odd movement periods that always seem to fall outside of our season dates. Next shot at them will be an extremely narrow 3-day season during the snow goose migration where we have had a rare few show up. It may be worth the asspain of putting out a large snowgoose spread cery early in the conservation season just to try for some coincidental specks.