As with most adventures, Moosie tends to leave out some of the details. And with his spelling, it is just as well that he writes short stories....
So, I have been catching some comments, about me being a tree-hugger, and not really a hunter, 'cuz I ain't been seen shooting critters by our Boss here. Now I admidt that I do care about the animals, so I did my best to preserve the Duck populations of SW Idaho by inviting Moosie and Associates, LLC. out Goose hunting. That way I could make sure no Goose or Duck were to die.
The day started kinda bad when everybody showed up to the Double Wide out here at the Trailer Park, and I was still trying to get into the gunsafe.... Let's see, now it is 4 times to the Right until 38 shows up after 72... then back to the Left 2 times until 45 shows up after 22, then back .... nope... maybe it is 4 times until 72 shows up, then after 16, then 3 times to the right to 60, then.... nope... that's not it...
Shhh... everybody be quiet, I am trying to remember how to open the safe... Meanwhile, to be funny, they all start hollerin' their IQ's 66,... 84,... 12(that one was Moosie's).
But, due to perserverence, and a bit of luck, the correct numbers aligned, and the safe came open. Then it was to find shells... Let's see.... here is one... yep, another over here... and two more over here... "Hold them to the light, and you can see what size shot they are...."
And then, we dispatched the 4 man search party to find my Camo Gore-tex rain coat, as there was a hint of rain... The coat was found in short-order, and all we had left was the Lucky Goose Call to find. But unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found...
I had to go with the new Hybrid Flute/Call, and I just new it was gonna be a long day...
So we drive to the field, four hunters for three pick-ups for 2 miles of driving....
Still plenty dark, so we drop two pick-ups and go get the decoy trailer... And after hooking on the trailer, we proceed to drive around the block, with the back door open, spewing an unknown amount of decoys on the roadway. When I discover the problem, I jump into Moosie's rig, and after three attempts to get back on the road (it is a Chevy...), I go flying back in my tracks, watching someother pick-up stop, back-up, and pick up a decoy or two... I gathered up the remaining stragglers, and head back to the setting up.
We started setting up the decoys, and then we had to have a discussion on to the proper lay-out. One of us *cough*Moosie*cough* had read somewhere that you should have two groups, with a landing area in the middle, instead of doing it the
Correct way and putting out lots of family groups.
While setting up the Goose decoys, the Ducks decided to try and land in the field. Now Ducks in Cornfields have three distinguishing characteristics: 1). They will circle endlessly, without care of you walking in the decoys, 2.) more and more will joining the cirlcing mass of Ducks, and 3.) they are terribly easy to shoot.
I am not going to mention any names, but somebody missed about 50 ducks....
Well, back to the Goose decoys, we ended up with some sort of "compromise" layout, which, when viewed from above spelled out
Go Away!.
Now I admidt, I have gotten a bit lazy on the fine art of decoy placement, as I prefer hunting on fields that the Geese were going to land in on their own.
Then it was time to conceal ourselves. As concealment is a very important part of waterfowl hunting. 'Cept somebody brought Indoor/Outdoor carpeting, 16x20 tarps, and Powdered Sugar Doughnuts.
It was a bit of a slow day for flights of Geese, as they were a bit late waking up, and a bit slow in working toward us. There are a couple of other decoy set-ups between us and the water they sit on at night, and it was slow for everybody.
We had pretty continuous groups coming near our field, and a few would turn and go directly over. Finally 4 decided to come in low, they circled 3 times in range, before we let them fly off to the adjacent field, where they landed and proceeded to watch us try and call other Geese for about an hour.
The numbers of flights were probably OK, but they are incredibly "decoy shy", or so it seems. We discussed the reasons, and of course it went from lay-out, concealment, water-ballet type movements of a couple of the decoys, and my favorite, Re-Introduction of Wolves in Idaho.
More flights, more callin', and more not shooting. We got pretty good at "turning" the geese, as soon as you would call, they would turn and fly away.
Moosie tried to make a sneak on some Roosters that were walking across the field, but every time he would move, they would move away. He claimed he was close to one, but we didn't hear any shooting, so I am guessing he was making up the story.
Well, after calling it quits, we picked up the decoys (It seemed to take
Twice as long to pick them up as it did to set them out....) , and decided that we would go kick the Pheasants up out of this corner weed patch.
I explained where we would walk, where the Rooster would jump up, where it would fly, and how to kill it. I thought it was pretty clear directions, so we walked where I said to, the Rooster jumped when I said he would, and the Gunner dropped him before Moosie could even shoulder his gun. (Nothing like enjoying the "Home Field Advantage" for the Gunner). There was a late follow-up shot for the "Assist".....
So there's the story, almost all of it true... So many words, so few dead birds....
<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 11-16-2003 19:44: Message edited by: ElkGunner ]</font>
(HEHE)
