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Started out the season hunting on a small lake with my cousin for some geese. We got set up right at LST and waited. About an hour in a pair come over silent so I hit them with a honk. I got a response and they turned and circled down. We kept giving them some light clucks as they circled 3 or 4 times. On the last pass they were right at the 40 mark, but we decided to hold for one more pass. But they circled directly overhead and picked off the little tin boat we were in before we could get a shot off.
That was all the goose action we had for the morning. The ducks kept us entertained though as we had close to 50 work the decoys throughout the morning.
I wasn't expecting anything, so we had more excitement than I thought we would.
It was a warm sunny morning just before a big storm front moved through. Seemed like a lot more duck activity than I was seeing all summer while fishing.

Atleast you had a good time.

Day 2 we hit the bay with very similar weather...hot, sunny, and calm. We started by setting up for teal, but that ended up being a bust so we moved out to the bay for geese. Only had one work us and we dropped it. That rounded out day 2.

The night of day 2 we hit a second spot and only saw one small flock that was on a mission to where we weren't. Had a run in with a nearby landowner that added some excitement to the end of the hunt though.

What happened?

I had to work on the 3rd day, but on day 4 I was fortunate to get out with one of the biggest goose hunters in our area. We set up in a cut wheat field where about 150 geese were feeding every morning. They didn't cooperate like he had planned and most of our shots ended up being 30+ yards. But we still dropped 10 down that morning.
The weather was the same as the past 3 days...hot, sunny, and calm which limited bird flight to early morning.

What happened with the landowner Nuff

Bad17 wrote:What happened with the landowner Nuff

I posted the story in another forum, but long story short they threatened to call the DNR on us because they thought we were on private property, which we were clearly not. They told us to never come back and my buddy said he would be back hunting I a couple days. I'm not sure how it went when he went back.

That cat sounded such an ass about it that the hillbilly in me would have to go back even if the hunting sucked - after checking with enforcement to dot my "T"s and cross my "I"s.

Rick wrote:That cat sounded such an ass about it that the hillbilly in me would have to go back even if the hunting sucked - after checking with enforcement to dot my "T"s and cross my "I"s.

Haha. I really wanted to go back too, but I was busy. Haven't heard if they went back yet.

Rick wrote:That cat sounded such an ass about it that the hillbilly in me would have to go back even if the hunting sucked - after checking with enforcement to dot my "T"s and cross my "I"s.

My sentiment as well............

Headed back out to another wheat field this morning, but the birds weren't really flying and the ones that were didn't want in. We ended with 2 geese and another pigeon.

Same hot, calm, sunny weather. We need a change to get the birds moving.

NuffDaddy wrote:Same hot, calm, sunny weather. We need a change to get the birds moving.

Thought I saw where the northern portions of MI got a big storm yesterday, and there was mention of a cold front on it's heels...............you might be in luck!

Deltaman wrote:

NuffDaddy wrote:Same hot, calm, sunny weather. We need a change to get the birds moving.

Thought I saw where the northern portions of MI got a big storm yesterday, and there was mention of a cold front on it's heels...............you might be in luck!

I sure hope so.

Put close to 300 miles on the road in the last 3 days and just can't find any decent numbers of geese. Found a few fields with 20-30 birds but that's about it. Where the hell could they be?

City park.

Rick wrote:City park.

Not even that many in those type of areas. The guy I hunt with has access to most wheat fields in about a 200 square mile chunk and we don't know where to hunt in the AM

I'm covered up in geese with zero desire to kill them

DeadEye_Dan wrote:I'm covered up in geese with zero desire to kill them

Send em this way. I like watching them fall.

DeadEye_Dan wrote:I'm covered up in geese with zero desire to kill them

If I was still in the UP I'd come help you with your problem.

Took the morning off and scouted for tomorrow AM. Found over 100 birds, but they were scattered over 4 or 5 fields in a 20 square mile area.

Had a single and a pair come in this morning and killed them all. It was another sunny calm day, but it cooled down into the 50s for a change.
We saw about 300 birds all head to the same area, so after the hunt a couple guys went and found them in 3 fields. 50 in one, 100 in another, and 150 in the other. Down side is I have school and work the next 3 mornings.

Scouted out 2 fields this morning that we have access to that have 100+ Canadas in them. Should be a good couple days coming up here.

Rick wrote:City park.

Haha, ain't that the truth. More and more residents here every year all inside the city

So the field we hunted this morning was a bust. Thought we had awesome weather and the field had 100 geese in it yesterday morning. Only 6 decided to show back up I guess, and thy worked wide bad only could dump one.
Have 2 fields with 100 birds the last 2 days and one with 40. So hopefully we can pull something off at the end here.

Mojo Goose Decoys!!

Woody wrote:Mojo Goose Decoys!!

Haha!

Are you guys scouting the evening before? If they're there in the evening then they prob will be back in the morning. If they're really tight then they may be running out of food in that field

quackhead wrote:Are you guys scouting the evening before? If they're there in the evening then they prob will be back in the morning. If they're really tight then they may be running out of food in that field

Scouting mornings after the hunt and nights. The guy I'm hunting with does this every day of our 15 day early season and really knows what he is doing. He was the one that scouted that field. He said he never had anything like that happen before.