Weather Conditions: Overcast and warm with a light north wind
Waterfowl Activity: More ducks than normal for early goose and some goose activity
Birds By Species: None
I had planned to hunt by myself but only two of the goose fields are fit to hunt so I invited Jeff and his grown son Stephan to hunt with me.
Heard some geese in the distance. Around 7AM had a flock of about 15 pass by just out of range.
Saw a fair number of wood ducks and several flocks of probably mallards which is more than normal this time of year.
A little before 9AM I had to head to work. Driving across the field, I hear geese I haul ass to get out of the field and park a safe distance away. I thought for sure I was going to get to watch them shoot geese. They landed to the north. Hopefully, the geese got up later and committed suicide.
Didn't even catch any fish before sunrise. Missed one and lost one.
Duck Engr wrote:Good to see a log back on the forum!
Bet it felt good just to be back out there.
Definitely nice to be back out hunting. Also nice our temps are down from the 90's to more reasonable temps. Also getting a little rain right now which we need pretty badly.
Weather Conditions: Partly cloudy, warm with a light west wind
Waterfowl Activity: Some ducks and little goose activity
Birds By Species: None
Found out the guys got one after I left and had a nice flock land just out of range yesterday.
Saw a single teal and another flock of about a dozen teal. Only a few wood ducks and not a lot of other duck activity.
I could hear geese in the distance most of the morning but little seemed to move. I heard one behind me that I think a fisherman spooked out and saw one high flying bunch. Hopefully the high fliers are the molt migrators returning to town. A large fraction of our resident geese either migrate north to molt or leave the area after the young have fledged. Usually after the first cold snap, they come piling back in. Doesn't look like that is going to happen before the end of early goose.
Fishing was slow again. Had a couple strikes and lost one. I usually do well in that area. Half the fun of getting out is the predawn topwater fishing.
The weather is beautiful and there is a lot of wildlife to watch so I'll keep plugging away.
Happy to see a hunting report Spinner, and hope the birds start to cooperate a little better. Maybe a push by other hunters or a weather change. Keep'em coming
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so" Mark Twain
Weather Conditions: Sun, hot with a modest south wind
Waterfowl Activity: Some ducks and no goose activity
Birds By Species: None
Would have had a good wood duck shoot. The drakes sure looked pretty in the bright sun.
Right after shooting time I heard some geese that sounded very close and on the move. Never saw them and they went silent. I don't know if they were roosted the next channel over or what. Got me really excited and that was pretty much it for the geese. Heard some off in the far distant but nothing moving.
Got to enjoy a wide variety of birds. Had a hummingbird buzzing around me on and off all morning. Got to watch an osprey enjoy his dinner. Saw a pretty good variety of species of birds.
At least I finally caught one little bass. Not off to the start I hoped, fishing or hunting.
I thought for sure I was going to lose this bass. I hooked him out about as far as I could cast and as soon as he was hooked he pretty much swam straight at me faster than I could reel. When I finally got the line tight on him, he was probably less than 20 feet from me. I guess he just wanted to get it over with.
Weather Conditions: Overcast with an decent ENE wind (a little different than the forecasted NW wind)
Waterfowl Activity: Ducks (2) and almost no goose activity but I did quite fine with what there was
Birds By Species: 3 Canadas
Teal season is open so I put out a few duck decoys. I saw exactly 2 ducks. One I think was a teal and one wood duck.
This blind is perfect for a NW wind but in an E wind, the birds either or both swing high over the blind looking straight down on you (given it hasn't been dressed yet is particularly not good) or land long. Had I known it was going to be this wind, I probably would have hunted a different blind. Glad the forecasters got it wrong.
A few geese roosted maybe 100-150 yards north of me. I only saw 5 singles all morning and I think the one might have been the same goose. Killed 3 of them.
Had a single sounding like he wanted company but he liked the real deal more and landed just north of them. Wasn't long a single got up and swung wide and went to set down long (about 55 yards). Unfortunately for him, not quite long enough.
Kept talking at/to the geese roosting north of me. Coaxed a single up but it came high over the top (45 yards or so). Unfortunately for him, not quite high enough. Missed first shot. Hit him but not enough to bring him down on the second. Third shot, he dropped like a rock. Unfortunately, if I had to pick the worst spot for him to crash. That's exactly where he hit. Sounded like this
The island across the way is a jungle with very steep sides and he crashed right in the middle. Rowed across, trying to figure out where I can even get out of the boat and on the island. There was one spot not very close to where he was but I could get out without risk of falling in the lake. Thought about rowing around to the other side but figured it wouldn't be better. Got out, fought my way through the brush. Where's my goose? He rolled down the backside and is in the water They never do that because it's so thick. Fight my way back to the boat and row around the island and pick up the goose.
To add a little insult to injury. Almost back to the other side and a single comes by. Almost surely would have come in range if I wasn't in the boat and I would have been in the blind if I had rowed around the island to start with
When I was packing up to go, I misplaced my phone. Hunted for probably 15 minutes for it. I was just about to give up on it. I hear honking. Still have my gun loaded and my call around my neck. Hunker down. The goose passes over top. Surprised he didn't bug out. I talk him back around and he comes pretty low over the decoys and I pop him. Glad I misplaced my phone. Black phone on the black tailgate of my truck. It just blended in.
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Fishing was also very good before shooting time. I had one bite my buzzbait off right at shore. I figured it was a pike. Then I hooked a "big bass" in the same spot I got bit off. Didn't really want to swing it up on shore, but nothing else I really could do. When I went to swing it, it came off but it was 30" or so. I think it was a pike, but now I'm not sure. Fished a little more and it was after shooting time. One more quick cast where I got bit off and lost the big fish and I hook a really big fish. Fighting him for a bit and trying to figure how to land him. There is a steep bank that goes straight in the water and logs along the shore so no way to get him to a better spot. I have 25 lb braid, so I swing my big "pike" up on the shore. First thought was "holy crap I caught a big catfish on a topwater lure." Then I look a bit closer. First bowfin, I've ever caught.
Great report Spinner Those damn Bowfin are thick down here, some call'em Cypress Bass, we usually call'em Grinnel, even hold tournaments for them. What a prehistoric looking fish!!!! Congrats on the 3 geese, and just goes to show you, most everything happens for a reason!!!!!
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so" Mark Twain
Deltaman wrote:Those damn Bowfin are thick down here, some call'em Cypress Bass, we usually call'em Grinnel, even hold tournaments for them. What a prehistoric looking fish!!!!
They aren't thick around here. One of those species that is not real common but you're not shocked when someone says they caught one either. Don't know how big they get down there, but up here, that guy is a pig.
That's a choupique (pronounced 'shoe pick') and a very big one. That's what us coonasses call it. Fillet and mix (grind) the soft flesh with potatoes as a binder, add seasoning, diced onion, onion tops, etc., roll into a boulet batter and fry. Do not put those on ice or the meat will turn to mush.
Every really big Louisiana bass I ever hooked turned out to be a choupique, and since I don't eat either I'd just as soon catch them.
May have heard a dozen ways to properly prepare them, but seldom without scraping meat from whatever with a spoon. But I never got past a look at the mushy/cottony meat without deciding I'd rather have perch. Dave's "no ice" rule, which I don't recall hearing before, may have been where I screwed that pooch.
Favorite choupique story came from a friend whose dad ran a trotline for them in his cypress swamp duck spread. Tied a few duck decoys to it and let his catch move them around for the morning hunt. After which he'd rebait with duck guts and sell his catch to a country store. Dat's a coonass.
Rick wrote:Favorite choupique story came from a friend whose dad ran a trotline for them in his cypress swamp duck spread. Tied a few duck decoys to it and let his catch move them around for the morning hunt. After which he'd rebait with duck guts and sell his catch to a country store. Dat's a coonass.
Fishing before shooting time?! Sounds like a great morning, thanks for the report!
"Favorite choupique story came from a friend whose dad ran a trotline for them in his cypress swamp duck spread. Tied a few duck decoys to it and let his catch move them around for the morning hunt. After which he'd rebait with duck guts and sell his catch to a country store. Dat's a coonass."
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so" Mark Twain
Darren wrote:Fishing before shooting time?! Sounds like a great morning, thanks for the report!
Do that almost every morning during early goose. Usually the fishing is a lot better than the hunting, but it's great when they both work out well.
I hunt at a club and you have to be there an hour before shooting time to claim a blind. I don't put a lot of decoys out during early goose, so I have a lot of time before shooting time. A few years ago, one morning sitting there waiting for shooting time, the light bulb went on, I have a fishing rod in the truck. The next thought is why didn't I do this years ago
The lakes are still warm and I have a lot of fun topwater fishing in the dark.
Weather Conditions: Overcast with a good breeze from the north
Waterfowl Activity: No ducks, but a lot of geese
Birds By Species: 5 Canadas
I spent a little more time than normal socializing in the sign in shack so my fishing time was pretty short but I really wasn't that worried about it because I could hear quite a few geese in the area.
A few years ago I started calling to geese and just plain cold calling in the morning. Geese often roost around where I hunt and I'm convinced that when they are on the water, a lot of them haven't really made up their minds where they are going, so when they hear me sounding like a bunch of geese, they often decide to get up and come over and give me a look where they wouldn't have if I would have called at them after they got up. I'm sure that's exactly what did the trick this morning. That and the geese were completely retarded. I joke that my wife and I ran into the 9 dumbest geese in Illinois last fall. I cannot honestly say that any more.
There were quite a few geese roosted to the north of me. I kept calling on and off. About an hour after shooting time, 8 geese roosted to the south that hadn't made a sound got up and made a beeline for me. They sailed in just as I had sketched it out in my head when I set out the decoys. I let most of them land. First one took 2 shots to put it down and I dropped a second. The geese that had started to leave just landed and a few never got up. So I reload and I start shooting again. One I don't think ever got up and two others landed with the geese that dropped in the water. I quickly count my geese to make sure I did have five, but that didn't matter. I walked out to get my geese with one still walking around with my decoys and the other two still swimming around with the dead geese. About halfway to my birds, the one on land walks down and joins his buddies. I'm starting to think I have some serious collateral damage or something. For a while the trio just sits in the lake honking at me. Eventually all three got up and flew away.
Before I started picking up decoys, two more geese from the south get up and were looking to land in my decoys before I waved them off. After I had everything picked up, a single got up and made a beeline for me and went over low giving everything the once over. One of the rare days for me where the limit saved quite a few geese. Hopefully only until tomorrow
They might be dumb, but they will still taste the same.
Sept10.jpg
Could only shoot this one with the camera
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Another bird that wouldn't fly away. It seemed healthy but it wouldn't fly. I even nudged it with my boot and it just ran a short distance and hunkered down. Maybe it was shell shocked or it saw what happened to the geese and was afraid to fly. It was right on the shore where I had just shot the geese and saw it when I went to pick them up.
IMG_20200910_065900.jpg
When I was leaving, I saw what I'm pretty sure was an immature bald eagle on the edge of the one lake. When I stopped to look at it, it got up and flew across the lake to a big dead tree. When it went to land on the limb it snapped off and Mr. Eagle went for a pretty good tumble before he got his wings under him I wish I would have caught that on video.
Weather Conditions: Calm to light ENE breeze with a light drizzle
Waterfowl Activity: Maybe somewhere but not where I was
Birds By Species: None
It was pretty much dead all morning. Saw two single geese that were barely in the same county. I had one small duck land pretty close but where I couldn't see. I only saw it when it took off and hopped over the island. Might have been a teal but I couldn't tell for sure what it was. Saw 3 big ducks and heard one woodie.
The only real excitement was I had a fish just explode after my topwater lure almost at my feet but he missed the bait.
Weather Conditions: Very sunny with a good west wind
Waterfowl Activity: Most goose activity of the season
Birds By Species: 4 Canadas
We saw a lot of geese and had quite a few geese show interest.
We had at least 25 geese work us about half dropped in out of range. The other half circled back around and all but 2 landed a little longer than I'd have liked but not too far. The other two circled but never came in range and the ones on the ground started to move so we had to go. I knocked 2 down. The birds were due east and Jesse claims he got blinded by the sun on his first shot. A pair from the group flew just off to his left probably 25-30 yards. He whiffed twice on them. He said he was seeing spots and couldn't see the birds. A couple birds didn't get up and I reloaded quick and one jump up and crossed in front and I dropped him. Ended up losing a cripple
After that I called in two singles and Jess didn't have any sun problems with either of them
Date: September 14 (what we have here is failure to communicate)
Hunters: Myself and the Mrs.
Time: Morning
Location: B&G Blind 22
Weather Conditions: Very hazy with almost no wind
Waterfowl Activity: A lot of goose and duck activity
Birds By Species: None
Talked my wife into going along and had a really nice morning.
Saw a lot of geese but very few showed any interest at all. Had a hen wood duck plop in the decoys and a couple mallards give us a very good luck. Saw quite a few other mallards and wood ducks.
First thing in the morning we had 3 geese pass over from behind us without making a sound. I didn't see them until it was too late but they passed over plenty close.
Finally got 3 geese to work. They passed low in front and I told my wife they were right out front. I assumed that she saw them. She unfortunately didn't and didn't let me know that she didn't know where they were. They hooked around and came in on her right and were hanging almost straight over her head just slightly behind the blind when I told her to shoot them but she had no clue where they were. I was going to let her shoot first, when I realized she didn't know where they were and they didn't seem to flare, so I tried to call them back but to no avail. I should have just shot. There was probably no way they didn't see us at that point. They were so close
Despite my failure to make sure she knew where the birds were, we had a very nice morning. Saw a lot of wildlife and had plenty of geese flying around to make it a really interesting morning.
Weather Conditions: Sunny, warming with a south wind
Waterfowl Activity: A little goose and duck activity
Birds By Species: None
I was pleasantly surprised that my wife got up and came along again. We started off before the hunt with a young coyote running a head of us on the dirt road heading back to the blind. Always interesting to see them that close and for more than a flash.
A lot less activity but enough to keep it interesting.
It's always interesting taking someone new because you get reminded of all the little things you take for granted. The wind flipping from north to south, I set up very different. That triggered me to explain to my wife that they land into the wind so whichever way they come from, they will swing around to the north. If I would have done that yesterday, she would have known to look south when I said they were coming.
We had one single looking like it was committing suicide. It was making a lot of noise as it's beelining at us dropping fast. Wait, it's dropping too fast. It lands in open water on the other side of an island about 60 yards shy of where I thought it was. A little later it swims around the far end of the island, gets up making a bunch of noise. Never gets closer than about 65 yards and then flies to the blind south of us and goes straight in where it did commit suicide.
When they act odd like that I always say they must have lost family in a tragic hunting accident.
Not much else came close.
The fishing finally seems to be picking up. Didn't fish long. Caught one nice bass and lost another nice one that got tangled in some brush against the shore I didn't see in the dark. Both jumped and carried on. Had a couple other big strikes as well.
SpinnerMan wrote:I think it was a pike, but now I'm not sure.
I think I solved the mystery.
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Last evening I went out to cut down a couple trees behind the goose blind I hunted this year. Everything seemed to want to land long and I suspect these couple trees were starting to get too tall and pushing the birds off of them. After that was done, I decided to fish until dark. Caught these 2 pike and had a third do a complete cartwheel out of the water when it missed my buzzbait. Also caught a decent bass.
Quite a few geese came in to roost in the area, but the season doesn't open back up until the 17th.
Voracious bastages they are too! We call'em Jack Fish down here, and catch them when bass fishing from time to time. They fight good, and always get your heart thumping, thinking you have a good bass.
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so" Mark Twain
Deltaman wrote:Voracious bastages they are too! We call'em Jack Fish down here, and catch them when bass fishing from time to time. They fight good, and always get your heart thumping, thinking you have a good bass.
Those are actually northern pike. We are at about the southern end of their range. We also have chain pickerel (jack fish).
I haul ass to get out of the field and park a safe distance away. I thought for sure I was going to get to watch them shoot geese. They landed to the north. Hopefully, the geese got up later and committed suicide.
So I reload and I start shooting again. One I don't think ever got up and two others landed with the geese that dropped in the water. I quickly count my geese to make sure I did have five, but that didn't matter. I walked out to get my geese with one still walking around with my decoys and the other two still swimming around with the dead geese. About halfway to my birds, the one on land walks down and joins his buddies. I'm starting to think I have some serious collateral damage or something. For a while the trio just sits in the lake honking at me. Eventually all three got up and flew away.
