Chainsaw massacre

[BilletHead]

        Well with a good four inches of ice formed by the last cold snap and the promise of high winds and warmer weather I was getting pretty antsy to hunt geese again. Friend and OA member Curtise gave a call and wanted to know if we could hunt Monday and Tuesday. I told him lots of ice and we could do a field hunt Monday and hopefully a water hunt Tuesday. He also said he would bring his chainsaw and we could cut a hole in the ice, I thought sure we will? So after talking to him I went and bashed a hole, small hole in the pond we talked about. Made a mess of that!

  Monday morning Curt made it and we loaded the truck for a field hunt in a cut corn field that had been grazed by cattle. Wind blew and decoys fell over and not much seen and we goose egged you might say. So boring there was some snoring coming from the blind next to me . Picked up and back to the house to regroup. That consisted of grabbing the chain saw and waders. Crazy dude went to cutting and large sheets of ice were loosened and slid under into the water under the frozen pond.

   A big hole was formed and we hoped it would get a bit larger for the next morning.

  Back to house again for some duck cabbage rolls and a short sit in the recliners. Looked over and seen Curt's eyes shut without the snoring. HA  We decided to make another field hunt in a different field. Loaded up again to see geese in the air. Got to field and while setting up more in the air. Big winds and low flyers to boot. Had almost every land decoy I had out and again they blew over as fast as we got them out. Soon three spied us, seen what they liked and pitched in. None left. When Curt made the retrieve more birds coming, wave after wave some liking us some could care less. Got a couple more and needed one. More in and Curt double tapped him big time. Done with thirty minutes of LST left. While picking up another forty landed behind us. Fun shoot but evenings are a pain by the time you get birds cleaned and finished up. No pictures of that, too late and too tired.

  Which brings us to this morning. Big warm winds all night. Woke up to those winds howling. Loaded up with a dozen floaters and some more full bodies. Out we went and to our surprise the hole we opened to half the pond. Put out floaters and opted to not put out full bodies as they would of just ended up in the pond with the wind. As we hunted you could see ice jumping out of the water onto the ice sheet and actually see the chunks blow across the remaining ice covered pond. We knew that we had the only open water early but it was thawing fast. Looking to the West birds were beginning to fly in the distance. Blinds partially open we looked at each other and said did you her a goose? I looked to the East and six up high and dropping. Crap we threw the doors shut. The six came over hovered in the high wind and dropped straight down like they were in an elevator in front of out faces. We let them have it and five hit the water. Curt said I got three so the BilletHead managed two. Missed as I do at times. In an hour and a half later all the ice went off the pond. We were not on the "X". today and no other birds taken on this hunt but seen birds hit other places in the distance. Good hunt, good times, good friends and dead geese,

  Me thinks I need a break from this wind,

BilletHead

  

[JohnP]

Congrats on a awsome hunt and harvest.  Wind was fierce down here today can only imagine what it was like up there.  Had to chase down 2 ducks dekes, 4 goose floaters, and a goose shell across the cut we hunted in this morning.  

[MOPanfisher]

"Dead Geese"  my favorite part of the story.  

[Johnsfolly]

BH - great report. Congrats on your goose hunt. Looks like persistence paid dividends on these hunts under tough conditions. Pretty sure we will be seeing more goose fajitas on the cooking thread.

[tho1mas]

My thoughts of the 2016 duck season.

[JohnP]

I'd have to agree Tho1mas

[BilletHead]

  Good one fellows,

      Sometime you are the bird and sometime you are the hunter. Been a few trips the birds have one and just glad they don't get to shoot back  .

BilletHead

[curtisce]

Great to read the story even though I was there. Always fun time when we fish or hunt. 

[Johnsfolly]

Curtisce

I don't believe that this trip was different than you remember. I had a fraternity brother that embellished all of his stories. Often I didn't even recognize the story even though I was part of it. BH doesn't seem like a guy to embellish his hunting trips, his food maybe , but not his hunting or fishing trips.

[curtisce]

Misunderstood me. Accurate details just a great storyteller