Never Give Up

by Jordan Marsh
Zink Calls Field Staff
18 December 2009

The Wisconsin duck and goose season is now officially closed for the fall of 2009. The year started off great with many limits of geese harvested. September was a great month and part way into October as we had an awesome corn field that was harvested before any other around our area and it was loaded with geese many days for us. October was a very rainy month and this led to the farmers not being able to take the corn off for the most part into late November with some even extending into December.

The bad weather put a hurt on the goose hunting and with minimal feed in the area and around the state made hunts get a little frustrating. The birds were around all year; many mornings consisted of shooting a couple of geese instead of a full limit. Not letting up I kept scouting to my full extent and hunting as many mornings that I could always going to bed and waking up thinking that the season was finally going to turn the corner and the geese and ducks would cooperate. Never the less the season continued to be a heart breaker.

Granted there were those mornings such as a duck hunt were we shot a 10-man limit of 60 ducks, and a few earlier hunts that posed a few goose bands for us, the other days were just plain hard work without many results. Finally December rolled around and the weatherman was starting to work towards our favor. The month looked like we would receive some snow and wind to help us out.

I am a late season hunter myself; I will fight to find geese till the last day of season and hunt no matter the conditions. Snow and wind only create a recipe for success in my book, combined with less hunting pressure and many times a good amount of geese using the same field.

As December rolled on we were still getting similar results. The heart ache was still growing. But as any hard core goose hunter you just have to keep plugging away until the end of the season no matter what curve balls have been thrown at you.

Finally it looked like we were getting a perfect day to goose hunt. With snow already on the ground, the weather man was calling for blizzard warnings and anywhere from 8-15 inches of snow, wind gusts up to 45 mph, and temps around 25 degrees, a guy couldn't ask for anything more except for the birds to fly in the morning. As we woke up in the morning to cloudy skies we knew the geese would fly early and we headed out around 7 a.m. to set up. On our drive to the field we got a phone call saying that all of the state agencies were shut down for the day which meant college classes were also cancelled. With us determined to sit all day until the geese fly, the news of school being cancelled couldn't have been any better.

As we set up the finisher and ground force blinds, and covered them with snow covers we were ready to go. The decoy spread looked great with FFD sleeper shells set out and a big feeding group in front of us it was going to be a great day. The first lone goose came and locked onto the spread. What seemed like forever for the goose to get within shooting range due to the 40-45 mph winds finally turned into a goose dead on the snow. The second flock of 10 birds came in just as perfect and centered us 5 guys up and we popped out to shoot 6 birds. With 7 of our 10 birds on the ground we knew we wouldn't have a problem dropping our last 3 geese. Soon after picking up the dead geese we had another flock coming towards us. A nice flock of about 20 birds came right down the pipe and like it was meant to be, 3 birds dropped so low and close to us I could have grabbed one out of the air. We shot our 3 last birds and cleaned up for the morning.

The geese did what we expected with the strong north wind and they headed south that day. The next day consisted of driving around trying to find where a new group of geese were. As 600 were located about an hour south of us, we got permission and set up plans for the next morning. The same 5 guys headed out with great weather for the morning. A balmy December day with 30 degree temps and clouds which meant the geese should fly earlier in the day. At 10 a.m. the geese showed up at a fast pace. Small flocks worked into the spread and we piled up our 5 man limit of 10 birds for our last hunt of the season.

Even though the season was a tough season and did not go the way any hunter would want an entire hunting season to go, we had to keep fighting no matter what came our way. Even though you put in all kinds of work scouting, stubbling, calling, and flagging, some days and seasons will be less than amazing. The thing is, we have the right to hunt and all should be grateful that we are able to enjoy the ducks and geese no matter what. I personally know that I would rather head out in the morning and get skunked than sleep in. We are only given so many days to hunt in a season, take advantage of the great opportunity, no matter good or bad, and just remember, no matter what, NEVER GIVE UP!