SPECKtacular Goose Hunt

by Pro-Staffer Jeremy McIntyre

I received a phone call from my hunting partner and fellow Avery Pro-Staff member Curt Wilson on a late January afternoon. He proceeded to tell me how he couldn't believe the number of Specks and Snows he saw in a field he was scouting. After finding out the location, I told him I had the privilege of hunting that same field the previous year. I made a telephone call to a customer and friend of mine and the date was set. Finally, a true test for the Zink Power Speck.

We knew we had our work cut out for us. The geese pile up in a local refuge about a half a mile south of where we were going to set up. We had decided to use six-dozen Greenhead Gear FFD Speck decoys. We chose to put our layout blinds on the check of the rice-field with decoys on the North and South of us. As we were brushing our blinds and the sun was rising, a breeze started to pick up and I knew we were in for a treat. The landowner, Justin Evans told me their family had taken 18 birds out earlier that week.

Finally, it was time. We decided to pass on the first couple of groups of snows. Although they were low and easily doable, we were in the hunt for Speck's. The fourth member of our group, Avery Pro-Staffer Paul Beyer couldn't believe the number of birds in the air. What seemed to be 8,000-10,000 birds in the air at all times was a truly an amazing site. With the breeze continuing to blow and the realistic movement of the FFD Specs, birds continued to lift off of the sanctuary. As the first groups of Specks began to pile into our decoys we knew it wouldn't be long before our barrels started to warm up. Groups of 5-25 began to maple-leaf as they drew closer. Once we had a few in the decoys, Curt decided to forgo the gun and pick up the camera. The birds continued to hover over the decoys. With just a few clucks on the Power Speck, the geese were feet down and landing with confidence. All in all it took about 45 minutes to obtain our 4-man limit of 16 birds.

As proven before, the combination of a good goose call and the right decoy spread is deadly.