Thanksgiving 2008

by Zink Calls Staff
December 8, 2008

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because I always spend the morning hunting with my dad. During my 30 plus years of hunting, I have missed only a handful of Thanksgivings because of work commitments.

This year was no exception. Thanksgiving 2008 found me sharing a soy bean field on the Western Shore of Maryland with my dad. We met at 6 am to set up our blinds and 10 dozen full bodies. One of the first things I like to do is to set up my blinds. This allows me to build my decoy spread around the blinds. Hiding in a soy bean field is a hard sell but by using the terrain of the land and the decoys we were able to hide our location. With my Power Hunters in place we quickly set up our full bodies. Our decoy spread was set up in loose family groups from 2 to 6 full bodies in each family group. I also incorporated a dozen rester full bodies. I like using the rester and sleeper full bodies offered by GHG during the entire season. To me, nothing says relaxed birds like a rester or sleeper full bodies plus it adds additional body and head positions to a decoy spread. In my area, you are likely to see birds sleeping in the field when it is 15 degrees or 50 degrees so resters and sleepers are a perfect fit.

With our decoy spread and blinds in place, we were ready for the first flight of the morning. It wasn't long before the first groups of geese took to the air leaving the local farm ponds. We were working on one of the first flocks when a group of three broke from the flock. They quickly locked up and committed to the spread. As I continued with excited clucks from my Money Maker, they quickly dropped into the decoy spread on the first pass. When I called the shot, they were back peddling 20 yards in front of our Power Hunter blinds. With three quick shots, we were nearly done our hunt as soon as we started. My dad only needed one more bird so we did not want to shoot in to a large flock. No sense in educating birds when we have the majority of the season ahead of us. Over the next hour and a half we worked several groups into range but chose not to shoot because of the size of the flocks. As we lay waiting for the next flock, I heard a honk come from behind us. It was a pair of geese. I started clucking on my Money Maker and the geese started to "oak leaf" towards our spread. The pair came over us and banked hard on the left side of our spread to catch the light breeze of the morning and tolled right into the center of the spread only a few yards in front of the Power Hunters. My dad sat up and quickly shot the last bird with #6 Hevi-Shot to finish out his limit. Besides finishing off our limits for the day, it was the nicest toll I had seen during the last two weeks of goose hunting. A great way to end a mornings hunt.

With our trailer full of decoys and blinds, we were heading home to clean geese and get the fryer ready for Thanksgiving. Most people will eat turkey for Thanksgiving. In our home, Thanksgiving means hunting in the morning, ham and plenty of fried oysters for dinner. Besides the goose hunting, oysters are one of the best benefits to living on the Chesapeake Bay.