Two Amazing Aerial Shows
by Z-Unit Rusty Hallock


Family group of FFD Lessers.








Z-Unit Rusty Hallock and his dad
after a morning hunt in a Southern
Maryland soy bean field.







Rocket launch from Wallops Island Virginia
With the second and final split of the Maryland A.P. goose season quickly approaching, we had to formulate a plan for opening day. We had a few strikes going against us for the opening day: the forecasted weather was 60 degrees and no wind, I only had access to corn fields that the geese had barely touched, and the geese had been exposed to heavy hunting pressure. Little did I know my luck was about to change only days from opening day. I finally got access to a soy bean field. It was not the soy beans the geese wanted, but all of the green grass and bean sprouts that were present due to our "El Nino" influenced weather. A quick phone call to the land owner the night before our hunt confirmed that the geese had been using the field each of the last three days. My plan included four dozen GHG FFD Lessers, two Power Hunters, Power Flag, All-Terrain KillerWeed, and my Money Maker. With the other fields in the area full of huge spreads of silhouettes and shells, our plan was to hunt over a small spread of full bodies.

The morning presented us with two amazing aerial shows. Just as the sun started to paint the east sky with its colors of the day, NASA launched a rocket from Wallops Island Virginia. The sight of the rocket caused a slight interruption in our mission to set up our decoy spread for the morning flight. The decision to use FFD Lessers was brought about by our desire to have the most lifelike decoy spread in the area. Even though we do not have true lessers in Maryland, our migratory geese are nearly the same size as GHG Lesser Full Bodes. My plan was to have a loose "U" shaped spread that consisted of small family groups. We placed the feeders around our Power Hunter blinds to break up the profile of each blind. The rest of our feeders were positioned to the rear of our blinds. We positioned our active style full bodies on the points of our "U" to give the appearance that the geese were walking up the hill to the group to feeders positioned on the field's high spot. As most people know, one the most challenging fields to hide binds in would be a cut soy bean field. With the proper use of terrain, decoys, and KillerWeed, we hid the two Power Hunters on the down wind side of the hill.

NASA provided the first aerial show. Nature provided the second. Shortly after settling into our blinds, small groups of geese started filtering in from their night roost on the Chesapeake Bay. With a quick flip of the Power Flag to get there attention, the geese quickly turned in our direction. We settled into our Power Hunters and I started clucking softly on my Money Maker. As the geese cleared the trees, the second aerial show began. As the geese cleared a line of trees in front of our position, they began to "oak leaf" towards our spread. The soft clucks kept the birds on the glide until they were back flapping at our feet. With one quick toll, we were done for the day. We had a quick two man limit. We have been able to hunt that field several other times since the opener and each time we quickly limit out over our small lesser spread.