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HIGH COUNTRY GUNNINGWith the coming of fall here in the high mountains, days get shorter and nights get cooler. A sure sign that duck and goose season is fast upon us. And, as most of you well know, that is my passion --chasing those fast flying feathered critters. I’ve pretty well given up any big game hunting. If its bigger than a goose, I don't want to clean it. This season just ended January 31, has been probably one of the best since we moved over to the Uncompaghre in 2004. We ended up the season with 179 geese and 132 ducks between the lil cadre that hunts together. Usually I’ll post a short article here on the gunning that season, but this year I'm devoting the entire article to high country gunning.
With sub freezing weather all the ponds froze tight. Back in the 60s over on the Eastern Shore we once tried a "blue hole" hunt on the Chesapeake, where the bay froze up overnite. Twelve of us took all our decs down along the creek shore, chopped out a hole in the ice, and blued buckets of water to paint a blue hole. All the goose decs were placed around the hole and duck decs were placed in the blued spot. For 3 hours every goose and duck that flew within a mile wanted to
Conditions seemed right to try that again after 40 some years. I bought some bluing and we lined up a hunt with T.J. Sanchez on his dads big 12 acre pond. When we pulled up along the pond the temps sat at 5. We switched on our headlamps and started unloading all the decs. While Ryan and TJ started placing the decs on the 5" thick ice, I chopped out a hole in the ice and started coloring buckets of water that I sloshed across the ice to paint up a blue hole. Pretty quick we had about 160 goose decs out along with a couple dozen ducks. We tucked the layout blinds with snow covers back in the rushes against the bank, hid the truck/trailer, and loaded up. By then it was closing on shooting time and we were anxious to get underway.
Right at first light we were buzzed by a few fast flying ducks and downed one that hit the ice and skidded 20 yds. Ryan's yellow lab, Gator, took off on the retrieve and brung him to bag. After full light the wind started to shift from the perfect north east we needed, and pretty quick geese started to move. Ryan is quite the caller on a Zink and talks perfect "goose talk" for any occasion. But with the wind shift, the geese worked hard trying to get into our spread. With high trees to our back and the wind wrong, we had no choice but take passing shots with some degree of effect. By the time things slowed down, we had taken 6 geese and as many ducks. It had been miserably cold and the “blue hole” hadnt proved as spectacular as it did 40 some years previous with perfect winds, but it sure were fun. Now we had to load everything up and head to the truck stop for some breakfast.
A few days later, we tried another ice hunt on TJs pond, but decided to set up on the opposite side that had a more open approach for the birds. Today there were 4 of us to handle the chore of setting out Ryans whole first & second string of decs. All toll we had some 300 decs consisting of full bodies and shells to make an irresistible spread. Our 4th hunter, Will, was coming off achilles surgery and just starting to move around, so we kept his chores limited. Just about light, all the decs were out , the blinds set & brushed up, and we were ready to go "bowling for decoys".
The idea was to see how many decs you could knock over with a falling bird as he crashed into the ice and slide along. As birds started to fly, Ryan started his magic calling and we had birds working the spread. Some smaller groups would brake off and commit and our shooting was deadly on those that came in. With TJ shooting his trusty 10 gauge, we left the long shots to him. Meanwhile, Gator kept busy dragging in birds from all over the ice while Ryan reset the decs knocked over.
At times we had so many geese working us it was so loud you couldn't talk to the guy next to you. Interspersed with the goose flocks, we had a few ducks try to join us, and we made quick work of them. By 11 AM we were about done for the day. Now we had all those 200 + decs to pick up and load. After noon, we were set and starving, so we headed to the little Mom & Pop Mexican cafe in Olathe for a good burito lunch to plan whats next. Ryan had been watching one corn field fill up with geese each day and finally got permission to hunt it. The next afternoon, I met he and his dad Gerald and we pulled into the field to set out about 100 geese along with duck full body field decs. We got the blinds laid out and stubbled up with corn, loaded up for the much anticipated action, and settled in to await the first flights. While waiting, Gerald and I discussed how the younger generation [ ie. Ryan et al] showed no respect for our older generation. Earlier that day he had overheard Ryan telling a friend that he was taking his Dad and another "old guy" [me] hunting. Well, we may be "old" , but we can still shoot! Well----most of the time anyhoo.
We were set up about a half mile from a roost pond and just about 4 PM geese started to fly. With several flocks circling, we were able to pull some into the kill range and down some birds. Then, about 4:30 ducks started to fly and we had mallards fighting to drop in our spread. Our shooting was passable and by quitting time we had a fare share of geese and ducks to hand. Any day ducking & goosing is better than any day at work, or anything else for that matter.
One afternoon Lil Annee rode with me looking for geese and we stopped by a small green field that was full of deer feeding. As we glassed the deer, flocks of geese started to land among the deer. Flock after flock settled in and began to mingle with the deer herd. Never saw that before.
Did a little checking and found the feller who leased the field and lined up a hunt. His name was Zack and a friend of Ryan's. Just after high school Zack took a tumble from a pole barn, busted his back, and was restricted to a wheel chair for life. However, nothing it seems slows him down. He was up for a goose hunt, so it was on. Zack's friend Dustin showed early to help Ryan and me get the decoys out and build a blind around a piece of John Deere equipment so we could maneuver the wheel chair and Zack into shooting position. Geese started flying earlier than expected and the first group came in while we were struggling to load up. Ryan and Dustin , being younger and nimbler than an ole feller like me were ready when the geese settled and dropped four real quick while I was still fumbling with shells. After Zack got settled, not another bird flew our way, but it was fun to see him get out in the blind with us.
Next up were a couple separate hunts in a grain field just minutes from our house. Geese had been using it regular like, so Ryan, TJ, Jason, and I planned an afternoon hunt. We set up the layout anticipating some good flights, but with the moon full, the geese threw us a curve and went somewhere else while we twiddled our thumbs.
Just after a snow a couple days later, we set up in the grain field again and had several small flocks drop to us just like we wanted. We all got some shooting and ended up with seven birds or so. Not a home run, but a fun shoot.
Ryan found a field near Olathe just next to a field being hammered by geese. We thought we could pull some into our spread, so set up one really cold foggy morning. Joining us was Jason and his roomy Joey. By light we were ready, but the geese didn't fly til later. Several small groups dropped to us, lured by Ryan's seductive calling and we had pretty fair shooting til the flights stopped.
After the hunt I slipped up to a local team penning, where Pat & Stephanie Smith were competing for the cash jackpot. Pat, Steph, daughter Trista and her fren boy had all entered on several two person mixed teams. The object was to get 10 head of numbered steers from one pen to the next in order. The time limit per team was 90 seconds. The score was then calculated based on the number of critters you got moved in the proper sequence.
Steph's team got a score with 6 critters penned, then ole Pat got to work and quickly penned 9 when time ran out. When I left Pat was sitting in first place, but got bested later by Tristas fren boy, who won $200 in the jackpot.
A few days later, friend Jared Cahill flew in from Dallas for three days of hunt ducking. Got him settled in and the first nght we had the Roses and the Rumbles out for dinner.
Next AM Jared & I were down on the river early with decs out in the ice clogged river, settled into stadium seats on the ice shelf and backed up to the waist high river bank. A breeze was blowing from the south with the decs set upstream from us, so approaching birds would have to drop right into us. Pretty quick the first birds dropped in and we went to banging away.
At first neither of us could zero since the birds were so close. Then I got my corrections made and I had birds dropping left and right and ole Jared proved to be a good retriever even tho he did trip once and took a river rock tumble.
For the next two days we hit the river three more times but got skunked as we could lure no birds close. The last day, the closest Jared could come to a shot was a close bead on one of the standing decoys. Well, we had fun anyhoo and got some good shooting one day.
A few days later after Jared left, Ryan, Jason, and I did an afternoon duck/goose hunt in a corn field near Olathe. We set up a good goose spread and a liberal number of duck decs and a robo, in anticipation of a good afternoon flight.
Geese flew first and we pulled a few flocks in close enough for shooting. Ryan's dawg Gator would slip out quick to pull in the downed birds and struggle bringing them in. Then about 30 “ before quitting time the ducks started to fly and our insistent quacking had them windmilling all over us. As some would commit, we went to banging away and had ducks down all around. Early of a morning a few days later, Ryan and I hit the river at Gerald’s for a quick morning duck shoot. While Ryan set out the decs, I configured us a couple blinds in the tall marsh grass. Settled in a bit before shooting time, we loaded up in anticipation of a good bit of action. We had nothing but widgeon make an appearance that day and took 5 as I recall.
Next up was a hunt on the Allberg farm down west of Delta, in a cut and grazed corn field bordered by a hot water ditch the ducks loved. Gerald, Ryan, Jason, & I got out the whole shebang of goose decoys, as well as all our field ducks, with two robo ducks. Just about the time we got our layouts corned up, geese started to march down on us in waves.
Ryan went to calling and the goose flights all showed interest, but our wind direction had swapped on us and they didn't want to have to approach over the big ditch. Consequently we were relegated to pass shooting that proved to be somewhat successful. Then, bout 4:30 or so big flocks of ducks started moving and pretty quick we were shooting mallards settling in the spread. By quitting time we unloaded and just lay back in the blinds and enjoyed the site of hundreds of mallards windmilling over us and settling into the corn all around us.
Not many hunts can be called a “sure thing” or what we refer to as a “home run”, but the next one was for certain. I had been watching a field of alfalfa just south of town, that was being hammered by geese morning and evening for a week. Conditions seemed good for one of those “sure things”, so we got permission from the farmer, who charged $50 per gun. About 3PM Ryan, Jason, & I pulled in the field and set out about 30 decs just off a fence row.
Our blinds backed up to the fence among some grass and after adding a bit more cut grass for cover we were ready for the dance to open. The first birds started moving about 4, with the first flock of 5 giving us a low pass and a long wide circle. Finally they centered up on the westerly wind, dropped into the landing pattern, and glided right into the spread from right to left. Ryan called it and we came up guns a blazing. All 5 birds dropped on one volley and as the boys hustled out to retrieve, more birds were coming. The second group we dropped 4 more, and all of a sudden we were done in a short 10 minutes. A "sure thing" it were!
Next day, Ryan had to guide a group of DU folks that had bought a hunt, so Jason and I hit the river. We set out a bag of decs on a lil secluded spot the birds liked to sit and then we just nestled into the bank under some tall brush and waited. Hunting this spot I usually hunted til 8:30, then left. But this AM we hadn't had anything come in. Looked like a skunk to me, but luckily we decided to wait a bit. About 9:30 we were covered up with whirling ,quacking, and cackling greenheads. Needing no encouragement, we went to banging as birds dropped in on us at point blank in your face range.
With no dawg to be doing the retrieving, I sicked young Jason on them and he went happily splashing down the river on a direct line to intercept birds drifting towards the rapids. He proved to be quite the retriever since he didn't miss a retrieve or come back and shake cold water all over me. Within 40 minutes it was all over and we had a string of 9 fresh mallards . Not a full limit , but a good hunt.
Ever heard of an “Orange Bag” hunt?? Well, neither had I after some 60 years of gunning, but I'm here to tell you an ole dawg can still learn some new tricks. We had been watching a small green alfalfa that we hunted earlier in this article and the geese had gone back to feeding in it since our last hunt. The problem here was there was no cover in the field and all the geese would settle in to feed far away from any perifery cover. The answer seemed to be to try to force the geese to where we wanted them. But how to do it?? Young Ryan pulled one out of his hat by suggesting that we set up an orange bag in one end of the field to make them shy away and, hopefully, land near us.Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so we decided to try it.
The only orange bag I could find was a Home Depot shopping bag, so we stuck it way down the field and set our spread out at the far end with a good westerly wind that favored our set up. We set up a brush blind supplemented with camo nets across the fence under some trees and got ready. We were pushing some long shots, but were confidant in our setup. Lots of you hunters have used “confidence” decoys, and we had our share of LIVE confidence decoys as a herd of deer invaded the field. Of course, they would last only as long as the first shot was fired.
About 4 PM the first birds came off their roost a half mile away and just like we planned shied away from the orange bag and coasted into our decs, confident in the deer in the field.. Up we came abanging away and got 3 birds right off. The next flight followed suite and down came another 3. Unfortunately, all the roost followed next while we were picking up birds , and our setup was blown. But, the "orange bag" trick had worked.
A few days later we set up in a corn field hunted previously, as geese were hammering the field across the road that we couldn't hunt. As it was, the field we were in had a no hunt clause, but we elected to hit it any way. The first flocks circled and we were able to coax some stray groups in with some super calling by Ryan. By 10 AM we had 6 geese or so and were picking up.
Then we saw a pickup barreling down the field like in a mud bog hunt and the driver slid to a stop, and got out cussing a blue streak. Gerald's blood pressure rose a few notches and he was ready for a rumble, until cool Ryan stepped up and directed the guy to talk to him. Pretty quick he cooled down and explained there was a no hunt restriction on the property. We all played dumb and assured him that was news to us. So far we had had blue hole hunts and an orange bag hunt,so it was probably time to have a "get run off" hunt. Wait til next year!
The weather turned overcast and cold, so Gerald wanted to do a canyon hunt down in the Black Canyon gorge. Gerald, Ryan, and I headed off next day at 5 AM and headed to the canyon. It had snowed over night and the track was owl dung slippery. At the top of the 800 ft drop into the canyon, we smartly decided it was too dangerous to attempt the steep road down, not wanting to slide off into the pitch black drop to the river. We took a better road down lower in the canyon and packed our gear into a nice shallow gravel bar and set out a bunch of mallards and a flock of goldeneye.
With snow coats on, we backed up in the brush to await shooting light. Pretty quick a redhead of all things settled in the decoys. Then a couple mallards decoyed. Gerald and Ryan took the decoying paid and I popped the redhead, that turned out to be a nice mature hen. Gerald said he would mount it for me, but then we were interrupted with more decoying ducks. We popped two more, then everything quit flying. On the way out, we checked another site and found a bunch of ducks rafted, but before we could get close, they flushed. Then we headed to breakfast with Gerald determined to hunt that area next day by himself. Back to the shop, Gerald quickly skinned my redhead for mounting.
I was planning another ice goose hunt next day with Ryan and the younger set, but he called that night and asked if I would defer and go with Dad, since he was worried about him hunting by his own self way down in the canyon. Said I would, and when I got to Gerald's next AM, he had found a nice ole fellow, Dick Able, to go with us. Looked like this was to be "The Ole Farts Hunt" with a combination of about 180 years of gunning experience between the three of us. We arrived in the canyon, packed all our gear about 200 yards upriver to the gravel bar and set out our spread.
Dick got a decoying mallard right off, then Gerald got a high flying ringneck. Suddenly it was all over. Looked like all the ducks we saw yesterday had moved. As we got into Delta for breakfast all the geese in the world were on the move to eat. Called Ryan and they had 7 geese and a duck down. Gerald dropped me off with the boys , who complained that they had had lots of shooting, but were missing lots too. No sooner had Gerald left than Ryan worked a flight of 7 geese into the kill hole, but all we could drop was three. Then we had some single greenies buzz us and we got four. Then Ryan landed a group of high flyers that took 10 minutes to land at long range. We came up blasting away and ended the day with 14 geese and six ducks.
Three days left in the season and we wanted to maximize out hunts. Unfortunately the moon was starting to fill out and the geese were changing their feed habits and flying closer to dark. Next morning was devoted to a scout about, and I found about 400 honkers using a narrow grain field just down the road to Labar's farm. We determined to hit it that afternoon, so I met up with Ryan and young Tee hoping to have a “home run” hunt. The wind was perfect for that field, directly out of the north so we wouldn't have to be so careful about peppering houses just to the east and west. About 3:30 we pulled into the field and set out the blinds by a grassy ditch along the north fence line. With some 35 full bodies out, we went to grassing up the blinds and set Gators camo dawg hide in the ditch. Hunkered in the blinds and loaded up, the only thing left to do was wait and watch for the early flyers. Just about 4:25 a trio announced themselves coming from behind us, so we slid down as low as we could.
Ryan started his plaintive calling and the three overflew us, caught the wind, cupped their wings for direct approach , and sailed right into the kill hole. We came up with Ryan taking the left bird, Tee the right, and me the center. One shot each and 3 birds down. After retrieving them we had to hustle and get hid cause more birds were coming. A group of 13 or so swung over, whiffled a bit to lose altitude, cupped , and settled in just outside our spread. We were whispering among ourselves about how to take them, when Gator had just about stood all he could waiting for us, and broke. In a flash he was among the geese , who immediately flushed. Up we came a banging away, putting 4 down. With 7 now in hand, it was left up to Ryan and Tee to finish out the limit with 1 apiece. Pretty quick several flocks were working the field and a pair decided to drop in early. Ryan and Tee upped and both got their birds to finish us up in a short 20" "barnburner hunt". While we were picking up, the field was covered with circling geese wanting in. With all the geese seeing us, it was a pure dee fact we had burned that field up for the rest of the season.
With two more hunts left in the season, next up was another ice hunt on TJ's pond. About 5:30 we started setting out some 250 decoys, with an ample spread of duck decs. By shooting time we were brushed up and ready, but things were pretty slow the first hour. Then a pair dropped right in and bowled a couple decs over as they skidded across the ice. Then lots of flights started flying and we pulled several small groups into the spread. We did a lot of banging, and a lot of missing, but by noon we had our full limit. With all the decs we had out , it took about an hour to pick everything up. Then it was off to Mamacitas for burritos.
The last hunt was to be a late afternoon hunt on the grain field just a couple miles from my house, that was getting hammered twice daily. I met up with Ryan and young Tee at 3 PM and we headed out in the field to set up. We had about 35 head out and were brushing our blinds up when a feller showed up on his 4 wheeler complaining that we were too close to his house that adjoined the field. The law says 150 yds. from a dwelling and we were 250+, as we 'splained to him. Then he went off on a tangent about how his gal and mom liked to watch the geese. Now we knew he he was one of those antis. He wanted us to pick up and leave-period. But we 'splained again that this was where the birds were feeding, and told him we had permission to hunt. He threatened to call the sheriff and Ryan told him we would be happy to see the sheriff since we knew him well. We offered to move our setup just a bit further from his house, but made it clear we WERE HUNTING THIS FIELD RIGHT NOW! Ryan was getting pretty steamed by now and things were heating up. The guy kept jabbering away and we told him in no uncertain terms to turn around and vamoose.
By 4:30 we were set and ready, although Ryan was still upset from the encounter. 'Bout 4:40 Tee saw two birds coming, but Ryan and I couldn't find them until they were 75 yds out. They had come on a direct line from the south and were porching [ flying the knap at about 4' ] from a quarter mile out. Just as they flared we came up and I dropped one. The second miraculously flew out unscathed, but the dummy circled around and came back, joining his buddy belly up. Then the geese really started to move. One flock of 30 followed the lead of the pair and porched in for the last 300 yds. They were a bit out of the decs and Ryan didn't call the shot, so they settled into the decs off to our left and acted as tollers for us. Quickly a pair came in and we dropped one. Then the wind gods took over and all the birds wanted to land behind us. Finally, with minutes left in the season, Ryan ups and pops a fourth bird circling in behind. That did it for the 2009-10 season. COMING UP Coming up in February will be a 3 day visit from Lil Annee's eldest son , Del, and his lovely Wendy, who will be at a conference in Vail, then come over to visit us a few days. Then, on Feb 27, we’ll be leaving for our annual spring fling in Mexico for a month so we can warm up from a cold winter, soaking up sun, muchos tequilas, and getting in a little salt water fishing. Y'all stand by for future updates! LOVE ANNEE & DEE |
