'Haven't hunted for about a week, trying to nurse ourselves back to health from head colds and stomach viruses - plus it's been alternating between rain and snow for the past week. So, even when I got out to locate and pattern birds, things were changing so fast that patterning was difficult. The bunch I've been wanting to go after just kept buiding in numbers. We thought we were going to have to leave this past Monday, so I didn't even scout. Then later that day (realizing Anne was getting better and that neither of us was ready to 'call-it' yet), I went-out to try to locate the big body we saw the previous day. I never found them. So, the next day I followed them off the lake and they ended-up about a mile from the area they had been, pretty consistently. It was just as well that I missed hunting that day because it was pretty sloppy conditions and it would have been miserably wet and required a lot of gear clean-up. So, we made plans to hunt behind another snow that moved-through last night.
We got set-up by good shooting light. While I went to park the truck, they had a group of 10 break-down and look - then move-on. While I was walking back to the spread (within 100 yds) there waas a group of about 75 breaking-down and gliding toward the spread, so I laid-down in the snow. Trevor's gun didn't fire and Anne got a double. By the time those were picked-up and I was in the blind cramming ear plugs in, another group of 100 was winging their way toward us. They got straight downwind and about 15 feet off the deck and came right in. Another grou did the same thing right behind them and the first 20 landed IN the decoys about 20 yds out, making it easy pickings on the next group backpeddling, and then the covey rise.
I was thinking this was going to be a great way to end the trip - with more birds coming, and requiring no more effort to kill'em other than enduring the 26 degree temps and 20mph North wind, setting-up the spread, and just being out there - getting ready for the next bunch. We had 7 birds at that point because of a gun malfunction on Trevor's gun and the broken part in my Super 90 (occuring early in the trip) than only allows me a maximum of 2 shots when everything lines-up just right. Normally, I only get one shot off. The other thing was - Anne and I both shot at the same birds on 2 volleys - otherwise we could have had about 12 birds in the bag. It IS what it IS.
But then the next few bunches that flew over were high and traveling. Even birds that came from the direction of the lake our birds were coming from seemed to have some other purpose than hitting us and we realized with the apparent drop in temperature (to 18), and the North wind developing more of a 'bite', that birds had had enough, knew something was coming tonight, and were getting-out while they could.
We picked-up the spread and had 3 or 4 groups come from the direction they SHOULD be - from the lake. Trevor's wife texted him to say that she heard the geese coming-out off the lake as she went to get in her vehicle to go to work. We were in a field 6 miles away - and had most of the spread broken-down. Really, we only had one big group of around 130 birds and a couple of 5-bird groups circle us looking for a place to feed. Everything else looked like they were definately traveling.
So, it's pretty-much over for us, here. The high today (so far) was 26......it's now 16 and snowing. Tomorrow's low is to be 2 - high, 12. It'll be like that for 2 days, then it'll warm-up abit. 'Warming-up' up here, means it might get back to 0C or 32 F. I don't see that in the forecast yet. So, off to get gear organized, packed (in 20-degree weather), and figure-out when our best 'window' for a safe departure might open-up. Maybe the sun will come-out for a couple of days and the salt will take its affect on the roads.
You should see a nice increase in bird numbers this weekend.
Happy Hunting, guys!
