Ontario - Canada - Mark DesRoches
It was late October and my hunting buddy Dave and I had plans to go after the new flight of bluebills that had arrived on one of the local inland lakes. We had been out the day before and had enjoyed a good day on the water, killing almost a limit of divers and seven bonus honkers as well.
When I awoke that morning the wind was howling and there was no way we could safely get to the island we wanted to hunt from.
So we opted to give the geese a try instead. We had not scouted the field we wanted to hunt for a few days, but knew if nothing else the geese were flying over the area early every morning so a good traffic hunt could be in store.
We set up in a basic "J" hook pattern with the wind running from left to right and the sun at our backs, with the two layout blinds hidden in the shank of the J.
The landing strip was about 20 yards in front of the blinds.
The first bird in was a single and he worked into the hole perfectly. As he was back peddling to set in, Dave raised and dropped him to start the morning.
Next a large flock of geese, about 150 birds, came over our field. They did show some interest, but carried on into the field they had been using for the past few days.
After they were out of sight, a flock of six geese appeared behind us. After some calling and flagging, they set up downwind of us and began their descent. Now Dave and I have hunted together for a couple of seasons before this and we are pretty good at taking the birds from the section of the flock that is in front of our respective blinds, but to have happen what unfolded with these six geese made it all come together. Dave was on my left and as the group was back peddling into the hole, I called the shot. We each rose up and I started on the outside right and Dave on the outside left. When the smoke cleared he had dropped the three geese from the left side and I had dropped the three from the right side. It was just luck that none of the geese had crossed one another's paths during the shooting, making it easier for us to concentrate on the birds in front of our blinds.
We were now at seven geese in, seven shots fired, and seven geese down! I mentioned to Dave that the potential to go ten for ten was upon us and it would be a cool deal if we could pull it off.
It wasn't very long and a group of three geese appeared to our right and started to work the rig. They gave us several passes that would have made an easy shot for me, but they did not seem to want to work up into the center of the hole to allow Dave a chance as well. After about four to five passes, they left and headed back down the field towards the right. With lots of comeback calling by Dave, and some flagging thrown in, they turned and came back up the field and worked into the rig perfectly (Makes you wonder why they were so reluctant the first time and so well fooled only moments later. The unexplained mysteries of waterfowling, eh?) They were hanging over the hole when I called the shot, and Dave rose and shot the bird on the left and I shot the remaining two on the right.
Imagine my surprise when I picked up goose number ten and discovered a band too! What a bonus to an already great day! The band had been put on the bird two years prior, and about two hours north of where the hunt occurred.
After several photos and lots of smiles and recounting of the shoot, it was time to pack up. We completed picking up and got into the truck about ten minutes before the skies opened and a hard rain poured down. Boy we were lucky at everything on this day.
The total hunt time was less than 90 minutes from set up to tear down. On a side note, none of the geese that day were wounded either. All fell stone dead and did not require a dispatching shot, and there were no fluke two birds with one shot either. It was a true ten geese in, ten shots fired, and ten geese dead on the ground.
The waterfowlers equivalent to a perfect game in baseball, and with the bonus band it could not get any better. A day truly to remember!
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