HONKER HEAVEN

Canada geese are plentiful in the Sunflower State right now and it's a great time to be a goose hunter.  The season lasts until February 15th so there's still time if you haven't got out or want to take it right up to the end and hunt every last minute.  I had a hunt last week that was a little of both and it reminded me of why I liked it so much. 

I used to hunt Canada geese fairly frequently back in the day and did fairly well on many trips.  In a season's time I'd shoot 50-70 honkers and that's when the limit was two, and later three birds per day.  But a gradual shift to mostly duck hunting saw the numbers of honkers I'd kill each season shrink to the fingers on one hand, or two if I was lucky when they dropped in for a visit to mostly duck decoys on the reservoirs or rivers.

So after a buddy invited me on a field honker hunt last week I was excited. He'd been doing well and it had been a long time since I'd laid in a field and waited on the big black and white birds resembling B52's.  Despite years of experience I admit I had a little trouble going to sleep the night prior anxiously thinking about the next morning's hunt.

My buddy and his son killed several geese the night prior and just left the decoys in the field.  However, the wind shifted 180 degrees in direction and we had to move the decoys.  Worse yet, the velocity increased 10-fold and it was gusting 30-40 mph. 

A little wind isn't bad and a lot is workable.  However, there was one point where we had most of our roughly 2 dozen full-body goose decoys on their side or tumbling.  Too much! 

We were persistent putting them back up and the first flock of the morning paid a quick visit and we each dumped a big honker from that flock.  But like they sometimes do, subsequent flocks started dumping on an adjacent field.  No worries.  My buddy took off to get them up.  It was interesting to watch as I saw a group fly over him and he shot once and killed two birds. 

I ended up going out and laying in the decoys under a big shell decoy.  The birds would come in almost perfect and then veer at the last minute.  However, enough of them ventured too close that I killed four more nice big birds when my buddy returned about an hour later and he, too, had added four more so we were both one bird shy of a limit.

Birds were still flying and we hunkered into the waterway adjacent to our decoys.  The wind had dropped considerably and a flock of big Canadas circled and two peeled out for a final approach.  Perfect.  My buddy shot the lead bird and I cleaned up the back bird and we were done with a nice two-man limit of 12 honkers. 

It was a great morning.  I commented this was my first 6-bird Canada goose limit ever and I was real glad I didn't have to carry them all out of the field as I'm guessing I had roughly 60 pounds of geese.  It was nice to drive right up, load up the decoys and be on our way.  Here's hoping I can get out again at least one more time before the season closes.