my season starts

[Rick]

Good to see the hunt went as hoped.

(The two 16-pounders I shot during my years in resident "giant" country, were each lucky to pass the 13 mark on the local sporting good's certified scale. But their Mid Ohio Valley introduction was recent enough to be heavily monitored, and bands were too common to be a treat.)

[don novicki]

Yea, as I looked at the big boy you might have guessed he was north of 16lbs But no. Regardless the band was a huge bonus.

[SpinnerMan]

Yea, as I looked at the big boy you might have guessed he was north of 16lbs But no. Regardless the band was a huge bonus.

If you know the average size for the big ones are 11 lbs, a 16 lb'er is the difference between a 320 lb offensive lineman and a 220 quarterback. It's dramatic. Both of the 14 lb'ers I got looked like 280 lb lineman compared to the 220 lb quarter back. It was instantly holy shit that's a big bird which is why they got weighed.

I also shot a pair that were normal sized, but when the dog brought them back, they felt like they had lead bricks in them. Didn't weigh them, but when I skinned them they had the most fat by a mile of any geese I have shot. They must have really been stuffing down the bread at the park. They could have been 14 lbs, but was do to obesity and not oversized birds.

The one I shot at was about double the size of his buddies. Like a swan with geese. Just massive. Like a guy pushing 400 lbs that is not fat compared with a 220 lb quarterback. As soon as you look at the group, he stands out because he is head and shoulders bigger than everybody.

Looks like this.

[Deltaman]

Sweet hunt Don, and glad you were able to get out of the field and not disturb the main body of birds
Also, Congrats on the band!!!!!!!

[SpinnerMan]

Government's back open. Hopefully you get the band report soon. I hope it's somewhere cool.

I've been extremely lucky on bands. Plus I think they band them at parks around where I hunt so about 1 out 10 Canadas are banded where I hunt. I had a buddy that had shot far more geese and ducks than I and never had a band. It really seemed to bug him that I had so many and he hadn't gotten one. He finally got one and they gave the actual GPS coordinates. He could almost see where it was banded from where he shot it Not what he was hoping for.

PS, he did a year or two later get one banded up near Hudson Bay. A "real" band as I refer to them versus my 9 local park goose bands. I do have one real goose band.

[don novicki]

Got my certificate. Bird was banded in Elkhart Indiana in 2023. A fair distance from Cranesville Pa..

[SpinnerMan]

Got my certificate. Bird was banded in Elkhart Indiana in 2023. A fair distance from Cranesville Pa..

About a 300 mile lateral move famed east west flyway. That's interesting.

[don novicki]

Was at P.I. yesterday and expected there to be birds everywhere with the strong NW wind and intermittent snow. After getting set up I sat and waited, and waited until finally 3 Buf Heads came in and I straight up missed. That was it for the morning. There were very few hunters and after the initial volley of shots from various blinds the place was pretty dead. A couple of layouts, firing every once in a while but definitely not the action that you would expect for this time of year. I did have a hen Blue Bill swim in to the decoys, but I gave her a pass. Lots of SW wind headed our way which will warm things up again. Season at P.I runs until Jan 11th but we'll more than likely be frozen out by then. Our inland season closes Nov 28 for ducks. I've been out way more than last season but it's ending fast for my inland hunting. Deer starts 11-29 and both duck and goose are closed during that time. The rest of the state gets to hunt through deer but not us here in the NW corner. Makes no sense.

[don novicki]

Last week of the NW Zone here in NW Pa.. It's supposed to be snowy, cold and with NW winds here both Thur and Fri., and I plan on being out goose hunting both of them. The 2 farms I plan on hunting both have just recently cut all their corn, so we might get lucky and stumble into the migration. I'll scout Wed night, but the weather is supposed to be mild until later at night when it turns cold. Hope I have some luck and that you guys are all getting into them. Report to follow.

It's all brown for a couple of weeks until Dec 15th.

[don novicki]

Weather is predicting 12" or more of the white stuff, with 50 mph winds. If that happens I'll probably stay home because the birds won't move from wherever they are at. Plus 50 mph winds equals a tough time setting up the decoys so they don't flap around in the field.

[Duck Engr]

Can’t say I would blame you there, Don. Too much of a good thing!

[SpinnerMan]

Weather is predicting 12" or more of the white stuff, with 50 mph winds. If that happens I'll probably stay home because the birds won't move from wherever they are at. Plus 50 mph winds equals a tough time setting up the decoys so they don't flap around in the field.

We were snow goose hunting. It was a pretty normal day and then all of the sudden the wind started blowing at about 40 mph. We had a nice flock of snows circle down wind and they couldn't fight the 40 mph wind to get to our decoys, so they gave up and set down in the next field over. Next flock, same thing. After a few more flocks, it wasn't long until we had thousands of geese in the next field over. Based on what landed in the next field over, we might have had the best hunt ever, but the birds couldn't fight the wind.

Me and a buddy were going to try and put the sneak on them or at least run off the every growing body of live birds. Got to the edge of our field and there was a huge ditch that we couldn't cross. We got quite the show, but I don't think we fired another shot after the wind started howling.

I wouldn't try to set up or pick up in 40 mph wind. I had decoys blowing all over the place last year in about 20 to 30 mph wind. At one point about 1/3rd of my decoys were on their sides.

[don novicki]

I guess I'll have to make a game time decision. But as you guys said, it's tough to work birds in that kind of wind. I'll let you know.

[don novicki]

We we barely got any snow, but the wind was roaring this morning so I took a pass. Tomorrow is the last day. If the wind dies down I'll go out but I just got back from a scouting trip and only saw about a dozen geese using a posted field and that was it. We are able to hunt Presque Isle State Park, from the shore blinds, until Jan 11th but typically they aren't that great. Overall I'd rate the inland season as poor to fair.Hope you all are doing better than me. Happy Holidays everyone.

[don novicki]

Well it's been strange so far this season. The cold weather has frozen in almost all the water, and all small water is solid, with Presque Isle Bay freezing over this past week. There is over 1 month of hunting left in the Lake Erie Zone but P.I. is fully locked with ice. Only beach 11 which has direct access to the lake is still open but those blinds are all occupied by their owners so there's zero chance to hunt out of them. There were thousands of Blue Bills here 2 weeks ago but they are gone now and I figure most of the birds will fly over when the bigger ducks come down from Canada.

There are lots of geese though so tomorrow I'll be out. Going to be a cold one with temps in the teens and a N-NW wind. The kind of day you live for as a duck/goose hunter. There were 800 using the field yesterday............all I need is 5. Report to follow

[Rick]

There were 800 using the field yesterday............all I need is 5.

Ain't nothin' for a stepper. Have a ball.

[Duck Engr]

Sounds promising, Don. Looking forward to the report!