Date: January 28
Hunters: Myself
Time: Morning
Location: Migrators Pit 22
Weather Conditions: Sunny, cold (7F at sunrise), moderate NW wind, and less than an inch of old snow.
Waterfowl Activity: Very little geese left the lake and didn't see a duck
Birds By Species: 2 Canadas
Sunny is the worst conditions for late season goose. When it's cold, they just sit on the lake and get a tan or something.
First time hunting one of our pits in the new premium location we picked up last year, but couldn't get the pits in until this year because it wouldn't stop raining last fall.
While I probably saw less than 100 geese including a wad of probably 50, if today's activity is any indication of the attractiveness of this field, we are freaking golden.
I wasn't going to go over there, but one guy I trust suggested I should. I was picked last this morning. The reason I didn't want to go is because the farmer deep plowed the field. It looks like hell and there is not even close to enough snow to hide that it's plowed dirt. It's just giant ruts except for the tire tracks directly to the pit which is tramped down and the snow mostly melted around what looks just like a place someone would kill you from if you are a goose. But he said they had seen a lot of birds there yesterday. So I wisely heeded his advice.
First flock of around 10 came out low and made a beeline right at me. But did what I feared. Once it got close, it just skirted me clearly not liking what it was seeing and then went on its way.
A little while later a second flock of about the same size did the exact same thing. It came right too me, then just skirted around looking things over, clearly not liking what it was looking at, and then off it went.
Both were too far, although I'm sure not too far for some. I had some marginal second guessing but they were a little out of range. I think without the big ruts and without the area around the pit that looks like hell, and they suck right in that extra 20 yards at least.
I saw a few high birds heading out including the wad of about 50.
Then I had a pair make a beeline right for me. Same thing. Once they got close, they just got real hesitant. Again, just a little further than I care to whack at 'em.
But unlike the others, they made another swing around. Again, still looking like they wanted in but clearly uncomfortable with what they were looking at. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for me, they closed the gap just enough on the second swing around. No way, I'm waiting for a third. I was pleased with myself that I dropped them both. These were not the gimme shots like the other day.
A little after that I saw one single Ross that passed over about 100 yards up. A very rare sight for us.
I had one more flock of about 7 or 8 make a beeline right for me. Came a long ways but once they got close, you could just see the attitude change and off they went.
A large fraction of the geese I saw just headed straight for this field. My fears of the conditions were justified. We square that away in the future, and this field looks like it could be amazing.
I think I only heard one other shot in the whole area. Sunny days. Very few geese leave the lake. Sunny again tomorrow, but Saturday looks like it should be better conditions.
Jan28.jpg
That fog you see is the cooling lake that is only 0.7 miles away.
Lake.jpg
But there are some people not real happy with us picking up this field. One of those buildings are the clubhouse for a large daily pay goose hunting operation in the area. It's only 250 yards from the pit I was hunting. They hunt the adjacent field on the north half of ours. On the south half of our field. Our field is a mile north to south. There is one of Dave's favorite flooded corn operations. There's a ton of money just to our west and we set up shop right between them and the lake
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