So I've never hunted any birds other than dove before but since moving to Haskell I'm interested in hunting Geese. What info can y'all give me? I've looked up some outfitters and there's an operation down the road from me http://www.webfootconnection.com/ I just don't know what a good price is. I'm sure you get what you pay for but any advice/thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Well I'll start with: Most people call it goose hunting.

The nastier the day, the better. Cold, wet, misting rain = perfect goose hunting day.

You are going to spend your time in rice patties, muddy fields, huddled close to the ground peeking out of a blind, and basically feeling like a muskrat.

A good pump 12 gauge with #2 through T shot (some folks use BB or BBB, but I've never found a need for that large a shot). Make sure the gun is solid and can handle a less than stellar environment.

As far as outfitters, I really couldn't tell you. I've always done my hunting on leases or public land, with the occasional invite in the Eagle Lake area (but that was years ago and I'd be lying if I told you I could remember the name of the outfitter). And I've never hunted up in your neck of the woods.

Having said all of that, it's a lot of fun. Geese are hardy birds with great eyesight. They can be hard to get, especially later in the season. They are an aquired taste though, which is one reason I got out of really hunting them years ago - never liked the idea of killing birds and not really putting the kill to good use. (I have since, however, been introduced to a goose summer sausage that is nails and am contemplating getting back into the sport).

read a book about life in the trenches during the cold wet winters of WWI. replace German snipers with harmless water fowl. that's pretty much it.

[This message has been edited by NW80 (edited 11/27/2011 6:50a).]

More than likely you will be waking up around 4:00am. Then when you get there you will start unfolding a couple hundred plastic rag decoys and spacing them out ever so gingerly in a tear drop. If it hasn't rained recently then you better wake up 30 min earlier. Now comes the fun part, you have to convince a highly intelligent birds that those rags are actually buddies of his and he should come catch up on old times. With your goose call you try and do that, but talk to fast and he will spook, to slow same result. So know the birds are in range you have three shots to bring them down. Did anybody mention that steel is less dense than lead and if you shoot to soon all you will see and hear is the shot bouncing off their chest. But you see a goose throw its head back and start to plummet. After picking up and rebadging your couple hundred rags you go home and clean the birds, I just breast them, and soak the meat in salt water, milk, or whatever your grandma told you to draw out the gamey taste. Then the day of true success comes when you eat a chicken fried piece of meat that tastes like mud and has the consistency of boot leather. Then you drink a beer with your meal and realize with the money you spent on rags, decoys, lease, ATV, shells, and blind you could wake up at a normal time and of eaten chicken.


This is a negative outlook I know but I still do it with little success unfortunately. It's a challenge and sometimes no fun but after I tag out on deer the ducks geese get some attention.

That is a great place for goose hunting. It is mostly lesser canada geese. That area winters more geese than the coast winter snow geese these days. Probably hunt in a dry field out of a layout blind.

Try it , I bet you will like it

One of the great things about geese hunting is that you can be a lot more relaxed when comparted to deer hunting. Its common to sit around and shoot the crap with your fellow hunters when birds aren't coming in. If you want a cigarrete, it really doesn't affect your hunt.

And you get to shoot - sometimes a lot. Instead of sitting quiet in a blind covered with scent lock waiting for that one shot, you can pretty much be the opposite when hunting geese. And if you are after snows, there has been either extended limitsd or no limits the past several years and some very relaxed regs on methods due to the population boom they have gone through.

Its work, but fun.

Cold. Wet. Meat that I won't feed my dog.

Some guys love it, but some guys love fat chicks.

Used to hunt every year with Webfoot Connections. Don't recall ever having a bad hunt. Smokey and Kathy are the owners names. Pretty cool experience. But like everyone else said, goose tastes like absolute crap. One of the cooks fried it and seasoned the batter with Cavender's and it was barely edible. Be prepare to lay in a cold, windy peanut field. If its really windy then take 2 shotguns. The sand will jam up a shotgun pretty quick. Killed a decent number of ducks as well.

One of the cool things were the guides. Smokey doesn't guide anymore. Last time I was there he was in poor health. Most of the guides we had follow the birds all the way down from up north. Had an Aggie guide as well who was out hunting on his wife's birthday. Hardcore. He and his wife both played tennis at A&M, IIRC.

Im not a goose hunter but I will say that I WILL feed goose to my dog. ...that, and it is really hilarious to watch those big bastids fall out of the sky and land with a loud thump.

You haven't lived until you've been goose hunting. And after that, you won't want to.

Cold, wet, miserable.

If it flies it dies.

I grew up in the rice fields in SE Texas. My dad was a D&G guide for 30+ years. Maybe I'm completely nuts, but I love goose hunting. Sure it's early and a lot of work, but when that sun is coming up, the early ducks buzz the spread, and then you hear the cackle of geese on the horizon, you quickly forget about the time and temperature. As a bonus, if you have fog then it's ON. Bluebird days not so much...

Go to your favorite meat processor and ask to use their walk-in deep freezer for a while (should be about 10 below). Do an hour of PX90 in the deep freezer, then have someone bring in a bucket of water (quick, before it freezes). Have your buddy shovel snow down your neck while you stand in the bucket for a couple hours (make sure you keep changing out the water so it doesn't freeze solid. Then, run outside and shoot at 200 skeet all at once. Gather up the remains of the busted clay's and serve them to your family, while trying to convince your wife how good they are.



Ok, that's probably not quite fair ... geese don't taste quite as good as clay pigeons.

LOL.

I love goose hunting too. Guess I'm just a gluton for punishment.

I'll take duck or goose hunting over deer hunting any day of the week.

y'all are a bunch of puzzies. Put your balls on and go goose hunting!

quote:

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y'all are a bunch of puzzies. Put your balls on and go goose hunting!

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Sorry, but the reward of a stinky goose isn't enough to offset the level of misery involved in harvesting the goose. And don't give me some nonsense about sunrises and birds waking up - I get the same thing hunting deer and turkey.

You goose hunters aren't quite right.

Loud noises!

Also I really do enjoy goose hunting I just don't get to go as much as I would like to.

Go duck hunting and call a couple of specks that are passing over. Skip the rag spread stuff for snows.

Otto do you own property that YbHC uses?

PW11, negative.

Call me crazy but I don't think there will be many rice paddies or marshy areas around Haskell, TX. If goose hunting = rain then I think every farmer in the county would gladly go lay in a field and freeze.

I am pretty disappointed that no one has a magical tasty recipe. Don't know if I want to pay to kill something I won't eat.