Ragweed Goose Hunt

As Rachel and I has spent the previous morning hunting doves, I was also watching small groups of geese pile into the field we were in on the far side along a waterway. I had not tried a field hunt for geese yet since we moved here, so I figured I would give it a shot. I spent the afternoon cleaning up and repainting some of the old goose floater decoys Dad had scrounged years ago. It was all I had so I needed to make the best of them. I had a baker's dozen to take with me in the morning and see if I could fool at least one of these local geese into our spread.

The morning came and Lou and I trudged out to our spot to see what we could find for a hide. I was floored when I got out to the waterway to see the farmer had cut it the afternoon before (likely while I was cleaning decoys), and I needed to think of something quick. I found decent location, bundled up as much of the cut alfalfa as I could and built myself makeshift hide. I set out my meager set of decoys and waited for the geese to start pouring into my field.

The reality of most of my hunts is not expecting or even wanting the shooting to be off the charts. If I expect these things, I will most of the time be in for disappointment, so I strive for the experience, and at least one of something. See one, shoot one, anything; just to prove to myself that were not in vain.


The first group came shortly after sunup and I heard them before I saw them. I gave a few honks on my call, and starting waving my makeshift goose flag. When they rounded the tree belt, they came in on a string. It was like something out of the manual. When they were in range, I popped up and did my best to pull down some birds.


First shot connected, second shot connected, third shot was for show.


I could not believe it worked!!!


Lou proceeded to run out to the second bird I dropped and proceeded to circle and bark at it. Looking at them, they were about the same size and Lou does not exactly have the fearlessness of Mocha. She had no idea what to do with these mutant over-sized doves.


I collected them, folded them up neatly, and added them to my spread.




About 40 minutes later, I had another group come in from south and do the exact same thing; they committed as if they read the book first. These birds would have landed in the decoys if Lou would have sat still longer, but once she caught sight of them and they were closer, she bolted out into the field so she could catch them out of the air.....


I emptied my gun and was only able to scrape one down. I now have a running flapping goose way out into the field. As Lou got closer, and it was flopping around, she proceeded to start barking like crazy and came hauling back to me. I finished the bird off with a quick swat, and we worked our way back to the blind. We no more than sat down and a pair came in from behind us to my left. Another text-book into the decoys pair.


I emptied my gun again, but this time, the birds kept on flying. All I could do was sheepishly laugh at myself for the embarrassment that was that volley.




The rest of the morning was rather quiet. We had another pair check us out, but I have a feeling they had been blasted at before as they did not commit at all.

About an hour before the conclusion of our hunt did I realize what a horrendous mistake I had made this morning. The makeshift blind I had fashioned with alfalfa, that was working quite well, was not actually alfalfa but in fact cut ragweed. I had made a blanked of it and it had been literally rubbing up against my face the entire morning. It felt like a horror movie scene when a character realizes that the water around them is actually blood, etc. I am not going to say I panicked, but I knew I was going to pay dearly for it the rest of the day (and I surely did).

Once I decided to pull the plug, Lou and I collect the decoys and the birds and called it a morning's hunt. I figured this was a great opportunity to get Lou acquainted with the giant mutant doves known as geese and get her move comfortable with them, in the hopes that someday she will retrieve them for me. As I held her and held a goose closer to her so she could smell it, she proceeds to start screaming holy bloody hell. At first I thought I was sitting on the shock collar remote until I realized it was actually her just being scared shitless of the goose. I hoped I did not just ruin my dog for life... As soon as I let her go she was fine and acted as if it never happened, but she did give the birds a wild berth for the remainder of the day.

As you can guess, I enjoyed the prospects of the upcoming hunting season, and I knew it was only going to get better with Lou. Having hunted 4 DAYS STRAIGHT, I was off to a fantastic start to my fall!




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