It rained geese

Bill Monroe · 03-02-2003, 08:13 PM

Never seen anything quite like that.
And I can't believe I'm the first to post the results (this just four hours short of being up for 24)...in fact, I think I'll leave the stories to the rest of you because I love to hear other accounts than mine...My good friend Glen Baisinger in Albany always says he enjoys our trips because he gets to take them in the first place, then read about an entirely different trip later.

Anyhow, the thread title is accurate. We may not have limited, but my GAWD there are some good shots on this board. And I've never seen that many cacklers decoy at the same time...pretty extraordinary.

Dave and Brad are pros, very responsible and just a whole lot of fun to be with.

Skein, I'm sorry we didn't get more of a chance to talk, but thanks for letting me use that eliminator...those things are too much (a couple happy souls wouldn't even come out, but we didn't want to know why).

Jerry, give me a call one of these days...I'm ready to admit to my tunaholism and join the TA's.

I hope someone claimed that disabled parking permit I found in the parking area and gave to Rauly (Did he get to shoot first? heh, heh, heh...I don't think he ever had a chance).
Although I am in awe of the completely candid honesty of several of you who said it was yours based on your poor shooting.

I didn't see any poor shooting.

I saw waves of cacklers wheel on Dave's call as if he were directing a Riverdance.

I saw cupped wings and softly floating gray forms with bronzed chests and brilliant white cheeks.

I saw feet extended.

I saw cucoons suddenly open and guns blaze.

I saw it rain geese.

(PS, for anyone who can figure out how to do it, Steve Nehl said there are some very cool action photos on the ifish photo board, whatever that is, and anyone has access to them. I don't know how to pull them out and post, but he said they're here somewhere. Our machinery at work has too many firewalls and he wasn't able to get them posted directly on the MacIntosh leaf system we use...Maybe someone can find and post them???)

Mrduckman · 03-02-2003, 08:51 PM

Bill, I found some pictures. Go to the home page at the top and look for "Picture Upload" go there and scroll down towards the bottom and you will steve's name next to the photo.Hope this helps.
DM

Rauly · 03-02-2003, 09:49 PM

I just got home. Man am I tired!

I got some great pioctures and will post them tomorrow. THANK YOU ALL!!! I had a great time and hope you all did too. It was good to put faces to names. Good night for now.

Rauly

[ 03-03-2003, 10:41 AM: Message edited by: Rauly ]

skein · 03-03-2003, 06:04 AM

WhooooHoooooo!!!!!

It did - it rained geese!

Dave and Brad - Incredible!

Skein

[ 03-03-2003, 07:04 AM: Message edited by: skein ]

OceanBlue · 03-03-2003, 08:00 AM

Bill: I hope you'll join us in Newport for the TA meeting 3/15!

http://www.ifish.net/ubb/ultimatebb....;f=21;t=000881

Lured In · 03-03-2003, 09:03 AM

What a great time!

First let me say thank you to Dave and Brad for putting on a good show and getting us into some opportunities. Also let me say thank you to Get Bit and Rauly for all of their work in getting this put together. Also thanks to all those who supplied blinds and other equipment (like broken ATV's...GRB :tongue:

) Also thanks to whoever that was that had the elk pepperoni sticks. yummm!

Keep in mind there were roughly 20 guns including the guides. We were hunting an area that was NOT a traditional feeding area, but had good traffic and made for a good spread for the birds. Dave and Brad planned this and it also gave us some of the best opportunity to have 20 guns open up on the birds.

For those of you who think that you it is difficult to hunt a field the geese are not feeding in (myself previously included), think again. As Bill mentioned, some rather large flocks were working the spread and presented some great opportunities. I heard the 'school bell' ringing most of the day as Dave and Brad coerced the geese to come down and take a look.

I think the final tally was roughly 40 birds! :shocked: :grin: Not a bad day in anybody's book.

It was fun to meet some new faces and place a face with a moniker (GRB, Skein, Rauly, and JIFA among others.) We will definitely have to plan another one for next year.

Also, I finally got to see the infamous Dave Smith Decoys. WOW! They are awesome.

Thanks again, I had a great time. :grin:

Get Bit · 03-03-2003, 03:41 PM

Gentlemen,

That was a great day! Great to meet you all. Thanks to all who helped out with blinds, ATV's etc.
Brad and Dave : GREAT HUNT !!!!! THANK YOU!
Gary Miller: THANK YOU!

Bob: I will give you 3 boxes of shells and the plastic case for that call !

We are already in the planning stages for next year. Save your money.

Get Bit

fish forever · 03-03-2003, 04:53 PM

Very cool event. If you never seen a 20 gun (with 3" mags) salute and raining geese you havent lived - now I can say I did.

As mentioned before thanks to all, especially Rauly and Get Bit - organizing this was a lot of work for them.

Now to make my list for next year:
- new blind
- new decoys
- new goose gun
- need to get some of that Hevishot ammo (knocks 'em dead)
- some fancy camo stuff like the other guys got

I guess its time to take out another mortgage to pay for the toys........

skein · 03-03-2003, 05:26 PM

Get Bit, Rauly, Dave, Brad, and EVERYONE else - Thanks for a GREAT day!!! I can never remember closing the season down and then immediately start planning (counting the days until) next season. Usually I'm tired and ready to move on to the next addiction, but you guys left my mouth absolutely watering.

I'm not gonna throw any more superlatives out, but I will say I've NEVER seen anything like that. And the degree of difficulty in pulling birds down into a row of 20+ eliminators has got to be unmeasurable. Good job, you guys.

Never have I seen birds that high get shmoozed into working like that. HooooBoooy!

I've gotta stop before I start repeating myself (you mean I already am?) but obviously I had a good time yesterday.

I will hunt with any of you - anytime!

Thanks again.

Skein

skein · 03-03-2003, 05:35 PM

Okay, Rauly, here's your pics! All ya gotta do is come up with some of your witty commentary....
I have to say this was one of the funnest goose hunts I have ever been on. Thank you to everyone.

Break time or time to let the barrels cool down :smile: Some pretty good gunners in this picture.

Grassing the blinds up first light. That looks like General Lured In walking the line for inspection :grin:

This is the famous Goose Crusher from the Central Flyway. Ha! We wore him out. Or maybe he was meditating to bring in more birds. Naw I think he was taking a nap after his 3/4 mile long retrieve. I might add that he took a very good line also.

The guys are getting ready to Get Down and Cover Up.

Who Is That Masked Man? .....A Hired Gun

The IFISH GOOSE HUNT....Hired Guns....Team Wackem & Stackem

WhooooHooooo!!!

Skein - did I get 'em all?

[ 03-03-2003, 08:22 PM: Message edited by: Rauly ]

Jennie@ifish · 03-03-2003, 05:37 PM

Classic!

And Rauly, I pasted into that text box with no problems... Just wanted to try it.
I hope that you are able to, too!

Jen

Gun Rod Bow · 03-03-2003, 07:10 PM

Hey All,

Had a great time!!

Ready to do it again whenever. John, Gary we'll deffinitely hook up. Great to put faces with monikers. Skein, come fishin sometime! Lured In, hope to see you on the river for your "lead delivery". :tongue:

Thanks Get Bit and Rauly for the set up!

Those guys sure can work these finicky "little geese". Awesome time.

GRB

Really enjoyed meeting the folks that I have enjoyed chatting with.

Rauly · 03-03-2003, 09:01 PM

Skein Thanks for getting the pictures up. I can't wait till next year. Maybe two days. A whole weekend!!! Can you imagine the pile.

I don't know if my body could take two days of that kind of abuse, but I'd give it a try. Maybe we could get one of the young guys like Lured In to pull the decoy cart

I think he said something about being tierd from laying down all day

Great to meet you Lured In. I think I saw one goose fall out in front of you but I'll have to check the video to be sure. :grin: Maybe it was the one that landed on the decoy and broke it. In that case you owe Dave another $70.00 :shocked:

I would hunt with anyone of our group anywhere. Everyone was safe and a class act. Thanks to all of you for making the hunt a success.

Rauly

[ 03-03-2003, 10:03 PM: Message edited by: Rauly ]

Bill Monroe · 03-04-2003, 03:00 AM

Speaking of that decoy, I'm trying to put humpty back together again, but am missing much of the back. Did any of you who got souvenir pieces want to trade them back for, umm, oh say a player to be named later? Or a fishing trip or some other sort of embarassment? If so, I promise to bring the Phoenix back to next year's hunt...
Thanks

Jennie@ifish · 03-04-2003, 04:37 AM

Dave Smith and one of his Top Secret Decoys. This is why he does so well. It is the realistic, life like super model decoys.

Here ya go, Rauly....

:smile:

You guys had a blast, didn't you? (So to speak...)

J

[ 03-04-2003, 07:57 AM: Message edited by: Rauly ]

skein · 03-04-2003, 07:12 AM

Hold on! You gotta think this through....

Rauly sez: I can't wait till next year. Maybe two days. A whole weekend!!!

I don't think I can afford that many shells. Maybe I could just nap in the blind (like you-know-who) and eat pepperoni. Tell Dave if he'll bring more Mt Dew next time, I'm in!

PS. Do you suppose those "secret" decoys will work for turkeys?

Skein

[ 03-04-2003, 08:15 AM: Message edited by: skein ]

Rauly · 03-04-2003, 07:48 AM

Skein
I got you covered on the shells. The way Dave goes through Mt. Dew I am just going to turn in his empty cans. I figure we'll have enough for a case of Hevi Shot.

As long as I don't get to hungry this summer I'll have more pepperoni. I am picking up about 150 pounds of it today from a couple of elk we got this season.YUM Ken makes the best.IMHO

Brad is the mad turkey hunter so I would contact him. Although I think I heard him mention something about putting that custom decoy on a slide trak for motion and it will work like a charm. I would suggest forget the slide track and just put it under the bird feeder in the back yard.(and they will come) :grin:

Rauly

Dave Smith · 03-04-2003, 08:53 AM

Hey guys- thank you all so much!!! this was an extremely tough hunt- conditions about as tough as you can get but you guys made it great with your enthusiasm and making the most of our oppurtunities by shooting extremely well (Brad and are are impressed). Great to meet you all and thanks for all the help and gear and everything!

Lured In · 03-04-2003, 03:04 PM

In response to Rauly's post, while it wasn't readily apparent, Centrum Silver and Viagra were 'unofficial' sponsors of the event. The Centrum Silver enabled the 'gray hairs' to stay awake (

) for the day and the Viagra helped them to get their 'guns' up. :shocked: :tongue:

Rauly if you look in the first picture Skein posted, there are 3 birds about to hit the ground within 10 yards of my blind. I would say the 'young bucks' were holding their own versus the 'geriatrics ward' at the other end of the line. :grin:

GRB...I am currently working on a special 'lead catcher' for my boat. [img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img]

Rauly · 03-04-2003, 06:16 PM

Lured In
Unfortunatley we can only post pictures with low resolution. If you could see the high resolution picture it shows that those geese are flying into the pop corn that I was forced to put at your end of the line to (Lure In) the geese so you could get shots closer than 10 yards.

If it had not been for the pop corn and Skeins exceptional calling, by throwing his voice towards the decoys in front of you with the piles of pop corn you may never have gotten a shot closer than 20 yards.

Skein I may have to go back and turn that negative around. At least it will add a few more to the Geriatric end of the line.

Lured In..........we need to hit the river some time. I'm to old to row the drift boat so I'll bring the whip. :grin:

Rauly

TWB · 03-04-2003, 06:35 PM

I to would like to say that my hunting partner Wes, and I had a great time hunting with all of you Sunday. My only regret is that we didn't have more time to get to know each other, but maybe next time, I would be in for next year.

Skein, great to meet you. I would like to take a look at that new Ed Wing boat when you take delivery. I live close to you, let us no when you get it and possibly I can come over and have a look at her. Looking forward to fishing along side you this summer on the big blue. We will get some of those "albies" for sure.

Brad and Dave thanks for all the hard work it was a fun day. You have mastered those short reed calls, that to me was the difference in getting birds and not. You have inspired me to get out the Breakthrough CD and the Saunders and once again practice my own calling. But, don't worry, I won't be competing in June!

And Bill, you are welcome aboard my boat any time for a day of salt water fishing. When summer and the tuna get closer I will give you a call and we will go fish together. Yes that tunaholicism is a catching disease, one that I have not confessed myself. You have made me see that I also need help, so I will go over to the Salty Dogs board and see if i can enter the 12 step program!

I think the shooting award of the day should go to the gunner that dropped the goose on top of Dave's $70.00 decoy, smashing it to pieces. Oh, by the way Bill, what would you give for a piece of the back to that bird? LETS TALK!

Thanks again everyone.

Jerry

skein · 03-04-2003, 06:36 PM

Rauly, you're right! I accidently got the picture turned around, giving the wrong impression! Clumsy me....

Here's the REAL picture.

Sorry for the confusion. I'm new at this.

Skein

Lured In · 03-04-2003, 06:45 PM

Rauly...actually those ARE high definition pictures, you just forgot to put your reading glasses on. [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img]

As far as the oars on the drift boat go..."have biceps, will travel."

Lured In · 03-04-2003, 06:46 PM

Skein...since when did the sun rise in the West?

Nice try.

Bill Monroe · 03-04-2003, 07:26 PM

Frankly, it really is moot which side it's on because all three of those geese fell with my no. 2s, whereupon I wheeled (conveniently from the center of the line) and dropped two others with BBs for the geriatric end of the line...
Hmmm...just went back over the photos for a closer scrutiny and can assume that, having dropped five geese for you guys, I then awoke from my daydream.

Still need those decoy parts for our field icon next year.

Gun Rod Bow · 03-04-2003, 08:38 PM

Lured In, Rauly,

I'm not sure where I fit in...the Geriatrics, or Gerber Baby food end.

I think I'm smack in the middle, but it sounds to me like there is too much conjecture about shooting prowess to be resolved by the VERY suspect photographic eveidence obviously tampered with by Skein. This evidence is now considered tainted!

This can only be proven by an obvective test of shooting skill.

I recommend a meeting at a neutral clay target shooting facilty. We'll see who is who.

Lured In, lets see how you "throw lead" with someone keeping score.

BTW 2 day shoot next year would be awesome.

GRB

You guys want to get together with a few boats to chase springers with a "shore lunch"? Let's talk!

TWB · 03-04-2003, 10:14 PM

Bill,

You are not reading the posts. Go back a few,HAVE PARTS, WILL DEAL! I believe you said something about a fishing trip or something like that, my memory is a little fuzzy right now?

Jerry

willametteriveroutlaw · 03-04-2003, 10:29 PM

I will definately be there next year. Can't let all the old farts have all of the fun. :smile:

Gooseman · 03-05-2003, 05:52 AM

Guys,
Thanks for a great day, shooting those little geese is definitely more challenging than shooting westerns. Great calling, but that "tuned" (??) cackler call, I'm still hearing it.

I must say, I was real nervous about going hunting with that large of a group. But, that was one of the better hunting experiences I've had in a while. I would definitely do it again.

We should have played musical blinds throughout the day, to get to know more of each other. It was difficult to get a word in edgewise between Gary & GRB, the only time I could was when the goose goodies came out. I'm not sure if any of my smoked goodies made it past Gary or not.

Now then, lets get after those springers !!

skein · 03-06-2003, 07:13 AM

I feel like I dodged a bullet (or a load of #2's).

I've been thinking about that hunt all week, and I've decided the luckiest part of the whole shebang was the date. I was worried that I would be out of the "waterfowler's mood" or that the geese would be all gone by then, but I'll tell ya, I had soooo much fun that if the season wasn't over I'd be booking every weekend with Dave and Brad! This could have ended up costing me a fortune!

March 2nd was a perfect date. :grin:

Skein

Rauly · 03-06-2003, 11:29 PM

Since you won't be booking the rest of the season with Dave and Brad. You will save money :whazzup:

Lets see... get ready for next season what do I need....
New Eliminator Blind $350
Case of shells $100
Couple new calls $250
4 dozen Dave's Decoys $2400 on sale
Couple CD's how to blow new calls $30
Some Waterfowl videos $75
New Super X2 $600

Grand Total

You can go with Dave and Brad 19 times next year and all you have to do is show up and shoot. :grin: Sounds easy to me.

Rauly