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Now that the new year is upon us, I suppose I need to catch up on things since our 40 day tour around the country. Summer saw no visitors for once, but we kept busy with the hay operation and as much fishing as we could work in. Friend Gerald bought a 60 acre parcel adjacent to a State wildlife area for waterfowl, and constructed a 650' dike across a marsh area, all in hopes of creating a duck / goose hunting paradise. With early goose season set for the first week of September, Gerald's son Ryan & I built a 4 man goose pit to be installed on the dike. After digging the pit hole and craning the blind in the pit, we backfilled carefully and got it all dressed up so the birds would become accustomed to it prior to season.
The first hunt of the early season was a field hunt with Ryan, Tee [our young apprentice, who is subjected to full ragging], Don, and me. Before light we were set up before light, and by 8 AM had 10 birds in hand.
The first pit blind hunt was a few days later, with Don, Ryan, & me setting out lots of floaters and field decoys all around the pit. Geese were in short supply that day, but we did drop six. At least we weren't skunked.
The third week of September, old frat brother Sandy McLaughlin from the Shennandoah and his son Matt, who lives in Ft. Collins, drove over for a couple days fishing. The river was still running high and fishing was tough. We hit a private pond and really connected on the big lunker trout that had been stocked.
Next up was a visit from good fren George Peters from Little Rock, who was out for a week archery elk hunting with fren Doug Flowers who runs a great elk camp. George showed up with buddy larry Lingall and I drove them up to camp. All settled in, George took on the job of camp cook. That night I bunked in with them and saw them off well before light. Being a lo-lander, ole George suffered from altitude sickness all week, and in spite of the fact that it was hot and no bulls were buggling, he's booked again for next season.
One of our more memorable early goose hunts involved just Ryan and me, and we refer to it as "The Long Handle Hunt". Geese had been hitting a cut oat field, so we pulled in way before light to set up. The field was under irrigation, so we decided to set up on the edge of the field in tall grass, in hopes of pulling some birds in. After putting out the decs, Ryan stepped over into the grass to pick a spot to sit, and promptly stepped into a deep irrigation ditch full of ice cold water. One second he was there and the next second all I could see was his hat floating on the canal. He came out like a scalded cat and stripped down to his long handles. We were surprised to be covered up with geese at first light, and within 20 minutes had filled out our limit.
After early geese, everyone concentrates on deer and elk. Ryan called one day and asked if I had seen any big busks around, since he had frens Jim & Danielle in from Salt Lake. Danielle had a buck tag, and it just so happened, I had been seeing a respectable buck regular around the hacienda. Ryan, wife Erin, Danielle, & Jim came by while I was doing some tractor work on the farm, and dstarted glassing the hills from our drive. An hour later I came home and Annee was jumping up and down because Danielle had gotten her buck. I took the 4 wheeler up in the hills and hauled the big boy out. Obviously from the picture, Danielle was happy.
Next up, Bob & Robbie Yeaman flew into Gunnison for a week elk hunt up in the West Elks. On there last day, I drove over to Gunnison to meet them for breakfast and take them to the airport. Hopefully next year they will have time to visit with us.
Back to ducking & goosing, Ryan, his fren Andy from the front range, and I hunted Gerald’s new pond early one morning out of a make shirt stake shore blind. The alkalaimud was thick and stuck to everything. As dawn cracked, we got some good duck pass shooting, and had a couple flocks of honkers come in for a set to. We ended up with 6 geese and as many ducks, as I remember it.
Pretty quick, Christmas and New Years was on us, but we stayed pretty close to home, while I would sneak out for a quick morning river hunt with Gerald & Ryan. Even this late in the season we really weren’t covered up with ducks like usual, but that was about to change. New Years Eve we had our usual dinner party for the Roses, the Wygants, and the Blackwelders. Everyone showed up in fine fiddle and after a scrumptious dinner followed by a few ole folks games, we celebrated the new year at midnite eastern time and called it a nite.
Pretty quick into the new year, the temps dropped near zero and lots of birds flooded the valley. Young Tee had access to a farm pond that had a spring flowing into it, keeping an open air hole that ducks and geese loved. Each time we hunted it we either got a full limit or close to it. Ducks would usually make a quick circle and come diving into the spread, while the geese would make several turns lining up the wind then drop right in.
On a sub zero morning, five of us headed down to Gerald’s pond in delta for what we expected to be a home run ice hunt. The pond was frozen tighter than Dick’s hat band,and we actually worked up a sweat as we set out 300 Goose decs on the ice. Four of us piled into the pit, while Ryan laid out in a snow covered Avery. We saw geese all morning, but they were all flying away from where we were. By 11 AM we were skunked for sure!
In January, most of our best hunts for geese are on ice. Our prime spot is on Tony Sanchez’ pond that lies along side the Uncompaghre River below Olathe, and we had several successful hunts there, in spite of fickle winds in the mornings. Usually we would pick up some early duck shooting, pull in a few geese on the way to feed, then hammer the geese after they had eaten and were looking for a spot to lollygag. One weekend we filled out a 5 man limit and a 4 man limit in 2 days.
One day near season end, Ryan, Jason, and I set up on Gerald’s pond right in front of his house. This was a first,since Gerald usually uses the pond as a rest area. Early we got some passing duck gunning, but the geese flights were discombobulated by the moon. So, we decided to leave out the spread in hopes of an afternoon shoot. By 3 PM we were back in the layouts ready to see some action.  Ryan & Gator Waiting The weekend before season end, I got an invite I had been looking forward to. Fren Tom Grippenthog lives north of town and has a pretty big pond that is aerated for waterfowl, and rumor had it that he had a pretty fancy blind. He asked me to hunt Sunday with him, and as I arrived the temps were hovering at a cool minus 6 degrees. Looked to be great gunning weather.
The weekend before season end, I got an invite I had been looking forward to. Fren Tom Grippenthog lives north of town and has a pretty big pond that is aerated for waterfowl, and rumor had it that he had a pretty fancy blind. He asked me to hunt Sunday with him, and as I arrived the temps were hovering at a cool minus 6 degrees. Looked to be great gunning weather.
After setting out 80 + goose decs and 2 dozen ducks, we settled in this spacious shore blind. First thing Tom did was plug in some foot heaters. With electricity to the blind, he proceeded to hook up the coffee pot, the waffle iron, and microwave. I was beginning to think I was way under-dressed for this hunt. He hadn't even loaded up yet, and told be to go to banging, so I did. Ducks passed over in waves, headed to corn, but the odd pair or so dropped in early to the robo ducks, only to be met in an unfriendly fashion. After coffee was hot, Tom pulled out a box of Jimmy Dean breakfast biscuits and proceeded to cook breakfast. Unfortunately he had left the waffle batter at home.
After our snack, Tom loaded up and we went to banging away, with most shots at decoying birds at less than 30 yds. By noon we called it quits since we had our duck limits and were just 2 shy of our goose limits. Have to say that was a real treat hunting in a heated blind with all the comforts of home.
The last week saw a couple non productive river shoots, but we saved probably our best shooting for the last day. Early AM we set up on Mike Lowery's open water pond right in his front yard. Using his two man paddle boat we set out three doxen floated geese, as many or more field decoys on the bank behind our blinds, and about two dozen ducks.
Before shooting time ducks were piling into our spread at close range. As the clock ticked legal we went to hammering away as ducks decoyed right and left, keeping gator busy on retrieves. A few dumb geese joined in the mix. About 9 AM the wind shifted , so Ryan and John paddled out to untangle the mess and we took a quick photo op.
Duck shooting was pretty steady all morning. Then about 1 PM Ryan's wife Erin brought a hot lunch over and she was quickly voted "wife of the season". The rest of the afternoon was slow until just at quitting time when we lured in 5 more geese to finish out the year. That day was our best ducking day with 25 , and our 13 geese made it all worthwhile. The final day ran our yearly totals up to 198 ducks and 180 geese, a little off from last year. Now, after season, we are all suffering from withdrawal.
Early February is devoted to putting all the decoys away , cleaning up my shop of all the hunting gear, and a thorough gun cleaning in preparation for next season. Then our focus is on preparations for our winter sojourn to Ole Mexico, which will begin February 28 and run through April this year. Frens who are already there say its warming nicely and the tequila is flowing freely. We sure are looking forward to kicking back in warmer weather. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7DwDt88lxw HASTA LA VISTA Y'ALL!!! VAMOS RETOURNO IN MAYO! |
