[CPAjeff]

I have been watching about 50 geese land in a pasture for the past couple days and decided tonight I would try and hunt them. I got everything set up and the geese were no where to be found. About an hour later than usual, I spotted three geese headed my way. One of the three was extremely vocal, and even though I am a terrible caller, I tried to mimic the sounds it was making. They came right on in, and I was able to get a triple... or so I thought.

I have never, ever, ever, ever in my entire life of hunting waterfowl left my gun back in the boat/blind when I've gone out to get the birds, but for some reason tonight I did. I went after the farthest bird from the blind first. I had not taken more than 15 steps (I stepped it off later, and it was 34 steps from my blind to where the goose was) when the goose stood up, honked a couple times, and then flew off. I was shocked to say the least. I watched it fly out of sight, waiting for it to drop, but that never happened. I went back to my blind, got my gun, and went to get the other two.

I got a nice surprise tonight as one of the two was banded! It was banded back in 2008 near James Bay, Ontario, Canada. I am planning on smoking one whole goose and just the breasts off of the other.

Has anyone else ever had something similar happen to them, or am I the only moron around these parts??:grin:

 

[goosefreak]

interesting! all my goose bands are local, and only 2 of my duck bands are out of state. I would love to get an out of state goose band even out of country.. nice!

And, i'm impressed at your skinning job.

 

[Clarq]

That's the kind of band info I hoped to find when I called my banded goose in. Mine was banded 3 miles from where I shot it as a juvenile in the same year, though.

I always take my gun with me, but I've lost a few divers because I've forgotten to reload before chasing them. I also almost lost a Canvasback this year because I only brought two slapper loads. I swatted it twice, but it dove after the second shot and I figured it was gone for good. I came back with more shells several minutes later, and found it dead on shore. Talk about some good luck.

 

[Fowl_faith]

Nice, we had a zombie goose the last day of the hunt last year it was laying between our lay out blinds for over an hour when it woke up my son about messed his pants when it started flapping against his blind it only made it about 15 yards before I ended that feasco. Great memory though.

 

[Pumpgunner]

I've had the exact same thing happen, last year I shot a double out of a flock and when I sent the dog to pick them up one of the geese came back to life and flew off. Couldn't get a good shot at him because I had an empty gun, seems like sometimes they will take a body shot and if they don't have any wing damage they can go quite a distance before they bleed out, or maybe they are just stunned and will fly off and have a sore butt for a while. :mrgreen: I have cleaned geese and found old rusty BB's in them, and even a totally healed over .177 airgun pellet, so I know that they can take some damage and survive! Awesome that you got an out-of-state band too, I've always wondered exactly where a lot of our migrating geese come from.

Nice job on your birds-smoked goose is great! One of my favorite goose recipes is to smoke some goose breast and legs, then cut a pocket into the center of the breast and stuff it with bacon and some good cheddar cheese, then close it back up with some toothpicks. Wrap the legs with bacon too, then sear them all in a cast iron skillet until they are browned, then finish them in a hot oven until they are medium rare and the bacon is done-there won't be any leftovers!

 

[LostLouisianian]

Nope I would say you're alone in the moron department, maybe except for a few other morons known as waterfowl hunters. ;-) My favorite is my son or grandson wondering why their gun only shot two shots and what happened to the 3rd shell they forgot to load in....like I've done that before...:grin:

 

[lucdavis]

Juvenile snow geese are notorious for this... you get out of the blind to pick up downed birds and cripples and up jumps one and tries to head out! You learn and start picking up bonus birds quick! That's a sweet hunt regardless and heck of a band!

 

[cootlover]

My buddy shot a cackler goose in Corrine that was banded in Lone Alaska now that's a long way from home

 

[utahbigbull]

Awesome job Jeff! Glad you were able to get on them!! The Canadian band is pretty sweet. Most all the bands around here are local.

 

[LostLouisianian]

I'm not seeing any body shots in those geese, you must have been shooting for the head...interesting.

 

[CPAjeff]

I'm not seeing any body shots in those geese, you must have been shooting for the head...interesting.

Yeah, I always aim for the head/neck on geese. That is what was so weird about that one getting up and flying away. The other two were stone dead with blood all over their heads.

 

[SlickWeo]

I generally lean my gun up while I go take a leak. That's when the ducks and geese start coming in. Then I have to try and waddle, with my waders around my ankles, back to the gun. You are definitely not alone!

 

[king eider]

My buddy shot a cackler goose in Corrine that was banded in Lone Alaska now that's a long way from home

I have a brant that was banded in lone AK. Must be a happening place!