Late January in Ohio can offer great goose hunting if the
lakes freeze and we get a little snow. There is something magical about the
ice. Being able to get right out there where the geese feel safe has much to do
with it. Wearing snow camo in the snow, on the ice, is nothing short of
awesome! My waterfowl buddies and I have so many great days shooting on the ice
it is almost enough to make me love the bitter cold weather!
We headed out on a goose hunt one January day, but we were surprised
to find a fissure in the ice running from the dock bubblers all the way across
the bay. As a result, we had to walk in from the other side of the lake. At
least it was safer that way. It was a quarter mile walk pulling sleds loaded
with decoys. We were pulling quite a bit of weight but the ice was plenty
thick. The howling north wind was blowing snow in or face that stung when it
hit our skin. I stopped and pulled my snow camo ski mask over my face. I did
not want to do that yet. The last thing I wanted to do was start sweating! Sure
enough, I started to perspire so I took the mask off. As soon as I did the
perspiration froze! I quickly and pulled up my neck gator over my mouth and
switched hats. Finally, we arrived. The geese were already flying so we rushed
around trying to get set up. We had to set the shells on the snowy patches so
the wind wouldn't blow them across the lake. We chased a few. I had difficulty
with one of Randy’s flocked head full body decoys, so I took my glove off for a
minute. Bad idea! My hand was instantly burning, then numb within seconds! I had a dickens of a time getting
the glove back on. I decided to take a minute and open a hand warmer and shove
it in my glove. I looked up to notice that it was snowing sideways so hard that
you could not see across the decoy spread. We could hear the geese honking as
they passed by, but we could not see one another! As the last decoys were set,
we made a mad dash for our guns. Commonly we will lay a decoy bag down
carefully to insulate us from the ice, but there was no time. The new snow has
stopped. All that was left was an onslaught of low level snow being forced down
the back of our necks by the ridiculous arctic blast. So there we lay on the
ice, half wet from sweat. The heat being sucked out of our bodies by the solid
lake beneath us. But no one cares because here they come! One hundred massive
honkers headed our way, low across the ice! The giant birds were coming
straight in from downwind! They locked up there wings in landing formation
ready for the glide in at 200 yards. It was a slam dunk. But as hunting goes,
they “fowled” up our plans. They started to drift to the left then flapped
their wings to get a little lift. Darn! Then they locked their wings as they
passed by. “One more try”, I thought. A few gentle whines as the birds headed
north, and I could see them swinging around behind us. I had my head tilted all
the way back looking at then upside down with my eyes stinging from the
windblown snow, but through the freezing tears I could see them completing the
circle to get downwind again. We hammered out a few laydown calls and they
locked up on approach! By now it was
only the excitement of the hunt that was keeping me from shivering from the
intense cold. My dog on the other hand was so excited he nearly came unglued.
He was shivering from adrenaline and softly whining. The geese finished this
time and we sat up and slammed them! I looked over at Randy and said, “It
doesn’t get any better than this!”
