I have hunted waterfowl for 40 years. Prior to the year
2016, I had never harvested a snow goose. I am not the only Ohioan in that
club. Snow geese are very rare in the buckeye state. There are some taken, but
not very often. As a matter of fact, I was told by a wildlife manager in Magee
Marsh a few years ago that there has never been a snow goose shot there! In
context, he was telling all of us not to shoot swans, which are common. I did
shoot a Ross’s goose in Texas 20 years ago.
It was not until March of 2016, on a guided hunt in Illinois
did I actually get my first snow. I brought home two geese from that hunt. My
second trip to Kansas this year proved to be quite “snowy”. On my first morning
of the December trip I was able to reduce a black tipped beauty to my bag limit
along with six ducks. My friend, Larry, had six ducks as well.
After our hunt we had the ritual of cleaning ducks, our guns
and taking a shower. My friends, Matt and Randy stopped by to ask if we wanted
to go rabbit hunting. I took a pass in favor of putting my feet up and petting
the two Labrador Retrievers. It was about 4:00 when there was a knock at the
door. I opened the door for Jeff, the owner. “This young man has something to
ask you.” The teenage boy with him said, “Sir, I want to jump shoot a bunch of
snows in the youth mentoring area, and I need an adult with me.” I was not real
excited about jump shooting geese. It is usually a very difficult task. I told him that I would, and ask him if I could
bring my dog. He informed me that I could, and I needed to bring my gun and a
box of shells. “You mean I can hunt too?!” I couldn’t believe it. He explained
the rules on the way over. We stopped at the gate to fill out a paper. We made
our way a bit further down the road to the biggest flock of birds that I have
ever seen. We talked to a game protector afterwards who told us that there were
30,000 geese in that flock. As we approached the geese, I saw a large pile of logs
on the edge of the cornfield that the geese were using. I believe I could smell
those birds! Perhaps it was just the droppings, but the stench was real! The
eager teenager told me to go around to the right and he would go left of the
log pile. I could see birds still landing right where he was headed. Oh my! This
was going to work.
I barely got around the corner when I heard the shot. I saw
a single goose jump up 30 yards away. I raised my 10 gauge, Remington SP-10, and
folded the bird. At that point I had a huge flock of birds fly in front of me.
I picked out one, swung through and dropped it, two birds behind it crumbled as
well. My third shot found its mark and another one joined it on its plummet to
earth. I loaded two more rounds and three birds fell as the smooth-bore barked!
My faithful companion, Gunner, bolted after a goose running across the
cornfield. The white feathered prey had no chance against the exuberant canine.
I quickly swung the steel barrel to another bird on the run. One shot and
Gunner was hot on his trail. My furry hunting buddy had one goose after another
in a pile. The young man who invited me called out to him as he was having
difficulty rounding up a few of his birds! Unbelievably fun!
We were only back in Ohio for three day when Randy called, “There
are forty snow geese using one of our cornfields!” I could hear the excitement
in his voice. The next day we were set up in a cornfield with a bunch of snow
wind socks and some Canada goose decoys. The Canada geese wanted nothing to do
with those snow goose decoys, but that flock of snow geese came all the way in.
I doubled and Randy scored. What a year for snow goose hunting!
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