Never say never...

Well, I had thought that October's goose hunt was going to be the last for the year, but as I was sitting at work on Thursday, Tony called to ask if I was up for a hunt on Sunday... I already had commitments for Saturday so figured I'd probably need to do some major begging on the home front. Since he'd got us on to a property that we'd coveted for a while, I knew I had to go. Then on Friday, Saturday's stuff fell over, so I was able to spend the day with the family, leaving... Sunday open!

2.45am the alarm went off... with lengthening daylight hours and the need to be setup pre-dawn we were to meet at 4am to get set before the farmer began to move his cattle. We were able to drive right into the paddock we wanted to hunt (no 630 metre carry in of all our gear!). Finding the "X" was easy, step from car, turn on headlamp, spy green, soft, fresh goose doo-doo (within 1 pace of car door) and get setup with 50 odd dekes and our blinds without breaking a sweat.

Derryn wonders if his ass looks big in this funky photo (Photo: Courtesy Matt McCondach. Words: Courtesy Snuffit)

The crew was Matt, Tony, Derryn, Warren (new to goose hunting) and me. We got set and then settled down in the pre-dawn darkness waiting for the birds to move. The wind was a pounding NW, almost perfect for us. Spits of rain fell as well at times, then showers, then the sky cleared (repeat that pattern 20 times). Birds began to turn up in dribs and drabs but at the first shots suddenly there were geese everywhere. Small groups and the occasional double came in and most stayed. By 7 we had 17 on the ground when a ute pulled up and a couple of guys came running across the paddock. Turns out they were there to hunt as well but thought that the birds would move at 9 or something like that. They asked if they could hunt with us and seeing as we first timers to the property, we felt that we couldn't refuse. Besides which if they set up nearby we'd be competing for the birds which isn't helpful. So they dragged their layouts in next to ours and we suddenly had 8 guns. Turns out they were good blokes from Leigh and knew who we were, and soon we were set up and had the system down. They had arrived with bare blinds so set about a cursory grassing effort, which as it turned out was good enough (I sometimes wonder if I go overboard with all the grass I stuff on my blind).

Birds were moving regularly now and with the strong wind at our backs they came in on predictable angles. Several times we got birds to sit in the decoys while calling more in, and the shooting effort was very good so not many birds escaped. Even better, the size of the groups was such that they were manageable and we never had any instances of large flocks coming in. With Tony's excellent calling and a good flagging effort from Matt & Warren we kept accumulating birds until about 11am when it all slowed down. We sat and chatted, ate our lunches and got to know the new blokes. Turned out that they had hunted the property for a number of years and had in the past managed some decent goose hunts. They also had maimais on the property and hunted ducks there in the season. One of them had a GSP Vizla cross (a very blond dog) and another had a young GWP in training, so we could tell they were pretty good keen guys.

From time to time, groups of birds would show up, and by now with the sun high in the sky they were scrutinising the setup hard, and certainly not committing easily and the bird we got took some working. By now we had the tide against us also, so the birds were able to head offshore and sit on the mud flats in relative safety. I had a wee snooze for an hour or so and was woken by Matt telling us that a lone goose was coming in, skimming about 5m above the ground. Matt even had enough time to politely ask "Boys, can I shoot him?", so I sat and waved the bird up and Matt took him cleanly while everyone behaved super-politely.

From memory that was the finale for the day. At 12.30 we walked back to collect the trucks and no sooner had we got onto the farm race than a mob got up several km away and began drifting on the wind. Matt and I looked at each other ... should we run back? But we decided to push on, all the while watching the birds sailing this way and that before setting down in a paddock behind the boys. We stopped to chat to the farmer and he was very happy to hear that we'd downed 57 geese, and basically asked when we'd be back.... packing up was nice and easy with the vehicles parked right by our setup, no killer hikes this time!

We thanked the farmer again, promised him some salami, and headed up to Matt's to clean the birds. I got home slightly late, slightly tired but pretty happy, mowed the lawn and cleaned up my gear. On that note, happy to report that the new Higdon's performed nicely in the semi gale. No need for the pins that come with the stakes either - not once did a body fly off. And I got to use the Sitka tee, rain shell, hat and gloves too. Everything performed flawlessly.

Photo: Courtesy Matt McCondach

Another damn fine goose hunt. Thanks to Matt & Tony in particular for doing the ground work - much appreciated guys. And that should be (never say never) the last hunt for this year, as the birds move into their moult and we all get busy with the silly season.

How many geese can you get in the back of a Hilux?