USA: Conservation Goose Hunt NY 2024

[BeeMaa]

There is still plenty of time for hunting, so we all jump out of our blinds to gather up the birds for a possible next string. It isn’t long before I hear “BAND! I’ve got a band”. Then again, another band. And another! I walk over to two more downed geese…two more bands! What the hell is going on?

We collect the seven birds and there are a total of five bands. FIVE BANDS! I’ve heard of this happening before, but never seen it in person. My guess is that they were all banded at the same time and stayed together for their entire lives. IGS and I give up our bands to Kenny for the opportunity to hunt with him, and his incredible calling skills. It’s the least we can do.

For those who say “pics or it didn’t happen”…here you go.

 

[BeeMaa]

A few more stings flew over, but they all seemed to be on a mission to other places. Some interest was shown by them, but nothing more than a casual glance. We resorted to doing what hunters do and talk about guns, gear and past hunts. The camaraderie of a group of hunters created in this way, forms a bond that can not be understood by those that haven’t experienced it. It’s really something special. The action seems to be dying down and the discussions continue…as they should.

The eagle-eyed members here are sure to notice something odd from my first picture that I posted (#40) today. There is a crow atop the geese that was unfortunate enough to run across us. This guy flew from our right to left with perfect speed and distance to mimic skeet on station four from the low house. A couple of shots rang out and it was over. Seems that Nestor has been wanting to give crow a try and this was a good opportunity to take one without jeopardizing possible geese from coming in.

Kenny makes the call to end the hunt and heads out to get the truck while the rest of us pack up the set. Pictures are taken followed by high-fives and handshakes. It’s been an incredible day of hunting. We take some time to snap a few pics before loading up and couldn’t resist a chance to get one of deadly guns of our group.

 

[BeeMaa]

A big shout out to Kenny, Nestor and Roro for having us along for such an incredible hunt. They are great guys and hunters, we are fortunate to have such friends. This morning was punctuated by two things in particular. First is the largest trainwreck for Kenny in his time hunting and second is the number of bands. For a Nestor and Roro, it’s their first band earned…a great accomplishment.

These guys have to get to work before long, but not before a quick drive by a nearby farm to see if there are any birds in a nearby field that we could jump shoot. No luck. The guys get on their way to work guys while IGS & I head to the house for breakfast. What an incredible day and it’s not even 9:30!

 

[HankBuck]

There is still plenty of time for hunting, so we all jump out of our blinds to gather up the birds for a possible next string. It isn’t long before I hear “BAND! I’ve got a band”. Then again, another band. And another! I walk over to two more downed geese…two more bands! What the hell is going on?

We collect the seven birds and there are a total of five bands. FIVE BANDS! I’ve heard of this happening before, but never seen it in person. My guess is that they were all banded at the same time and stayed together for their entire lives. IGS and I give up our bands to Kenny for the opportunity to hunt with him, and his incredible calling skills. It’s the least we can do.

For those who say “pics or it didn’t happen”…here you go.

View attachment 631561

@BeeMaa - nice going on the Bands, rare but likely all were banded as you guessed and will be interesting when you get the band information back (Family group?). I’ve hunted many waterfowl Seasons (40+) and Never shot five banded birds in the same Season…even on 240 bird years, YOU HAD A GREAT DAY !! You will remember that flight of 7 geese coming for many Years

 

[BeeMaa]

@BeeMaa - nice going on the Bands, rare but likely all were banded as you guessed and will be interesting when you get the band information back (Family group?). I’ve hunted many waterfowl Seasons (40+) and Never shot five banded birds in the same Season…even on 240 bird years, YOU HAD A GREAT DAY !! You will remember that flight of 7 geese coming for many Years

Nearly sequential...

 

[BeeMaa]

5 SEP 2024 Phoning it in.

Sat the field, no birds taken. On the bright side I was able to spend the morning with Nestor, Kenny and Roro. What a beautiful morning to be shared with friends. Went fishing later in the day with IGS with only a yellow perch of note. Let’s just say that it wasn’t my best day with the birds and fish. So, excuse me if I just make this simple with a simple video. Enjoy.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

There is still plenty of time for hunting, so we all jump out of our blinds to gather up the birds for a possible next string. It isn’t long before I hear “BAND! I’ve got a band”. Then again, another band. And another! I walk over to two more downed geese…two more bands! What the hell is going on?

We collect the seven birds and there are a total of five bands. FIVE BANDS! I’ve heard of this happening before, but never seen it in person. My guess is that they were all banded at the same time and stayed together for their entire lives. IGS and I give up our bands to Kenny for the opportunity to hunt with him, and his incredible calling skills. It’s the least we can do.

For those who say “pics or it didn’t happen”…here you go.

View attachment 631561

Just thinking out loud here, I'm wondering if those geese were all working on a chain gang earlier in the day.

 

[BeeMaa]

6 SEP 2024 The birds are where?

It’s 4am when my alarm goes off for the seventh consecutive day. I shut it off and lie in bed for a little bit contemplating why I (and other hunters) put myself through this. I’m on vacation and waking up more than two hours before dawn.

For a couple of days now IGS hasn’t been 100%, he slept in yesterday with a slight fever and today seems to be a bit of the same. He’s not bad, just not feeling up to going hunting right now. I load up the van and head to the farm for another field hunt with Kenny, Nestor and Roro.

By now we are all getting into the groove of what each other is doing and how to set up the best. We put the left-handed shooter (Ro) on the right side of the formation to allow him better gun position when shooting. Kenny is next to him, then me and Nestor on the other end. Nestor and Ro are in a very flat blinds compared to what Kenny and I have, so it makes sense to have them on the outside and put the bigger blinds together.

The truck is put away and the decoys are in a rough U-shape pattern as we all finish grassing in and get into our spots. It’s legal shooting light, but the birds haven’t been flying much until around 6:30. Kenny is using my Sordin Supreme Pro X hearing protection that allows him to hear far beyond what we can normally hear. This is a major advantage to this type of goose hunting and Kenny might be looking for a set in the near future.

 

[BeeMaa]

Several groups of birds are flying up and down our left side but at about 300 yards away…but it doesn’t seem that any have fully committed to coming in. Then we see a small group fly up our left side and behind us. I mention to Kenny to keep calling, they might fly around us and come into our right side. The honks are getting closer…and CLOSER.

Then nothing, all honks stop. We are dumbfounded as Kenny & Ro stop calling. Then this happens…

 

[Red Leg]

You ground swatted them?!? I realize you are hanging out with Yankees --- but damn.

 

[BeeMaa]

You ground swatted them?!? I realize you are hanging out with Yankees --- but damn.

I thought that was pretty obvious from the video. So yeah, we shot them on the ground. But only after calling them in to our set.

Tell you what, I won't cast dispersions on how you hunt and you can do the same for me.

 

[BeeMaa]

Full credit to Roro for the video. Thanks Ro…not only for the video but spotting the birds in the first place. Three birds down and back in the blinds for more calling, but the reality is that we are done for the day and just don’t know it yet.

It’s 9am when we call it off and start packing up. I look around and take in the scenery, blinds, decoys, shotguns and gear all lying about…this is why I wake up at 4am. To make memories and have adventures with friends. What a great group of guys these are. I’ve learned so much about them over the past couple of days and can’t wait until I’m back in NY for another hunt with them.

L to R - Kenny, Nestor, myself & Roro.

My week here is nearly over. I’ll be packing up and heading for home tomorrow morning. I’m sure IGS and his wife will be happy to have their house back to normal while Mrs. BeeMaa will be happy (at least for a minute) to have me home. For now I’ll enjoy the time I have left along with a NY pie (that’s pizza pie for those of you who don’t speak Yankee) and a few beers.

 

[Red Leg]

I thought that was pretty obvious from the video. So yeah, we shot them on the ground. But only after calling them in to our set.

Tell you what, I won't cast dispersions on how you hunt and you can do the same for me.

Meant to be humorous, but if not you have my sincere apologies.

 

[BeeMaa]

Meant to be humorous, but if not you have my sincere apologies.

No offense taken and no apologies necessary. Cheers.

 

[BeeMaa]

A really cool moment that we shared after the goose were downed that I forgot to post earlier. This heron landed to the right side of our decoys and walked all the way across it and back. It was just eating spiders and crickets and watching us. We figured our set had to be pretty good to get a bird like this to hang out for so long. This guy (yes, I’m assuming the gender of this bird ) hung around for about 20 minutes before flying to an adjacent field about 100 yards away and continuing to peck for insects.

EDIT - If anyone can assist with what particular kind of heron this is, I would appreciate it. I'm thinking great blue heron, but I'm not positive.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Looks like a blue to me