Hunting Stories

Geese, Pheasants and Ducks
 

By Jim Autrey The camera struggled to focus.  It must be extremely hard for a camera to look into the sky and have geese coming for as far as you can see.  If you have never hunted geese in the fields of South Texas..........it is hard to realize how much fun it is to see thousands of birds over your head at one time. We were laying in an eaten off grain field in an area called North Inez in South Texas hunting with Mike Ladnier of Bay Prairie Outfitters.   Brent and Jason had taken Klay Patteson, Lance and myself on a goose hunt that you will see later on Texas Deer Hunter TV.  It was cold, a bit unusual for South Texas and it was wet.  We arrived at the field and put on all the clothes we could find while Brent took the 4-wheeler and trailer into the field with the decoys.  Shortly, he returned saying the trailer was stuck but, we could go ahead and get the decoys out and hunt, then get the trailer out later.  Brent and Jason laid out the spread and the rest of us filled in the gaps to build a welcoming looking decoy spread for the geese that would soon be leaving their roasting ponds for the feeding fields.  The work is done and now it is time to lay back in the wet field and wait for the geese. Waiting for the sun to come up is the same in any type of hunting. As you know, it can seemingly takes forever, but shortly the sun's glow peaked over the horizon and the sky filled with black specks headed in our direction.  In a matter of minutes the specks took form and an almost deafening sound of approaching geese was upon us.  The geese were on final approach when Brent said "take them" and they all began filling the sky with the sound of 3 inch magnums out of a 12 gauge.   Were there any birds left ?  Did they all fly away?  Well, more flew away than were still with us and there wasn't a goose for each shell that had been fired.   Klay and Lance looked at each other in amazement.  How can you miss something so big?  That question would have to wait because hear comes more geese and once again the volley of shots and a small percentage of geese for shots fired. This was Klay's first goose hunt and I am not sure he really knew what to expect.  Lance and I have hunted geese before and I am not sure we knew what to expect, because here comes more geese and Brent instructed us to fire and this time it is better.  Each time the shooting is finished," Get" Brent's Lab goes and  retrieves the bounty of our efforts.  While, I harass the boys about their shooting skills.  It always easy to do this when you aren't shooting, but as we all know these things usually come back to haunt you.  But wait, here comes more geese.  This scenario repeated itself over and over again. At 8:30 am, I suggested to Brent, we pick -up the decoys and call it quits.  The geese had worn us out and there is no reason not the leave some for the next guy.  It had been one of the best goose hunts I have ever experienced and there was still more hunting to come with Bay Prairie Outfitters. This afternoon, we are going pheasant hunting!!!!!!   In South Texas?????????? More to come