Back to Regularly Scheduled Programing.

When I started this Blog it was intended to catalogue the hunting and sporting exploits of my buddies and I. This Blog has now existed for just over a year and a myriad of topics have been explored and I have enjoyed scraping the rust off my non-legal writing. In my profession I write constantly but it is the argument and syllogism that offers no particular creative latitude.
I have been hunting a fair amount lately and have had only sporadic success. Yesterday things began to turn around. You see, when snotty weather is in the offing, watefowlers notice a increase in heart rate. When snow is forecast, waterfowlers can likely experience a veritable arrythmia.
Snow was predicted for Tuesday so I cleared the decks and headed to the hunting Club to pursue one of my favorite quarry: the Canada Goose. Randall, a new member, joined me and Teddy and Dave were already there,having hunted Monday. It is thus time to direct this Blog back to some posts on stuff upon which we turn our shotguns...
Tuesday morning dawned cold but clear and the snow forecast was changed to an afternoon start. We set up a mixed decoy spread of full-body, V-boards and shells and dropped into one of our goose pits to call, flag and wait. The birds were moving and I clipped the big ol' Canada shown above with one shot: 12 ga. 3 inch shell/BB's.
The action slowed and we headed in for a lunch of potato-leek soup and hot corned beef sandwiches.
When we headed back out to the field around 2:30 p.m. there were Canadas meandering around in our decoy spread....a phenomena that seems to happed all too often. I told Randall to get out of the truck, load his gun and see if he could jump shoot them. Normally, it is damn hard to sneak up on wild migratory Canadas. But when they are in a decoy spread, they sometimes stay put, and do not fly because the other geese are not taking off. They do not realize the other geese are plastic and could not "take off" absent an act of God. We are dealing with a bird that has a brain the size of a section of Clementine Orange.
Well, Randall gets within 15 yards, makes a noise to get the birds up and flying...then promptly misses both. I am glad I was still in the truck so he could not hear me laughing. After I hid the truck in the trees and got into the Pit I was far more sympathetic and understanding.
The later afternoon found us staring from the Pit as about 5 thousand Snow Geese landed in our cornfield across the farm. We hoped they would work their way over toward us and they did. As thousands of loud stupid "sky-carp" flew over we slid the roof off the pit and blasted away,each scoring a double and it made a great finish to the hunt.
We picked up our decoys spread and put them away in the dark. As my College and Law School Buddy Jonathan Mark used to say, we hunted from "Can't see to can't see" This was one of his Grandfather's expresions.( Jon is now a Common Pleas Judge in Monroe County after a stint as Mayor of Stroudsburg Pa. He is a top flight hunter and sportsman and an all around great guy.)
After Randall and I enjoyed a celebratory whiskey in the Clubhouse, the precipitation, which had been light throughout the day, now began in earnest. After departing the Club,
the drive up Delaware Route 1 to I-95 was a "white knuckle" affair and a 1 hour trip took 3. I think delaware only has about 3 plow trucks and only 1 guy who knows how to use a plow. When I crossed over to Penna. the roads were much better.


P.S. At the prompting of KSA of "To the Legions of the Lost Ones" Blog, I must mention something about consumption of the harvested game. The Canada goose was "breasted" and taken home. This morning, after a marathon snow shoveling session, I ground the breast meat and it is now simmering on the stove as chili for tonite's dinner. Technically, I call this "Gooken" and white bean chili, as I had to stretch the goose meat with a little ground chicken.
One of the Snow Geee is in the freezer awaiting a trip to the taxidermist as it is a nice specimen and I need one for the wall in my poker room. The other Snow is " a portion for foxes"..litteraly.