SHOOTING SPORTS
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Goose
Stalk
1/27/06 Mark Burchick
GOOSE STALK
Forget the goose blind
in corn fields, we
had a phenomenal morning
of goose hunting by
'stalking' geese as they
flew on and off of Cole
Pond.
Between the four of
us, we took 19
geese. I switched
from #4 shot from
last week to
Winchester Xpert
Hi-Velocity steel
shot, 12 gauge,
3-inch, 1550 FPS
velocity, 1 1/8th
ounce #2 shot and it
made a big
difference for me. I
made sure that I had
my full choke in my
Browning Gold Hunter
Semi-Auto. It's way
cool to watch a big
goose fall from the
sky and into the
pond, and shooting
from a stalking
position, while
re-loading on the
wing.
With over a dozens
birds on the water
the dog needed all
of the help he could
get.
As I pulled my
camera from under my
jacket, my mode dial
switched from auto
to manual, and I
could not focus in
time to get a good
shot of Strider,
Tom's youngster
golden retriever
getting his first
full retrieve. By
the time I figured
why I was not
focusing, the dog
had completed his
retrieve and was
shaking the water
from his fur. Job
well done.
Not bad for a half
hours work, but then
came three hours of
cleaning the birds.
What a great way to
hunt (a stalk from
behind the dam face
or from the trees
along the pond).
Tom's shooting
range.
One of the 19 geese
was banded. When I
got home I submitted
the information via
the Internet to the
US Fish & Widlife
Service. Migratory
Canada goose
#1028-05478 was
banded in Quebec,
Canada on August 4,
2005. How cool!
I scanned this page
from a book in my
library that
describes the
nutritional value
(grams of protein
per pound) of
various wild and
domestic game. Check
out the protein
value of salmon,
trout and venison.
GOOSE STALK
