Sneaking up on geese is a lot like antelope hunting. You’ve got to spot them from a distance and use the contours of the landscape to get close then easing into position wait for the perfect time to shoot. The only difference is that you shouldn’t wait for the antelope to fly before shooting and a 12 gauge shotgun is better for geese than a rifle.
Ok, maybe it’s not all that much like hunting antelope but I did get to put the sneak on fairly large number of geese and got within range by belly crawling and it was fun even without getting poked by cactus!
After laying out a few decoys on an open piece of river in sub-zero weather we saw birds landing about three hundred yards downstream. Twenty minutes later we found ourselves belly crawling along the river bank as we snuck into position. Suddenly the flock of Canada geese flew up and past us at about 20 yards. My hunting partner fired twice and I only once – because my gun was frozen and wouldn’t rack a shell out quickly and when I finally got my bead on another goose it didn’t fire when I pulled the trigger.
Two geese lay on the water when all was said and done but it may be time to visit Bob Wards and inquire about a new shotgun!
