Thursday, October 23, 2014

Get Here! It's On!!!

Amazing, unbelievable, outstanding, to fast, incredible, awesome, and simply WOW!  That is a few of the words to describe the last 2 weekends of hunting.  In all the years of guiding goose hunters Bryce and I have never seen hunting this good and this consistent.  For it only being the end of October we usually don't have this consistent of hunting.  We always say that October is the easiest month of hunting.  If you see a flock of geese we'll kill them usually.  The problem is we usually don't see hundreds or thousands but this year is a lot different!  We're always truthful with our hunters and we always tell them that there is never a guarantee when it comes to goose hunting but these hunts have been as close as it comes to a guarantee!  We have around 500 geese and 100 mallards feeding in one of our leases everyday.  At Last Pass we are managing this hot field the way it needs to be, by not burning it out.  We are hunting a total of 5 hunters plus 2 guides and that's it!  These are layout blind hunts only since the lack of corn being harvested is hurting us with our pitted fields. 
 
Like I said earlier, this field is LOADED with birds!  The hunting has been a ton of fun and I have to thank all our hunters for the good times.  The key to keeping the great hunting is to get our limit quick and then leave the decoys so the remaining geese can come out and feed without being disturbed.  And trust me, the plan has worked perfectly!
 
The first hunters we had were a father/son named Mike and Sam.  It was Sam's 13th birthday and what a present his dad gave him!  The hunt lasted a whopping 17 minutes.  You know hunting is good when it takes longer to set decoys than it does to shoot the limit of geese!  We  were able to shoot into 2 flocks to get the 12 geese so that helped preserve the field for future hunters.  It always helps when the first flock of 6 for the day comes out and the guys shoot 5 outta 6...which I'd like to give props to Sam for shooting a triple on that flock!  This kid is a really good shot and as you can see in this pick, his smile was brighter than the rising sun this day!
 
Our next hunt took place this last Saturday and it was also a great hunt.  It was cloudy and that hurt the goose flight but it didn't dampen the hunt!  We had numerous flocks in tight and it took the guys a couple flocks to warm up but unfortunately for the geese the guys got into a good rhythm and it didn't take to long for them to shoot their limit of geese.  We still were able to get out early enough to let a few flocks of geese come in and feed.  Once again we sat at the trucks and got to watch birds belly into the decoys and feed right next to our blinds!
 
Sunday mornings weather was opposite of Saturdays cloud cover.  It was sunny, good 10-15 mph south wind and we had waterfowl that didn't even circle but bellied right in!  The action was fast and the hunt was short!  The first flock to come out was a nice flock of 11 mallards and when the smoke cleared we harvested 7 or them!  A flock of 8 geese decided that our decoys looked good and they glided in to 15 yards and we put a hurt on them.  Another 5 ducks worked beautifully and we knocked them all down.  We were 2 hen mallards away from the limit on hens so the group decided to hold off on shooting anymore ducks which was a great idea even though we had 2 other bunches come right in.  The flock of 3 hens and 2 drakes actually hovered over our blinds at 5 yards!  Apparently our spread was the place to be because the next few flocks of geese played copycat to the first one and before we knew it we were all done!  This hunt lasted just under 60 minutes and then we were able to sit at the trucks and talk smart while the remaining geese rolled out to our field to have some breakfast. 
 
These hunts are booking up fast, I mean really fast!  If you are wanting a fun morning hunt give me or Bryce a call.  Remember that these hunts are out of layout blinds and not pits and we are only hunting mornings.  This is as good as it gets when it comes to hunting!  Don't be fooled because its not cold and snowy, this is goose hunting at its finest! 
 
 
 
Mike and Sam with a 17 minute limit of 12
 
 
Me and Bryce Hauling Geese Out of the Field Quickly
 
 
Saturday's Limit with a Bonus Mallard
 

Sunday's Slaughter, Limit of Geese and 11 Mallards
 

 This is the look that a dog gives when it can't go hunting with us! 
 

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Duck Opener

The duck/goose season opened September 27th and it found us hunting one of our wood duck holes on the mighty Mississippi River backwaters. When scouting the area we noticed it was holding a fair amount of geese along with some mallards and of course good amounts of woodies. Of course Bryce and myself were excited to shoot some geese on our duck hunt! We had a good wind and our hide was perfect as shooting time neared. Pretty soon shooting time came and went without a duck being seen! It was the longest 10 minutes of legal shooting time before we saw our first ducks of the 2014 season. A flock of 5 woodies dumped in and we shot 3. We had good bird activity from that point on and we finished the opener with 13 woodies and 4 geese for 5 guys. We should've had our limit of woodies with the 2 remaining guys getting more than their fair chances at ducks!

Sunday was a lot tougher with not as many ducks being seen. We ended the day with 3 guys shooting 5 woodies and 2 geese. Not huge numbers but a good time for sure!

We were still open Monday so I decided to take Kelton out for a quick morning goose hunt. We were able to shoot 3 geese quick and get out of the field before the main push came out. And the best part was the third bird was banded! With Kelton only being three he doesn't understand daily limits so he was upset that we had to leave the field so early when geese were still flying! He wanted to stay out and shoot more!

This weekend, Oct. 11th, we open back up and it's looking to be pretty decent. We've had great waterfowl weather with cold winds and a hard North wind blowing for 3 days straight. I know Rochester has picked up a pile of new geese and from the reports I'm getting from my friends up north birds have been pushing south all weekend. 


Nothing Prettier than a Drake Wood Duck


Hawk at Our Woodie Hole on Opener


Backwater Beauty

 
Hawk on Another Goose Retrieve

 
The Middle Decoy Took On A Few (20+) BB's And Doesn't Float So Well Anymore! But The Guy "Was Sorry!"

 
Kelton And Hawk

 
And I'd like to announce a new member to the Last Pass family... Meet Josie! She's a little yellow lab pup that you'll see out in the fields starting next spring in Missouri.  Bryce and his family got the pup Sunday of opening weekend when it was 8 weeks old.  She's a great looking pup and we are all excited to see her in the field in the upcoming years!