Had a pre planned trip into Oklahoma for this last weekend. Almost did not make this trip due to Blaze's health issue and in fact had already cancelled the duck hunting part of it. This was a drawn hunt where I was the permit holder and keeper of the decoys. One of my hunting partners had already purchased his non resident hunting license, state duck stamp, and taken vacation time in advance. With Blaze doing so well by Thursday night and me fretting about me letting my hunting partners down on this one, I was told by my wonderful wife I was being kicked out of the house. Good friends SteveTexas and Sig1921 on this hunt.

Saturday was quiet with most birds seen far off. Portion of my decoy spread. A tight group with a large open letter this day hoping to draw them into a landing zone within range. Our blind backed up to some tall cedar trees that is not desirable to geese to land near with an abundance of predators in the area.



The official goose count on the refuge was just over 2700 birds. Worst I have seen it at this time in 5 years. No shots fired on Saturday. We did have one flock of mostly snows fly over our blind right at 11:31am. Hunting time ended at 11:30, we were already walking out.

Still a nice morning. Lots of stories told. Lots of goose call practice and discussion.



We did have a coyote early come by. We went into predator call mode on the goose calls just to mess with him. There were hunters in a pit across the field from us. I bet those guys thought we were the worst goose callers in the world when I started screaching a dying rabbit call on my Canada call. The coyote thought about it for a long time and eventually circled us.



Some of the biggest healthiest Turkeys I have ever seen were in the field behind us.



That evening we tried a resident goose and duck hunt on an area lake. Because I had to cancel the first part of this trip there was no scouting done in advance and only had information from locals that work around the lake. Nothing came into range and few birds flying. This matched up with comments from locals about few birds arriving in the area yet.



Saturday night was relaxing with steaks and wild turkey. It was the first time I had been able to unwind since Blaze first became sick. That night we heard geese fly over camp several times. Sunday was to be a good day.

Some changes for this day. I went with as large a spread as possible as I felt with few birds we needed to be more visible from a distance. We went with one big oval that spread to the extremes of our shooting range. More snow decoys added to one half of the spread that intermingled with the Canadas at the middle. We probably had 175 decoys out. As well we more heavily grassed the front of the pit blind.

We had birds respond to the decoys and aggressive calling. But they kept flaring at the last moment. So for one we covered up our decoy bags next to the blind which we realized stood out and may have been a factor. Also we changed tactics by going silent the moment the birds were turned. It worked. Last year it had required calling all the way into the decoys or they never would commit. But this year, going silent was the ticket. Though they never would commit to landing, they would circle several times and eventually make a low pass.

The crew.



Looking cool in B&W



My shelf.



Our two main volleys that rained Geese had lots of memorable moments with it. With no dog, cripples to chase.

I was standing next to a dead goose and talking to the guys and noticed they were looking at me funny. Then I felt something hanging onto my leg. I was being attacked by what I thought was a dead goose. I did not have to chase it to pick it up, it chased me.

We were placing the kills into the spread to add as decoys and what had been a dead limp goose suddenly stands up and runs away as if it had been playing possum the entire time waiting for a chance to make a break for it. Jason eventually caught it. I was laughing to hard to help.

A couple other moments. I made the call to "take em". It was the first volley of the morning after adding more grass to the blind. We all stood up throwing grass on each other and no one could see what they were shooting at. We all missed.

Oh and when pit blind hunting, never ever let anyone in your hunt party eat gassious foods the night before a hunt!



Geese still flying after 11:30



Good time had by all.

Now I must have sounded like a broken record. "Wish blaze was here", "we needed Blaze for that cripple", "Wish I had my dog to keep my feet warm in the sleeping bag". And then the refuge people all know her and started asking about her. This is the first time in 5 years Blaze has not been on this hunt. Y'all have no idea how much I missed not having her there. To make matters worse, I was responsible for bring the dog to retrieve, and did not bring her, so the guys made me do all the retrieving instead.

That sucked!

LOL, love that last one! I bet it hurt to not have your girl out there with you, I know I would have felt the same.

Looks like you had a GREAT hunt, congrats on the birds.

we need to talk about your cigar selection though

Good times.

Definitely sucks not having your dog with ya.

it was a great trip! luckily i was wearing my track boots when that goose decided to "wake up" and run through the decoys flapping its wings.

Looks like it was a stress reliever also for ya wich is good. Glad yall had a great time and can't wait till the geese come in up north.

Man someone get that guy in the middle of the blind pic some face coverage...good lord!!!

He was using a head net. And the front of the blind was completely grassed over. And we did not stick our heads out like this when the geese were flying.

Hey, give me a break. I'm on a budget this year. Especially now. I don't always follow it these days, but I have had a tradition in the past of handing out victory cigars at the end of a successful hunt.

great hunt great pix!

Very nice pics and a good report.

I got a good laugh about you guys chasing a goose. My dog is to old to hunt much anymore so I left him at home for our crane hunt. I chased a crane that was running about 1.5 miles. They sure can run on those long legs.

Hmmm, geese that can tell time

good picture of the retrieve. Did they give you a belly rub when you got back?

Hey! I'm the guy in the middle. My face isn't that ugly! I'm just not much on wearing make-up. I may have to make the switch since goose calls and headnets don't mix too well. It was my first time to call. John did it all last year and I promised to help out. I tried a Primos Honky Tonk and at least I thought it sounded ok as long as I kept it simple. John did a great job and pulled in some hesitant geese with his calling. This was my second year and even with all the decoy hauling work we had to do, it was still a geat time. Especially when John got jumped by that goose......classic! Not all hunts produce great results, but they can all produce great memories....

Well, I'm sure Blaze would be proud! Show her this pic... great incentive for her to get better!!!! Glad y'all had a good time - you sure needed the break! Prayers still up for Blaze.

X2