Goose Hunt (continued)

We went back and sat inside the blind in hopes that we may get another set of birds to come in, I was praying that we would so my friend could get another chance at his first goose.  About forty five min later we saw a fairly large jag of geese out on the horizon, at first we thought nothing of it, two min later however those specks were growing at an ever increasing speed.  I remember thinking to myself “please let these birds be it”.  My dad and myself began calling and flight split into two, half stayed on the course that they were on, while the other half veered off sharply to the right (our left) and started heading right for our spread of decoys.  I once again pulled up my shot gun onto my knees to get ready to shoot.  Then, perhaps out of sheer excitement, my friend jumped out of the blind to shoot.  The birds were still out of the Seventy yard range of my shotgun, however at this point it was all or nothing because they had already seen us.   I fired three times, they were just too far to hit.  The excitement wore off quickly and we realized that he and I jumped out too early.  As we walked back into the blind, the question of whether or not we would get another chance was running through both our heads.  No one spoke for about fifteen minute, then my friend spoke up and said “man, I’m sorry for jumping out so early”.  I instantly replied, I said that “It’s alright, it happens to everyone, I’ve done it to”.  I told him about the first time I jumped out early “I had gone goose hunting with my dad and one of my uncles; we had called in a jag of geese, just like my dad and I had earlier that day, they came in, I ran out of the blind, I shot, missed”.  It was one of the more embarrassing things I’ve ever done. 

            The rest of the day was really slow; geese usually fly between 7 am and 10 am and it was now 10:30 and no one had heard or seen birds for the past 45 minutes.  My friend was still wired from his 5 hour energy shot earlier that morning I decided to take a nap while he sat up and watched for geese.  Eleven thirty came around and we still hadn’t had any geese come within more than two miles of us.  I had planned to try to get out of there by 12:00 because I had set up to drive down state later that afternoon, I decided to stay till one though just to try to get my friend one more chance at getting his bird. 

            12:30 rolled around, still no sightings of geese.  It was getting late, my dad and I made the call to pack up.  While he left to go get the truck, which we had stashed under some trees, my friend and I started to pack up the decoys.  No sooner had we walked out into the field , than a jag of geese appeared above the tree line in front of us.  We stopped what we were doing and went over to the front of the blind.  Crouched down, I started to call and the geese began to come down then, they cut away just as quickly as they had appeared.  The big black Chevy Silverado had appeared in the fields.  There was no chance at getting any birds in now. 

            As we packed up two more sets of geese came up over the tree line and instantly veered off to the right.  It’s funny how hunting works like that.  Any time you have failed to limit out it seems like the skies open up right around when you’re leaving.  I always leave wondering “what if we had stayed fifteen more minutes?  Would we be going home full”.  Every time I have to tell myself that the line has to be drawn somewhere and maybe next time we’ll stay that extra fifteen minutes.   

Goose Hunt

This past weekend one of my friends, my dad and myself went out to one of out friends farms to goose hunt.  We had to wake up at 3:00 am so that we would be able to arrive in the field with an hour to spare before shooting time.  It was about 28 degrees out so the cold weather gear was all brought out the night before, along with the shotguns, decoys, buckets, ammunition and camo netting.  It was my friends first time goose hunting so he was all excited for the trip, he probably asked me upwards of 20 times if we were “for sure” going up until that Saturday.                                     

            We arrived at the fields at about 5:00 and proceded to drive down a dirt road through a tree line to a small pond.  We weren’t exactly sure where we were going to hunt that morning because the fields that we usually hunt had been turned and disked.  This pushes all of the food underneath the soil and the birds usually won’t land there.  We parked the truck next to the pond and got out to take a look around.  All that was around was cattails and ice, not the best land to goose hunt over, so we got back in the truck and drove around the property some more.  We ended up finding some bean fields.  One of them had a really high, flat spot.  We decided that if we were going to have any chance at getting some geese to come down on us, this would be the spot. 

            Myself and my friend unloaded the truck and set up our gear and weapons in a small open area under some brush (the field backed right up against some woods).  We then went to retrieve our goose decoys that were stashed under an old semi tractor trailer. 

            It took about an hour to assemble and place all of the decoys, about 70 in all, and the sun was starting to show light as we were climbing back into the blind. 

            Nothing happened for about the first hour or so, but as the light started to come up over the trees we began to see geese way off in the distance.  My dad and myself had been in situations before where we say geese all day but never had them come close enough so shoot so we didn’t get over excited about seeing birds, but it was better than seeing nothing.  We gave a few calls just to make our presence known if there were any birds within ear shot that just weren’t calling but fifteen minutes later there was still nothing.  Then, way off to our right, we saw two geese flying around, we started calling and they immediately hooked to their left towards us, we were in business.  I pulled my shotgun up on top of my knees and started blowing away on the goose call, the birds started dropping lower, lower, lower, coming closer with each second.  When they were within 250 yards, I dropped the calls and grabbed my shotgun.  What seemed like a life time was probably only fifteen seconds.  They entered the outer edge of my shooting range of seventy yards.  That may seem far to some people but I was shooting high 3-1/2 in BBBs and had a full choke in the gun.  I waited anyway for them to break the forty yard barrier, as they did their feet dropped down and wings spread and back pedaled my friend and I exploded out of the brush.  The birds flared, I shot once hit but no kill, then I shot again, one bird dropped.  The other bird was on its way out and about to pass the seventy yards, I shot…missed.  My friend’s gun had jammed after the first shot so he was screwing around with the action.  I was still watching the bird that got away and decided to start calling, just in case.  Just as my dad told me to quit it, the bird hooked back, it was the coolest thing I have ever seen.  I yelled for everyone to get back against the trees as I pulled two BBB shells off of the butt of my gun.  My dad and I started to blow away on the calls, nobody moved as the bird came in closer, we were fully exposed up against the tree line.  The bird came past seventy yards, then came into about sixty.  I jumped up out of the brush and shot, I winged the bird and when it hit the ground it started to run but we had my dog on it before it could get very far.

(To Be Continued)

Cold Weather Camping

Cold Weather Camping

            If done correctly, and if your prepared for it, cold weather camping can be even more enjoyable than during temperatures above 40 degrees. 

            The key to being comfortable in cold weather is to keep dry.  The moment that you become wet, the day can turn from fun and enjoyable to a death trap. 

            It all starts with the feet.  In all my experience camping, I have learned one thing for sure.  A person with un-happy feet is an unhappy person.  Keeping your feet is simple; all you have to do is follow a few rules that apply when camping in cold weather. 

            The first rule is to keep them dry.  A few simple steps will keep your feet dry through even the coldest and or wettest conditions that you may come across.  The first step is layering, though it may seem odd, layering clothing on your feet is one of the key components to keeping them dry, warm and comfortable.  However it turns out to make more sense than you may have realized.  Start with a thin pair of socks, I use silk socks.  These will wick any sweat away from your feet that may accrue while you are walking around and working.  Second will be your normal tennis shoe socks.  These will further pull any wicked sweat away from your foot.  The third layer is your heavy duty sock that will provide you with ultimate warmth.  If you are worried about water coming in through your boot I would advise taking a plastic bag and placing it between your tennis shoe sock (you may need to find a higher sock) and your thick sock.  The plastic bag will limit the breathability of your foot; however it will keep your feet dry from the outside.  This means that more attention will have to be paid to whether or not your feet are sweating.

            Layering the rest of your clothes is one of the more commonly known aspects of cold weather camping, or just plain old being in the cold weather.  However, some people may be layering incorrectly.  When layering the first think you need to think about is “what will bring moisture off of my skin”.  I find that the cold gear line that under armor makes does the job very well.  If you do not currently own any, it is not a problem, there is just a little more planning that needs to go into getting dressed.  First I would advise wearing any tight fitting under shirt.  Something breathable that will wick sweat away from your skin, not hold it in.  Many times people will come down with and or die of hypothermia not because they got wet from an outside source, but because their own sweat killed them.  If left unchecked your sweat will cook on your skin and sap the energy and life right out of you.  Now that an undershirt is on, the long sleeve shirts come into play.  One is usually enough however, if you are one that gets cold easily, it is ok to put two on.  After the shirts are on, it is time to begin putting on the clothing that will take the brunt of the cold.  I like to put a hooded sweatshirt on and then a fleece.  This allows me to access to the zipper of the fleece ion the event that I need to cool off to prevent sweating.  Having a hooded sweatshirt will provide you with the option of having another hood, or, the hood rolled up under your coat will protect the back of your neck from the cold.  If it is going to be super cold and windy where you plan to camp it would be wise to now put a light weight jacket over the fleece.  It will lessen the bite of the wind, keeping it out of the lower layers of your clothing, as well as act as another barrier between you and water.  Now you are ready for your outer shell, this can be any rugged jacket that is preferably waterproof.  Since this is your outer layer, something that is highly visible is greatly advised.  I personally own a Vertex jacket that is made by Columbia.  It is bright orange and grey.  Though the color will not keep you warm, it may just save your life if your body shuts down in the cold.  It will allow rescuers to see you much easier in a wintery expanse of white and black.

(To be continued with layering your bottom half)

Setting up a spread of decoys for a Goose hunt

Setting up a spread of decoys for a goose is an all sense of the phrase, an art form.  If it looks wrong, the geese will not land.  This entry will hopefully help you with the basics of setting up the spread.  The first rule is make sure that all of the geese are facing into the wind, or relatively facing that direction.  This is the first that will set the geese off that there is something wrong.  Next is do not set up the entire spread so that they are all doing the same thing.  Think of your spread of a college lecture, some people are sleeping, some people are eating, and some are paying attention, and these people are all intermixed throughout the group.  Knowing that, realize that the goose is in a survival situation so there is some order to chaos.  Generally speaking the Sleepers are on the inner part of the flock.  This is because they aren’t paying attention to not getting eaten by predators so they stay on the inside to be warned by the outer birds.  The outer part of your spread should consist of Sentry birds.  These birds are on the lookout for predators (such as yourself) so it is imperative that you get them right.  There should usually be one sentry per 8-10 geese in your spread.  The rest of your spread should consist of feeding birds and be sure to space the birds out unevenly if your spread looks like a grid of dots from the sky it will look fake.  Lastly is the shape of your spread, it should be an oval that is pointed into the wind and in heaviest on the edge that the wind is hitting.

Why do Geese Honk?

While goose hunting you may often find yourself hearing the birds before you actually see them.  Myself being the kind of person that loves to ask questions, I would often find myself wondering “why do they honk while in a large formation?” while they were homing in on my spread of decoys.  I now have the answer; the honk is a locator call that the geese use to “see” where everyone is in the formation.  It is used to coordinate the change in lead bird when one gets tired, as well as when a bird falls behind.  It is also used before the geese are about take off the flock is brought together and it takes off as one unit.  Contrary to popular belief and countless leadership lessons, geese do not honk to encourage the other geese to keep flying.

Why do Geese Fly in a "V" Formation?

            As a little kid I was always so interested in why and how geese knew to fly in a “V” formation.  I used to ask questions like why did they pick the letter V, and how do they even know what a V looks like? 

            After learning a little bit about physics I can now answer the age old question of “Why do Geese fly in a “V” formation?”  The answer is, because when they fly in a V formation they can fly over 50% further than any one goose flying alone.  The truth is that the goose understood aerodynamics hundreds of years before people even started to think about physics.  The goose instinctively knows to fly in a V because it’s easier, don’t people always take the easiest and fastest rout?  The goose does this also, when geese fly in a V formation there is only one goose that is flying head on into the wind.  That bird is the head bird, as it flies. air currents are created behind it.  The outer air current from the outer top of the wing is used by the bird flying behind it to increase the amount of lift that the bird receives with each flap of its wings.  As this happens the birds span out in the shape of a V.  Then when the lead bird gets tired it drops back to the end of the V and the formation shifts up a new lead bird.  

Belay devices

    The first step to learning to climb on your own is learning to belay.  Well this post won’t necessarily teach you how to belay but hopefully by the end you may know a little about the equipment used to do it. 

            The first and most basic belay device is in fact, no belay device at all.  This is called the hip belay.  It is the oldest way to belay, however it is not the safest.  This type of belaying is used when the climbing routs are easy and a quick belay is necessarily.  The belay is done by simply feeding the rope behind you.  In the event that the climber slips or fails, the friction between you and the rope is that locks the rope.

            A Sticht plate is one of the oldest known belaying devices.  It is the simplest of all the devices and is probably the cheapest.  It consists of a plate of metal with a slot cut in the middle of it.  Rope is fed through the slot and down through a spring.  The rope then goes under a carabineer and back up and out of the plate.  The rope locked off by pulling the trailing end down to your hip.  This put a “bite” in the rope and prevents it from sliding back through the plate. 

             The ATC is perhaps the most common of all belay devices.  It stems from the Sticht Plate; it is just greatly improved upon.  As shown below, the device has two slots and a piece of wire going from one side of the device to the other.  This wire is what holds the device to the belay harness.  To use this device the rope needs to be pinched and pushed into one of the slots just as in figure one.  Then the device is clipped into the harness on a locking carabineer as in figure two.  Now the device is safely attached, how to break with the device is shown in figure three.  There are many variations of this belay device, these include the Variable controller; this has one side that is angled and thicker so that it may apply more friction which is useful when using smaller diameter ropes. 

Figure one

Figure two

Figure three

The next device is a figure eight device.  Though this is technically a defined as a belaying device used in climbing, nine times out of ten it is used for rappelling.  This device gets its name from its shape; it looks like the number “8”.  The rope may be fed through the device in two different ways.  The first way is up through the big hole, then down and behind the device then back up the big hole following the way that the original path of the rope.  The second and safer way is slightly different.  The beginning is still the same, come up through the big hole however this time instead of going behind the device, go through the locking carabineer, then back down through the big hole.  Feeding the rope through this way prevents the rope from sliding down off of the belay device when an excessive amount of slack is in the rope.  This would be extremely dangerous if the climber fell at this point because it is nearly impossible to catch them by locking off the rope.  They will fall and you will get a rope burn that you will not forget (the rope burn is only in the event that you are not wearing gloves).  A variation of this belay device is the rescue figure eight.  It is the same as the regular figure eight however it has wings that come off the sides to create extra friction and they stop the rope from sliding off of the device.

Figure eight

Rescue figure eight