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Austin Woods & Waters November Goose Hunting Reportby Corey Gaskill(reproduced with permission from THE GAME BAG / December 2006)
Who says you can't shoot geese on a blue-bird day? Well, for one, me. Too many prior trips of getting skunked when the weather was perfect for golf. On November 16th, it was one of those days. A high had parked itself over Texas and every star ever made was visible the night before from the front porch of our lodge at Clifton Tyler's hunting camp. No change in the multi-day forecast either. I just knew the five of us should have brought our golf clubs and just kissed off the money spent on the goose hunt. But there we were and were going hunting anyway. Hard to drive that far and not show up for the morning hunt.
Our outfitter, Clifton Tyler, popped into our lodge to say hello and shoot the breeze just after our arrival Friday night. We quizzed him on proper chokes and ammo along with a healthy discussion on how far ahead you have to lead goose to score a hit. Though we didn't expect to get the chance to use the advice with such clear weather ahead, it made for interesting discussions before dinner. Ida Tyler, his wife, served us up some 2 inch thick T-bones for dinner. I figured she was trying to make up for the lousy hunt we were about to embark on. You know, something to salvage the trip with. If I had only known the good food was just a prelude to a good hunt.
Alarms went off at 4:00 am but I think we all had been up since 3:00 am. One of the adrenaline things I guess. It reminds me of when I was a kid and couldn't sleep the night before going to Six Flags, Some things are good not to grow out of. Anyway, breakfast went fast and we were quickly off following Clifton and his sidekick, Corey (unrelated to me) to the field in our trucks. Clifton keeps a tractor available for hauling the gear with (see photo) so all we had to do was carry our guns. The drought has taken its toll on the Coastal Prairie over the past year so we had firm ground for walking, not the usual 4 inches of water and mud (yes, I know most people don't understand why this is fun).
As daylight was beginning to show, the five of us and the two guides completed setting out around five hundred rags and wind socks. Clifton's dad, goose hunting pioneer Marvin Tyler, lays claim to inventing the original Texas rag spread using cut up white table cloths. Rhett Stone kept asking how much money would it take to get someone to put out the rags for us. Apparently too much, since no one took him up on the offer. We all took our assigned positions to see what would happen next. We began to hear the double honk of the Speckle Bellies on the move. I was still doubtful of our prospects since in addition to the clear sky, there wasn't a breath of wind to help bring movement to the decoys.
We didn't have to wait long. The first juvenile snow was quickly fooled by some good calling by the two guides. It made a pass in front of me and Clifton told me to shoot. BAM! One shell, one bird. The birds kept coming in ones and twos over the next few hours. Jack Tynes and Rhett took a low flying show on their side of the spread. John Roberts and Shawn Harrison contributed to the gunfire as the specs made passes overhead. Pippen, a yellow lab, found all but two of what we knocked down that day. Twelve geese in all, on a day I didn't expect to fire a shot. Other than Shawn's gun safety not functioning everything seemed to work out very well.
The shooting award for the day went to Rhett. It seems he had fallen asleep when we all unloaded on a group of five specs directly overhead. The noise woke him up in time to catch a single sneaking in from the back that on one else saw. He made a nice long shot with his Nitro ammo that was successful. At $2.50 a shell, I guess it's pretty good at mimicking lead.
We all returned to the lodge to change and enjoy a final meal. It was a group consensus that the hunt was a surprising success. Thanks to John for doing the driving. I suspect we'll all be doing this again some day. Too much fun not to! Com join us next time.
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