Mainely Outdoors
By Bill Graves
It’s been a lot of years since Aroostook experienced such a wet spring and summer. If I had a dime for every time someone said to me,
“great weather for ducks, isn’t it?” I could buy a box of shotgun shells. In truth, the rain and high water really has been beneficial to all regional waterfowl numbers, especially the native Canada goose population. Believe it or not, local wingshooters are going to see just how many more birds are around in short order as the native goose season gets under way in early September.
Contributed photo
SUCCESSFUL HUNT — Youngsters, novice and veteran goose hunters can all enjoy rewarding shooting during Maine’s native goose season each September. From left, Roger Shaw, Brian Horr, Beaver Pierce, Bruce Hussey and outdoor writer Bill Graves had a successful outing last year.
To introduce youngsters and novice adults to the sport and challenge of honker hunting, the early goose season is the way to go. October’s migratory birds traveling long distances from up north get shot at all along the route and become very wary. September flocks contain a lot of young, inexperienced geese which respond to calling, flagging and decoys with little hesitation in many cases.
Just a simple hail call, which can be blown on any run of the mill goose call, gives approaching geese confidence. My first honker call was a $20 Olt 800 and I still have it and use it effectively. As for decoys, silhouettes, shells and rag-bodies work OK, but full-body models like Greenhead Gear’s FFL decoys or Big Foot decoys outperform other styles. Native honkers travel in far smaller flocks, many are family groups, while migratory birds move in masses of dozens, up to a couple hundred sometimes.
Because local birds move from roost ponds to food plots and vice-versa, they seldom travel long distances. They are also more likely to respond to smaller decoy spreads, which they see as another family flock. Often September shooters set up only a dozen full-bodied dekes separated into groups of 3 or 4.
Being able to hide in plain sight comprises the next step to achieving the opportunity to get within comfortable shotgun range of passing geese. A handful of waterfowlers shun the burden of decoys and blinds, choosing to sneak and hide in the tree lines or hedge rows over which the geese fly when traveling. Early every morning honkers leave their overnight roost pond and wing off to feed, then return about mid-morning to water; in the late afternoon they repeat the process. A bit of scouting shows a hunter where to hide out so the birds are likely to fly over, offering pass shooting. The only downside to this tactic is that geese are very perceptive and will either change roost sites or how they fly out if hunters haunt them a couple of times a week at the same spot.
Hay bale blinds, two- or three-man units which resemble the big round wheels of hay commonly seen in regional fields, and layout blinds, low-profile, coffin-like structures, provide the most common easy to relocate hiding spots. Cost-minded sportsmen may choose to replicate my earliest hide-in-plain-sight blinds — a 4 x 8-foot piece of burlap or camo cloth to lay under among the decoys. With any of these hideouts, it’s just a matter of setting up in a cut grain field where geese have been feeding the previous morning or evening.
For youngsters and small-framed men or women, a 20-gauge with 3-inch shells will certainly kill geese effectively, out to a 40-yard range. For those that can stand the recoil, a 3 or 3-1/2 inch 12-gauge offers more pellets per shell, longer range and better knock-down power. Don’t forget that waterfowl regulations require steel shot be used, and size 2, 1 or BB pellets prove more effective on these tough, often 8- to 10- pound birds. All duck and goose gunners must purchase a federal and a state waterfowl stamp to affix to their hunting license.
Thanks to a transplant program that began over two decades ago, Aroostook now has plenty of native geese that used to be nuisance birds on golf courses, parks and urban business areas in other New England states. Those Canadas were captured, transported and relocated throughout the Crown of Maine and have really multiplied and repopulated the region. Now the state has another natural resource and additional hunting season to offer residents and non-resident outdoorsmen.
Before the advent of early goose season and moose hunting, as well as an extended fishing season, September used to be devoid of most cast and blast opportunities. Now Aroostook enjoys a full three months of shooting sports, so gear up for native goose season and don’t miss any of this exciting and challenging September sport.
