I live in Southern Alberta and while the goose season opens up on about the 9th of September each year, I really do not get serious about hunting them until December.

There is a huge migration that seems to hover here for a while with more and more geese staying the winter because of open water on parts of the Old Man River.

The season this year ended on December 21st.

I usually hunt with several different fellows. One guy uses only 22 decoys (21 now as he drove over one), and he uses stand up willow (actually cornstalk blinds), the other two chaps use those horrible lay down coffin blinds and one uses maybe 5 dozen decoys and the other chap must use about 10 dozen.

The birds are very spooky after 3 1/2 months of being shot at but all these guys usually do quite well.

One one occasion we were pass shooting one cold dreary snowy day just south of Fincaste Lake. There were thousands of birds using it as a roost that particular morning. For hours they came off in smallish groups and eventually the three of us each got our limit of 8 birds.

These are large Canadas of 10 -12 pounds each. All fattened up for the migration. Bringing 250 pounds of geese back to the trucks a mile away is not without problems.

Now a goose travels about 50 mph (according to Google) and will do 70 miles an hour with a tail wind. The morning in question - the geese were flying south with a stiff tail wind.

I was hunkered down by a fenceline when I saw, to my great joy, a flock of about twenty heading my way. They were about thirty yards up and when I thought that they were close enough, I stood up and killed the lead goose.

Being a greedy SOB I decided to now kill a second goose. I swung over to another bird and, as usual, missed it clean.

I then heard a 'whoosh' and looked down as the dead goose hurtled by my left leg missing it by about 18 inches!

If that gray goose had hit my leg it would have spun at least 180 degrees. Of course, if it had hit me between the eyes I would be writing this from a cloud.

I know a couple guys personally who were badly injured by a lion. And other folks who insist that there is no such thing as dangerous game in Africa.

I have my own thoughts on such...

Happy New Year! Never have I looked more forward to one ..

What a great story and a good reminder of the potential danger.
I hunt Canada's regularly and often have birds come crashing down near me with loud thumps, never have I thought about the danger of getting hit, in fact the only time I follow a shot goose is if it is a loner that I took, I usually swing on another bird once I connect with the first one not following the previous kills path to the ground, I will make a mental note from now on when tagging birds, just in case.
Thanks scruffy
bb

Good reminder scruffy. At least you didn't swim out into a river with hip waders on to retrieve a goose and nearly drown. How I survived my first couple years waterfowl hunting is one of the great mysteries.

Some years back an off duty R.C.M.P. shot a goose that landed on the fresh ice of a lake here in Southern Alberta. (A couple of weeks later the weather warmed up and the ice was gone)

He walked out on the very thin ice and the wounded goose kept moving away and he followed unitil falling through. (He probably would have given me a damn ticket for stupidity for doing such a stunt if it had been me doing that)

His friends could not reach him and by the time they got help - he had slipped under.

What a tragedy. An avoidable one, imo.

I have seen guys ice fishing here with ropes around their waists tied to their truck bumpers.

Sheesh!

There was a story in Sports Afield years ago about getting hit in the head by a goose lots of damage.

When one is out and about pursuing any thing there is danger.

They can be dangerous without a doubt. A swan can be worse. Some species are way larger than a goose.

I almost got hit by a black swan a number of years ago.

Getting hit on the head by a falling duck that can weight 2-4 pounds can render one unconscious. Get hit on the head from one of our local "Giant Canada's" would be a serious problem. They weigh from 11.5 to 13.25 pounds (females vs males). They are resident geese here in the South as we rarely have any migration of the various other species of Canada geese.

quote:

They can be dangerous without a doubt. A swan can be worse.

Yep.

Shucks I just found this thread.
Maybe scruffy will be back.

I have two related stories.

First: duck hunting in high wind. No ducks, we
all gave it up and headed up the hill to the trucks.
Son of a gun, ducks were flying all over the hillside quite low too.
We started a war on 'em. It's a real wonder no one got shot.
One guy got hit in the back of his head by a mallard. I just saw him making a hard dive head first into the ground then his feet stuck up. Others were closer and went to help. I never heard how bad he'd been hurt.

I was a long haul trucker about ten years in the 60's and 70's. Headed down US 385 in Texas panhandle. Off to the east at least a half mile I saw headlight's on a stock pond. Then in a bit I saw some gray blurs going by in front of my windshield. "hmm, wonder what those are" and leaned forward toward the glass to get a better look.

A Canada passed close enough his wing rubbed the glass on my side. THEN: busted thru the Right half and tore the sleeper curtain up too. Man I sure was glad he came thru the other side and not mine.

That would have derailed my rig at 70 mph. Good thing it killed the goose too, sure could have been a challenge to drive with such a big bird flying around in the cab.

George

You dodged a bullet that time, George. Yikes!

In a much tamer saga, we hit a gray goose that flew about a half of a mile and disappeared in the back of a house in a little town. After the shoot my buddy went to retrieve it. No one was home and he peered over the fence in the back yard. Feathers on the trampoline where the goose had come down on. And a live Canada goose in the back yard.

My buddy got through a gate and chased the bird around the yard until he caught it.

Nothing was easy that day.

Scruffy:

That's the way I felt too.

Another episode. Had a friend wanting to become
a truck driver. Told him I'd show him how it
works if he'd come right over when I called with
a short run. He did.

Had to haul a load of grinding balls loose in a few compartments separated by 2x6's. 4" steel balls, 45,000lbs of 'em! About 150 miles to the mine where we just backed up to a bin and pulled the boards off and let 'em roll out.

I was running about 60mph or so in the mtns of
So. Colo some after midnight. He was riding shotgun.

Several elk jumped the fence and started across in front of us. A 6pt bull ran up on the shoulder and was right in front of Stephs glass when at the last instant it reared up and turned back.

Kid decided he didn't want to become a truck driver after all. IF not for being miles out in the mtns between towns I felt he'd ask to be let out and find another way back home.

George