hi there gents ,

well as a change from hunting elephants and buffalo ...now that I live in wisconsin and now that its goose season ,...HELP!!! back to Africa in ten days but need to get a few geese before then, you all understand how that is !!! ..have all the permits and licences ...what should i do now , how does one find a good place to hunt ...i live about 40 minutes south of milwaukee , most of the corn is yet to be reaped but a lot of the soyas are off and i see a lot of geese settling ... ask me a question on africa

Not able to help you with the birds Ivan, but I am sure curious how you got roped into living in Wisc?

You've answered your own question. If you are seeing where geese are staging/landing, try to get permission to hunt that area. The old adage goes, be where the birds want to be. Get out there an hour or more before shooting light, and set up a spread of decoys (that's a whole other topic in itself) and have a call handy. If you can't blow well, don't bother. Better no calling than bad calling. Flagging may help. I'd choose a 12 bore with shot size in BB. Wait until they are about to sit down, and start clobbering them. Aim forst at one back in the flock, as opposed to any meatballs. That way, you should be able to at least double. Aim for the lips.

KG

Hi Ivan, a lot of my ancestors are Carter's. Most came from Holland and Ireland. Don't think any settled in Africa however. PM me and I'll give you a call. I'll see if any of my WI friends have access to winter wheat or grain fields. Canada's are fun as hell to work into the decoys. Good hunting, David

anne , its a long story !!! back to zim monday for two ele bulls , buff and lion though !!!

KG thanks , thats about what i figured , never hurts to ask ...wish more of my clients asked !! and listened ...!! will post pics shortly ...not that outta jinx it !!!

You bet. Forgot to add that you'll want to cover up as best you can, with full camo (including a face mask if you have one). If the field is truly bare, you'll have to cover up well. If no one you know has a layout blind to use, at least get a section of burlap/synthetic camo (or drab brown) to cover yourself with. You can add field waste to aid in making yourself look more like an innocent pile of dirt. Let us know how you do, and good luck!

KG

P.S. Oh, and *don't move* when the birds are working. Look with your eyes, without moving your head. Birds are *very* good at picking up movement (not unlike many species you hunt, no doubt, but in hunting a flat field with little in the way of ground cover, it will *really* stand out and flare birds).

kg , great help thanks ...i do well looking like a pile of dirt , folks will tell you i can do that without even trying !!

seriously , i have heard they see very very well , will kleep that in mind ...here they reap pretty high up the stalk so think lying in the furrow with the correct camo will work

I live in southeast wisconsin and do a bit of goose hunting. It can be tough. The majority of the geese in southeast wisconsin right now are local birds they are tough to hunt. Find where they want to go and try to get permission. If that does not work find where they are roosting pond or lake and watch there flight path to the areas they are feeding. Then try to get permission to hunt property that is in their flight path. You can try decoying. But my experience has been once they know where they want to go you ain't stopping them. Later in the year when there are migratory birds in the area decoys work better. The new birds don't know where to go so decoys seem to work better.So usually you will end up pass shooting them. So 3 1/2" mag 12 ga or 10 gauge will be needed. These birds just have too many choices of where to go for food. I hunt in mequon north of milwaukee. I am in the direct flight path of a large number of geese. I have cut corn and soybeans to hunt. I cannot even get a lone goose to look at decoys yet. The geese I have got have been long distance pass shooting. Thank god for hevishot. I have yet to get a goose closer than 60 yards this year. I would invite you to hunt. But you need a special permit from the city to discharge a weapon and they only issue so many per property and the property is full up. So figure out where the geese want to be in your area and start knocking on doors. If you have not already check out lake-link.com. It is a wisconsin based fishing report board Also has a waterfowl section under the forums. Great group of guys can give you a lot of info. Even guys offering to take people out from time to time. You might find someone to hook up with that has the birds already figured out. Being wisconsin all it would cost you would be 12 pack of beer.

thanks mike , great advice ....i appreciate your insight ..nothing like local knowledge !

Agree fully on the local knowledge, but I'd be a little cautious about any claims made regarding needing a friggin' 10 bore to kill any bird...

i am old school , 12 ga double barrel...may not be able to shoot as fast but i love it ...the limit is only two anyway !

The birds in my area are very very heavily hunted. Nearly all are local birds. They have seen and heard it all many many times. If you can decoy them a 12 is fine. It is a big if though. So pass shooting is the name of the game. If your not able to or willing to take long shots you are not going to get many geese. I use 3 1/2" hevishot #2 1 3/4 oz. The other evening I got my two geese for the day. I shot at the only ones that were remotely close enough. I folded both geese and they dropped like a stone. They hit the ground just over 70 yards away from me. The only other method that would be routinely effective is spot stalk and groundswat. Those geese like the middle of the fields so you need something that will wack them at 80 plus yards. No I am not full of shit. My turkey this fall came at 84 yards again with hevishot. I also finished off a crippled goose at 90 yards. No I did not cripple it. With the right choke and hevishot a 12 gauge can be a great longrange weapon. Before anyone says this is not ethical. How is it any differant than shooting a deer at 400yards with a 308?

quote:

Originally posted by mike7mm08:
Those geese like the middle of the fields so you need something that will wack them at 80 plus yards. No I am not full of shit. My turkey this fall came at 84 yards again with hevishot. I also finished off a crippled goose at 90 yards. No I did not cripple it. With the right choke and hevishot a 12 gauge can be a great longrange weapon. Before anyone says this is not ethical. How is it any differant than shooting a deer at 400yards with a 308?

You need something that'll wack [sic] them at 80 yards, eh, and you ask how is shooting a rifle different from a shotty?

Um, well, let's just say that earlier I was trying to be cordially diplomatic, and thought that you maybe were pushing the reality envelope. Now I see that you're just full of shit! Hevi-shot, ten bores and 90 yard pokes? Hell, first thing ya know ole Jed's a millionaire! Sheeit.

I never said a shotgun was like a rifle. My point is this. I consider a 308 a 200 yard rifle as most people consider a 12 ga a 50 to 60 waterfowl gun. Yet people routinely use a 308 for much longer distances than I feel it is effective. Just as I have shot geese with a 12 gauge at much longer distances than most people think is effective. Do I make a practice of this no. But it can be done. If I had a choice I would much rather drop them in the decoys at fifteen yards. The reality is where I hunt that is not going to happen too often. The cripple that I shot at 90 yards was on the ground. He has just about to the property line. I wanted to end his suffering a long shot was the only option to try. My turkey was again a now or never shot. I totally misjudged the distance. I got the range finder out after the shot. I thought is more like fifty yards. Do I take these shots every time I go out absolutly not. But I now for a fact that these shots are doable.