Presented by: Browning Firearms
Alright folks, buckle up. This one isn’t for the purists or the new guy just getting into honker hunting. This one is for the hunters that take killing geese to the next level. The ones that want the giant pile pic at the end of the hunt. The guys that take honker hunting seriously and find pride in watching big Canada’s hit the ground. Some of these “methods” might be a bit different than what you’re used to reading about, but we’re going to air them out. After all, every once in a while it’s good to get a nice kick in the ass in order to get motivated to get out and put more birds on the dirt!
Become competitive about killing geese!
You wake up at 4:00 AM, you drive however long to get to the field, spend an hour (or longer) setting up then spend a good portion of your day trying to convince geese to come land in your spread. It isn’t exactly an easy task to get out and go goose hunting. It takes a lot of time and effort to make it all happen. So get competitive about it! It’s you vs. the birds you’re trying to kill. Having a competitive attitude towards the sport doesn’t make you wrong it just makes you driven towards wanting to kill more honkers. If the honkers beat you, which many days they will- let that fire you up to get out and shoot more birds each time you get out and to try to get out as much as possible!
Don’t settle for being “good”
There’s plenty of guys out there that go out in the field, shoot one or two birds, and think that they’ve had a great hunt. If that’s your goal, that’s fine. But if your goal is to be one of those guys that go out into the field each time and absolutely mops up the geese, you eventually have to start losing the idea that anything short of a limit is a great hunt. Obviously, there are exceptions to this. Somedays the birds don’t work, and you have to take what you’re given, but if you’re hunting day in and day out, you have the “X” or you’re constantly working birds and you’re coming away short of your limit day in and day out, that’s a good sign it’s time to step things up in your goose hunting game. Maybe it’s time to invest in some new gear, get better on the call, or spend some time at the range dialing things in with the shotgun. Remember, the opposite of great isn’t bad, the opposite of being great is being good. Everyone starts mediocre, then learns and develops to become pretty good, but only the motivated seem to take the next step to become great at killing geese.
Compare your success to others (in your area)
Yes, you read that right. I know everyone says to only compare yourself to where you want to be as you try to progress and move forward in learning something or get started in something, and that is great advice. But when it comes to waterfowl hunting, if the elite are killing limits, and you are still scraping by with one or two birds, you know there’s still some work to do. If you’re killing your limit of birds and you see that you’re one of the only ones doing so, you must be doing something right. In the world of sports, if your ‘statlines’ are down, and everyone else’s are up and improving, then you have some work to do. If everyone’s are down, then things must be slow and tough for everyone. If your ‘statlines’ are up, great! Sometimes the best measuring stick is gauging your success against others. That’s not something to tell the beginner, because they may see the lifelong hunter piling geese up day after day, and get discouraged. Fear not, your day will come as long as you stay ambitious. Just remember to keep your comparison fairly local to your area. If you’re hunting honkers in Kentucky, it might not be in your best interest to compare your success to those hunting geese in Montana or North Dakota. I will say this, though, don’t let comparing your success to others discourage you, or turn you into an asshole! There’s enough of that going on in the waterfowl world. Simply let it motivate you to get to that next level of killing geese.
Get off your wallet and hunt some private ground
Last time I checked, no farmer plants crops on public WMA’s, and geese tend to enjoy feeding crop-land. So in order to take that next step, you might want to get out and gain access to some private farmland. I know there’s some reward to being able to kill some public land birds, but let’s be real, those lights-out kinds of hunts come few and far between. The real success comes on the wheat, corn, and soybean fields that you’ve been able to talk a farmer into letting you hunt. It doesn’t always require paying big amounts of money, but being willing to never hurts. Sometimes it just requires knocking on doors, being kind and cordial, and politely asking for permission to hunt. 99% of the geese you see in all the pile pics were all killed on private ground, and if you want in on that action, you’d better go find some yourself.
Make honker hunting a top priority
This one may seem like a no-brainer, but there’s plenty of people out there that think they want to be a “next-level” goose hunter, but yet when it’s time for push meet shove, they realize they have other stuff they’d rather do. They may not want to invest the money into blinds, decoys, calls, land, etc. Or they simply just don’t want to devote the time to it. And believe me, it requires A LOT of time. Some people would rather chase ducks, or deer, or whatever else gets their rocks off, and that’s totally fine. But to be a truly elite goose hunter, you have to be willing to make it your top priority. When the migrators are coming in, or you’ve found the X to go hunt, you’d better be willing to push aside everything to make sure you’re blinded in and ready to rock. Just like anything else, to truly be proficient at something, it has to be number one on your goal list.
These 5 tips might not be the most conventional you’ve ever read, and some might even be a bit taken back, but the reality is, they work. If you let the competitive spirit in you take hold and drive you to be a better goose hunter, and make it a top priority, you’ll be able to go from a good goose hunter to a great goose hunter. And I’ll say it one more time for effect, the opposite of great isn’t bad, the opposite of great is good. So, if you truly want to become one of the best in the business at killing honkers, take these 5 tips and light a fire and get passionate about it. Enjoy the amazing game that is hunting Canada geese
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Very good read , in short just out work the other guys