Long Necks and Short Stories

Last seasons hunts for 2009-2010

2010-05-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

Last hunt, Family hunt...

2009-01-25T19:15:00.000-08:00

The last day of the Washington goose season, where did the season go...All in all I would say it was a pretty successful year. I was home early with limits for my guys most every outing, this sure makes me look like a hero! I didn't take as many groups out as in years past but kept fairly busy the last few months of the season...I imagine the lack of clients had alot to do with the economy but what lacked in guys made up for the amount of geese the Columbia Basin held through out the winter...I averaged 3.69 geese per gun for my dudes...that is pretty sweet!....Now to get onto the hunt on the last day of the season..For the last few years I have had my father son hunt with my boy Jake. The last two years I have invited My buddy Dan from Monroe WA. and his boy jake on our hunt...I met Dan several years ago on there first guided goose hunt, jake at the time was just a little guy, maybe six years old...now he is a teenager with a couple of years of hunting under his belt. He is one heck of a shot for a little guy...They are also the friends that I hunted down at the pond with where we hammered the greenheads...Well back to the hunt, Dan, Jake and Anna, there eight year old daughter along with My Jake and I were set up in the Armpit....It has been pretty good to me this year...but being the last day of the hunt, I knew it would be pretty tough to get the geese in...We neded picking up a few singles during the morning...one honker and a lesser...the lesser, we made sure that Anna and Jake were the first out to retrieve the little guy...This picture will be a classic...
We ended up waiting all day for the honkers to show, they left off the Snake River in the morning and went out the other way...We knew that the geese would come back out in the afternoon, we just had to wait for them to show up....finally at 3:00 we finally had a group finish into the decoys and Jake, Dan and I dumped five big guys....it was the perfect way to finish the day...no limits but good times...joe

"Some old Timers"

2009-01-18T19:10:00.000-08:00

I and our duck guide Eddie were set up in one of our pits on a hill above Jeff Rowland and his group of guys, Paul had said there were alot of geese using the farm and we should have a pretty good shoot....Jeff had the field that the geese wanted and I knew it would be just a matter of time that his young guys that he had with him would bang out there four goose limit and we would move over and take there spot...those guys got there birds and we headed over...the geese were pretty leery and when we would get geese working us we would have them just stack up on us...wave after wave of geese would work the decoys and we would get a group to set and land and start feeding as all of the other lessers would circle to work our spread...usually we like to get our geese backwinging into the decoys but the fellas that I had out were a little on the mature side and getting up in time to shoot backwinging geese was out of the question...we would let a smaller flock finish and we would let the rest move on and take our birds without the rush that we are used to...the more times the guys got up, even on smaller groups of backwinging geese the better they got at getting there birds on the ground...by the end of the hunt, the guys were coming out like old Pro's....Here is a pic with there limits, one of the geese is in the back of the truck after it sailed out....joe

2009-01-10T21:29:00.000-08:00

Today was some tough hunting,after hammering the honkers on the last four hunts today was a different ball game.. I tried just about every trick that I could think of to get our geese....we would have honkers lock up and circle several times, spin around us just to go back to the river?..Luckily I was hunting with some great guys that are just as funny as they were patient...It helped that they tag along with Refuge self proclaimed "lurker" and fishing guide on the Clearwater river Jim Carter who is on the right side of the pic with the two geese...We hunted what alot of guys like to call "Bell to Bell"...from sun up to end of shooting time...I don't usually post hunts that finish at the end of the day but even with a slower then normal hunt we had a great time...we had enough geese that would commit to Jim, Terry and Marty to get there birds(two geese were hit but flew off after they gained there composure and counted to there bag) to make it a good time...I am sure after the geese get used to the weather change in the next few days..it will be game over again for the geese...until then, I will a take bad day of goose shootin' with good guys over workin' anyday...joe

Hammerin' Honkers with E-Gadget & boys

2009-01-04T21:26:00.000-08:00

I had fellow refuge member E-Gadget and his boys out at the farm today for there first field goose hunt, (E took the pic so it is a pic of the boys and one of the other clients)..most everyone has seen there trailer posted on the Washington forum with there Marsh Rats stacked up in racks along with all there decoys, it is a pretty sweet setup that they run....but this was the boys' Christmas present to there dad and the honkers didn't let us down...geese came out slower then usual but they came in in nice small bunches and we didn't let to many get away....joe

guiding my good buddies family duck hunt

2008-12-28T19:55:00.000-08:00

I have been looking forward to this day all season, Dan a buddy of mine and his dad along with his son Jake and his two nephews booked a hunt down on the Paul's Pond or duck pond today...actually they hunted the pond last year and I was scheduled to guide them down and then I had the sudden passing of my dad in Iowa and couldn't do the trip...I took Dan and his family on there first guided hunt when Jake was just five or six so we go back a quite a ways...He has become a pretty close friend and always share a blind with him on my annual father-son hunt...Today was special as I don't get to hunt the pond too much...actually I prefer to goose hunt but hitting the pond a few times a year is alot of fun...we had a great shoot, the ducks came in just perfect in small groups and the boy's did a great job of picking out the drakes...Paul owner of the guide service came along and sure helped out...I am a little rusty on my duck shootin' and he knows the pond like know one else...It was a great time hunting, the best part of the hunt was looking down and watching Dan's dad just sitting back and enjoying the good times his boys were having....joe

Honkers in the snow on Friday, day after Christmas

2008-12-28T19:52:00.000-08:00

I have a group of local clients that go out with me almost every year, three of of the five guys used to work with my dad and that's pretty cool to hear a few stories from other guys about him...I told the guys that they were in for a good and fast hunt...the temps have bee staying in the teens and to of the guys are receiving Chemo so there energy isn't what it used to be....Needless to say the honkers never let us down and we had a great shoot, Paul promised the guys in the morning that we would shoot our last goose before nine and thats when we finished up, here is a tailgate shot back at the truck, we wanted to get out of the field quick so Swat could shoot it this morning, man I love it when goose hunting gets like this...joe

Geese in the blizzard..

2008-12-22T18:56:00.000-08:00

I had a group of three guys that canceled at the last minute due to our snow storm that we are gettin, Paul the owner of the guide service called me back last night and said he had rounded up a few locals that wouldn't have a problem making it out to slam a few geese in the snow...we had a late start, I was lucky to have a helper.....goose hunting in snow is alot of work chasing geese and dusting off decoys...I had my neighbor along to help...and we got in a great shoot...we got a late start one of the clients forgot his gun so we were out in the field setting up and we could here several volleys from the other group on the hill...we got the 20 deeks out and waited..it took awhile to get the geese to lift off the river but when they did they came in low and slow...it was great to hunt with my neighbor and have guys that can wipe out a whole flock in one go...it was good, cold and a fast shoot when they got to flying...here is the pit shot..

and here is a shot of me back at the truck with my new winter hat...I got a slight case of frost bite last week on the tips of my ears from the old beanie and needed something that would keep the ears warm, I think I kind of look like a Nordic Hunter..Joe

A couple goose huntin' Virgins

2008-12-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

I had a couple new guys out in Burbank for there first goose hunt....The geese were real leery, could have been the weather change or the constant banging from the rest of the goose hunters in Burbank area today but we got enough geese to get there gear down and set into the spread for some new goose hunters to get there fair share of geese to take home for the grill....joe

2008-12-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

The geese out here in Washington are thicker then I ever remember for this time of year, we have had un-seasonably mild weather but it hasn't stopped the geese from being really aggressive in their feeding habits. My fellow guide and Foiles staffer Jeff and I had a party of goose hunter's this morning, he was set up on the X... I can't remember how many geese were in the field he was hunting, but it was in the several hundreds. I was in a buckwheat field above him...we both knew the geese would probably want to be in his field and he would hammer out his limit and then I would get my group in there and swap out his dudes...Jeff was done pretty quick and we moved, as we moved the sun broke through the clouds which made the geese a little more leery, but it was still a pretty quick hunt My guys banged out there four goose limits and we were done... it helped to have good shooters in the blind as well, two goose groups in and out in a little over two hours...not too bad of a day and we got the field rested for the hunt tomorrow...joe

Tough hunt with a good buddy...

2008-11-29T16:35:00.000-08:00

The goose guiding business has been pretty slow this year...Our guide service in years past would book four or five groups a day on a regular goose day. The last couple of years it has gotten slower and slower. This year we have records amounts of geese for this time of year and no clients to take out...I could just jump into a pit with one of the smaller groups that Paul has been taking out, but I also enjoy just hunting with the guys where the success might not be as, but the company always makes up for lack of fast shooting.

Jim, a guy I work with have hit it off since the day we met at work over eight years ago. I have seen his talents on a goose call and duck call progress every year and he is just a great guy to hang around...We have the same sense of humor and it makes for some pretty good laughs in the duck blind, usually at a fellow hunters expense...there are no punches pulled when you are hunting with us together. :) We hunted a little out of the way place that he has been hunting for years...It can be kinda "Tough Duty" but at times can be pretty good. The best part about it is that it is only 10 minutes away from the house which makes for easy hunting. The hunt was really slow, we only saw a handful of ducks all morning and the ones we seen we were able to coax into the decoys...

My boy Jake loves to go hunting with the guys, he isn't shooting yet, he will be getting his Hunters Safety card next Spring. I have promised him that we would try turkey hunting. It is a pretty good comedy when he is in the blind tough, he is a natural comedian when things get pretty slow...The highlight of the hunt was when we heard a single goose honking down the river, Jim and I both did the double team smack down on him and called him into the decoys after circling our spread, getting lower and lower on every pass...finally he started to drop the feet and dump his big ASS into the deeks...Jim and I called the shot and we both dumped the bird with a shot each...The goose landed with a big splash and Jake who had been waiting to get another boat ride, rode out and scooped up the big ol' Gander...It was a good way to finish up a slow hunt.

Last weeks goose hunt...

2008-11-22T14:02:00.000-08:00

Today was the day I finally had a paying goose group out at the farm. I was set up in a buckwheat field hunting out of a pit that I have hunted the last eight years. I knew this was a test of my new Final Approach Lesser's that I picked up this year before the season when I was put on their Field Staff. Paul, the owner of Burbank Goose Club was nice enough to let me give them a shot...

I ended up hunting right next to my buddy and fellow goose guide Jeff...he and I have been friends for a year or two now and if I was gonna hunt next to anyone on my maiden voyage with my FA's then he is who I would want it to be next to...he is a good guide and we don't have the usual love to hate each other mentality that you see with some of the guides that hunt against each other. We were sitting on 500 plus geese that were rested the previous day. I was told later that the geese were using his side of the field, but that was irrelevant on how our success would go that day. First flock circled me and dumped right into him...neither of us were calling, our agreement before the hunt to give us both a fair shot. I assured my dudes that after they finished out which they did in quick time, we would move over to Jeff's spot to get our share of shooting...Jeff finished up and we moved, the sun started to come out, this shows how fast he and his guys were getting there geese in and we started getting our own share of the geese.

The old story of "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink" fits right into goose hunting...I had several geese "backwing" into the decoys, call the shot to only watch my goose that I would pick to shoot fall in desperation and the other four guns drop just one...We always stress to pick your bird and make your shots count, but the fella's seemed a little rusty with there old trusty's if you know what I mean...I have seen "go's" in the past go like this and usually you can talk them into relaxing, but geese were coming consistent enough to have shooting every fifteen minutes or so.

There comes a time when a good guide has to "pull the plug" this is when the clients have shot at there fair share of geese and we need to rest the field for the next hunt...Usually this is after four good size flocks of under 50 birds...our limit is four geese and this gives them the chance to harvest their birds...one group at a time. I give the guys the heads up prior to the hunt that if they get an opportunity to shoot one goose per go then I have done my job...well we had one more go and as before the guys dropped a few and we were done...there were no limits this day. The guys scratched out a few a piece and I am sure were happy with the way I gave them the opportunities.

Here is my new blog...

2008-11-14T12:37:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to start a blog for awhile now, mainly I will use it to post up my goose hunting pictures along with a short story about my hunts...I have been a professional goose guide in the Columbia Basin of Washington for the last eight years. I am also on Foiles Migrators Prostaff along with Final Approach's Fieldstaff. My main goal in hunting now days is to pass on my passion and skills to my nine yr. old son Jakob who loves to goose hunt as much as myself...Check back through out the season to see what I have been up to...joe