guiding my good buddies family duck hunt

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

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..

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

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

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