The Idaho Department of Fish and Game invented one more way to drive the hunters in their state crazy.... they opened a new specklebelly goose season.
Of course, the guys I hunt with became very excited over the year anticipating the extension of the goose season by nearly a month. Also, being the cheapskates we are, we broke out paint brushes and began transforming Canadian decoys into the colorful specklebellys.
"I don't think we'll need all that many of them," Wayne commented, "They don't seem to land in big flocks in the fields. They just scatter all over the place."
His comment went flying over our heads just like the geese were to do during the season. We were warned, but none paid attention.
Canada goose season dragged to a close with biting cold temperatures and snow blanketing the fields. The geese were frozen off their normal resting area lakes and ponds, and hunting was just not worth the effort.
If only the warmer "speck" season could get here to bail us out!
In fact, the final two days of Canada goose season found us shooting a couple of Specks adding fuel to our fires.
I searched the internet for calling tips. "Specks are so easy to call," raved the call salesmen, "Just say he-he haw-haw into the call". He even proved it by showing video of him calling specks and shooting them. I "He-he haw-hawed" around the house until I drove my wife's dog crazy. A few scratches and bite marks later, I felt ready to give the Specks a try.
The weather warmed up and some good flocks of Specks showed up around Wayne's farm. Opening day was upon us.
Snow! I woke up to fresh snow on the ground. I could not believe my eyes.
"Man, I'd sure like to get my hands on the weather man," I said to Wayne as we set out our freshly painted decoys. "I don't think this snow will help us at all."
I "He-hawed at passing geese all day. They thumbed their beaks at us, and our hard work on decoy painting, all day.
Not a Specklebelly one.
"I'll let you know when I see them feeding in my fields," Wayne said as I drove out of his farm yard. "We'll get them then."
One week later I got the call. "The fields are covered in Specks, Wayne said over the phone, "let's get them tomorrow."
We set out our decoys with the help of a couple more fiends, who were also drooling over the thought of getting specks. One of the guys is a taxidermists and was wanting to get his first one to mount.
Just after daylight the specks came pouring off the frozen ponds and headed towards our field. We "He-he, haw-hawed" again and again, only to see the little geese side slip around us and our decoy spread and head to other fields around the area.
We moved decoys around, re-brushed the blind, put on face covers, and even thought about doing goose dances in the blind, but resigned ourselves to slumping in our chairs, eating doughnuts and drinking the last of our coffee.
"I can't believe theses birds are so hard to hunt," someone commented. "They just don't want to come into the decoys."
I told the guys about watching specks while scouting for snow geese in the past years. "They would not even land with other flocks in the same field," I told the guys.
We did managed to get a couple of the geese that day, but it was sure not the hunt we had anticipated.
Another week passed and the speck number seemed to double as the weather warmed and poured rain. The ponds thawed out and we were ready.
Slogging in nearly knee deep mud we set out some snow goose decoys and several flying motion decoys. The specks still did their best to ignore us but we did much better this time. We are learning.
Yesterday I called Wayne and asked him if he wanted to go try for the geese again. "I've got to put a machine back together, but you're welcome to come if you want."
With the speck into its final week, I decided to give it a go. Warm wind and a bored old hunting dog convinced me.
We had talked it over and I decided to give a try at moving our decoys to the far edge of the field, way away from the blind. "The geese just don't even land with themselves," Wayne had been telling me. He was observing them as they fed in his fields on a daily basis.
I actually had quite a good goose shoot by myself. I managed a six bird limit, and felt like I was calling them to me much better... until the reed in my goose call split.
The speck season ends this weekend and I must admit I'm not too sad to see it go. Hunting these colorful little geese can drive a sane man crazy.
At least it gives us another thing to do in the unstable spring weather, and I'd rather be listening to the distant He-haw of geese than watching ice dancing in the Olympics!
