I had a pair fly over me at about 40 yds. I knocked down one. The second circled right back to fly over the first for about a 20 yd shot. It is nice to get the pair. I don't feel as guilty. I have often seen the loan goose flying around honking looking for his mate.
Last year I was with a bunch of guys hunting opening day of the late season. One goose we hit struggled/glided off toward the river about 1 mile away. 2 days later I saw a flock of geese down by the river in the same direction. It is a park so I could not hunt there. I went there every day for the next two weeks and those geese were there. It started out to be about twelve geese. Then it got really cold and there were only nine. Sometimes there was just one. Finally the entire river iced up except for the little feeder stream that was coming in there. There were still four geese. One had bad leg. The one that did not fly anywhere stayed in the feeder stream and hissed at me. I would have tried to put him/her out of their misery but there were always too many people there. They would not have understood. They would have just seen tall ugly guy strangling a bird. I tried feeding them corn. The healthy birds ate it. Finally the one in the feeder stream died and I never saw the rest again.
Those birds hung around in 10 degree weather to stay with the one. I have never seen such devotion.
Last year I was with a bunch of guys hunting opening day of the late season. One goose we hit struggled/glided off toward the river about 1 mile away. 2 days later I saw a flock of geese down by the river in the same direction. It is a park so I could not hunt there. I went there every day for the next two weeks and those geese were there. It started out to be about twelve geese. Then it got really cold and there were only nine. Sometimes there was just one. Finally the entire river iced up except for the little feeder stream that was coming in there. There were still four geese. One had bad leg. The one that did not fly anywhere stayed in the feeder stream and hissed at me. I would have tried to put him/her out of their misery but there were always too many people there. They would not have understood. They would have just seen tall ugly guy strangling a bird. I tried feeding them corn. The healthy birds ate it. Finally the one in the feeder stream died and I never saw the rest again.
Those birds hung around in 10 degree weather to stay with the one. I have never seen such devotion.
