St-Francis Jigger

I had the chance to go out for a goose hunt this fall and let me tell you, it was an absolute blast. There’s nothing like fooling a flock of 7 or 8 geese into thinking your decoys are some of their friends. I know a lot of people don’t like goose meat but when made into sausages, let me tell you it forms a match made in heaven with a Pinot Noir or a Zyndandel.

I wanted to take my camera out into the field to capture video or still pictures of birds in final approach but as you can see it was a wet one that day so I decided not to. Turns out the rain held off for the most part and we had a decent hunt. We were 3 short of our limit at 9am and the birds moving were getting fewer and fewer appart so we called it a day. We didn’t have as many decoys as we would have liked so when the birds started landing in the field adjacent to us in the hundreds we figured it was getting difficult to compete with the real McCoy. At that point we had quite a few birds to clean anyway so heading in 3 short wasn’t a tough call. The farmer who’s field we hunted that morning was kind enough to leave a few rows of corn up so blinds weren’t necessary. We just sat a row or two inside the corn and set up our decoys about 40 yards off the edge the corn. Thoughts of Field of Dreams crossed my mind…Come on now, I was up at 4:30am.

Here Rénald and I display two of the larger bird we bagged that day. Upper Canada geese can reach surprising wingspans and weight. They truly are magnificent birds. It’s amazing to think how far a bird that large migrates on a yearly basis.

Pat was with us too. You’ll remember him from the smallie outings in August. He only really started getting the goose bug this year. He was out with us a few times last year and the year before that but I think his impressions were that goose hunting wasn’t as exciting as the deer hunt. Judging by the ear to ear grin he was sporting that morning I’m guessing he’s slowly started realizing why so many hunters are literaly addicted to waterfowl. Personally I think It’s an absolute awesome way to connect with nature and see the land from another perspective. Driving by a wet, cold half-harvested corn field in Glengarry in late October is one thing, spending a few hours sitting in one at the crack of dawn is another. The incessant cackle of hundreds of birds, the first frosts, the automn colours, the fresh air, the smellls, all combine to create a fantastic experience. There truly is nothing quite like it.

Here is a pic From mid September I had on my camera but forgot to put up. My friend Dave and I headed out above the dam to find walleye. We did real well and had our limit by about noon that day. Had a bonus smallmouth as well. All fish were really deep. I can’t believe the size of the smallmouth over there. The average fish has to be around 3 pounds and there are a lot of really big fish roaming around. I am fairly certain fish in the 5 to 6 pound range are quite common in the area.

This is Dave’s first walleye. As you can tell, he came up from deep water.

The fish weren’t monsters but they were plentiful. I wouldn’t be fishing that deep if we were catching larger walleyes because there is no point in releasing these fish. They range from about a pound and a half to 2 and a quarter pounds so they’re perfect “eaters”. They also make for good times and a great meal at the end of the day.