Table of contents for December/January 2022-23 in Wildfowl

YOU CAN STILL RUN INTO dum-dums off the beaten path in late season, but many flyway ducks and geese have a Master’s in survival by this time of year. In Mike Gnatkowski’s story Specks By Accident this issue, he talks about a group of mallards in North Dakota circling a hundred times and still giving his guys and their swirling eyeballs the finger. Yet on the same jaunt, they luck into a bunch of most gullible white-fronts in a place that has few. I chewed the goose fat the other day with 40-year old Chase Milligan, whose group of goose slayers have been the winning team of the World Championship Snow Goose Conservation Hunt three years running. Held by Mack’s Prairie Wing in Stuttgart, the champs are featured in this…

❶ BAND #: 1158-53206 HUNTER: Adam Kirby, Emporia, KS SPECIES: Canada Goose (M) BANDED: 7/14/2016 | Portage La Prairie, Manitoba RECOVERED: 11/19/2021 | Allen, KS ❷ BAND #: 1155-81645 HUNTER: Caleb Belcher, Shoals, IN SPECIES: Blue-Winged Teal (H) BANDED: 9/04/2021 | Gatzke, MN RECOVERED: 9/11/2021 | Greene County, IN ❸ BAND #: 1206-14119 HUNTER: Mason Wright, Ogden, UT SPECIES: Northern Shoveler (D) BANDED: 7/27/2016 | Corrine, UT RECOVERED: 1/04/2022 | Davis County, UT ❹ BAND #: 1777-40141 HUNTER: Nathan Bedard, Rumford, ME SPECIES: Common Eider (H) BANDED: 5/26/2010 | Ile Aux Lievres, Quebec RECOVERED: 12/17/2021 | Yarmouth, ME ❺ BAND #: 1105-64141 HUNTER: Scott Eckes, Chili, WI SPECIES: Wood Duck (D) BANDED: 8/22/2017 | Wood County, WI RECOVERED: 10/06/2020 | Pittsville, WI ❻ BAND #: 2257-20181 HUNTER: Stedson Stegmeier, Canby,…

THE HOLIDAY SEASON is the perfect occasion to roast a bird. For us waterfowlers who have grown tired of feeling tired thanks to tryptophan, or who simply feel turkey is likely the most boring and bland bird one can slide into the oven, a wild duck is the perfect solution. Notice I said wild duck and not wild goose, as a wild mallard is likely the largest bird I would recommend roasting whole. Even with this recipe, you still may need to carve off legs and wings and add them back to the oven after the initial roast. Legs and wings, which are tougher cuts with more collagen, require more time to break down stubborn muscle fibers and offer up tender bites. This is less of an issue with small…

AS FORECASTED, the cold front arrived, sparking a frenzy of activity in a farm field in Marion County, Ohio. Jack Curtis had called his friends several days ahead of the front. In turn, they called their friends. During the last hour of darkness, hindered by slippery ice and snow, they unloaded gear and shotguns from vehicles parked beside the Magnum Mega Pit Blind. After helping Curtis set the goose decoys towed to the site in his decoy trailer, they drove their vehicles to the field edges and returned in small groups via a Gator ATV. “There were 11 hunters and some of them had never been in a goose pit,” Curtis said. “Over the years, lots of people who hunted with me have asked if they could bring a buddy.…

ROUTINE IS OFTEN a key element to a successful hunt. Wingshooting practice makes us better shooters, and hunting the same locations allows us to refine our tactics. Still, one should always be prepared for the unexpected, as Chris Wilson was when he set out for a late season duck hunt. “Where I hunt, it’s usually just a duck hunt,” said Wilson. Still, there is a small population of resident Canadas in his part of southeast Oklahoma. He and his hunting companions occasionally get the bonus goose including some bands, all of which were applied less than 20 miles from where they hunt. This particular hunt was fairly routine, at least to start. “We were doing good, shooting mallards and wigeon from a low spot on the edge of a wheat…

MOMENTS AGO I WATCHED my two sons, 20 and 22 years old, embrace for what could be the last time in a long while. One son is moving out of state for work, then overseas to chase his dreams; I’m not sure when I’ll see him again. He’s the hardest working person I’ve ever met. The other son was out the door to work, home from college for the summer. In addition to working full-time he’s taking a full load of college classes so he can graduate early and begin a career in education. He’s a 4.0 student, is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met, and has his grandfather’s compassionate heart. Raising our sons, my wife of 32 years, Tiffany, and I only wanted them to be best…

What do you got when you mIx the annual Light Goose Conservation Order spring snow goose season, the rice fields dotting the Grand Prairie of eastern Arkansas, and Mack’s Prairie Wings together? A whale of a good time shooting, helping out the resource and hungry folks at the same time, and some of the best waterfowl hunting fun possible in North America every year. In short, you get the annual World Championship Snow Goose Conservation Hunt every February in Stuttgart, Arkansas! Held annually since 2019, the one-day event is an endeavor designed to be a win-win scenario for everyone dealing with the clouds of snow geese that move up and down the flyways each year. While there are some specific rules in place, in general, 10-member teams pay a hefty…

THE BOYS HAD A great morning with the geese and a few ducks that got too curious about their decoys. The shotguns were the cream of the crop in the Midwest: The Browning Auto 5, Winchester Model 12 and on the far right the good old Model 1897. These were just the ticket for this bunch of geese that all but hid their Dodge “Fast Four” car. My buddy Steve, who knows about such things, says it’s a 1928 Dodge, and it fits the photos of Dodge’s Fast Four. I suspect the ride is a little rough with those wooden-spoked wheels, but it got what appears to be three grim-faced brothers to and from the geese. In that era, Canadas were pretty much concentrated in several places. In the east…

IT WASN’T TOO LONG AGO when you would have felt less embarrassed pulling up to the boat ramp on duck opener towing your rig with a pink Subaru, than you would have after letting a diminutive Lab out of his crate. Big retrievers were all the rage, and the logic seemed sound. After all, you don’t see a lot of 160-pound dudes making the roster to play lineman in the NFL. Some jobs, we reckon, require a lot of strength. If those jobs also require a level of Viking imperviousness to the cold, then body mass is a necessity, as well. Big and strong was a thing for a long time in the duck world, but our dogs paid the price for it. Now, it’s far more common to see…

Like the fly fisherman's cardinal rule: Match the hatch. An ideal diver spread will match the how birds you’re hunting are flocked on the water. A spread of redheads makes sense along the Texas Gulf Coast, canvasback in Pool 9, or ring-necks in a small, wild rice pond. Match what you can, but chances are, you’re going to get a mix of divers coming through. The big three that most decoy makers build are bluebills, canvasbacks, and redheads —all will work in your spread. If you go that route, though, your spread is going to consist of a lot of white, grey, and dabs of reds and black from the heads and chests. No question, white is effective on the water, but the rest really don’t provide much contrast—especially the…