[fabsroman]

I went out goose hunting all of twice in December and didn't see any ducks either day, but plenty of geese. We should have limited out on geese both days, but my dog is having trouble with his new Mutt Hutt blind (i.e., he doesn't understand that he has to stay in it). Went out dove hunting all of twice in the last week of December and saw plenty of geese both days and two large groups of ducks the second day. The ducks were flying so high that they must have had oxygen masks on. The geese were so low that I could have possibly shot them while dove hunting. There were also a ton of doves in the field I was hunting, but they wouldn't let me get close and once shot at they would leave the field and not come back. The first day, we got to the field late and they were already in the field. One shot, one dove, and they were all gone. The second day we got there way before sunrise and we tried shooting them as they were coming into the field. I should have killed 4 doves that morning, but poor shooting on my part resulted in only a single kill, 2 wounded birds, and a complete miss. There were other misses, but not on gimmes.

I drove up to Long Island, New York Saturday morning and saw very little geese (i.e., 3 groups) along I-95/New Jersey Turnpike between 8:00 and 10:00 in the morning. I was truly surprised by that because I usually see tons of them at this time of the year.

I have no idea what to tell you Del, but I agree with you. The geese that I do hunt are extremely wary and I see blinds in a lot of fields out here in Western Maryland. The Saturday that I hunted geese, I must have heard at least 5 other blinds shooting on them. Then again, that does keep them moving around to other fields.

Such is hunting.