# Goose hunting report



## JDS (Jul 14, 2004)

As promised, Eagle Lake goose hunting report.
SLOW...., actually, most of us did not fire a shot and no geese were taken. We did have them coming over the spread and looking, but none would commit. We kind of knew that it had not gotten cold enough yet for the hunting to be great, but thought we could at least get our specklebelly's. To add to the lack of geese in the area, it was warm and clear, with very little wind. The kids and I still had a great time just getting out together and enjoying each others company, so overall it was a very positive experience. My Daughter really enjoyed laying in the spread and looking at the stars, watching the sun come up, and seeing the different types of geese fly over.
Following are some pics a friend took, some random, and some of a roost pond we found while driving around Friday.
Again, thanks everyone for the advice.
 Enjoy,
Jeff


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## JDS (Jul 14, 2004)

Couple more...


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## OxbowOutfitters (Feb 17, 2006)

Thus... the reason you can never have enough deekes.. great pics


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

This weekend was tough. The almost complete lack of wind was a killer. There are some geese around but they are sitting in stuff that I wouldnt and for that matter most folks wouldnt hunt in.


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## JDS (Jul 14, 2004)

Yes, that is what I heard chuck. I bet that is going to change a bit with this cold front. I should have taken the 2nd weekend in December.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

The geese are acting a little strange this year. We hunt a few places around Beasley/Taverner and usually dont see many geese except for a few specks in November. Thanksgiving day I was heading into town on 90 and saw around 6-7,000 in the air. Just waves of em. They have been in the area since the second week of November. They were in a rice field just North of 90 and 1875 for 2 weeks in early November. They do have alot of options at the moment with lots of food and water around. No need to go back to the roost for water so they just arent moving much.


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## JDS (Jul 14, 2004)

Good point chuck. I also heard that the hatch was somewhere in the neighborhood of 5%, so the majority of geese out there are older and at least somewhat spread shy.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

Ive seen groups on the ground with anywhere from 5%-20% young birds. Not good but not a total bust either. Ive also heard that the snows yet to make it here have a higher percentage of juvies. We just have to wait and see.


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## grand poobah (Nov 6, 2007)

*GOOSE HUNTING*

I agree it's been a tough season. After opening day limit of 18 specs I've only goose hunted one other time until Friday. Friday we had a 6 man limit of specs(12), then only 6 specs on Sat. Sun produced only 3 specs, didn't hunt todays, couldn't figure how to shoot 1 1/2 Specs.
This front has pushed in alot of new birds, I also have counted better than expected snow hatch but they have been tough so far.

Good luck
Grand Poobah


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

If it rains the 1-2" they have predicted today we are gonna need snorkels to hunt em this weekend. It still hasnt dried out from the 3" we got the Friday before Thanksgiving. It looks like I will be sleeping in and catching up on some yard work this weekend.


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## Hullahopper (May 24, 2004)

I appreciate the update fellows! Our 450 acre lease is just northeast of Eagle Lake and last weekend was extremely slow as well. Lots and lots of flooded rice fields for them to choose from right now.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

Looks like the weather folks are calling far a 30% chance of some snow for Friday. We may actually have a Winter this year after all. I bet we see alot more geese hit the prairie in the next few days. Full moon and cold as heck should do the trick.


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## JDS (Jul 14, 2004)

I have heard that the conservation order season is a very good time to goose hunt, is this usually the case?


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## Hullahopper (May 24, 2004)

JDS said:


> I have heard that the conservation order season is a very good time to goose hunt, is this usually the case?


First week is usually pretty good but the snows wise up to the electriconic calls real quick.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

JDS said:


> I have heard that the conservation order season is a very good time to goose hunt, is this usually the case?


Last year was fair at best. There wasnt a whole lot of food or water left to keep em around in many areas. They have wised up to the callers but you can still get on em if you have the weather and set up right. I prefer the regular season. The best part of goose season will be in the next couple of weeks. Most of our geese will be here and with this front we should see some large numbers of cacklers arrive.


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## mwaites (Apr 25, 2006)

JDS said:


> I have heard that the conservation order season is a very good time to goose hunt, is this usually the case?


Last year was the first season that I did not even make one CO hunt. There were just no birds on my place. But, prior to last season I have found the second half of February to be the best time to hunt if you still have birds. Not many hunters and they get relaxed.


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## grand poobah (Nov 6, 2007)

*CONSERVATION HUNTS*

I agrees with mwaites, If the geese hang around awhile you can hit them hard in the middle to late February. 
Hey Chuck, I guess I got lucky as far as mud, I hunted plowed fields all three days last weekend, wasn't muddy at all except in low spots.
DON'T UNDER ESTIMATE THE ADVANTAGE OF HUNTING PLOWED FIELDS.
I do agree with several comments it's about to get good!!!

Grand Poobah


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## JDS (Jul 14, 2004)

Thanks all and good luck in the next couple of weeks.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

grand poobah said:


> I agrees with mwaites, If the geese hang around awhile you can hit them hard in the middle to late February.
> Hey Chuck, I guess I got lucky as far as mud, I hunted plowed fields all three days last weekend, wasn't muddy at all except in low spots.
> DON'T UNDER ESTIMATE THE ADVANTAGE OF HUNTING PLOWED FIELDS.
> I do agree with several comments it's about to get good!!!
> ...


I love the plowed fields but the row crop stuff I have is still real nasty. Makes your boots weigh about 60lbs each after 4 or 5 steps. I hope most of the rain misses us this time around. Alot of wind would help dry em out and we seem to be getting that now.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

The rain didnt miss us. I dumped just under 2" out of the rain guage this morning.


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## Capt. Kris Kelley (Jun 2, 2004)

*More Geese In The County*

*Goose Hunting*

First duck split saw us putting off all but the most adament Goose hunts with few birds in the county and simply no weather to kill them. We probably had less than 15,000 geese in Calhoun Co. up until a few days ago and now we're getting covered up as the Snows have started piling in. We are shifting into "high goose gear" now and look for some awesome hunts. Crop failures are rampant in the area and there are corn fields after corn fields that have been shredded. Staying with them as they hit a "buffet in every field" is going to be a challenge with sopping wet fields everywhere.

*Yesterday & Today*

We got pummeled again with a bunch of rain and field conditions are treacherous at best. We are hunting the Seadrift, Port O & Port Lavaca area. We've got a hunt going on as we speak and I just got off the phone....looks like about 9 on the ground with sloppy conditions, mud a plenty, guests missing too many, and "ultra-blue-bird". Other than that, "piece of cake".

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge
Home of Coastal Waterfowl
1-888-618-4868


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## goosekillr (Jul 11, 2007)

Nice pictures. I can't wait to see some pictures from this year with people getting some snows.


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## Salty Dog (Jan 29, 2005)

goosekillr said:


> Nice pictures. I can't wait to see some pictures from this year with people getting some snows.


Yeah, no kidding. I can put up a bunch from last year as well.


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## deke (Oct 5, 2004)

Was talking to a buddy that guides in the EL, Garwood, Nada, EC areas and he has hunted 4 times exclusively for geese and only has a handful of snows. Plenty of specks. He told me today at lunch they weren't even excited about goose hunting right now, and that is blasphemy coming from him,lol. Hopefully this front will help with the full moon, but right now the snow population is low, low, low here right now.


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## mwaites (Apr 25, 2006)

Strange year for sure. I am normally covered up with geese right now but as of Sunday, I had zero geese on the farm... I hunt a migration farm and the only thing I can figure out after watching geese fly over this farm for 4 days is that my roost pond and surrounding fields have not been harvested yet. Talk about late rice. But still have probably 500 acres of rice that is harvested, they just refuse to get in it. Hopefully they found it this week. I have yet to hear of any good goose hunts on the Texas coast.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

I bet that anyone hunting a feeding field tomarow is gonna whack em. That cold weather will get em moving. Combine that with a low ceiling and some wind and there should be some real good shoots.


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## grand poobah (Nov 6, 2007)

*GEESE*

Hold on to your guns, I've already heard geese are pouring onto the prairie as we speak. Just talk to Butch, he said are migrating in all day. I figured they would have too with it about to freeze from just north of Houston up. 
So just watch the bird reports after the weekend, everyone should be happy.

Grand Poobah


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## 4thbreak (May 20, 2005)

drove from Katy down to Port O'Connor today and still saw very few.


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## KappaDave (Aug 29, 2005)

It's not gonna' happen just yet. The moon and stars are not right. Soon after.... They'll be here, but the killin' will come in a couple weeks.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

Theres plenty of em down but since they arent moving to far from the roost alot of folks arent seeing em. The Vineyard roost has more on it now than Ive seen there in years. There are a ton South of El Campo and plenty West of Garwood. This cold arse weather should force em to move around more so more folks will start seeing em. I saw several flights of cacklers near Beasley and Taverner Tuesday evening which is about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. It was sleeting at the house in Nada this morning and snowing hard from East Bernard to Spur 10 in Rosenberg. They are calling for a low of 23 tonight. If I didnt have my Son this weekend I would be out in the morning but 23 is a little to cold for a 6 year old.


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## G K Chambers (Aug 12, 2005)

Chuck what is my drive down 59S going to look like this evening?


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

Gary, I will be leaving Stafford around 3 and going down 90. I imagine that the traffic just past the Brazos bridge is gonna be worse than normal but other than that it shouldnt be to big a problem. If you leave to late there may be some icing problems on over passes though. I have a report from Jeff this morning that we have geese and cranes on some places we can hunt. I may hit the geese Sunday but you need to get with me on the cranes. We should be able to whack em pretty good come the 19th.


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## OxbowOutfitters (Feb 17, 2006)

Hey... ya'll holla.. Id love to get in on it.. provided you have room



chuck leaman said:


> Gary, I will be leaving Stafford around 3 and going down 90. I imagine that the traffic just past the Brazos bridge is gonna be worse than normal but other than that it shouldnt be to big a problem. If you leave to late there may be some icing problems on over passes though. I have a report from Jeff this morning that we have geese and cranes on some places we can hunt. I may hit the geese Sunday but you need to get with me on the cranes. We should be able to whack em pretty good come the 19th.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

Mark, If I didnt have my boy Id go hunt em tomarow. I am gonna take a look out there tomarow afternoon. The places I am talking about are in Kenndleton/Taverner. The geese are there but the field conditions are gonna suck. Call me around 3 tomarow afternoon.


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## OxbowOutfitters (Feb 17, 2006)

just holla.. Ive got to get the # to the Guy Gary got those deekes from.. I told Doc I HAVE To get a 1/2 doz...


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## DUKFVR (Aug 19, 2004)

A couple of Buddies of mine just drove the Garwood Prairie around 1693 ,333 & south toward 1300. No geese to speak of in that area. A few thousand off 1300 ,but Gwood area just west of town nothing seen on the ground. Few out west on 333 past the curves. It was snowing real hard toward Ganado South into Victoria. Fields in the area were showing white allready.


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## G K Chambers (Aug 12, 2005)

Thanks for the heads up Chuck. They're saying 3" in the cowport come sundown and I'm getting curious about how long my usual 3 & and a half 
hour run will take.


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## lbm8156 (Dec 8, 2008)

We have quite a few good groups of geese in Mont Belvieu area. We just got our second growth of rice cut last week, and they have been here since wednesday. They have been trickling in, mostly small groups of 15 and 30.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

DUKFVR said:


> A couple of Buddies of mine just drove the Garwood Prairie around 1693 ,333 & south toward 1300. No geese to speak of in that area. A few thousand off 1300 ,but Gwood area just west of town nothing seen on the ground. Few out west on 333 past the curves. It was snowing real hard toward Ganado South into Victoria. Fields in the area were showing white allready.


David, they must have moved because there was a ton of birds in the 333 area Sunday. Let me know when you and Ted are ready to hunt some geese in Taverner and Beasley.


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## DUKFVR (Aug 19, 2004)

chuck leaman said:


> David, they must have moved because there was a ton of birds in the 333 area Sunday. Let me know when you and Ted are ready to hunt some geese in Taverner and Beasley.


They must be further west past the shooting range. We haven't had birds east of there all season in any kind of numbers. I forgot how to goose hunt allready. LOL!! The ducks have been paying dearly though!!


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

Yep. Our stuff over there is past the shooting range. I have only goose hunted 1 time. Been killing the heck out of ducks though. We have birds on the ground we can hunt near Taverner but that wet row crop is a killer. I still might have a go at it Sunday though.


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## twdjr (May 8, 2005)

chuck leaman said:


> Yep. Our stuff over there is past the shooting range. I have only goose hunted 1 time. Been killing the heck out of ducks though. We have birds on the ground we can hunt near Taverner but that wet row crop is a killer. I still might have a go at it Sunday though.


The only concentration of birds in the area are the ones at your yellow barn roost. They were sitting there next to the roost Wed. Drove the country through there Wed & this morning coming back from South Texas. Couldn't find a goose on the ground between 71 & the shooting range from just north of Rauns to 1693. Found some groups south of Rauns & got a report from someone scouting Provident City area. There are some groups in that area. Garwood has been changed to Deadwood.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

I havent seen much East of there since early November. The Beasley/Taverner area has more birds early than Ive ever seen there in early December. I went and watched em Sunday morning since there was no way I could take my Son into that field to hunt. The Moore Ranch roost was loaded but alot of birds came in from the West as well so I know where alot of the East Bernard/Lissie geese are going. There was a big bunch of birds that got up North of our place on 333 Saturday evening as well as the ones across from our roost. We had some get in one of our rice fields Saturday but they kept trading back and forth between our place and the one just East across 114 from there. Its been a strange year for geese. There are some huge groups South of El Campo.


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## MattyMaster (Mar 28, 2006)

*Kappa*

So, Kappa you say in a couple of weeks. So around Xmas? Hell might as well wait till Jux box season. This is going to be one ****ty year no matter how you look at it. Pull up the post from last season around this time. The braggers threads were comming in everyday! Not a one Yet! No geese, and piass poor hatch. It's a die'n breed on the gulf coast. Stay'n in the stand this year!


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## Capt. Kris Kelley (Jun 2, 2004)

*It's Raining Snow, Seadrift Goose Hunting*

As I said a little bit earlier in this post, with our duck season closed we are shifting into "high goose gear". Weather seems a little bit more advantageous but the fields are in horrible condition. Rain, more rain, threat of rain, rain in the forecast, and then somemore rain, and by the way "it's raining", ok misting.

These birds are hung up, of course, in a failed corn field and that row crop is something to behold when it's wet. We pulled off an 81 bird shoot out of it this morning with the Jack F. party including all of our Specks and the rest being a mixture of Snow and Ross including this "Blue Phase" beauty. Capt. Jake Huddleston was on the calls.

We did our best to pick up the cripples but "sailers" were just beyond retrieving. We probably left another 15-20 in the fields, getting around is just next to impossible and deep walking into the fields "is impossible". The dogs did the best they could. There's a few pictures of what the Caracara's and Buzzards were up to just in the short duration of our hunt.

We'll take some more weather, maybe trim the rain back a bit so we can at least get around without doing $1,500 worth of damage everywhere we go.

Capt. Kris Kelley
Castaway Lodge, Inc.
109 W. Austin
Seadrift, TX 77983
1-888-618-4868 Office
361-785-4487 Fax
361-648-3474 Cell


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## G K Chambers (Aug 12, 2005)

Capt. Chris-
Is that Capt. Jake holding the bird in the 4th photo?

Never mind....gave the post a closer reading.

Is that Kevin standing next to him in the last photo?

Chuck-

Snow quit north of El Campo on Friday. Had to break sheet ice a mile and a half out into the marsh on Saturday but I found them:










Hunting solo over 7 dozen Deadlys.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

Thats a long walk back with all those geese. My boy was mad when we got home Friday and there wasnt any snow in Nada. He was even madder when we went into El Campo for a Christmas tree and there was snow all over. The crane numbers in Beasley are outstanding. They are in for it next week.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

I saw a ton of geese on the way in to Stafford this morning. From Hunt Rd off of 3013 all the way up 90 to East Bernard there were birds in the air. All of them were were heading North to feed with the exception of a few thousand that were in a rice field between 3013 and 102 and a few thousand that were heading East. The Garwood/Nada birds location is still a mystery with the only good concentration of birds there to the West near the 333/ cr 114-173 area and Northwest of there.


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## mark waring (Jul 31, 2006)

We hunted just off 114 north of 333 for five days in a row during Thanksgiving and those birds were there then. I was told that particular farmer doesnt allow hunting. That hurts!!


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

mark waring said:


> We hunted just off 114 north of 333 for five days in a row during Thanksgiving and those birds were there then. I was told that particular farmer doesnt allow hunting. That hurts!!


With as many as there were over there it shouldnt take em long to eat what they were on and move on.


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## MattyMaster (Mar 28, 2006)

have 3 farms holding around 30K birds. going to be a slaughter this weekend.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

I finally saw a few groups of snows on the ground around Nada and closer to Garwood yesterday. There were also geese over the house in Nada in large numbers the last 2 evenings and nights so maybe they are moving back into the area East of the shooting range. There are still good numbers of geese in Beasley and Taverner and to answer a question I recieved but cant seem to figure out how to get back in and reply to we hunt some properties off of 1875 and back off of Engel and Koym roads. We got almost 2 more inches of rain in Nada Friday. Enough already.


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## 4thbreak (May 20, 2005)

chuck leaman said:


> We got almost 2 more inches of rain in Nada Friday. Enough already.


I know some goose hunters got a rude awkening Saturday morning when they rolled up to find their field completely flooded. That rain Friday was something else. I would have loved to watch someone try and hunt a plowed field last weekend.


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## chuck leaman (Jul 15, 2004)

You almost need a snorkel to goose hunt this year. I heard that there was a really good goose hunt this morning West of Garwood in the fog. More details as I get em.


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