goose question

[FreeLiner]

shot a couple of geese a couple of weekends ago and had a cripple swin out to deep water. ran and got the boat to chase it down and the bird dove in 52' of water. shut the motor off and waited and the bird never surfaced. water was fairly calm so i don't think i could have missed it when it came up. looked for it for about 45 minutes, but nothing! has anyone had an experience like this?

[HuntinCosta]

Hunt with a well trained retriever. and yes its happened and the dog comes out on top 9/10 of the time.

[sprigdog]

i've killed a shit ton of geese and have never seen one dive and stay down. probably did the snorkel trick on you.
as far as the dog thing, a fairly healthy goose swimming will out swim a dog 9 out of 10 times.

[FreeLiner]

we had a dog with us and by the time he was on the first bird this one kicked it into high gear. damn things can move. took me about three minutes to get the boat and come around to where the bird was and he had traveled a couple of hundred yards

[HuntinCosta]

Originally posted by sprigdog:
i've killed a shit ton of geese and have never seen one dive and stay down. probably did the snorkel trick on you.
as far as the dog thing, a fairly healthy goose swimming will out swim a dog 9 out of 10 times.

I disagree with that one, when hunting with a dog in good shape that will not give up, i have very rarely seen a goose get away. but obviously ive not had the experience you have.

[Gander]

The goose probably did the old snorkel trick like Sprigdog stated. I’ll give you a little advice for next time. If you lose one this way, just wait 30 minutes and then walk the nearest shoreline. They may head out to big water, but they will eventually circle back to the shore. They will lie as flat as a pancake along the shore, usually in a crevice with just their bill out of the water.

Huntincosta, I will disagree with you on this one. I have hunted geese for over 20 years and a goose with lots of life left will outsmart a good dog. I’ve done the drill many of times with my now retired yellow lab. The dog may be able to catch up to the goose, but once they get close geese will dive and resurface 20 yards away. If you have some chop the dog will not see the goose and will rely on you for hand signals, but the goose will do the same thing, dive and resurface. I’ve watched my dog do circles waiting for a goose to come back up, but from a dogs perspective, they are very hard to see when they swim below the surface with just their bill sticking out. Now in small water a dog can chase them up into the weeds and get em every time. The problem is when you have a big water situation the goose has the upper hand. Your best bet is to run them down with a boat and dispatch them when they resurface with a 12 ga. It’s always a good idea to have someone on shore keeping an eye on the goose to provide you direction when you get the boat going.

[DK]

We always use a followup shots on cripples if they show any sign of being able to swim or dive, but the places we hunt they can disappear quick.Actually have an older pump with a TIGHT choke and cheap steel shot dedicated to that.

[jbeck]

Freeliner, I had that happen to me out on Murray one day. It was rough and choppy. We shot a couple of geese and got one in the boat and went to go get the other that was crippled and the thing dove as we approached in the boat. I told my buddy to stop so we could shoot it again but he thought we could just pick it up. Neither of us had ever seen a goose dive like that. We waited for it to come up but never saw it in all the choppy water. I wont make that mistake again. I keep shootin until their head is down.

[sprigdog]

what Gander said is dead on what i meant to say, he just had more time
i've had 3 retrievers in my life, my 2nd was a 100# golden that had feet like paddles, if the goose only had a 30 yd head start he usually would catch up, but by then they both were just small objects in the distance.
my current dog is a 55# clf, she's got paws the size of a collie, i wont even send her in the big water for a goose that has its head up. small water where the goose will try and hide,sure.

[DRDUCK]

Gander is right on. Had a Goose take my 85# Golden under the water with him cause he would not let go. The dog got the best of him after about 10 mins. Got worried for a while

[CAMO SNOB]

Originally posted by FreeLiner:
took me about three minutes to get the boat and come around to where the bird was and he had traveled a couple of hundred yards

Learn how to shoot. [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[BigBrother]

A round or two of Hevishot to dispatch a cripple is good. If you have none or are financially challenged...shoot under the cripple with your steel shot. The shot will skip across the water with enough of a delay that it will cause the bird to start to flap or lift it's wing enough for the shot to enter a soft spot instead of bouncing off of the birds "armor plated" wings.

[FreeLiner]

QUOTE]Learn how to shoot. [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [/QB][/QUOTE]

Well, since this was the eigth goose down out of a group of ten we were kind of out of shells, but I know

[img]graemlins/worthless.gif[/img]

so I never brought it up,

but since you asked,



I'll try better next time [img]graemlins/fu2.gif[/img]

[sprigdog]

touche`

[CAMO SNOB]

I thought your gold hunter would hold 7 not ten? oh well you'll need the extra three. [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[GobblerHntr]

would you please resize that picture to a smaller size. Thanks!

[FreeLiner]

that looks better, Infanview works and is easy to use. thanks squatty

[GobblerHntr]

[img]graemlins/rocker.gif[/img]

Now I finally got to read the thread. I got tired of scroll'n back and fourth. I kept loose'n my place and would have to start back at the begin'n.

Nice Wackage! You and Gander need to hook up!

[DuckDropper]

i have experienced this several times especially with diving ducks. ringers and bluebills especially will dive down and actually clinch their bills on reeds underwater and drown themselves and when they die, their bills will stay clinched.

[BigBrother]

Originally posted by DuckDropper:
i have experienced this several times especially with diving ducks. ringers and bluebills especially will dive down and actually clinch their bills on reeds underwater and drown themselves and when they die, their bills will stay clinched.

I used to think the same thing. I have witnessed a greenhead actually swimming under water. Chasing a cripple and had the boat right over the top of him...he was at least a foot under and "flying" through the water. I believe they just get away and hide in the reeds.