A Money Hunt
Phil Taunton
Friday, October 26, 2007
Duck season in the late zone and goose season both open Saturday in our area.
And boy, do I have a waterfowl-related hunting story for you already!
Rick Clark, Jose Aranda, Joe Eubanks and Brandon Mendoza already have been on a successful hunt — a hunt worth $10,000. Wifeus already is on the bandwagon trying to organize a similar hunt in our community on the two local golf courses!
The Emporia area waterfowlers, along with Bill West and James Godfrey as backup, took part in the 8th Annual South Interlake 12/20 Canada Goose Hunt hosted by the city of Stonewall in Manitoba, Canada, on Sept. 28-29. The group bested a field of 20 other teams to garner the Championship.
Notables in this year’s shoot were Buck Gardner, a former Champion of Champions duck caller, and Shawn Stahl, a world goose calling champion. The Kansas boys did well considering all the local outfitters entered teams in this event. A youth event was also held featuring eight teams.
The South Interlake Canada Goose Hunt is a community function, and most of the social activities take place in Stonewall’s hockey arena with just about the whole town taking part in the festivities.
The hunters, along with dogs, made the 1,900-mile round trip in two trucks, each pulling a decoy and assorted gear trailer.
Friday’s agenda in Stonewall included a goose-calling session and a dog-training clinic.
The Contest: Each feeding field has a volunteer from the area assigned to it who scouts the waterfowl activity in the field for a week or more. Hunters draw for fields during Friday’s dinner, conduct a Sportsman’s Calcutta and also get the opportunity to chat with the volunteer who scouted their perspective field.
Good scouting information is essential to guarantee the success of any waterfowl hunt. This includes time the birds leave the water, their flight path to the feed fields, wind direction and placement of decoys.
On Saturday, the volunteer accompanies the team to its field, counts shots taken and makes note of the number of birds harvested. The volunteer then escorts the team back to the official weigh-in station. The four hunters get 20 shots to harvest 12 geese and, like a bass tournament, the team that harvests the most total weight is declared the winner.
The geese are then cleaned, wrapped and donated to a shelter for the homeless in Winnipeg.
Saturday’s hunt started at 4:30 a.m.
Joe, Brandon, Rick and Jose then went to their field and hunted from layout blinds spaced about five feet apart surrounded by about 80 full-body Canada decoys in a worked barley field. Green volunteer barley also was starting to emerge and played an important role in attracting the geese.
Brandon and Rick did most of the calling for the crew using Zink short reed calls. It took around 2 1/2 hours to harvest the 12 geese, with the hunters using 16 of their allotted 20 shells.
Sporting firearm, shot and choke, all the hunters used 12-gauge pump or semi-automatic shotguns with steel size BB shot. They chose to use modified chokes while shooting geese over decoys.
And dogs.
What is a hunt without dogs? Rick and Brandon were allowed to use their dogs to retrieve the downed birds. The dogs, both black Labrador retrievers, lay in the layout blinds alongside the hunters and remained steady until sent to retrieve.
Rick’s 10-month-old pup Emma did a creditable job, but, according to Clark, Brandon’s 7-year-old, Nikki, a finished retriever, is about the best dog he has ever seen. Both dogs were trained by the owners.
Saturday night’s banquet consisted of “melt in your mouth” brisket, cheesy potatoes and green beans. There, the hunters were given their award, and each team member received a Champion’s jacket. The winning weight for 12 geese was 136.46 pounds.
Joe Eubanks, with a bird that weighed 13.64 pounds, also was recognized as the winner of the largest goose contest.
It was the group’s sixth straight year of hunting in Manitoba and the second year the group participated in “the shoot” after being on the waiting list to enter four years in a row. Good things happen for those who wait. The team placed second in their first attempt and this year won the whole shooting match. The four were awarded $10,000 for their efforts, or should I say pleasure!
Recipe of the Week:
BBQ Goose Sandwiches
This recipe is provided compliments of our Emporia firefighters.
Filet goose breast from bone and cut into strips. Season with Head Country Seasoning. Sear strips in a skillet and then put in a crock pot for five hours with chicken broth. Drain and pull meat apart. Put meat back into the crock pot and add your favorite BBQ sauce and a little honey.
Cook for two more hours and serve on buns with pickle and chips.