To kill time during the day when the geese aren't flying I'll sometimes resort to a training regimen the dogs know as simply "the game" (and they do know it by name!). They have to sit at the edge of the field while I walk out and stash a dead goose for them to find. I can usually get as far away as I want as long as they can still see me. I think the record is about 3/4 mile. They aren't released till I get back to them. Anyway, today was wierd. Hardly any geese flew early in the morning. A few started to trickle around here and there well after nine. Then it went dead. Four came by early all set up like they'd land but kept going around the hedgerow and out of my sight, shut up, and evaporated. Not far in that direction was a large dugout for field irrigaton and I thought maybe they went there. Nothing happening so figured I'd go check it out. Darned if I didn't get the drop on a pair of hunge honkers. Dumped one on the first shot as it jumped and blew the stuffings out of the other one with the last two shots but it flew off trailing a leg (I hate it when that happens!). She won't make it. Dogs had fun making a water retieve for a change. They both shared in the retrieve right up to my hand. What was unusual is that Opal was able to share the breast for a change. Usually she only grabs a wing, head, or leg while Pearl does the classic grasp. Pup was only a spectator today. I was thinking about hanging it up and continuing on to the truck but just then a dozen geese came from the south headed right for my decoys. I was two hundred yards or more away from the set. Nuts! I ran but it was no use. Away they went. Sun cleared the morning haze and it started to heat up. I was afraid to sit down or I'd fall asleep like I did yesterday and dream of geese coming into the decoys when in reality it was actually happening only to awake too late to get a shot. So ... "Should we play the game?" Yeah, yeah .... First time the dogs did a fine tandem retrieve again with Opal sharing the classic breast clasp with Pearl. Second attempt I figured I'd go at least a half mile and hide it in the adjoining alfalfa field for a real challenge (dogs do have trouble with scent in alfalfa!). I was just about returned to the dogs when I noticed two small bunches again coming from the south. I ran like beejezus hollering at the dogs to hit the brush which they did (they know the routine well). Those birds had to have seen me so figured I was screwed. But they set their wings, drifted by too far out, but then the second group of four spun around and came back presenting me with another perfect setup. Too perfect. They looked to be a ways out there and it wasn't till I fired the first shot that I noticed they were right over the nearest round bale, perhaps only 25 to 30 yards. I cut my lead and hammered home the second shot but the bird caught itself so I popped it again. It managed to glide off into the alfalfa before gently landing. The dogs were off and out of the jungle when I shot and istantly I lost sight of them. I kept quiet and waited to see what they could do. Soon I could see Pearl returning in the distance from across the stubble field with the stashed goose. But before she could get back Opal was pushing her way to me through the chest high tall grass with the second bird. It was dead. I was very pleased. Pearl probably did not see the second goose fall but immediately made for the one she knew for sure was in the field. She is very good about marking where I drop the birds even at great distances (and her skill at marking makes me think she did not see the goose go down). Today I again needed six shots to get two geese. That's not very good for me (I'm usually batting at least five hundred on a bad day). The second goose appears to be a lesser honker. All four in that bunch were the same size and the racket they were making should have given me a clue but I didn't expect to see lessers or Richardson's this early. They usually come in with the snows and blues later on. I doubt this little honker is a juvenile because it was fully feathered (as opposed to the much larger bird shot earlier).

So what do you guys do to break the monotony during the slow hours? Read a book (or a girly magazine)? Play solitaire? Knitting? I don't advise playing with your dogs because it more often than not seems to attract the birds!

By the way, this is not the first time this has happened. I have often been caught in "the game" or checking the decoys. Keep your head down, move to cover in a straight line quickly but smoothly and most of the time they aren't spooked. Remember, the geese are moving in the sky and everythig on the ground will appear to be moving to them. Also, I'm not so sure the motion doesn't attract them! In fact, the Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever is trained to do just that, run up and down the beach in a particular fashion which, believe it or not, actually attracts the ducks. Foxes have been observed doing the same thing. A young black lab running into the decoys is also not always such a bad thing when the geese in the sky are eyeballing the setup. I have seen the geese almost land on top of my black dogs while they were making retrieves through the decoys. And this was well into the season after the geese had been shot up quite a bit. Go figure!

I like it.