Hunting for a goose in the spring

Hunting for geese is much more difficult than a duck: it requires a good knowledge of the habits of this bird, the ability to perfectly camouflage and shoot accurately. Migrating to very long distances, geese, as a rule, stop for feeding and rest in the same places.

In our country they hunt mainly for the gray goose, the white-fronted goose, the buzzler and the boar, all the other breeds, and more than 15 of them, are considered to be migratory, passing.

In accordance with the Decree of the Government of Russia adopted in 2008, which defines the rules for obtaining objects of the animal world, goose hunting in the spring should be conducted with profiles and stuffed animals from the shelter. Caravans of geese can appear on migration practically throughout the country, and shoot them in intermediate areas, where they stop to rest and feed themselves.

There are several ways to hunt geese during their flight in the spring. This is to watch them while flying to water from the feeding area, setting up a scraping in the form of a pit on a hill or on the shore of a reservoir, applying a trap in a disguised boat when the route passes through reed thickets, using profiles simulating a floating bird, etc.

Hunting for a goose in the spring, as, indeed, in the fall, is very productive, but inveterate hunters know that each season has its own characteristics, because even the habits of a bird vary depending on the season.

You can not scatch out across the pack, you need to definitely cure a particular bird, since during an unscathed shooting a very large percentage of misses.

Spring goose hunting is much easier in the field than on the spill. If the weather is set cold, and the high water is small, and the grass in the meadows practically does not grow, the geese in search of food rush to treeless swamps and fields.

The goose is usually less alert and pointed in the spring, which is explained by the fact that flying through autumn from the north through vast spaces, the goose develops negative experience from the huge number of shots that accompany it along the entire route, and young, newly born chicks do not yet know about Waiting for dangers.

Hunting for a goose in the spring begins with an exploration of the area. This is done in order to find out when and where birds will fly for feeding. It is also necessary to establish and the time of their departure, which, as a rule, starts in the mornings from three or four hours. In the fields the first white-fronted goose appears, followed by the bean goose.

For feeding geese leave their sleeping places not together, but in small groups, taking off at short intervals. As a rule, they fly on one specific route, however, reaching the field, they do not immediately sit down, but circling above it, as if looking for danger.

Hunting for a goose in the spring on the territory of Russia takes about about sixteen days, when the birds return from the winter quarters to the places chosen for nesting.

There is an erroneous opinion that spring hunting for geese is an easy task: you just need to drive in a nearby jeep to nearby bushes, turn on an electric decoy, get a weapon, sit comfortably on a chair and shoot. However, this is far from the case, and therefore only one percent of such mountain-hunters return home with an enviable trophy.

Hunting for geese, in the spring or in the autumn, is the hardest work: it is the search for a good hunting place, and digging a trench, sometimes leading to bloody calluses, and dragging heavy equipment, stuffed animals, profiles, and in addition heavy dirt boots. Not every hunter can withstand this.

One of the avid goose hunters, who was familiar with all the rules of such catching, was writer S.T.Aksakov: his notes in many ways help modern amateurs of this lesson.