I don't guide waterfowl hunts anymore but did years ago and so did several others who post here regularly. Dukfvr and twdjr did and have hunted geese a ton. They can back me up on this.
Geese are a different critter. You can scout it the day before and still get screwed. You can go in blind without ever seeing the field and burn them down. You just really never know how it will go until you get in there and get the birds flying. I have had many days where I was sure we were going to massacre them when it just didn't work out right. I have had many days that I went in thinking there was no way we were going to do well and I was just trying to get through a slow day so we could get on to better days ahead and out of the blue everything worked and we killed a big pile. On days I'd have bet the farm on being terrible.
I have also heard many times over the years of guys going on a goose hunt, see a bunch of geese but don't decoy but a handful and they are positive something was wrong with the spread or how they were hunting when in fact some days the birds just don't work. Some days they flock lock you and you get to watch 'em pour into another field. When it is good it is magic and when it isn't it sucks. That is goose hunting and that was what kept us mad at 'em. We were ALWAYS looking for paybacks for those bad days.
So maybe they didn't put in enough effort. You can't control the weather and the birds but you can control the effort you give. Maybe they should have turned the spread around. Maybe they should have known the field had been disced the day before. I don't argue that at all. But there is a good chance a bad day is a bad day and it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Maybe it would have, maybe it wouldn't. I know I would have turned the spread around as I have done lots of times before. And it sucks to reset it. But you have to do something. I have also killed a pile of them out of a backwards spread sitting in the wrong part of the spread after the wind turns and they work it like crazy anyway. I've shot them good sideways in the spread too after a wind change and they just kept coming. It's not ideal but it illustrates that on a good day when they want in there it doesn't matter and if they don't want in there turning the spread around probably won't matter either. Turning the spread around just shows effort to try and make the spread look right after an unexpected wind change. But if they don't want it you aren't going to see a night and day difference in how they work.
Anyone who has guided many goose hunts will tell you how they act. Anyone who says they get 'em every time is a liar. Anyone who tells you they can predict accurately when the birds will work well a liar. Some days you will predict it correctly and some days they are going to make a fool of you.
I'm not defending the outfit you hunted with. I am just trying to explain that nothing is certain in goose hunting. It's a numbers game. You have to go and go often to get on good shoots. Everyone wants to pick a day or two, jump in the spread and pile up 100. The odds of that happening are very low and getting lower every year.
Geese are a different critter. You can scout it the day before and still get screwed. You can go in blind without ever seeing the field and burn them down. You just really never know how it will go until you get in there and get the birds flying. I have had many days where I was sure we were going to massacre them when it just didn't work out right. I have had many days that I went in thinking there was no way we were going to do well and I was just trying to get through a slow day so we could get on to better days ahead and out of the blue everything worked and we killed a big pile. On days I'd have bet the farm on being terrible.
I have also heard many times over the years of guys going on a goose hunt, see a bunch of geese but don't decoy but a handful and they are positive something was wrong with the spread or how they were hunting when in fact some days the birds just don't work. Some days they flock lock you and you get to watch 'em pour into another field. When it is good it is magic and when it isn't it sucks. That is goose hunting and that was what kept us mad at 'em. We were ALWAYS looking for paybacks for those bad days.
So maybe they didn't put in enough effort. You can't control the weather and the birds but you can control the effort you give. Maybe they should have turned the spread around. Maybe they should have known the field had been disced the day before. I don't argue that at all. But there is a good chance a bad day is a bad day and it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Maybe it would have, maybe it wouldn't. I know I would have turned the spread around as I have done lots of times before. And it sucks to reset it. But you have to do something. I have also killed a pile of them out of a backwards spread sitting in the wrong part of the spread after the wind turns and they work it like crazy anyway. I've shot them good sideways in the spread too after a wind change and they just kept coming. It's not ideal but it illustrates that on a good day when they want in there it doesn't matter and if they don't want in there turning the spread around probably won't matter either. Turning the spread around just shows effort to try and make the spread look right after an unexpected wind change. But if they don't want it you aren't going to see a night and day difference in how they work.
Anyone who has guided many goose hunts will tell you how they act. Anyone who says they get 'em every time is a liar. Anyone who tells you they can predict accurately when the birds will work well a liar. Some days you will predict it correctly and some days they are going to make a fool of you.
I'm not defending the outfit you hunted with. I am just trying to explain that nothing is certain in goose hunting. It's a numbers game. You have to go and go often to get on good shoots. Everyone wants to pick a day or two, jump in the spread and pile up 100. The odds of that happening are very low and getting lower every year.
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