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Jesse's Hunting > Hunting Articles > Hunting Articles Archives > Enjoying a Post-Thanksgiving Tradition - Texas Style
Enjoying a Post-Thanksgiving Tradition - Texas Style
Chris Fullilove
- Texas
December 18, 2005
Texas geese take to the skies
The rice fields in Katy, Texas swarm with geese as the author and friends get ready for a great, post-thanksgiving shoot. |
This year I met up with Frank and his family, along with Butch Waggoner and Mason from Butch's Guide Service in Katy, Texas. Butch is a professional waterfowl guide on the Katy Prairie, drawing from more than 30 years of waterfowl experience and local area knowledge.
The Katy Prairie is composed of grain fields that are said to hold one of the densest populations of waterfowl in the United States, and luckily for us, we were about to experience it first hand. One of the reasons for the great waterfowl population is that rice farmers are able to pad the pocket book in the winter by re-flooding their fields to attract migratory waterfowl, and then leasing their farmland to waterfowl hunters.
Butch has access to hunt a variety of farmland within the Katy Prairie. He called the night before our hunt and indicated that he had just finished scouting the area we were going to hunt, and had identified a good roost pond not too far away. He waited until dark and then put out over 450 rag decoys in a nearby cut rice field. Our goal for the next morning would be to pull in the birds that were leaving the roost pond, as well as any birds that may be en-route to the area.
Butch met us bright and early the next morning and we followed him to the rice field he had scouted earlier. He handed out white parkas so that we would blend in with the large rag spread that he put out. We walked across the stubbled rice field and lay down along a levy, amid a sea of decoys. The weatherman had predicted a 5-10 mph wind, but as usual, the weatherman was wrong. The air was very still, with a light breeze picking up occasionally that would ruffle the rags a little.
As the morning awakened, so did the geese. Even though they came off the roost later than expected, birds flying by were already interested in our large Texas rag offering. As several large flocks layered the sky overhead, a group of four were working their way out of the sky and aligning themselves with our decoy spread.
Butch and Mason were watching the geese and working the calls back and forth with the birds. Everyone remained motionless and ready to rise up. The birds continued to work closer and closer until they were right above us, at which point Butch shouted, “Take em!”
Shotguns rose and sounded off in unison, dropping three of the four birds.
The morning continued to produce a couple of birds from each flock that flew by until we limited on speckle-bellies (white-fronted geese). Ironically, as soon as we limited on speckle-bellies, they started to decoy right into our spread. We continued to hunt for other geese species.
Busy dog
The retrievers got a workout as the author and friends knocked 'em dead. |
Before noon our party had enjoyed our best post-Thanksgiving hunt ever. We were bringing home 18 speckle-bellies, two lesser Canadians, two snows, and two ducks. We picked up the rags and started walking back to the vehicles. For some reason, the walk back to the truck becomes much easier while carrying several straps full of geese.
If you are looking to start your own waterfowl tradition, consider Butch’s guide service. Butch works hard and has valuable insight and waterfowl experience hunting the prairies outside of Houston, Texas. For more information, please visit Butch’s website, http://www.texashunting.net
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