“September” In March”

[Ron Zega]

Date: March 1st and 2nd

Location: Southern New York

Sunrise/Sunset: 6:30am / 5:46pm

Weather: Snow/ Ice

Temperature: 15-25

Wind: W/NW 10-15

Equipment Used: Avery® 6 Slot Motion Decoy Bags, Greenhead Gear® FFD Pro-Grade Lesser FB Decoys, Greenhead Gear® Hunter Series FB Goose Decoys, Greenhead Gear® Pro-Grade Goose Shells, Avery® Finisher Blinds, Avery ® Power Hunters, Avery ® Snow Covers for Finisher and Power Hunter Blinds, Avery® Finisher Blind Bag, Avery® Super Flag, Avery® Fleece Skull Cap, Avery ® Fleece Callers Gloves, Avery® Fleece Hand Muff, Avery® Fleece Neck Gaiter.

Hunters: Arliss Reed, Rob Velucci, Andy Steiner, Matthew Shawl, and Avery® Pro-Staffer Ron Zega

Journal Notes:
Hunting Canada Geese in March? All the guys that I hunt with had been anxiously waiting for this season to open, since the close of our regular season in January. It is the first year of the March season in New York and it was only open in the “Southern Zone.” This special test season was intended to reduce the number of resident geese, before they start to build nests and lay eggs. The Southern Goose hunting zone in NY is not an area that I or my buddies know well, so a few scouting trips were planned, many miles racked up on the trucks, and through a group effort, a good pile of birds had been located. With permission granted on a cornfield with manure spread on it, we all waited with that opening day excitement we all know. Opening morning, we woke up to about 5 inches of fresh snow and began the hour and a half ride to our field. Thanks to the snow covers, we had no problem hiding the Finishers and Power Hunters on the edge of the spread of GHG® lessers, honkers, and shells.

Right before first light the birds were bumped off their roost on the river by another group of hunters, but it didn’t take them long to start coming back. The fact that goose hunting had been closed in that zone for about a month and a half, along with the cold temps and blowing snow that day, the birds wanted in to our field real BAD. The big honkers decoyed great all morning and we had our limit of 25 geese by about 10:30.

We made a few calls after we got picked up and out of the field and it sounded like everybody was having pretty good luck across the rest of the zone, so we went to get some lunch. With a good number of uneducated birds in the immediate area of our field and lack of a better option, we decided to hunt the same field the next day. A risky maneuver in some instances, but we were confident that we would at least be able to work a few more birds in.



L-R Andy, Rob, Arliss, Matthew, Avery ® Pro-staffer Ron Zega








Day 2:
We made the same haul out to the field after a good night’s rest and we were happy to see that the geese had come back into the field in the evening and were roosted back on the river where they had been the day before. Set out a totally different looking spread than the day before, more broken up into smaller groups, with a few pairs here and there. Everyone got hidden in their blinds, loaded up, checked the time, 10 minutes to legal, and then we waited. Same group of guys moved the geese off that section of river and set up their water spread. Weather couldn’t have been more different, bluebird skies, calm winds, highs in the high 30’s, no precipitation, and no birds in the sky either. We all agreed that the geese were going to show up at some point and since nobody had anything else going on, we stuck it out. We had knocked a few down by lunchtime, but our best shooting came between 4:00 and 5:00 pm, when the honkers came in for a before roost snack. Some of the flocks decoyed well, others you could tell remembered us from the day before. When the smoke cleared, we had another 18 birds on the ground, 1 with a band, and decided to call it a day. The end results really made the all day wait worthwhile in the end.



L-R Matthew, Arliss, Rob, Avery ® Pro-staffer Ron Zega

[wbfowler777]

nice pictures. looks like a good hunt way to go on the bling to!

[mike.]

where was the band from? was it a resident? Anyways, nice hunts. Wish we had a season right now, there are geese EVERYWHERE, and a few thousand in my buddies field. They arent there during season though lol

[E. Smith]

Real nice job on the band congrats. Nice pictures and way to get after em.

[GooseSlayer140]

The goose was banded in Chase Mills. It is just under Willson Hill WMA. It was banded in 2005 as an adult bird.

[cy younger3538]

nice job guys, i wish we had a spring season, congrats on the bling.

[dahmer]

Awesome Job Guys!!!!

[Arliss Reed "Cuz"]

Of the 4 banded geese that I heard of getting shot in the NY March season, they were all banded in NY, and all but 2 were shot in different areas spread all over the southern part of NY.

[NYBackwater]

Nice JE Ronny, it shaped up to be a successfull March season. Congrats Mathew on the band.

[Michael Reed]

Awesome photos boys!