The waterfowling season could not end without one last hunt.
This year's harvest for me and my hunting partners was fair, nothing like two years ago. One field gave us 98 geese in the 2008-09 season. The birds this year just seemed to be on different flight pattern.
Rich Partak of Marseilles, Jim DaRosa of Lockport and I closed out the season by hunting on the last day of January. Winds were howling with gusts up to 40 m.p.h. Snow was flying horizontally and the birds were a mile high in the sky. The wind chill was bitterly cold. It was brutal.
"At our age, we're either real men or just crazy to be out on a day like today." Partak said.
I could not help but agree that it was a little crazy. The three of us have a combined age of 189 years. Nonetheless, we love to hunt.
From our blind near Braidwood, we saw literally thousands of geese. They started flying at about 2 in the afternoon and were going in all directions. We called them. We used flags to get their attention. We even had more than 100 full body and motion decoys set in the field. Nothing worked. The birds were flying right over our blind, but well out of range.
So the last day of the season went without a shot. It was fun, however, because we had plenty of time to talk about our fishing and hunting trips during the 2010 seasons and what is yet to come in 2011.
We're not that far now from open water fishing and other hunting seasons.
In the middle of February, Powerton Lake near Pekin will open for boaters. Many Chicago area anglers will head there for their first open water fishing trip of the year.
On March 1, Braidwood Lake will reopen. This power plant lake will have hundreds of boating anglers on the water no matter what the weather is like. The only thing that will hold them back is high winds. If water gets too rough, the DNR will keep the ramps closed.
Opening day for LaSalle Lake is not yet set, but it's usually in mid-March.
All through March and April, Illinois River anglers will be in pursuit of the spawning saugers from Starved Rock to Henry. Some anglers are out there right now even though most boat ramps are frozen. I've heard of some anglers using small jon boats that they can lift off the trailer and drag to the water's edge. These are truly die-hard anglers.
There is a special conservation order offering a light goose season for snow, blue and Ross' geese, which runs now to the end of March. For these birds, you'll have to head to Southern Illinois.
In early April, we'll have the spring turkey season.
Sure, it would have been fun to close the goose season with more success; but it really didn't matter. Getting out with some friends is really what counts.
My shotgun is cleaned and put away for awhile. Now I'm sorting through the baits in my tackle boxes and checking my boat to make sure that everything is ready for the first trip in 2011. The hardest thing to do right now is decide if I'll be going to the warm waters of Powerton for bass or to the Illinois River for sauger. No matter where I go, it will be fun for sure.
Good cause: The Walk on Water charity ice fishing derby for the Andrea Lynn Cancer Fund will be this Saturday at Bangs Lake. For more information, go to icebenefit.com.Read More ...
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