Seniors go on snow goose hunting trip
By Devon Smithson
Posted March 30, 2016
This past weekend, four young men by the names of Sam Roring, Michael Roth, Bryce Haugly, and myself, Devon Smithson, traveled seven hours to Redfield, South Dakota to hunt the leading edge of the snow goose migration.
For three weeks leading up to the hunt, Roring and I searched for a guide. We finally found one out of Aberdeen, South Dakota. The Saturday before the trip our guide backed out so we were more than upset. Roring searched and called multiple different guides but they were all booked. We had almost lost all hope until Roring finally found one, The Snow Goose Commanders. We got everything set up for a three day hunt. We were stoked between watching videos on YouTube and looking at regulations that said we didn't need plugs in our shotguns and there is no limit on snow geese.
We left after school Thursday, loaded up and headed on our journey. As soon as we got into South Dakota, we were seeing thousands of birds and our hearts were pumping. We finally got to Redfield about 11:30 p.m. and found out we had to be up by 2:45 a.m. Bryce and Sam went to bed and Mike and I stayed up so we were all tired.
It was time, we woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to shoot some birds. We drove to the field and set up 1,100 decoys. We saw thousands of geese and only shot a few that came in due to the excitement, distance and horrible shooting. We packed up everything, even the decoys, and got ready for the next morning by setting up the decoys in a cornfield. Our guide had scouted the day before. We all had a good feeling about this spot. I don't remember the first few hours of the day because I took a nap. When I woke up I saw a goose circling so I hid and watched the bird. I looked to my right and the sky was black with geese coming right at us. They were circling our decoys. Our guide did an amazing job calling and talking with the birds. They got into what we call a tornado, which is a blackout of birds at all different heights coming down they only came down to about 70 yards and headed out, afterwards I asked the guide, ‘’How many birds do you think that was?’’ He said ‘’ I wouldn't hesitate to say 5,000’’. After that we shot at four or five more and headed out. Almost the same thing in the afternoon hunt.
The third and final day of our three day hunt we only had the morning hunt because we wanted to get home before to late so we could sleep before school the next day. Mike fell asleep before daylight due to warm weather and lack of sleep and ended up sleeping for 5 ½ hours. By far we had the best set up yet but it was the worst weather no wind and sunny so the birds were flying a mile up, and wanted nothing to do with our decoys. Then BAM! Three in a row. Through all the shooting, Mike never woke up or heard us shoot, he had no idea we shot any birds.
Thanks to our guide Mark, we had an amazing time and a great experience. We packed up our things and headed home even though we really didn't want to, but we will always have the memories of this senior trip!
Posted March 30, 2016
This past weekend, four young men by the names of Sam Roring, Michael Roth, Bryce Haugly, and myself, Devon Smithson, traveled seven hours to Redfield, South Dakota to hunt the leading edge of the snow goose migration.
For three weeks leading up to the hunt, Roring and I searched for a guide. We finally found one out of Aberdeen, South Dakota. The Saturday before the trip our guide backed out so we were more than upset. Roring searched and called multiple different guides but they were all booked. We had almost lost all hope until Roring finally found one, The Snow Goose Commanders. We got everything set up for a three day hunt. We were stoked between watching videos on YouTube and looking at regulations that said we didn't need plugs in our shotguns and there is no limit on snow geese.
We left after school Thursday, loaded up and headed on our journey. As soon as we got into South Dakota, we were seeing thousands of birds and our hearts were pumping. We finally got to Redfield about 11:30 p.m. and found out we had to be up by 2:45 a.m. Bryce and Sam went to bed and Mike and I stayed up so we were all tired.
It was time, we woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to shoot some birds. We drove to the field and set up 1,100 decoys. We saw thousands of geese and only shot a few that came in due to the excitement, distance and horrible shooting. We packed up everything, even the decoys, and got ready for the next morning by setting up the decoys in a cornfield. Our guide had scouted the day before. We all had a good feeling about this spot. I don't remember the first few hours of the day because I took a nap. When I woke up I saw a goose circling so I hid and watched the bird. I looked to my right and the sky was black with geese coming right at us. They were circling our decoys. Our guide did an amazing job calling and talking with the birds. They got into what we call a tornado, which is a blackout of birds at all different heights coming down they only came down to about 70 yards and headed out, afterwards I asked the guide, ‘’How many birds do you think that was?’’ He said ‘’ I wouldn't hesitate to say 5,000’’. After that we shot at four or five more and headed out. Almost the same thing in the afternoon hunt.
The third and final day of our three day hunt we only had the morning hunt because we wanted to get home before to late so we could sleep before school the next day. Mike fell asleep before daylight due to warm weather and lack of sleep and ended up sleeping for 5 ½ hours. By far we had the best set up yet but it was the worst weather no wind and sunny so the birds were flying a mile up, and wanted nothing to do with our decoys. Then BAM! Three in a row. Through all the shooting, Mike never woke up or heard us shoot, he had no idea we shot any birds.
Thanks to our guide Mark, we had an amazing time and a great experience. We packed up our things and headed home even though we really didn't want to, but we will always have the memories of this senior trip!