This past week, I finally took a day off and got in some hunting and fishing. I always enjoy the mixed bag scenario and employ it whenever I can.

September is one of my favorite months. I typically have all my deer hunting preparations finished and get to relax a bit. Not this year though. I’m breaking all of my own rules and continuing to work a property into September until the job is done. I haven’t had much free time lately, so a float down the Chenango for geese and fish was a much needed break. I prefer a kayak or small flat bottom canoe for such situations, but some alterations may be needed. The scenery alone is reward enough for the effort, but the prospect of a good fish or hand full of geese is icing on the cake.

I recommend being out of the woods by the first of September, to allow time for them to cool down. I try to hang all of my stands and cut all of my shooting lanes and trails by the first, but the hill is killing me. It’s only a 250 acre lot but it’s nothing but steep step ridge crossed by grown in logging trails. I have to hack in trails, mark them, drag in stands, hang them, cut shooting lanes, and clear walking trails of debris. This has proven to be more of a task than I had expected. I will counteract my late presence by not hunting the location until around the second week of season. This will give the deer some time to settle down and return to their normal travel pattern. After realizing I had to work on the property a couple weeks longer, I decided it was time for a day off. It was almost the first, so I decided to get the goose gun, kayak, and a pole out.

This trip out, I was joined by my buddy, Scott Henzler. He had fished the Chenango many times, but was a first time goose hunter. While preparing for the hunt, Scott called and texted several times with questions about what would be needed. We started with the important stuff and went from there. I explained what a duck stamp was, where to get it, and how to get his HIP certification. He then went to get his hunting license and some goose loads. I prefer BB shot, but all shot for ducks and geese must be steel, so I recommended he get those. Lots of things were talked about from how to position the boat for a shot, to how many rounds were allowed in the gun and how many geese we were allowed to shoot. I told him that no duck plug was required for early goose and that you were actually aloud to have up to a seven round capacity. The best part is the goose limit was now 15 a day , too bad you can’t fit more than five large geese in the belly of a Kayak without running out of room. I thought I had told him everything, so we headed out.