Many duck and goose hunters know that the opening few days of the season is the time to get your birds before they become decoy-wary and know the difference between a good duck or goose call and a bad one.
Our first time out this year was seven days after the opener in northern Illinois. A warm front had just moved through the day before, and as we sat in our shoreline blind, the strong winds were telling us a cold front was moving through that day.
While these are not ideal conditions to hunt, anytime you're in the field or in a blind is a good day to hunt to me. So this day should be a good one.
Prior to even getting into the blind at 5:30 a.m., Tim Sipolt, owner of C & J Honkers Goose Club said, "We have some work to do."
We drove out to the blind while towing a large trailer loaded with full body goose decoys. Tim's opening orders of the day were "take 60 of these Big Foots and place them to the right of the blind on the grass near the water."
So myself and the other hunting partners for the day; Tom Bolbot of the Illinois Outdoor News Network and Stella Driscoll of Bass Pro Shops in Gurnee, Ill.; carried armloads of full body decoys and placed them near the blind and spread them out.
Tim then asked us to lay out about 80 half-shell goose decoys in an area just beyond the full body decoys in the short grass. Our second job was completed.
I asked excitedly, "Is it time to move into the blind?"
Tim said "Chauncey, you start moving the gear into the blind; Tom and Stella, we have about 50 goose silhouettes and six stand-up mallard decoys to place along the water's edge and we're done".
Now you might think that's a lot of decoys, but there were already about 80 floating decoys of mallards, geese and even some large floating decoys painted black.
With our spread of decoys looking like a convention of ducks and geese, we sat and watched as the sun broke the horizon to the east. Large flocks of geese were flying high overhead, using the wind to help them move south. These geese were so high they couldn't hear a call we made in the blind.
Shortly after sunup and legal shooting time, we stood and spoke between us.
A small flock of wood ducks flew through our area and made one quick hard right that would have impressed any pilot who has flown in combat. The woodies then made a fast landing in some flooded grass, just outside our area.
A short time later, we heard geese calling but could not locate them. The wind was playing tricks with the sound of their calling. What sounded left was behind us and what sounded right was above us.
Tim's sharp eye picked up on the birds flying just above the trees. He began his calling and was able to get a portion of the flock to come back and make their first pass.
Tim said, "Keep low. They are going to make another swing."
Tim's calling was spectacular. As he called several of the geese that were circling, all began to talk back as if they were calling for landing instructions.
All of a sudden, the geese stopped calling and we expected them to come in from right to left, landing into the wind. But to our surprise, they turned behind the blind and came in dead quiet from left to right with the wind at their backs.
Tim called the shot, "TAKE EM!" and three geese hit the water almost in unison.
Each shooter; Tom, Stella and myself picked a different goose and I think that even impressed Tim with his four decades of waterfowl hunting experience.
As we high-fived each other, Tim popped up with "Woodies on the left!"
In the blink of an eye, at the front of the blind, a small flock of wood ducks came through at about Mach2. Before any of us could respond with a good shot, Tim called to them and a few turned back, but stayed just out of reach of our guns. We held back.
As a few of them landed in the high grass just outside our area, Tim was able to get one to make another swing in front of the blind. Stella took him with a well-placed long shot using the right lead with the strong winds.
Tim even said, "Stella, not many people would have been able to take that bird with the speed he had, but you did good!"
Later that morning, Tom was able to take his second goose and followed that one up with a wood duck, also at Mach 2 in front of the blind. Stella rounded up the day with her second goose.
We all had to call it a day and pick up the several hundred decoys we put out earlier.
I asked Tim whether it was the number of decoys, the calling or what that made these birds come in.
"You have to make the area look comfortable and safe for the birds," Tim said, "Over the years, I have learned that mixing up the different decoys, ducks and geese, makes a more natural look. The more decoys they see from the air, the more interest they have in taking a second look. That's when you need to call to them and invite them in."
So a morning of waterfowl hunting with friends can also be a day of education on waterfowl hunting for the next time. Especially when you hunt with a guy like Tim Sipolt, who looks you in the eye and says, "Boys, the good old days of duck hunting is right now. Get out, enjoy it, teach it to someone else and shoot that goose that's coming in. TAKE EM!"