Northwest Minnesota Goose Hunt Thanksgiving Weekend 2005 Sometimes you can't plan for a hunt. This was one of those hunts. My brother wanted to find some open water over Thanksgiving vacation and see if there were any birds that were working the area. We were racing against sundown to see if we could even get on some water. Afterall, this was late November in northern Minnesota and Ice fishing is on our doorstep. We knew of only one lake that would even give us a chance and were on our way to get a few hours of shooting in before the sun dropped below the horizon. We arrived at the access, unloaded the canoe, and piled the decoys in. The entire time we were loading up, we heard the faint sound of Canadian geese in the distance. We were not sure if they were in the surrounding fields or if they were on the lake we were hunting but there were lots of them. We arrived at our spot, tossed the dekes out, and waited and waited while nothing happened. While we were waiting, we were able to locate where all the commotion was coming from and the honkers were at the other end of the lake!! Lots of geese were flying but it was hard to compete against a flock of 500+ birds on the other end of the lake. We had no choice but to sit and wait them out.

All I can say is what a hunt to close out the Minnesota waterfowl season. We're still not quite sure what spooked the geese but the entire flock lifted off the lake and started heading our direction. My brother and I exchanged glances and readied ourselves if the flock stayed within range. And did they ever!!! My brother yelled "Take 'Em!" and we unloaded! After emptying our shotguns, four honkers fell from the sky. Normally, we don't have any open water left in Northwest Minnesota but unseasonably warm temps kept one lake open that we could hunt. The geese knew this was the only open body of water as well as we watched flock after flock fly into the lake while we sat at the other end helpless. As much as I'd like to chalk this hunt up to skill, I think it was truly luck. We just happened to make some very good shots when the opportunity happened.