Last Friday’s weather system dropped up to three-inches of rain in parts of central Kansas. That’s great news to pond owners who watched their impoundments drop or go totally dry last summer. The moisture was a huge blessing for wheat farmers who haven’t had much moisture for their crops for more than a month.
But it sure complicated things for hunters wanting to be out the next to last weekend of goose season.
Coby Stewart with his limit of geese from hunting amid Saturday's mud and muck in Butler County.
Before daylight Saturday morning Coby Stewart, Bill Mills and I slipped, slided and slogged our way to a Butler County pit blind in a field of very well-watered wheat. A draw behind the blind was filled with knee-deep water so I packed in a dozen floating decoys.
Amid the drizzle, clouds and wind, the geese coming from local lakes decoyed very well. Stewart and Mills each got a bird from a trio that came to the water spread. They each took a bird from a pair that passed over the field spread. No big bunches worked the decoys but a pair of geese headed for the water filled our collective limit of nine birds well before nine-o’clock.
It seemed like every inch of the hunters and hunting equipment was mud-encrusted when we finally made it to our trucks. I tossed a stick into the flooded draw so Hank swam enough to get relatively clean before letting him into Ol’ Red.
It was just Mills joining me Sunday morning and the field was down to just being muddy compared to the slop-fest of Saturday. Lots of sun, little wind, and wary birds offered few shot opportunities. We were toting three big geese when we trudged towards our truck.
Bill Mills watches for geese Sunday morning, a slower day than hunting in Saturday's drizzle and wind.
Muscles hurt far more from any other hunt because of the pounds of muck on my boots. It’ll be a while before I get all the dried mud off a few dozen decoys and the rest of my goose hunting gear.
They’ll be plenty of time for that after the season ends next Sunday.
And I never curse moisture in Kansas, especially after last year’s crippling drought.