Reelfoot Geese

[chimneyman]

Didn't want to hijack the other thread But wanted to see how many old folks goose hunted Reelfoot area in late 70s into the 80s. I've tried to tell youngsters just how good and how many geese used the Reelfoot area they don't believe me. Sure we had bad days weeks even years but when it was good it was unbelievable. We made our goose decoys by using a mold mixing in a foam compound and baking in an oven but damn they were indestructible. We hunted with about 500 decoys with couple hundred tires cut in half. I remember one day a migration was taking place and all day we watched flights of 50 to couple hundred come from the north way up high and then start spilling air and come into Isom I have no idea how many thousands we saw that day but it seemed like every goose in the world. Our best day we killed 52 legally. We had people waiting in their trucks for those that were hunting to limit out and leave then new guys would take their place. It was a different place back then if someone tried to build a new blind on the lake it was probably going to burn. Ok I'm finished but was fun to remember

 

[scn]

I never had the pleasure of hunting Reelfoot until it was pretty much over for the geese. I killed one in a field blind adjacent to the lake in the early nineties.

But, starting in the early seventies, I did a hunt up at the Ballard WMA most every year until the geese stopped coming down. We zeroed a few days with a bad blind draw, but limits were the norm. It was a special place to hunt geese, and the KY Fish and Wildlife folks were a big part in making it special. Great memories!

 

[Big Chief200]

Didn't want to hijack the other thread But wanted to see how many old folks goose hunted Reelfoot area in late 70s into the 80s. I've tried to tell youngsters just how good and how many geese used the Reelfoot area they don't believe me. Sure we had bad days weeks even years but when it was good it was unbelievable. We made our goose decoys by using a mold mixing in a foam compound and baking in an oven but damn they were indestructible. We hunted with about 500 decoys with couple hundred tires cut in half. I remember one day a migration was taking place and all day we watched flights of 50 to couple hundred come from the north way up high and then start spilling air and come into Isom I have no idea how many thousands we saw that day but it seemed like every goose in the world. Our best day we killed 52 legally. We had people waiting in their trucks for those that were hunting to limit out and leave then new guys would take their place. It was a different place back then if someone tried to build a new blind on the lake it was probably going to burn. Ok I'm finished but was fun to remember

I use to hunt it with my Dad and his friends and we used tires cut in half with a white x painted on one side and we killed hundreds of geese during the mid 70's to the mid 80's. I also had a goose pit in Ballard county Kentucky that killed on average 1200 Canada Geese a year and by the early 90's they quit migrating down that far.

 

[chimneyman]

I use to hunt it with my Dad and his friends and we used tires cut in half with a white x painted on one side and we killed hundreds of geese during the mid 70's to the mid 80's. I also had a goose pit in Ballard county Kentucky that killed on average 1200 Canada Geese a year and by the early 90's they quit migrating down that far.

I've heard different things on why they quit coming. Some said they moved west and were using Arkansas and Missouri. But I don't know. Even back then people were complaining of northern states short stopping them

 

[TnKen]

I had forgot about the cut tire decoys. The guy I hunted with dad owned a service station and supplied a lot of "decoys".

 

[WilcoKen]

I love these old stories. I was a kid in the early 80s and not in to waterfowl hunting yet but I definitely remember seeing big migrations during those days. I lived by Old Hickory lake back then--it was still pretty rural and there was a sportsman's club near Cedar Creek. I've heard the hunting back then was very good on Old Hickory. Those days are long gone.

 

[tickweed]

Yep, l hunted all around lsom. Riley, Gant, Robinson. We stomped em back then. I sat in Dorthys restaurant many a day eating lunch, look out any window, see geese working in the fields. I cut many a tire with a log splitter.

 

[tellico4x4]

I never had the pleasure of hunting Reelfoot until it was pretty much over for the geese. I killed one in a field blind adjacent to the lake in the early nineties.

But, starting in the early seventies, I did a hunt up at the Ballard WMA most every year until the geese stopped coming down. We zeroed a few days with a bad blind draw, but limits were the norm. It was a special place to hunt geese, and the KY Fish and Wildlife folks were a big part in making it special. Great memories!

My uncle had a farm adjacent to Ballard and often it was nearly unbelievable the amount of geese there

 

[chimneyman]

Yep, l hunted all around lsom. Riley, Gant, Robinson. We stomped em back then. I sat in Dorthys restaurant many a day eating lunch, look out any window, see geese working in the fields. I cut many a tire with a long splitter.

Joe Gant ran our pit Robinson was the pit closest to us

 

[Big Chief200]

I've heard different things on why they quit coming. Some said they moved west and were using Arkansas and Missouri. But I don't know. Even back then people were complaining of northern states short stopping them

North Missouri still gets quite a few Canada Geese that come through there but they don't come any farther in any real numbers to matter. The Mississippi Valley population of geese that migrated from canada through Illinois into Tennessee and Kentucky stay primarily now in northern and central Illinois on warm water discharge lakes near power plants. Combine that with refuge systems in Illinois that don't allow hunting and thats where the geese stay before heading back north. The Chicago area has any where from 70,000 to 150,000 Geese that winter and live there year round.

 

[Big Chief200]

I love these old stories. I was a kid in the early 80s and not in to waterfowl hunting yet but I definitely remember seeing big migrations during those days. I lived by Old Hickory lake back then--it was still pretty rural and there was a sportsman's club near Cedar Creek. I've heard the hunting back then was very good on Old Hickory. Those days are long gone.

I started my serious duck hunting on Old Hickory in the 1980's and had some of the best seasons of my hunting life there. We hunted the lower unit in the blinds from Hwy 109 to Hwy 231. Some of the best hunts i ever had were on the river during a big freeze and in mcmillian bottoms when it was managed correctly. Sadly Old Hickory has got so bad I quit hunting there in 2010.

 

[Westtnduckhtr]

Lots of great stories. I have heard some great stories from some of the guides on the lake I have met, who guided the old country music stars who flew up from Nashville to the Air Park to hunt. Seen the pictures of Porter and Little Jimmy Dickens after the hunt. I have a farm up there and still kill an occasional Canada to this day.

 

[tickweed]

Joe Gant ran our pit Robinson was the pit closest to us

Yep. Do you remember Ike Hall?

 

[chimneyman]

Yep. Do you remember Ike Hall?

Remember an older guy Alvin hunted with us a lot. Damn the stories he could tell. He would pour cup of coffee then put 2 spoonfuls of instant coffee in it. Spit and dribble coffee grounds all day lol

 

[Displaced_Vol]

Love these old stories, would like seeing any pics of these days too if anybody had them to share

 

[Iglow]

I've got a 1922 field and stream movie on dvd that shows Nash Buckingham shooting geese from pits on Mississippi River bars below Memphis. They used to migrate big time.

 

[younggun308]

Back when Canadas were still Canadian.

 

[Chapman]

What type of geese were they, mostly Canadians?

 

[Iglow]

All Canada geese. Shows Nash at wopanaca duck hunting and quail hunting near Meridian Ms.