AWWC Migratory Game Bird Hunt

December 11 – 13, 2009

By Doug DuBois, Jr.

Five members of the Austin Woods & Waters Club (www.austinwoodsandwaters.com) recently traveled to the Panhandle of Texas to experience some out of sight migratory game bird hunting.  Dave Mahn organized the trip with outfitter Panhandle’s Best and was accompanied by Doug DuBois, Jr., Shawn Harrison, Larry Najvar and Steele Zinser.  We made the 8-hour drive to Amarillo Friday afternoon, December 11^th and awoke to a chilly, but dry morning the following day.  We followed our guide Mike Southerland east to a mostly frozen lake to hunt ducks and geese. The lakes were solidly frozen following over 10 days of sub-freezing temperatures, but our hunt was on the front end of a warming trend.

Upon stopping and stepping out of our rented van, we were overwhelmed with the sound of nesting geese and ducks, holding promise of bountiful opportunities.  In addition to the sound of nesting ducks and geese waking for a day of feeding and flying, Mike’s black Lab, Goliath, was running in circles, whining up a storm, just so excited to be out in the field. 

We assisted Mike with the placement of full body decoys in the limited open water of the frozen lake and chiseled holes in the ice to place silhouette goose decoys.  Not long after concealing ourselves by reclining in lake side coffin boat blinds, the ducks started flying and the fun began.  In addition to hearing Mike yell “kill’em, kill’em”, in between retrieves he was yelling “down boy, down boy” as Goliath could not sit still.  He was a great retriever, never hesitating to jump into the frigid water to grab a kill and often skittering on the ice as he ran out chasing a semi-mobile wounded duck.  Shortly after 9:30 we had our limit of ducks and the clear skies had the abundant flocks of geese well out of range, so we called it a successful hunt.   Our harvest included mallards, green wing teal, pintails and widgeons.

After a hearty breakfast and Mike cleaning our birds, we headed south to Littlefield to hook up with lead guide Mark Meissenburg to hunt sand hill crane.  He would lead us to an open maize field, which had been harvested, and amazed us by setting up a custom-built box blind in the middle of the field.  We were further amazed as he set out over 50 full body stuffed crane decoys, which he had prepared himself.  He had another 30 crane “deeks” along with stuffed goose “deeks” in his trailer.

The box blind was a tight fit for we five hunters, leaving a little room for Mike and his Chesapeake Bay retriever Babe to squeeze in when the birds approached.  As he called them in and they were in range, he would give the “go get’em” command and we’d flip the top of the blind up, pick out a bird or two and open up on them; kind of like “hunters-in-a-box”. One fusillade took down 6 cranes out of a flight of a dozen, but we were humbled at the end of the day when all five of us emptied our guns on a flock of 8 and not a bird dropped!?!

Our hunt Sunday morning was south of Littlefield, on the outskirts of Brownfield (don’t you love these Texas town names?) to set up in what appeared to be a freshly planted and irrigated wheat field.  The box blind was positioned near the irrigation pivot, this time double in size to give us a little more elbow room.   The extra room came in handy as we had to deal with several gun jams, some with semi-autos and some with pumps.  You have to remember 3” shells won’t work in a 2 ¾” chamber.  It was another outstanding hunt with our limit of fifteen cranes taken in short order.  

It was great trip across the Texas Panhandle and a very memorable Austin Woods and Waters Club event.  The only thing missing were more members to share the experience with.

Images and Files: View all 7 photos / videos here.