For the Love of Honkers
Ryan Barnes for SPLIT REED
Mallard purists, diver chasers, sea duck shooters, teal crazies, they all have one thing in common- they lose their sense of “discipline” when the Canada goose comes flying by. That’s because there isn’t any bird quite like the “honker”. Its simplistic beauty is unrivaled. It isn’t an easy bird to kill. There are relatively few waterfowl hunters who truly get to appreciate the Canada goose’s spoils on multiple occasions throughout the season.
Yes, there are hunters you might see on social media or from shared pictures with friends who kill geese on a regular basis but think to yourself, why are they showing you pictures of giant piles of Canada geese? Why are these birds so gripping? For the weekend warrior who fights his battles on public land in the local marsh, the Canada goose is almost like a ghost. You can go home and tell your friends you saw one, and depending on how crazy they are, they might just believe you.
The skeptic might criticize and say, “I can kill those things all day long at my local golf course.” That same skeptic has clearly never killed enough geese to appreciate the beauty of calling, decoying, and killing a big Canada goose. For the regulars, it doesn’t matter if it’s their first time, their hundredth, or ten-thousandth; killing a honker will always elicit excitement and joy. The same way it does for any waterfowl hunter. The next time you’re hunting your local public wetland and geese fly over, listen to the goose calls that sound like kazoos that sound off. I’ve yet to meet a hunter who has ever uttered the words, “Forget the geese, let’s let the ducks work.”
On almost every occasion when geese are moving in while ducks are in the air, the ducks become a quick afterthought while the honkers become the primary target. The Canada goose faced near extinction in the early to mid-1900s and now is sought after by hunters all over the globe. From Canada to Ireland to New Zealand, there are hunters that will drive by pond after pond loaded with ducks to find a field with a hundred geese in it.
I remember my first time killing a Canada goose. My dad and I had found a small river with geese covering it. We snuck up from the bank, and when the geese took off I swung the barrel of my youth model 870 20 gauge and fired. I watched in awe as something so big fell on the water. My dad waded out and retrieved the birds (he managed to triple up on his volley). As he brought me my first goose I remember holding that bird that seemed to be as big as me and weighed more than I imagined. This created a lifelong love for the pursuit of Canada geese.
That love was magnified when I killed my first goose over decoys. I still remember seeing three birds crest over the treeline, lock in on the decoys, then slowly backpedal over the decoys. It was like I was living a dream. Each time I hear the distant cry of a honk or the buzz of goose wings flying close overhead, my heart skips a beat - sometimes multiple. While other waterfowlers may contend that ducks provide more variety, or that certain ducks offer more challenging gunning, I simply say, enjoy your ducks. I’ll have the geese. And I know many hunters like me. There’s a part of your soul that becomes embedded in hunting honkers. It becomes a hunt like no other. The sight of a Canada goose swinging hard over your decoy spread is something you can’t describe, you can only feel. I don’t diminish the challenge of shooting a late-season canvasback, or the beauty of a Pacific Northwest wigeon; I simply would rather watch a 14-pound goose come crashing to the frozen stubble than a mallard fall to the marsh.
No one will ever be able to convince me that killing Canada geese is easy. You have to spend hours fostering relationships with landowners, then you have to make a large investment in decoys, blinds, gear, and all the other equipment you’ll need in the field. Past that, you’ll need to become at least somewhat proficient on a call if you want to kill the educated birds. “Any idiot can kill molt birds, it takes skill to kill the birds with a Ph.D. in not getting shot at the end of the season,” I once was told. I have to agree. I’ve spent hours and hours and hours and even more hours beyond that trying to get good on a call. And I still have a ways to go. With all these things added up, most hunters back out at fostering relationships with landowners. Maybe that’s why they try so hard to kill the lone goose they see on public land. But, the price paid in time, money, and practice is well worth it when those big northern migrators start swinging into your decoys.
While waterfowlers all over the country won’t ever balk at the chance to get out and hunt, I don’t know a single one that would pass up a chance to set up for big Canada honkers. It’s the love we have for those big black feet setting down in the decoys, and that loud, crisp, air-cracking honk. Once it gets into your blood it’s there to stay. “Goose hunters” do it because they love it. There’s no other passion that drives them quite like the love of Canada geese.
So the next time you pull the trigger and you get to hold a Canada goose, remember that there’s an entire army of waterfowl hunters that envy you and applaud you. You’re holding a trophy. A bird that drives hunters miles and miles all over the country. They do it for the love of honkers.
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