Disappearing Act (Late Winter Goose Hunt)

On a late winter walk during the last week of February my wife and I saw the Canada geese had returned. Winter had been mild, bad news for the skiers and snowboarders in town but it made life easy for me, at least until the forest fire smoke comes in this summer. The next days off work saw me up well before light, dekes in the truck and a thermos of hot coffee ready for some of the short, late winter season. With just a couple days left I was keen to get out and try to pop a couple in the freezer.

After a winter of no fresh venison, I was salivating at the thought of putting something down. I wanted to get my hands bloody with some butchering. It had been a few years since I’d been out waterfowling and I was excited to sit over the decoys. One of my cousins and I spent a fair bit of time in the duck blind during my twenties, it was something I’d been missing in my hunting life. The ducks and geese don’t utilize this corridor of the Coast Mountains like they do closer to the coast or the beaver ponds that littered our property in Ontario.

Sadly Mother Nature had other plans and a sense of humour.

Loading up the second last morning of the season, March 9th, 2026. After a winter of no snow I went out to a few inches on the truck and temperatures hovering just below zero. For two days I sat, called, looked and waited. There were ducks, often within range, but long out of season. With geese becoming a problem they were the only birds legal to take a poke at. On the last day, switching to a lake with easy access I finally saw some Canada’s, unfortunately they were at the far end and with a bad snow storm hammering down I decided it was a good call to drive home before the highway became too much of a shit show.

With that it was over, I may not have put anything in the freezer, or slapped the shotgun’s trigger, but it was still nice to be outside. It had been a while since I used the old Mossberg for what it was designed and there’s a satisfaction in that as well.

See you on the water or mountains.

- Matthew Mallory