A nod is as good as a wink-wink

Geese are notoriously unpredictable — but that can work in your favour, says Soldier Palmer

- Soldier Palmer

Late-season days at the geese can hang on the toss of a coin. Despite hours of patient reconnaissance and observation, patterns in goose behaviour are difficult to fathom. They can hammer sugar beet for weeks, then on the very morning you intend to flight them in at dawn, they vanish without warning.

Cold weather might drive them down to lusher pastures where it is easy to spring an ambush, but if it’s too cold the birds might vanish altogether. Mild weather opens up a similar range of options, but nothing that you can ever be certain of.

I’m lucky to live in an area where pink-footed geese spend the winter in their thousands. From September until April, it’s almost impossible to pass a day without the distant chatter and wink-wink of goose music on the breeze. But being around geese rarely provides any guarantee that your game bag will be full.

On a recent flight, I diligently laid out my decoys on the barley stubbles and built my hide in the darkness before dawn. Everything looked perfect until the geese began to flight off the marsh for the day. There is something humbling about watching 500 geese flying in completely the wrong direction and I swore long and heartily.

I was pleased to spot a pigeon glancing overhead as the sun began to rise. I marked the bird’s flight and was tickled to see another pass by less than five minutes later. By mid-morning, I had 15 beautiful woodpigeon in the bag and all my thoughts of geese had vanished. I was grateful to have packed a couple of boxes of standard game cartridges alongside my heavy threes, and I resolved to make a habit of it.

I can remember waiting out for a goose flight several years ago.