Yesterday I went goose hunting with some good friends of mine Ben Vickers and Jim Bright over in Rock Hall Md.. The day started early for me 3:15 to be exact and I did not need an alarm to get out of bed. Fortunately for me I had laid out my gear the night before so all I really had to do was just get myself dressed and out the door. I met my hunting partners at the Gander Mountain in Salisbury @ 4:20,  With Ben driving, Jim navigating and me giving instructions from the back off we went. We arrived at the home of the landowner, Jack Schatz around 6:20 and the wood stove was glowing. Jim introduced us all around, and before we got to comfortable, and hot we went out to get the geese off of the pond and set decoys. The morning was a little slow with a lot of birds flying but very high and committed to a huge flock about a mile away. We broke for lunch and a nap as it was slow and we were cold.. Jack had returned to the home site several times to make sure the wood stove was stoked so when we went in it was toasty warm. We had a nice lunch and a quick nap before returning to the blind, and hopefully some fat Canadian geese! Almost as soon as we came back the geese started flying and checking out our decoys, offering us the opportunity to hear jack work his Sean Mann Shoremans Flute. Now when it comes to calling Jack is first class and he soon had the geese circling our decoys and setting in. When he called "Take em" they were right in the spread directly in front of us, and when the smoke cleared we had two on the ground. Jack worked a few more small groups for us and soon we were close to our limit, and the end of the shooting hour.. We picked up the decoys and cleaned up the blind of our trash, picked up the gun hulls, and made our way back to the truck with our geese. The end to a perfect day with good people and new friends.
About jack Schatz: Jack runs a great operation on his farm, bow hunting only and with a solid deer management plan in place. Ducks and geese have safe areas and he has strict shooting limits so that the birds are taken cleanly. He operates this for his friends and is willing to take them hunting on his property, so long as you follow the rules. I got the feeling that he would ask you to leave as quick as he welcomes you if you are not willing to go by the rules. All in all a great hunt, and hopefully I will be invited back again.
In the photo left to right, Jack Schatz,  Jim Bright, Eugene Mazzilli, and Ben Vickers