# Fourty One



## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

Well folks, I am officially 41 years of age today. Not 39 and holding, and holding...I am comfortable with my age. I see it as almost a badge of honor, for surviving the situations I have encountered during my life. Someday maybe I will feel old, but not yet. Not remotely. So what does a man do for his 41st birthday? If, by now you have surmised that I went goose hunting, you would be correct. It was a very pleasant morning for a "hike in" hunt for canadas. I have been watching geese in a grazed out bog area near my home for over a month now. The place is basically a pool table, but there is a scraggly, dead tree there. The geese had finally fed their way to it recently and I felt compelled to take advantage of the situation. :wink: A dozen GHG FFD lessers, my gillie suit jacket and head cover, a small bag of shells, a bottle of water and my calls went into a nice Avery decoy bag with the padded waist belt. Thanks to Myles J. Flaten for that one, it has served me well the past couple of years. I picked it up in the classifieds here. It was my first purchase from a forum member. I also had the opportunity to test out my new waders. I will say that the Cabela's Millenium boot waders with the lace up boots are the most comfortable waders I have ever owned. The difference in comfort and floatation versus the traditional rubber boots with rounded, undersize soles is amazing. No more getting the boots sucked off of my feet in the mud! I ordered mine a size and a half larger for wearing extra clothing and socks during the winter. Anyway, they made the hike much more pleasant.
The hunt itself went better than expected. I have only been seeing a few dozen birds at this location, but they are very reliable. Nobody else wants to go through the work needed to pack decoys in and five canadas back out. Their loss. The birds actually came in a group or two at a time with many being pairs an triples. The geese worked the small spread very well at times. A few pairs did land elsewhere, like they were in the habit of doing every day. Those didn't seem to hurt my efforts though. The other birds responded very well to the call. I never needed the flag. That is fortunate, I left on the decoy trailer at home. Five canadas found their way to the ground, in spite of a few errant shots early on. Small spread hunting at it's finest. It was a delightful hour of hunting as the birds came at random, well spaced in terms of time. Not the tense, "all at once" ordeal that sometimes occurs. I could not have asked for a more satisfying hunt. Some of my birthday hunts have been epic disasters, like when I buried my truck on a two track road that turned into a bottomless alkali pit when the water table rose! Not all lessons in college are learned in the classroom! This birthday, things went well. 
Looking back, 41 isn't too bad at all. Certainly not like people told me it would be when I was 30. :thumb:


----------



## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

Cool.Congrats.Happy birthday!!!
And,I like your coyote rig.


----------



## Sask hunter (Sep 11, 2008)

Happy b-day! No better way to spend in than out hunting IMO.


----------



## templey_41 (Jul 19, 2008)

Cool story!

I think it's forty-one tho. :beer:


----------



## beaniej266 (Feb 1, 2011)

Great story! What model of shotgun is that? I like the sharp drop of the grip angle (like my browning 525).


----------



## kingcanada (Sep 19, 2009)

It's a San Marco Wildfowler. It is basically an Italian copy of the Browning Broadway trap gun in a 10 ga. chamber. The wide rib is there and the stock fit like a trap gun stock would. I recut the comb for proper personal fit and added a Limbsaver pad. I actually prefer a straight grip stock and shorter barrels, but I shoot the gun well enough at extended ranges that I don't dare mess with it.
As far as "forty" verus "fourty" goes, it is like "grey" versus "gray". :thumb: 
Headed north next week. The white bird may be over that 10 ga. soon...


----------



## swattin leroys (Oct 8, 2012)

awesome read, and congrats.


----------



## goosebusters (Jan 12, 2006)

templey_41 said:


> I think it's forty-one tho. :beer:


Haha! I wanted to make a comment on this too. Grammar Nazis raining on the parade.


----------

