Some days, just feathers
When I was very young, my Mamaw used to keep me while my mom was at work.
I spent a lot of time riding in the back of her pickup with her two cow dogs, Ring and Bert, going here there to feed and check cows. I loved hearing my grandmother’s cattle call. It started with a drawn-out, high and lonesome “whoooooooo,” followed by an emphatic, “come on, babes!”
Eddie Arnold would’ve been proud (If you don’t know, Google the song, “Cattle Call”).
Anyhow, Mamaw’s vocalizations didn’t stop at the cow lot; she’d sing some around the house, too. The song I remember hearing most was “Go Tell Aunt Rhody,” a haunting old folk song in which the chorus starts with the line, “Go tell Aunt Rhody the old grey goose is dead” and ends with, “The one she’s been saving to make her feather bed.”
You should check it out — Woodie Guthrie and Burl Ives are a couple of notable crooners who’ve covered the tune.
And so it is that Aunt Rhody’s goose brings us, albeit circuitously, to this week’s topic: goose hunting.
Disclaimer: I have never captured, trapped, taken, or killed a wild goose of any sort and have no compelling evidence as to why Aunt Rhody’s met its untimely demise. Heck, in my 29-year game warden career, I never checked a goose hunter in the field. How did that happen? I don’t know, but I know people that have checked many-a-goose-hunter, and they don’t mind sharing a story or two.
Rod Chalmers has been a constable in Bandera County for the last 15 years, but before that, he was a Texas Game Warden for 30.
The following is Rod’s firsthand account of a 1980-ish patrol that didn’t turn out quite like he figured it would: One afternoon, my partner, Game Warden Ray Stallings, and I headed down the Intracoastal Waterway in our patrol boat to Brazoria County after getting reports of hunters shooting geese after sunset in fields near Bastrop Bay.
When we got to the Bastrop Bay area, we eased our boat into a hidey-hole on the bank just inside a canal and hunkered down to wait for the afternoon shooting to commence.
As dusk neared, wave after wave of snow geese, flying in their usual V-formations, came in low enough that we could literally look them in the eyes. Never before, or since, have I seen such a spectacular display of wild waterfowl.
As the geese passed over us and into a huge rice field behind us, at least two shotguns opened up on them, and it was pretty evident that those shotguns weren’t legally plugged to a 3-shell capacity. Bingo — get the ticket books ready!
Since there were no vehicles in sight, we surmised that the shooters had come in and hidden their boat ahead of our arrival, a little farther up from our spot. Through binoculars, we would occasionally get a glimpse of a hunter off in the distance, probably going out in the field to pick up a goose.
The shooting went on well past legal shooting time and continued into the moonlit night, so that was violation number two, and probably, a few cases of over-the-limit would make number three.
When the shooting finally stopped, we smugly and patiently waited for the hunters to fire up their boat and bring their ill-gotten booty right to us.
Finally, w-a-a-a-y off in the distance, we heard a vehicle start up and drive off, blacked out, into the night. Our goose hunters were gone for good.
We weren’t too happy about it, but it was just as the old saying goes, “Some days you get the chicken (err, um, goose) and some days, just feathers.”
Rod’s goose hunter story is from early on in his game warden career, and it’s a sure bet that the next group of unruly hunters weren’t near as lucky.
What’s kind of funny is that you don’t have to worry about all those violations Rod and Ray were looking out for back in the day if you want to hunt geese right now.
It’s Light Goose Conservation Order time until March 10 in both the east and west zone, and special rules apply.
According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department website, the following rules shall be in effect for the taking of light geese:
- No daily bag or possession limits.
- The use of electronic calls is legal.
- Unplugged shotguns holding more than 3 shells are legal.
- Shooting hours will be one-half hour before sunrise until one half-hour after sunset.
It is unlawful to take any other species of migratory game birds during the Light Goose Conservation Order.
All other licensing, endorsements and hunter education requirements apply.
Consult the TPWD for more info, and as always, if you have any questions, call a game warden and be sure before you go.
