Weekly Grist Gallery, January 1, 2012
Went for a building, got lucky and found geese
The official target for the week was an old grain elevator on Arkansas Highway 13 west of Humphrey, Arkansas where Crooked Creek crosses the highway. With favorable light got the pictures I was after and discovered that the locals call the structure "the granary." While shooting I realized I had landed in an area favored by migrant geese. In the process, I was invited to bring my person and Nikons on a goose hunt. See the stories that go with the pictures at Corndancer.com and Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind.
Move
 |
-
The old grainery has a good rust patina and lots of nooks and crannies which give it character.
After I shot the grainery I went into a field to shoot some geese, as I walked back to the truck I shot the grainery at a different angle.
Still yet another angle later in the day.
The grainery in black and white.
After shooting the grainery, I went to an adjacent field, spooked the geese and got this shot and the next one.
Same field, different angle.
After the grainery and field shots, I was invited to join a hunt. The hunter, Mike Goodwin, was strategically ensconced on the side of an irrigation canal adjacent to a feeding field.
Mike and his Labrador Retriever, Star.
Mike calling geese.
They are getting closer.
He brings the geese to the field.
The hunters, Mike,(in the bushes to the right), joined by Megan Kerr and watched by Star, blast away at the geese Mike called in, but this time the geese won. Steve, the guide who invited me to the hunt lays low in the foreground.
Mike goes back to work on his caller.
The hunters watch and wait.
Mike's calls are good and more geese are approaching. Since the last geese, Megan's friend, Lee Ann Woodall has joined the group. Without camo clothing, she crouches in the brush as the geese approach.
This time, the hunters win and Star is retrieving the kill.
Star approaches Mike to hand over the retrieved goose.
It was late and most of the geese were high and heading to their roosting areas for the night.
The geese form up and fly high.
More high flying geese.
The hunt is over for the day and Mike gathers his decoys from the field.
Steve loads up the kill on the four-wheeler as we prepare to head back to the trucks.
Star is ready to roll.
I am on the game rack in front of Steve, the driver as we head to the trucks.
Mike, Steve, and Megan take one last look at a big flight of geese.
I returned the next day to the general area to shoot more geese, but only found a few.
These were near Sherrill, Arkansas.
These geese spooked before I had the opportunity to get up close and personal. They are west of Wabbaseka, Arkansas.
The closest shot I could get the second day was a lost and abandoned duck decoy.
 |