geese that can read!!

[Grumpy]

Good story shooter.
I wonder if the `Vilayati` Geese here would be fooled by newspapers ?
You don`t have to use Page 3 by the way.........the Daily Star puts tits on the cover..........dunno what the Geese would make of the full colour pictures though !
Of course there`s a good case for suggesting that the Star isn`t a `news` paper anyway.............................................
Talking of fowl: We`ve just acquired the worlds biggest budgie. You wouldn`t believe what we have in a cage in the hall....................................................

[shooter]

"I wonder if the `Vilayati` Geese here would be fooled by newspapers ? "

the geese here might be what hunters used to call 'graduate'. i.e. they have been educated (to the ways of hunters) and are now smarter.

thus another of murga's tips. always kill your quarry. never miss. else it 'becomes graduate' and 'teaches' its friends too.

i dont think newspapers work better than dummies available here. in india there wasnt much available in terms of accessories then. even the dummies were 'vilayati' and made of wood and hence expensive. worth a try though. next time you are away waterfowling (or even i) we could give it a try and share the experience with our friends.
please post pics of the budgie. i used to be quite fond of em a long time ago.

[Grumpy]

Um.......the `worlds largest budgie` isn`t actually a budgie......even though its temporarily ( I hope ! ) living in a cage by the front door.
The clue is in the word `fowl`.

Old wooden decoys are very collectible and the really good ones can make hundreds of pounds - each - at auction.

[shooter]

im so thick. blame it me being on my night shift and posting at 3 am. would still like to seea pic.

[shahid]

There is merit in old Murga's tales.

Geese can be brought in by useing bits of newspaer as decoy, this has been done in many lands including NA.

When flying they do not have a high degree of height perspective. Huge decoys with shooters inside them work at times.

The Geese in India, Grelag ( Answer Answer ), Bar Head ( Answer Indicus ) or a few of the White fronted and Pink foot variety are migratory Siberian and Central Asian stock, not from Europe. He is dead right.

Various writers and naturalists have observed many other decoying and flight patterns of geese. I do have plenty of boofs in my collection covering these aspects.

My own village on the banks of the ganges was famous for Goose shooting. The famous Jim Corbett also lived only 20 Km further east in Mokamah Ghat. He was a railway labour contractor there.

During the 20s and 30s he used to come down the track in a railway buggy car to shoot geese with some of our family. They used to shoot over a river island at night as well when the geese flew over to their grazing fields.

Last year I did spot plenty of Greylag and Bar Head goose again in the river Ganges and Sone in our area.

_____________

Totally off

Bored by the urban life, some Geese in Dubai have decided to live in the Desert now. A few of my Marshals met them and pictured them.

[marksman]

Thought something interesting. Why not dress up like real hard core geese hunters(camos and all), make interesting blinds to fool the birds, use decoys improvised or otherwise, use game calls AND carry cameras instead of guns and shoot to heart's content. Make a fair size group of like minded people to do all this. Later in the day, compare you bag of picture over your favorite ale. I am sure it'll be as thrilling as good old days.
Marksman

[mundaire]

Thought something interesting. Why not dress up like real hard core geese hunters(camos and all), make interesting blinds to fool the birds, use decoys improvised or otherwise, use game calls AND carry cameras instead of guns and shoot to heart's content. Make a fair size group of like minded people to do all this. Later in the day, compare you bag of picture over your favorite ale. I am sure it'll be as thrilling as good old days.
Marksman

... I am sure....

[shooter]

so ur family is the one mentioned in references in his books. the part when he took days off from railway work in mok ghat to go shooting with friends. wow thats cool.
our village was also famous for waterfowl shooting having played host to hunters like the royal family of jaipur and famous hunter col. kesri singh. we dont have big rivers there but used to have 7-10 ponds with chana (gram) crop all around. i dunno why but geese love chana. and ive heard accounts that they 'attack' chana fields with such ferocity that many hunters have 'let them be' because they wouldnt flush ' even if one tramples them with a jeep.'
Chana used to be the standard crop in most of rajasthan.
sadly due to the 7 yr drought of 1985 and late 90's and due to urbanisation, there are only 2 water holes instead of multiple ponds and no more chana fields so now the geese are not seen that frequently in in as great numbers.
Still, if spotted, more often than not , it is in a chana field.

[shahid]

They do take to the gram crops. I have spotted huge gaggles of Bar head geese in Gram fields, Masoor fields and even late season rice field if unharvested in November and of course wheat fields.

yes Bakhtiapore and surrounding areas used to be famous in 20s / 30s for Duck shoots. Not as illustrious as Bharatpur, here too we have had King George V ( then the Prince of Wales ), many Viceroys and always the Governer of Bihar shooting during the Chirstmas or Bada Din.

Only accounts exist in old diaries and game bks of an era gone by.

Now the geese and ducks are vanising with loss of habitat, changing crop patterns, use of inceticides and fertilisers, rampant netting and poaching with poision laced maize seeds.

We need an organization like Ducks Unlimited to preserve our wetlands too.

[Grumpy]

The only problem is that to have an organisation like Ducks Unlimited - which has, by sensible management, dramatically improved wildfowl numbers in many areas of the USA - the Indian Government would have to allow bird shooting......................................................

[shahid]

I guess a start needs to me made.

[sat]

why not dress up like real hard core geese hunters(camos and all), make interesting blinds to fool the birds, use decoys improvised or otherwise, use game calls AND carry cameras instead of guns and shoot to heart's content. Make a fair size group of like minded people to do all this

Been trying just that. Last year we took some birder friends from overseas out for several moon lit nights in an area which has 210 lakes, two of the lakes have a earthen dam of 5.5 km. Was lovely experience with the geese coming in very low & close, at time over our heads. Bar headed geese are relatively easy to bring in over decoys, gray lag are far too clever for decoys imho. We were very lucky to have found a feeding lake where the grays came in & settled down to feed, once at about 15 yards. Did not have to wear any camo or make blinds, the reeds around the edges of the lake do the needful. Got bitterly cold, we put away our camera to enjoy the sights & sound, thank god for the brandy.

Photographing geese at night is difficult, light levels to low for the Auto focus lenses to work, the focus assist light on some digital slr, if on, will spook the geese, so one has to pre focus & hope for the best, not easy with medium tele lenses. I would to attempt some pics with a low tripod (6") mounted camera with a wide lens with a remote cable. Ideal image would be to have the geese in the foreground, the lake, the palm trees in the background outlined against the moonlit sky. One could cheat by taking a pic of the correctly exposed night sky with trees outlined & add the geese in the foreground later. The lower shutter speed required for some of the background detail/night sky to register will probably blur the edges of the flash lit geese.

Rusty, you interested.

sat

[Mack The Knife]

Been trying just that.

Shouldn't be difficult for you. With those spindly long legs and neck, all you need to do is paint your face red, fix a carrot to your hooter, stick some coloured feathers and flap around like a sarus crane. Like I said, shouldn't be difficult...

Rusty, you interested.
sat

Only if you foot the air and taxi fare. Better still, pick me up from Jaipur airport you so-and-so. I'll settle for a stretch limo.

Cannot make it this year but next year should be okay. May just come over during the summer hols when your hippy guests are not around.

[shooter]

sat can u tell me which lake/ region around jaipur ure referring to. i would also like to see some kaaj (a name for geese used in jaipur.)

[Mack The Knife]

Shooter,

I'll give you a clue. It takes about 4 (or is it 6) hours to get to his place by road from Jaipur.

And I wouldn't go there without an invite.

Mack The Knife