Goose Hunting near Prosser, December 2022

So, as I’ve shared earlier, I’ve got this place in Prosser, WA that I rent out as an AirBnB / VRBO and I’ve been beyond excited to spend time over there myself enjoying the unique harvest opportunities that are more suited for the areas east of the Cascades.

So last weekend, I decided to try my hand at goose hunting!

Now, to be honest, I’m a complete newb. I’ve never gone goose hunting, and I’ve only duck hunted twice. Not exactly a master water-fowler here. But I’ve got the bug pretty bad!

I showed up in my 21 layers (because it was 21 degrees out) at the parking lot on public land in Yakima County, not far from the Yakima River, and started out towards the river.

I saw the other tracks from the person who arrived before me headed to the left, so I went to the right. When you’re about to do something completely unfamiliar and potentially embarrassing, I find it’s best to limit the number of witnesses.

I only had to walk about a hundred yards before I saw some old tracks in the snow leading towards the river and I decided to follow them down. Just as I started down the embankment into the brush I noticed the 20-some odds geese and ducks take flight from the water about 70 yards in front of me.

Geese have excellent vision, but I was still surprised how far off they spotted me and took off. I didn’t think I could sneak up on those geese mind you, but I was encouraged that birds wanted to hang out near what would become my ambush point.

After surveying the terrain with my newbish instincts, I settled on a brushy area about 10 yards from the river that I thought I could remain concealed from most angles of approach. I was wearing white coveralls and I had some white sheets to hide my pack and shotgun.

I laid down flat in my very make-shift layout blind and waited.

Now, before I get into what happened next, I have to set the scene a little bit. There were birds flying everywhere and almost constant shotgun blasts before I ever even got set up. I arrived after sunrise, which is a pretty typical approach for me to a brand new area and doing something completely unfamiliar to me.

The last thing I want to do is stumble through someone else’s carefully planned setup in the dark with no advantage to myself.

So as I got set I was already pretty excited about the opportunity. I didn’t have to wait long before the first goose flew within reach.

I have to further caveat that I’m kind of a newbie hunter in general. I’ve been big game hunting for 4 seasons, and this year is my first year of waterfowl, and prior to that I really had like no hunting and very little shooting experience.

I’m certainly a test case in whether someone can pick up the hobby later in life without much background in it growing up.

My first instinct when it comes to shooting at birds (perhaps deer and elk too? longer story…) is to shoot too excitedly. I would say I was aiming, but my results certainly didn’t show it.

After the first few opportunities wasted, I realized one of my mental mistakes was that when I sat up to take my shot, I had this idea in my head that the birds would just fly off immediately…as if they had turbos or something. I realized that whenever they got close enough for me to take a shot, they would be there long enough for me to patiently set up my shot better.

The next goose I shot at, I’m pretty sure I hit, but it didn’t drop, though it did change direction suddenly with some feathers dropping. I was using steel 2 shot, but I wasn’t leading it far enough, which I’ve since learned is very important.

I was only hunting for maybe an hour before I decided to head back and help my wife get cleaned up and packed up for the trip home before the winter weather advisory kicked in on the pass.

My reason for sharing my silly and unsuccessful first goose hunting trip (the picture at the top of the article was from someone else in the same general area), is multi-fold:

1. Goose hunting is awesome and exciting even if I currently suck at.
2. There are so many great bird hunting opportunities right now! Yakima county is open until Jan 29th every day for geese!
3. You should book my place to do exactly that, especially if you know what you’re doing.

I’m planning to purchase some gear like decoys and such to make available to prospective goose hunting renters as well. I’ve got most of January open (as of this writing)!

Pick your favorite rental site or email me directly if I know you or have connected with you on social media (for a discount)

AirBnB

VRBO

Another advantage is that you can take the spouse and family along, do your hunting early / midday and then go wine tasting in the afternoon or just hunker down and stay warm and entertain yourself electronically at the place.