Gettin' ready for Goose!

Last weekend was mostly about waterfowl around here. Saturday morning, some of the guys from our crew got together at one of the inland lake blind drawings here in Central Ohio. Along with 150+ others that had the same plan as us, we stood in line, showed the authorities our assortment of licenses & stamps, drew tickets, then continued to stand around sipping coffee, shooting bull, all the while hoping to get drawn for a decent spot along the shoreline to build a duck blind for this fall's season. Well, for once we go lucky, and a our ticket was pulled. So after going over what blind locations were left unpicked, we pulled down our selection, filled out the appropriate paperwork, paid the non-refundable permit fee, and headed out for breakfast.

The rest of the morning and part of the afternoon was spend flocking goose heads & decoy tails before we all parted ways for the evening. The next morning had the same guys back at my garage for some painting, and still more flocking to be done. I think we spent the better part of 8 or more hours painting blue bills and geese, telling old war stories, and even taking a break to chow down on some goose balls. Here's some picks from the paint-a-thon...

One of the used full bodies that I picked up this summer. A little paint should bring this guy back to life!

And the "after" picture. Just need to finish flocking the tail & it'll be ready to hunt!

Even my daughter helped out with some of the prep work, brushing off any of the loose paint.

Gotta prep before you can paint.

Even Timber is getting ready for the season to get here.

Before & After Blue Bills. A little paint can make a big difference!

Outlining the body.

Nash is gettin' pretty handy with the airbrush!

Pile of Herters geese that have been used & abused for quite a few seasons.

A sample of some before & after flocking on the Herters heads.

Just about every car that drove past had to slow down and look!