14-year old Blake Hodge is primary goose caller
The influx of Canada geese into the Carolinas over the past few years has been steady, and shooting geese is what Daryl Hodge’s Wrecking Crew Guide Service is all about. The veteran guide has been known to pass up easy shots on curious ducks that come his way in order to keep things quiet for any Canada geese nearby.
Equally important to bringing geese into gun range is proper spread setup, which includes setting up full-body decoys or shells very near to layout blind locations.
“Face paint or camo masks are imperative for everyone, as the geese will be looking right down into the spread,” Hodge said. “Use of a goose flag is a good idea since the simulated-flapping action can catch the attention of passing geese and bring them closer.”
Capt. Englis Glover was in town and inland from his usual coastal locations in order to film an episode of his TV show “Reelin’ Up the Coast.” Glover and his cameraman anchored one end of the phalanx of camo field blinds set up in a depression in the rolling terrain where birds had been seen feeding earlier.
A pasture pond was 200 yards away, but the set up was intended to decoy the geese into the green field. Right after dawn the first two groups of Canada geese showed up right on cue, but they both went and landed on the water.
However, Hodge didn’t budge.
“I just don’t see the numbers of geese that have been seen here all coming to land on that little patch of water, so we are going to sit tight,” Hodge said.
Sure enough, not long after that the first group of geese that had intentions of landing in the field showed up and the first volley of the day saw two honkers fall from the sky.
Groups of Canada geese averaging 20 birds per flock coming to feed in a field tend to come at different time intervals, which is what the Wrecking Crew counts on.
“Hunters don’t want one big wad of geese because when they shoot a volley, the geese generally will depart for another field,” Hodge said. “If they come in smaller groups, then hunters can work each flock separately, like the hunt in late December when we harvested 19 geese over just a couple of hours.”
Three generations of Hodge goose hunters, including Pete Hodge, son Daryl and grandson Blake, were on this Jan. 5 hunt during which they thinned out marauding birds from friend Chip Wolfe’s wheat field.
And 14-year-old Blake Hodge, who has won numerous calling contests in several states, was center stage for Glover’s TV show. The youngster proved that proper calling really can make a goose respond, drawing enough birds into range for the hunters to knock down nine.
For a video report from the hunt and more photos on the waterfowl hunting forum click here.
Editor’s none: Hodge can be reached at 803.320.1464 or by visiting www.WreckingCrewGuideService.com.
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