blake
Life Member
NEWS:
Iowa Hunter Jumps Into Spring Snow Goose Season
VENTURA, Iowa (AP) Mason City's Al Infante has been on a wild goose chase ever since he was knee high to a grasshopper. Still going strong at 80, he rarely misses an opportunity to get out on the marsh. Recently, Infante was making the most of Iowa's spring snow goose season by hunting at Ventura Marsh.
And although the bulk of this year's snow goose migration had currently passed to the north, there was always the possibility of luring in a straggler.
It happened just the other day when a wary old gander succumbed to the pleading notes of Infante's 50-year-old Faulk's brand goose call and circled a bit too close to the decoys.
"This is my favorite time of the year to be out here," said Infante. "In the spring, you get to see just about every kind of wild duck there is -- a lot more kinds than you normally see in the fall. We also get a lot of white-fronted geese through Iowa in the spring. When those birds come back south in the fall, you hardly ever get to see them here because most fly to the west of Iowa. White-fronted geese are a very beautiful goose and they're so noisy."
"I also have ducks of all kinds come right in and land next to my (snow) goose decoys. The males have all their spring color and are fascinating to watch," adds Infante. "Seeing all those different birds makes it well worth being out here whether I get any snow geese or not. If I do shoot a goose, then I guess it's just like icing on the cake. I mainly come out here to watch."
Like most old-timers, Infante is quick to reminisce. One of his very first hunting companions, he recalls, was a Dalmatian coach dog.
Best known today as a symbolic firehouse mascot, Dalmatians are closely related to the English pointer and were still widely regarded as a hunting breed during the early 1940s. Infante's Dalmatian was no exception, effectively pointing pheasants in the uplands and eagerly swimming and retrieving ducks from the marsh.
"When I was young, we'd go all over the place hunting ducks and I'd wade clear from one end of the marsh to the other," said Infante. "I was a young buck back then and I could easily handle all that mud and all that wading."
"When I was a kid, I mostly hunted with my cousins and we had some really great duck hunting then," he added. "Today, I still hunt with my cousin, Joe Herrera, who is 73. Sometimes I just go by myself."
"I've always hunted ducks and geese and I guess you could say that I've tried it all," said Infante. "I've done pass shooting, jump shooting, hunting with decoys -- all that stuff. But what I like best these days is getting out on the marsh in a duck boat. For me, that's the best way to hunt."
Although Infante has successfully hunted a variety of waterfowl species and loves them all, he admits to the mallard duck being his easy favorite.
"I've hunted them in snowstorms and have even set my decoys on the ice," said Infante. "I love to see the flocks come in, land in the decoys and then go sliding across the ice on their tails."
Iowa Hunter Jumps Into Spring Snow Goose Season
VENTURA, Iowa (AP) Mason City's Al Infante has been on a wild goose chase ever since he was knee high to a grasshopper. Still going strong at 80, he rarely misses an opportunity to get out on the marsh. Recently, Infante was making the most of Iowa's spring snow goose season by hunting at Ventura Marsh.
And although the bulk of this year's snow goose migration had currently passed to the north, there was always the possibility of luring in a straggler.
It happened just the other day when a wary old gander succumbed to the pleading notes of Infante's 50-year-old Faulk's brand goose call and circled a bit too close to the decoys.
"This is my favorite time of the year to be out here," said Infante. "In the spring, you get to see just about every kind of wild duck there is -- a lot more kinds than you normally see in the fall. We also get a lot of white-fronted geese through Iowa in the spring. When those birds come back south in the fall, you hardly ever get to see them here because most fly to the west of Iowa. White-fronted geese are a very beautiful goose and they're so noisy."
"I also have ducks of all kinds come right in and land next to my (snow) goose decoys. The males have all their spring color and are fascinating to watch," adds Infante. "Seeing all those different birds makes it well worth being out here whether I get any snow geese or not. If I do shoot a goose, then I guess it's just like icing on the cake. I mainly come out here to watch."
Like most old-timers, Infante is quick to reminisce. One of his very first hunting companions, he recalls, was a Dalmatian coach dog.
Best known today as a symbolic firehouse mascot, Dalmatians are closely related to the English pointer and were still widely regarded as a hunting breed during the early 1940s. Infante's Dalmatian was no exception, effectively pointing pheasants in the uplands and eagerly swimming and retrieving ducks from the marsh.
"When I was young, we'd go all over the place hunting ducks and I'd wade clear from one end of the marsh to the other," said Infante. "I was a young buck back then and I could easily handle all that mud and all that wading."
"When I was a kid, I mostly hunted with my cousins and we had some really great duck hunting then," he added. "Today, I still hunt with my cousin, Joe Herrera, who is 73. Sometimes I just go by myself."
"I've always hunted ducks and geese and I guess you could say that I've tried it all," said Infante. "I've done pass shooting, jump shooting, hunting with decoys -- all that stuff. But what I like best these days is getting out on the marsh in a duck boat. For me, that's the best way to hunt."
Although Infante has successfully hunted a variety of waterfowl species and loves them all, he admits to the mallard duck being his easy favorite.
"I've hunted them in snowstorms and have even set my decoys on the ice," said Infante. "I love to see the flocks come in, land in the decoys and then go sliding across the ice on their tails."