I used to do a lot of field goose hunting. Lost my access. Areas are now closed to hunting because of development. I am not ashamed to say I ground pounded my fair share of geese. I did not decoy them in and wait for them to land. It was spot and stalk jump shooting. Limit was anywhere from three to five. First one or two may have been on the ground as the flock was making their exit. Any others were no different than shooting decoying birds.I got a lot of crap for this. I didn't care.
It is okay to call in a single turkey who is fixated on a decoy when he is all stupid thinking he's going get some and ground pound him. Yet sneaking in on a group of a couple dozen geese,who are all keyed up looking for trouble, and getting close enough for a shot when your doing all the moving is considered unsporting. Makes no sense to me.
There were many times that I would make a move on geese that would require nearly a mile of walking to get in position, only to get busted fifty yards from being in range. I was probably successful of getting a shot about half the time.
What's the shot opportunity on decoying birds??? A whole hell of lot higher than 50/50. If your any good with a shotgun your hit ratio ain't much different than ground swatting.
I am also a proud road hunting ground swatter of ruffed grouse. Sorry they just taste to damn good to give them any kind of chance.
If it was legal I would have a dedicated 17 HMR grouse sniper rifle.
I might of crossed the line with pheasants one time. In my defense I am certain they would of meet their demise as soon as the local coyotes made his rounds. Driving a gravel road I had a cock come flopping across the road in front of me. Looked as if he got hit by a car. I stopped and got out with my shotgun. You can shoot from gravel in my state. Figured just in case he had some life in him for one last flight I would pop him. Well turns out he was not alone he had a couple buddies,that were also flopping around and making on to some brush and falling to the ground.
Well I ain't going to pass up a easy limit of tasty birds. I figured they were scratching gravel and all got plowed at the same time. Some lightweight loads made quick work of them. Got them homed and cleaned them. Figured I would have bruised meat to trim off. They were perfect I administered clean head shots.
Turns out their crops were absolutely stuffed with grapes. This was well past the end of grape season, so any grapes were on the vine fro quite some time. So I figure those birds were just drunk off their ass.
