In recent years, the only increases in the goose harvest for Mississippi have been for Canada geese. Photo by Polly Dean.

Most geese killed in Mississippi are taken by duck hunters, who simply take advantage of the situation when a Canada, blue or snow passes too low over a spread of mallard decoys. But another group of hunters can be added to that opportunistic list. Rabbit hunters are next in line!

Last winter, on a miserably cold January day on the edge of the south Delta near Yazoo City, a small group of us were following beagles in pursuit of swampers and hillbillies through some reclaimed agricultural land and catfish ponds. Moving closer to a creek that bordered the property, we head a cacophony rising from a neighbor's fields.

I had to take a look. What I saw was a field that seemed filled with living snow. It was white geese -- literally thousands of them.

"Guys, you need to get a look at this," I hollered at my partners. "You've heard of the huge flocks of wintering snows and blues? Well, here's an example."

About a mile down the road, at a slightly lower elevation, several thousand geese were already feeding in an open field. Thousands more were arriving in waves, steadily dropping out of the drizzle to join the feast.

It was an amazing sight, watching the flock feed through the field.

"Anybody know the farmer who owns that field?" asked Keith Quayle of Terry. "If we can get permission, I've got a case of steel shot in my truck left over from a duck hunt last week. They're not Ts, but they are No. 2s. We'll have to get close."

It just so happened that our hunt host not only knew the landowner, but also had his phone number saved in his cell phone's memory. He made the call, and the farmer was happy to hear the request.

"By all means, kill all you can," he said, his voice crackling over the speakerphone. "I hate them dang geese. I wouldn't care if you killed them all."

But killing the geese would be lots tougher than getting the permission to do so. How do you get close enough to shoot at 5,000 to 10,000 geese without being seen?

"We don't," said Quayle, the only one among us who'd had much goose experience. "We let them get close enough to us. That's the only way you can take advantage of this kind of situation when they're already in the field. If we just walk down there, they'll spook for sure. There's no cover anywhere near them."

We surveyed the situation and tried to form a plan. I spotted a big drainage ditch with high grass that cut the field in half, and it reminded me of a goose hunt I had witnessed a few years earlier, near Eagle Lake north of Vicksburg.

"Look at them. They're steadily feeding toward that ditch," I pointed out. "See how the ones at the rear of the flock hop up and fly over the tops of the others to get to fresh ground closer to the ditch? They've still got about 400 or 500 yards to go, so we have to hurry and get in that ditch."

There was one obvious flaw to the plan. The geese were between our position and the ditch -- a point my partners were quick to make.

Just as we were about to give up on the idea of a quick goose hunt, a truck drove past us and headed down toward the geese. One edge of the flock was within 50 yards of the road. But when the truck drove past without stopping, only a few birds were spooked. They simply took wing for a few seconds and went right back down, ahead of the flock.

"I think we just got our sign," said Quayle. "We can drive past them, sneak back and make the ditch."

Only four of us were wearing camo, so the others kept on rabbit hunting while we made our move to the truck. We made sure our guns were all plugged, and then took off.