Based on his experiences in Texas, he said he knows why goose hunting is slow to catch on.

"It's a lot of fun, but it's a lot of work," Quayle offered. "It's not very often that you get lucky enough to catch geese feeding on the edge of a field, like we did that day. Usually, they're as far out in the middle as they can get. And you know how our Delta fields turn into gumbo mud with winter rains!

"When you have to trudge half a mile or a mile to get to where they're feeding after sunrise, then put out hundreds of decoys or rags -- man, that's a lot of work! Then you have to either sit or lie down in that mud, waiting. I might consider doing it once or twice a year. But I'm telling you, it's a young man's sport."

Locating geese takes time and gas. Hours of driving the highways and back roads in the Delta are needed to find geese. But spotting them is not a problem once you're near.

"When you get direct line of sight at a flock, you can't miss them," said Raymond Turner of Greenville. "It looks like a patch of snow. If it's a big enough flock, an entire field may look covered in snow.

"You can ride around and find them, or you can go hang out at the local co-op and ask around. If there's a big flock around, you can find out about it. People talk, and word spreads. Landowners don't really like having them around, especially close to the house. They are really loud!"

Turner hunted geese for a decade in the Delta before developing heart problems two years ago.

"The key to successful goose hunting here is just like anywhere else," he said. "You have to find an area where a large flock --thousands of birds -- is feeding frequently. Then network with local landowners, and try to find some nearby fields where they haven't been. You don't really want to hunt where they've been using a field, because they eat everything there in a matter of days. They can completely strip a field that fast.

"Get in a field in the area before sunrise and put out hundreds of rags and as many hard or soft-plastic decoys you can afford," he continued.

"Learn to call and learn to call very loud. You've got to get their attention and make them come to check you out. Once they see the rags, they'll come."

The second step is where you set up in relation to the rag spread.

"Don't surround yourself with the spread. They don't land in the middle," Turner explained. "Get on the downwind edge of the spread. Just like ducks, they come in against the wind and land on the outside edge of the flock, where you need to be.

"You want to be as close to the geese as you can get. They are big and tough. They can sustain a hit and keep going, and you'll lose them."

A final tip Turner had was one he learned from a previous goose story printed in Mississippi Game & Fish.

"I read where one guy said he designed his rags after a football referee's flag," he pointed out. "He cut his white rags in rectangular pieces and wrapped one corner around a rock. This accomplished a few things that I liked.

"One, you can throw them further, which can save time putting out the spread. Two, you can paint the rock corner black like a head. And three --the thing I like best -- the rock will weigh the rag down and keep it in place in high wind.

"We get a lot of wind in the flat Delta, and it can blow those rags around. Weighted down, though, it gives the rag a little movement like a goose, but it won't blow away."