Snow Geese In The Fall

I walked into the Hunting and Fishing Expo at the now long-gone Astro hall located outside the Astrodome in Houston with one purpose in mind. I wanted to be a waterfowl guide.

- John Gordon

I grew up in Houston, and my buddies and I spent every weekend on the rice-rich prairie where lay the famous goose towns of Katy, Eagle Lake, and El Campo. The area is the wintering home to ducks by the millions. But our target was lesser snow geese and speckle bellies, and we were trying to call these geese into enormous spreads of white plastic bags. A decoy set like that might not draw a look today. But in the 1980's it worked well enough for us to shoot a few geese, and I was hooked.

I moved away for college and then a career. But when I returned to Houston in 1995, the birds were still arriving by the millions. I had always admired the guides who made a living hunting those birds, and now I was determined to be one of them.

Every major waterfowl outfit in those days went to outdoor shows like the Expo to drum up business. That, word of mouth and ads in the Houston Chronicle newspaper and outdoor magazines were how they booked clients. The internet was in its infancy, and there was no social media.

Larry Gore’s Eagle Lake and Katy Prairie Outfitters were the kings of the hill. I had read about Larry growing up and had even hunted with a couple of his guides while in high school. So I boldly walked up to his booth first. The display was festooned with photos of guys in white parkas grinning behind piles of geese. Mounted geese and ducks hung from the walls. This was my kind of scene.

I introduced myself to the two guys sitting there. They were around my age, their mid-20s, and when I told them what I had in mind, they told me I would have to start out as a “swamper” or helper to one of the older guides. I had no problem with that, fully expecting to work my way up the ranks.

We talked hunting and calling for at least an hour before I decided to check out more of the show. I thanked them for their time and left my phone number.