38 NEBRASKAland • DECEMBER 2018
his guests. Now Olson can count
Sawyer among the many people he has
witnessed shoot their first goose. He
said there have been about 35 first-time
goose harvesters at the pit in itself, and
many more at other locations before he
took on the lease.
"I really like taking the kids," he
said. "They are the future of hunting
and the more hunters we have in
the field the better it is for all of us
because that's more people paying for
conservation. I've also had a lot of
women and girls come down and hunt
and they really seem to eat it up."
Olson provided us with an exemplary
goose hunting experience from when
we arrived early in the day, including
several doses of time-honored
waterfowling wisdom.
"Sawyer, there's an old saying
in waterfowl hunting: If you burn
breakfast it's a good day," Olson said
just before using a well-worn cast
iron skillet to warm up breakfast
burritos made of goose sausage, eggs
and cheese. He did not burn the tasty
fare but a less experienced hunter
might have as several flocks teased
us. When the first flock approached
the pit that morning, my heart raced
just as much as it did north of Lisco in
Larry Olson works a goose call from the pit.
Larry Olson's yellow Labrador retriever Issy retrieves a goose while pup Roxie tags along.
