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Feature Stories (Vol. 109 No. 42--10/17/2007)

Six Essler brothers named to ND Goose Hunters Hall of Fame

By Caroline Downs

Six Essler brothers, sons of Felix and Judy Essler of Kenmare, have competed at one time or another as one of the charter GooseFest goose shoot teams since the first contest in 1991. They’ve won the goose shoot seven times (including the first year), placed 12 or 13 times in the shoot’s 16-year history, and developed a reputation as the team to beat in the event.

Now, for the 19th annual GooseFest, the Essler brothers will be inducted into the North Dakota Snow Goose Hunters Hall of Fame.

Joe Breidenbach of Bismarck praised the Esslers for their hunting ethic and representation of Kenmare in his nomination letter. "The Essler brothers have become synonymous with GooseFest outside of the Kenmare are and have become ambassadors for the area and GooseFest," he wrote. "They...are true sportsmen and have mastered a style of hunting that is traditional and fairly unique to the Kenmare area."

Breidenbach referred to the Esslers’ method of crawling to sneak up on flocks of geese, especially snow geese which can be notoriously difficult to attract with decoys. "The traditional style of sneaking geese is much more than a game of chance, but is a method that has been perfected by the Essler brothers," wrote Breidenbach. "They have honored the traditions of snow goose hunting in the Kenmare area by not only hunting with this style, but finding continued success in doing so."

For the Esslers, hunting together is a family tradition. "Goose and duck hunting have always been a part of the Essler household...ever since I can remember as a little boy," said Steven. "Being blessed with a large family, which included seven brothers, it was always easy to tag along with the brothers to go hunting. I didn’t realize it then, but it was the development in those childhood years that turned into a lifelong love for hunting geese and ducks."

He continued, "It’s not just about hunting, but about pulling a family of brothers together to carry on a precious and fading hunting tradition."

That tradition began with Leon, the eldest, who lives in Bismarck. Next in line was Dennis, now of Rochester, MN, and Mike, of Omaha, NE, then Steven of Denver, Jeff of Bismarck and Philip of Kenmare. Rodney and Mark did not become avid waterfowl hunters, but were unable to escape the stories and wild game served around the dinner table, courtesy of their brothers.

Jeff recalled his own participation beginning in the late 1960s. "Generally, it was just ducks to shoot then," he said. "Mark and Leon kept the rest of us in envy of watching them. We tried to tag along as much as we could."

Just as the interest in hunting was passed from brother to brother, so was a level of competition. "It was fun keeping scoresheets among ourselves," Jeff said. "I would track our harvest of birds every year. I’ve got a six-year span of records that nail it down to the goose-per-day average and the shells-per-goose average."

He laughed as he talked about the cost of ammunition, especially for a group of boys. "Accuracy was definitely a component of our hunting," he said.

He recalled his first duck, a blue-winged teal taken at age 13 west of Kenaston. "I didn’t have any money to buy real shells, so I would swipe a few from my brother Dennis, who hand-loaded some shells," he said. "I remember they were 4 buckshot."

Jeff’s thrifty nature continued as he learned to hunt snow geese on the Tolley Flats east of Kenmare. "I had some Winchester Super-X 2 3/4 inch 4 shot," he said. "Not ideal for the day....I didn’t have many shells, either, no more than a dozen...so I made my shots count as best I could."

He shot his first snow goose three times with the 4 shot load, and the goose fell on ice that crusted over the wetland area. "I recall my brother Steve’s blue goose fell on dry land," he said. "So I was in quite a dilemma when the white bird lay on the ice about 70 yards away. I knew the water was deep enough to go over my head at the point the goose was laying. I tested the ice on the shoreline. It was pretty soft and I punched through quite easily. As I got a yard away and it was enough to support my scrawny carcass, I slowly skittered across the ice, moving as the ice was cracking. I took another route back to avoid the cracked ice...and safely made it to shore."

Jeff’s devotion to his goose was ridiculed by his hunting partners. "I was greeted by some jeering from my brothers about being crazy to go out there and that they would have just left it," he said. "Are you kidding me? My first snow goose ever! Not a chance."

Despite the competition and teasing, the Essler brothers have a knack for hunting together, even if they haven’t planned to do so. "As a group, we all know what to do individually, like an ant colony," said Jeff. "When we all arrive [to hunt] from our different locations, inevitably we all meet at some point in the day out in the field, and we all just know what to do."

According to Jeff, each brother has different strengths. "Dennis is the team captain and he has somehow put it into his mind he’s the grand master hunter," said Jeff, "but he is definitely one of our slower teammates. He is the paper pusher of the group, which is a critical component, and he makes sure we don’t miss our charter team designation in the goose shoot each year."

He described Dennis as the team’s MVP for distance. "He can smoke a goose from heights that are unbelievable to me," he said.

Jeff believes he and Leon are the best in the group for planning the strategy to hunt a particular flock of birds. He described one successful hunt last year where he and Leon immediately envisioned a path to a flock of geese and started in on the sneak. "We motored down the trail on our hands and knees," said Jeff. "It was a true, down-to-earth instinct for hunting."

Mike does well with binoculars. "He’s the guy with the eyes," said Jeff, explaining how Mike will scan the horizon with optics even while riding in a vehicle.

Jeff has grown accustomed to waiting for some of his brothers in the field, but they often make up for lost time with their shooting. "Steven and Mike are good shooters," Jeff said. "Leon and I usually plot the course. They’ll do what we have them do. Dennis...." He paused before finishing, "...is an independent spirit."

Belly sneak works
best for Esslers
Steven described how the brothers came to rely on their sneak technique without really planning it. "I remember in earlier childhood hunting excursions sitting either in a nice spread of decoys very early in the frozen morning," he said, "or by a fence ‘firing line’ waiting for the geese and ducks to take an early morning flight off the local refuge waters. These are still very valuable and fun hunting techniques, but it is ultimately the belly sneak technique that the Essler brothers fall back on most. One has to be willing to get down on all fours and, per se, ‘eat some dirt,’ and we have to occasionally remind brother Dennis to keep his butt down, but it works."

In Jeff’s opinion, the Essler brothers perfected the belly sneak method over 20 years of practice in grainfields and several unsuccessful moments. "We grew up hunting snows the best way we could and we couldn’t afford real decoys, so we used plastic jugs and tar paper painted white, held in place with lath stakes," he recalled. "Soon, those decoys didn’t produce any more. We resorted to sneaking up on flocks of birds with mixed results."

The brothers kept at it. "By observing flocks and practicing our sneak techniques, the Essler brothers were able to pull it all together and be consistent in bagging birds," said Jeff. "With the burgeoning mid-continent snow goose population occurring at the same time we were perfecting our sneak tactics, it all melded together. We’ve done our part for reducing the snow goose population."

He couldn’t resist needling some of the Esslers’ main competitors in the goose shoot, led by Chad and Arlen Gartner. "Now, if only the Gartners had followed the same path," he said, "we wouldn’t be having a spring conservation season!"

Jeff compared the sneak strategy to a bowhunting stalking a deer. "It’s enjoyable to sneak up and know you’ve got one of the most wary birds out there," he said.

He also said there were times he would sneak up on a flock, only to sit up in the field and watch the birds’ surprised response. "Then I just mutter to myself, ‘I could have had you,’" he said.

He admitted the Esslers’ sneak tactics come with a price, especially as years pass. "As I get older, it gets to be harder and harder," he said. "I’ve started a decoy accumulation and bought a trailer. That’s kind of a fun way to do things, too."

The best stories
Some of the brothers’ best stories take place outside the goose shoot contest. Dennis Essler recalled an instance when he had bragging rights. "One late October day, as snow started to fall, I was excited at the thought of a good hunt the following morning," he wrote. "The next morning, the ground was covered with two to three inches of fresh new snow. Geese were landing in the middle of a field southeast of Kenmare. Dressed in my white camouflage, I proceeded across the field to close in on the flock on the ground, as a flock of 12 to 15 honkers flew from the lake in my direction. It was my lucky day when they landed 20 yards from me as I lay concealed in the snow. I shot twice and had two giant honkers."

He returned to the same field and set out honker decoys with his brother Leon and a friend the next day. "Snow geese started landing in the west end of the same field," he wrote, "and after a hour passed of no action in the decoys, we decided to sneak on the geese we had been watching. As we crossed the field, we crested a small knoll, and noticed a wounded giant honker ahead."

He recognized the goose. "I immediately said, ‘I got that one yesterday!’" he wrote.

His friend responded, "I’ve heard hunters say I got that one, but never have I heard ‘I got that one yesterday!’"

Dennis finished his story, "So that’s the joke every year when we say ‘I got that one!’ My brothers always say to me ‘I got that one yesterday!’"

Steven recalled the origin of one of the brothers’ hunting mottos. "One particular year, winter arrived early near Kenmare and blanketed the ground with six inches of fresh snow," he said. "All the geese had moved east toward the Lake Darling area. We pursued the geese in that area, but didn’t bag any birds that particular day."

He continued. "The very next morning, we were driving back to that same area to hunt and my brother Mike spoke up and said, ‘We better do better today.’ He said that phrase really fast in such a way that it sounded kind of funny. And we did do better that morning and bagged many geese, but it is a phrase I still like to use when heading out hunting, and in everyday life."

Thankful to landowners
The Esslers agree one reason they have been so successful in their hunts around Kenmare is because of generous landowners. "We couldn’t have done this anywhere else in North Dakota," said Jeff. "Everywhere we go, I see land that is posted, and hunting is more difficult as a result. We thank and appreciate all the landowners who keep the land open to hunt. It has allowed the goose hunting band of brothers to be created."

"It is the hunting traditions that need to continue to be passed on to our younger generations," added Steven. "My hat goes off to Kenmare and the GooseFest because it has lent itself in doing just that."

With the Esslers scattered across several states now, the GooseFest goose shoot is one of the few hunting opportunities that brings them together again. According to Jeff, the brothers generally treat the event like a regular hunt. "We put a little bit more pre-scouting effort into things," he said, "but we do this for fun. We don’t buy ourselves in the calcutta. We want it to be just another day out with the brothers."

He continued, "That’s the draw of coming back for the GooseFest."

Some of the Esslers have started hunting traditions with their own children, but the lore of the brothers remains strong. "My son has been introduced to hunting with the brothers and he would love to be on the GooseFest team," Jeff said. "He wrote essays in school about his experiences hanging around the Essler boys during GooseFest week!"

No matter the outcome, the Essler brothers always enjoy themselves. "We’re family," Jeff said. "At the end of the hunt, we’re all in the same house, and we continue to jaw each other about what we did or didn’t do that day. To this day, we still look forward to it!"

"These guys deserve the honor of becoming a permanent part of the GooseFest and GooseFest deserves to have them honored in the Hall of Fame," wrote Breidenbach in his nomination. "I look forward to seeing their picture on the wall!"

Leon, Dennis, Mike, Steven, Jeff and Philip Essler will be recognized as the 2007 North Dakota Snow Goose Hunters Hall of Fame inductees on Wednesday, October 24th, following the Wild Game Feed at the Kenmare Memorial Hall. Everyone is invited to attend this free event, which begins at 6 pm.