Ramsey Russell is the owner of GetDucks.com, a United States-based company that facilitates duck hunting experiences worldwide and has been doing so since 2003.

He has hunted on six continents and spends about 225 days a year pursuing his passion, which has allowed him to gather a wealth of knowledge from around the world including during multiple visits to Australia, where he has hunted with Field & Game Australia members and also helped with waterfowl research activities. This passionate waterfowler has hunted diverse species in some truly amazing locations, but after two decades in business there are still some “bucket list” birds and experiences on his radar, hunting Cape Barren geese foremost among them.

Here, Ramsey Russell gives us an insight into a trip he made in January this year, leaving his Mississippi home and the North American winter to spend a week hunting Cape Barren geese on Tasmania’s Flinders Island.

Long  journey worth the effort

“Five flights later, the shimmering Bass Straight was glimpsed through puffy clouds, and ahead lay the small Flynder’s Island that was our destination,” Ramsey said. “Covering roughly 550 square miles, it’s inhabited by 900 people living close to the land. No [crazy] Australia anti-hunters here, I was told … no crime either. Cows and sheep plentiful, Cape Barrens too.”

Ramsey said the birds evolved in brackish marshes and still bore the greenish-yellow cere to excrete salt – but had since adapted to the island’s abundant pastureland – He said other distinctive features of Cape Barren Geese are their talon-like claws on deeply lobed webbed feet, and heart-shaped dark spots on their feathers. “Highly territorial, pairs and cohorts stake out each paddock across the landscape as their own,” he said. [Read More: Cape Barren Goose bucket list fulfilled]