Back from Canada Pics

[Double R]

Also posted another site but wanted to share with my SCDuck friends too! Best visit in nearly a decade. I knew when we exited the plane it was going to either be very good or very bad: it was 27 degrees F and snowing. The temps never got above freezing and the snow remained intact for the entire trip. Saw the sun for all of 5-10 minutes the entire week. It felt good to be back in tropical Mississippi, a humid 88. Not!

Here's how we kicked off our little adventure. The snow was coming in side ways: -4 C with a 20 mph wind from the NNW. This hunt was the quickest 6 man limit of the year: we were done 14.5 minutes after legal shooting time .... 6 guns, 8 grays each. It was over way, way too soon!


The geese continued to dump into the decoys like there was no tommorrow. We enjoyed the show for a spell (until we'd all caught our breath) and the let them have the field. Take 'em!!!


Luckilywe were already done and this one lived to see another day. Shot the decoy instead!


The geographic area we hunted is about 120 miles square, roughly 9.2 million acres. Many of the fields we shot were mixed flocks of Canadas (Richardson's, interiors and greaters), snows, ross', a few specklebellies and ducks, mostly mallards but a few pintail.

This particular hunt, hid blinds in uncut swaths that, for some reason, had remained uncut. Winds strongly from the SSW, had the decoys laid such that the birds had to fly right to left through the gauntlet. Limited on dark geese (grays and some specks) and shot quite a few light geese. The specks were magnificently marked adults and 3 are destined for their mantles.

[Double R]

Throughout the morning we dropped several birds out front, beyond an uncut swath. It was impossible to get all the birds in at times before we were assailed by another flight. At some point, a couple of flocks swung wide of the spread so I took the dog out to sweep the area of dead birds. Among those recovered was this handsome ross' goose.

[Double R]

Game warden called from the Peace River area about mid week and said that his area, about 5 or 6 hours north of us, had become void of waterfowl. Overnight *poof* gone. Clients that hunted our area the week previous experienced poor duck flights. Not so just a week later! Ducks were constantly trading between this roost and a pea field about 1/2 miles north. Constant motion, as much I'd guess to keep the water open as anything else. How many reckon?

[Double R]

The birds were colored up beautifully. The drake sprig that one of the MS boys shot lacked only a sprig and a few finished side feathers. NewSiberiaDuckHunter and I took turns working dogs. It was beautiful watching those black dogs race gracefully across the white landscape to retreive waterfowl as distant as that ridge you see directly behind us. As we were gathering decoys at hunt's end, an area about 1/4 to 1/2 mile away began to fill with ducks, the likes of which blackened a solid 5 acres of snow.

[Double R]

Mississippi dog with a mouth full of real Canada.


This dawg didn't handle near as well as the other.


The greaters, for me, are "the real thing"; the Canadian experience at it's best. They're big and they finish beautifully. Something about seeing "real" Canadas, not a bunch of Mississippi cracker eaters, looking big as B-52's, wings locked sailing into the spread from a 1/2 mile off...quieter than the gregarious snow-like lessers, except when they hit the snow.

[Double R]

The pea fields were the hot ticket. Tremendous rainfall and hailstorms precluded the timely harvest of peas and many remained uncut. May be that the ducks were hanging so closely to the geese knowing that the geese would expose the food. If you look closely, you'll see an abundance of peas, that resemble garbonzo beans, that were available a few inches below the snow's surface. The peas are used primarily as cattle feed.


Duck flights were generally big, but they were usually harder to finish than geese. They'd buzz the spread, sometimes higher sometimes lower, sometimes more than once sometimes not. At one point, we managed to get about 500 over the decoys, real low and within range. Saw a black duck mixed with a flock of about 35 mallards that buzzed high over the decoys several times but never low enough to shoot. It was the first black duck our guide had ever seen, yet it was unmistakable as contrasted by the mallards and sullen gray backdrop.

No spinners, just straight meat duck hunting.

[Double R]

Check out that swarm of birds in the background, above us in the pic. It ain't blackbirds! There were an estimated 15,000+ birds in this field the evening before we hunted. From about a mile and a half away you could hear them on the roosts and they came in waves. Thousands of waterfowl traded constantly over the field from daylight to dark. Only problem was that the numerous flocks working the field continuously pulled birds that were otherwise trying to work the decoys. Limits of grays nonetheless.

[Double R]

My annual favorite for sure. Next year's dates are looking like October 17-22, 2005. Hunt 3 days on either end or all 6, hunter's choice. Maximum 12 hunters per week. Short fuse to ensure these dates. Will arrange other hunts seperately. Call or email for more info.

[Double R]

Haunting my dreams until next year...

[Low Country Sandlapper]

Thanks for the pics, Double R! I haven't been in 3 years and I miss it dearly!

[Candor]

very nice pics!! [img]graemlins/thumb2.gif[/img]

[*Crippler*]

I hate you.... [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[KRT]

That is AWESOME!!!!

[B.S.D.]

Bad Ass Pics!!!!!!!

[curlybackdogs]

damn nice trip!!!

[HUNTINDUCS]

Really nice pictures!!!!! I hope to one day wear their ass out like that.

[Johnny Reb]

Great pictures!!! Looks like a helluva time was had by all!

[JPC3]

Those are awesome pics Double R!!!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing.

[Claimer]

What crippler said. Nice pics.

[duck hunter 143]

dude thats allot of dead ducks and geese. where in canada did you go?