In a word the hunting was spectacular. If the duck numbers transfer over, we should see some awesome gunning stateside this season. Mallards and pintails were in abundance as were gadwall and divers. We saw more mallards this 2 weeks than in the previous 5 years combined up there. Pintails were so populous that after day 3 we declined to shoot them going "greenhead only" from that point forth.
After many months of preperation, planning, and hemmoraging wallets we were finally ready to kick off the Canada trip. Trailers were loaded, decoys were cleaned, bags were packed, and Dick Cabela was probably cooling his heels in Bora Bora on our orders alone.
We left SC around the 7th of October making 2000+
mile trek through states like Missouri, Iowa, and the Dakotas. Gasoline prices were fairly soaring at $1.90 but were we ever in for a treat on the Canadian side of the border.
We finally make it to our patch of prairie and lord at the ducks. Mallards everywhere. Mostly in eclipse. We arrive in time for an afternooner but elect to scout instead. We found a great concentration of ducks on several lakes that were flying out to feed in pea fields like herds of blackbirds. Ducknadoes were forming all over the fields around us and we were all grinning from ear to ear. The next day was Sunday (no hunting) so we slept off the 30+ hour non stop roadtrip and busied ourselves unloading four wheelers, the trailer, and our gear.
The place we stayed at this year was like some old saloon with rooms over a bar area. Figuring Sunday night would be nice and slow we planned on an early evening after supper to ready ourselves for the morning hunt. The alarm clock might have gone off at 5am but we will never know because we never left the damn bar the night before! Those dang Canadians kept 4 of whatever you were drinking in front of you at all times and it is considered sheer rudeness to pass on a round that one of them buys you. So with pounding heads we dragged ourselves out to the field early to catch some zzzz's in the Finisher Blinds and await the mreeeeep mreeeeeep of greenheads in the pre dawn light. We limited in under an hour that first morning. The ducks were in eclipse and we shot pintails out the wazoo as well as a sandhill crane.
We were hunting ground spreads with field decoys and well camo'd layout blinds. We had fiddled around with this kind of hunting last year enough to figure out how it OUGHT to be done and this year we came loaded for bear with a large field spread and all that comes with it. Done right it is a sight to behold. Ducks were literally landing on the tops of our blinds and the ever anxious dogs caught several during the trip.
Next to hunting in the timber, field hunting mallards is about the easiest duck hunting you can hope for. You are so well concealed that it is possible to shoot ducks heads off with regularity as they leap off the ground mere feet from your muzzle. Our decoys were continually sprayed with blood as if from a hose from headless ducks trying to find the sky one last time. I hope to have a picture on one of these cameras of the specklebelly dekes that look like they spent the day at a slaughterhouse. It was that close...
After a few days of working on them, the ducks being ducks, wised up and moved to another pea field to the North. By the time we had found them, so had some other hunters. We were forced to hunt water at this point which was just as effective and took a little skill which was fine by me but our bloodthirsty young guns were just not as happy without a gallon of duck blood all around them.
Then it happened. A little snow fell one night and the next day the potholes locked up. The temps dropped all day and few ducks were to be found. That evening we scouted around until we were satisfied that the ducks were gone and we began calling around to people we knew in NoDak who were smoking them. Undecided about a jump South, we elected to hunt one little pond we had found with about 300 mallards and a wad of gadwall that were keeping a hole from freezing.
That morning we had flight after flight of mallards come in on us like nothing I have ever seen. And the best part was that they were GREEN! The big northern mallards had arrived at last! 4 and 5 pounders with nary an eclipse in the flocks. With 3/4 of our trip to go we were on them in numbers I can only describe as incredible. We quickly were able to go greenhead only with each hen buying the bar a round that evening to keep the young killers at bay. Our earlier attemps at greenhead only had not gone so well with the little eclipse ducks.
The audible thuds of those big Northerns hitting the snowy ground was nearly as awesome as the buckets of blood soaked snow around our layouts after a morning of whacking. Damn what a sight.
I won't belabor the point of whacking them, that was the easy part this year. You might go up there 10 years in a row and never hit it like we did. The migration started and stopped right on top of us. When we were pulling out it had started again in earnest and I would not mind being in North Dakota about now...
The cattle ranchers are super pissed at Americans up there right now and you can expect it to get worse this year if something isn't done to appease them. The mad cow threat is real but after all this time I think we can open our borders to our friends from the North again. We only saw one No Beef= No Hunting sign while we were in Saskatchewan and a rancher drew us a map to a slough on the back of it. It was one he had in his truck. From the talk I expect to see more next year if something isn't done.
If you go to Canada ASK permission to hunt. We got into it with a farmer who came into the bar upset that we had shot snowgeese off his swaths of grain after he asked us not to. Someone had told him they saw Carolina boys hunting in those fields that morning. He was wanting the skycarp to eat up his shitty crop so that he could get crop insurance and not worry about combining it later after the snow melt. Of course, we went out to the field with him that afternoon to see what the deal was and lo and behold some dickwheels from Greenville were blasting away without bothering to ask. They did have a nice shot on a hen shoveler while we were walking out to have a prayer meeting with them...
Take the time to ask. They appreciate it. It always leads to something better. And you don't fuck us all up.
As I said earlier gas was a surprise in Canada. 4 bucks a gallon! We met a farmer while asking permission and got to talking to him about it. He offered us his gas bought through the Co-Op and we were able to save about a dollar a gallon thanks to the old boy. As I put close to 2,000 miles on my truck while IN Canada scouting,it was a hell of an appreciated gesture. The old boy will be getting a nice package from Charleston Seafood.com in a few weeks...
The good friends met, the boys killing their first bull canvasbacks, seeing 12 marvelous points of whitetail buck at 30 yards, chickens and huns galore, and watching a 9 month old yeller dog making 200 yard retrieves on her first duck hunt will not soon be forgotten.
Thanks to all the Canadians for allowing us to come share your bounty for a little while...
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I think all Border Nazis go to the same school. I might not even try to smuggle moose meat next poker run. [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Have some fun at the border,look them straight in the eye and ask if they are the Greeter.
Originally Posted by dfasano
o! [img]graemlins/thumb2.gif[/img] on the wackage!
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