Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply |
one of us |
A couple of years ago I wandered down to Manitoba to shoot some wood ducks. I have nothing against them personally but a goose hunting buddy badly needed one for his collection and since we don't really have the birds here - time to get it done. And so we did. While on the shoot I met a great couple from Edmonton who were also doing their best to add to their collection. We had lot of laughs and kept in touch since. Before Christmas they contacted me and wanted to know if I was interested in a guided snow goose shoot in Saskatchewan. About a 7 hour drive from my hacienda. $361 Canadian a day and we were responsible for our own food and lodging. They had a weekend booked as they work for a living. I got runned out of teaching 15 years ago so it did not matter to when the gunfire would begin. I actually do not have to drive 7 hours in my ancient Silverado to gun some ol' white geese as I can whack them less than thirty miles away from my home but I really wanted to hunt with these folks again. I quickly agreed and decided that it would be a nice touch on me to invite a buddy who takes me goose hunting in late December every year. We almost always get our limit of 8 big Canadas each. Superb shooting. I decided to tell him on the first shoot in late December. Come with me to Saskatchewan - I will pay for everything. I appreciate the gray goose hunts. Sadly he invited some other dude last December for those outstanding goose shoots. Ah, well. I saved at least a grand. I wanted to take another fellow but I was informed that they already had 6 shooters. No more wanted. Nuts! The first shoot was a 3:30 a.m. start at the local $150 a night hotel. (Little sign saying that hunters were welcome) I lent my cigarette lighter to a hooker who needed a light. Her and some guy were still roaming the streets at that unholy hour. She seemed nice. We requested A frame blinds and a dog to retrieve the birds. We got the nasty lay down blinds and one of the lady shooters retrieved most of the far away defunct ones. Luckily it is Saskatchewan where your dog can run away for two days and still be in sight. Old joke but true. The guide, without asking us, also did the shooting and there were 9 in total on that morning hunt. Too many. IMO When they parked the 5 or 6 vehicles, instead of the guide bringing them all back in his truck, they all walked the 1/2 mile back and after the shoot they all walked back to their trucks. Rather silly. We only gunned about 26 geese that morning. Long ways to go and rather expensive to gun maybe three birds each and who knows if you weren't shooting the same bird as one or two or more were aiming and shooting at? That afternoon one of the hunters phoned the outfitter and told him that it did not go all that well. The next morning, a more civilized 5:30 departure as were going to try to gun the critters as they returned to their roosts. A No NO in Canada goose shooting in the fall. This time we had a new guide (who got his rig stuck as he drove into the field and probably took at least an hour or more to get out with the help of another 4x4 and much maneuvering. While he was busy doing that we set up a few hundred wind socks on the south shore of a big slough. More lay out blinds and 8 shooters and a genuine black lab. In the Pacific flyway where I normally hunt we might see one blue goose per 1,000 white geese. In this Central flyway area - maybe 40% were blues. All adults. Outstanding. Soon after the shoot started the guide (A chap from the U.S. Of A.) let his dog loose as two low flying snows came by. Both geese were gunned as the guy was screaming that his dog was not to be shot. Maybe his angle of view was different. I thought that the geese were much higher than the average pheasant gunned over a pointer. But then it was not my dog so maybe I am not all that sensitive. Later on a speck came by and the guy started screaming again to not shoot the illegal goose. In Alberta it would have been instantly seen among all the white geese. Not so much when the sky was full of blues. The shoot was awesome and we ended up with 123 birds if I remember correctly. When it was about time to tip the fine guide, he apologized profusely for yelling bloody murder at us those two times. He was justified and I reckon that he got his share of fine Canadian green backs. I asked him if he would take Canadian money. He assured me that he was fine with it. One more thing off the ol' bucket list. Also a great time to renew old acquaintances .. | ||
|
Powered by Social Strata |
Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
Visit our on-line store for AR Memorabilia