Saskatchewan 2011 Duck and Goose wrap-up...

[Goldeneye]

I’m back after 6 days of hunting the prairie fields of Saskatchewan.  2 friends from down here were with me.  We drove up.  Right at a 19 hour drive.  For 3 days of the hunt we we’re joined by 3 guys from Delaware.  They are shown in some of the pic’s.  Nice guys, but struggled a bit (sticking shells in backwards in the heat of the moment, missing a lot of gimme shots etc.).  They were good fun though.  We had the full spectrum up there.  Shot Honkers, Specs, Blues, Snows, Ross, Mallards, Pintail, and Sandhills.  Had to shoot around the pintails as best we could.  The majority of the ducks in the area there were pintail.  We had duck hunting in 88 degree weather, to goose hunting in the low 30’s.  We had days where the birds just kept coming.  We even had a duck hunt where we were skunked.  The birds that day decided to migrate rather than work the area like the guides and field scouts had planned.  We had two guys hit by falling geese in the heat of things.  I had a couple brush me as they hit the ground.  For the first time in my life I had the opportunity to shoot 2 boxes of 10g shells in about 15 minutes.  My barrel at the end of that was too hot to touch, but a good number of those geese were lying beside me and one of my other hunting partners with another 10g.  That was the 96 goose morning.  When it came to ducks I did back off to my 12g and did very well.  I brought back a couple skinned out birds for mounts the Blue shown in the picture and a very mature Ross that has the most amazing structure on his beak.  Also included in the pic’s is a 37 pound rainbow caught near the lodge.  The lodge also has claim to the world record rainbow of 43 pounds.  I saw the picture and the paperwork documenting it.  Then there is the Bull Moose killed on the last day we were there.  A local shot it and was happy as a clam to have shot a young one (estimated to be about 3 years old by him).   He said the big bulls there are not nearly as good of eating.  Last I took a pic of an old sod house.  I guess this building is very old.  As you can see its days upright are numbered.  Can you imagine being up there in the dead of winter in this thing?  The only issue I ran into up there was at about day 5.  I had dust from the fields getting into tough places in my guns to clean.  Had a couple misfires because of that.  The action not closing all the way etc.  If I go again, I’ll probably bring more varied gun cleaning supplies.  Sorry for not having pictures of all the hunts.  It appears our guides do have some struggles with taking pictures.  Not a big deal.  That’s not what I paid them for.  Enjoy…

[Goldeneye]

More Pic's

[h2ofowlr]

Looks like a great hunt.  Maybe heading that way next season.

[johnnyaustin44]

Great trip. bring back any jewelry??

[Goldeneye]

Not a one had any jewelry.  I checked every bird I brought down and the guides rechecked, and then the bird cleaner checked as well.  Pretty amazing given the number of birds we brought down.

[Elkrunner]

Holy quack attack! 

[h2ofowlr]

Was what the daily rate for the guides?

[Goldeneye]

Not sure about what they charge for daily rates but the outfitter I used charges $2895 for 6 days and 12 hunts.  That works out to about $240 per hunt if I put a calculator to it.  This includes lodging at his place, all food, license, and game processing.  He is one of the better priced outfitters in the area that has access to a lot of acerage in the area.  He grew up there so has good access from the local farmers.  His guides and field spotters work their butts off for you as well.  I was impressed by that.   

[jordano]

Quite the trip! Thanks for sharin' with all of us stuck back here so we can drool! 

[Huntboy]

Looks like it was a great hunt.

[White Tornado]

I think I need to add a trip like this to my bucket list!!!!!! Looks like you all had a great time!! 

[D-Rock425]

Looks like fun to me.

[Goldeneye]

One thing I forgot to put into the original post.  Even though I took up a 135 qt and a 75 qt cooler I still could not fit my 3 day possesion limit in it.  By Law to bring back into the US you need to leave a wing attached.  That mean the breast plate as well.  I'm glad I took off an extra day from work.  I'll need today to finish processing all those birds.  So if you drive up there rather than fly you can bring back your birds a lot more easily.  I had some duck for dinner last night.  Really clean tasting birds.  They are pretty much grain fed in those fields up there. 

[seth30]

  :drool:Way to make the rest of us jealous

[Crispy]

  Man, really jealous. I think I need to do something like that in my life. How was crossing the border with the firearms? I imagine it's pretty reasonable as long as you take care of everything ahead of time.