Canada Goose and Duck Hunt

**Dave Sikorski** · 10-13-2008 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by Paul Sikorski

Speaking of Canada reports...
How about some pictures.

keep looking...

Manitoba 2008

-D

**Duskydog** · 09-18-2009 08:03 AM

Its been a while since we booked the hunt be we are finally getting on the plane Wed. I will be sure to post pictures when we get back on the 29th. Again, thanks for everybody's input and I can't believe a year has passed since I booked the trip.

**WAHOONBOX** · 09-18-2009 09:35 AM

HEY DOG....A YEAR IS A LONG TIME TO WAIT....I'VE BEEN WAITING ON MY BROTHER TO ARRIVE THIS COMING MONDAY FOR THE SAME YEAR....AND FINALLY! I HOPE YOU GUYS HAVE A BANG UP TRIP!!

LOOK FORWARD TO THE REPORT......OH....AND TAKE THE CAMERA!!!

**Duskydog** · 10-06-2009 08:48 AM

We arrived in Edmonton on 8/23/09 to sunny 85 degree weather. I am thinking not the best weather for duck hunting. We were met by Mark of Wild Goose Guiding where we loaded our gear into a trailer for a 2 hour ride to Hardesty lake in a GMC Denalli (with the AC cranking). Along the way on every pond ducks were sitting and feeding and geese were flying. We pulled into the lodge which sits on a roosting pond and were met with a great pot roast and potato dinner. The lodge was amazing. It actually was the guides cousins house that he lets him use for the 5 week season.
We got up the next morning and suited up for the 1st hunt. Yes it was 80 degrees in the morning before the sun came up, no wind or clouds. I am thinking great I come all the way to Canada to donate blood to the mosquitos and hunt a bluebird day. Not expecting much I am surprised to see so many speckle belly geese and Canada geese fly. The whole area is experiencing a drought and it is dust bowl central. We managed 12 specks and a handful of Canadas in the 2 hour morning hunt. Pretty good for such crappy duck hunting weather.
Went back to the lodge for some breakfast which everyone had seconds and the Canadian bacon didn’t stand a chance with this crew. We were told we were heading out around 430 in the afternoon so we set on the deck cracked a beer and watched the birds poor into the rousting pond. About 100 Mr. Golka the patriarch of the family stopped by to meet us and inform us we were heading out at 230 for a power hunt. Apparently he wasn’t to happy with what his son Mike told him about the morning and hunt and he pulled a few strings. Boy at this point the blood really was pumping. We went to the field around 230 and set up with that particular farms owner and his crew of 3. I was thinking this is going to be sketchy. However, it turned out to be the most memorable hunt I have ever been on. We had ducks pitching in by the hundreds, specs pitching in by groups of 50+ and candas dropping in. It was litteraly raining ducks. You would shoot and then have to duck so you didn’t get hit by falling birds. I think the evening tally was around 40+ ducks and 24+ geese.
We went back and had an amazing dinner and a few night cap drinks before bed. The next morning we limited out on speckle belly geese (18) by 0730. Then we waited and picked at ducks and Canada geese and a few snows. Went back to the house had lunch and went out in the evening looking for snows. Well the specks were so plentiful that they wouldn’t allow the snows in the field. It was challenging because the snows and canadas were mixed in the hundreds of specs and we would pass shoot them. The challenge was to pick the right species out of the hundreds of birds circling overhead and drop that one. We also scrapped out a few ducks. We then went back for dinner with the rest of the family we hadn’t met yet and ate duck that was marinated in an amazing sauce and 1.5” thick T-Bone steaks.
Mike enjoyed a few drinks with us and we swapped stories. Everybody’s arms were sore from shooting close to 300 rounds each in the past two days. Mike offer to take us on a duck shoot the next morning this was the cherry on top of the whipped cream hunt. A lot of ponds are alkalide ponds and the ducks sit on them eating the bugs but have to go to fresh water to drink. So we set up on a fresh water pond about 40 yards long and 15 yards wide up on a hill looking down on the pond. We didn’t set any decoys and we were sitting out in the open just waiting. It didn’t take long until spoon bills and teal started pouring into the pond. I now have a new appreciation of “Shooting Ducks In a Barrel”.

To sum it up approximately 140+ birds killed (specks, canadas, snows, pintails, spoony's, mallards, teal), 300 rounds each fired, and many memories created in just 2.5 days. We also saw elk, monster white tail, mule deer and coyotes. I was blessed with the opportunity to partake in this hunt with my dad and 3 close friends. It was absolutely amazing and everything I hoped it would be. If you want to go do this type of hunt I highly recommend the family owned business Wild Goose Guiding (www.wildgooseguiding.com) . They made us feel like one of the family.

I wanted to post the story. I am still gathering the carnage pictures and will post shortly.

**Dave Sikorski** · 10-07-2009 12:28 PM

Glad to hear you had a good hunt. I'm looking forward to the pics.

It sounds like you picked a good guide service and were taken care of. I enjoy sitting back and BS'n with the Canadians. You find out that they're pretty much just like the folks you'll run into in many parts of the US.

Specks are definitely my favorite kind of goose by far. The ones I shot in arkansas were the best eating waterfowl I've ever had, well, not better than woodies and teal, but you get the point

Thanks for sharing. Now get those pics up.

-D