Manitoba 2008

[Dave Sikorski]

Drew and I hit the road last Saturday morning and spent all week going full tilt after ducks and geese in Canada. There was little or no TV, no internet, and only one official meal, when we visited with a friends parents.

We took 103 ducks, 38 geese, 4 sandhill cranes, and 1 sharptail. A total of 14 species.

The week started with 40 knot winds and sideways rain, (w/ a limit that evening, and a mallard band) It was cloudy, windy, clear, calm, foggy, and rained and snowed on the evening we left for home.

To say it was a great hunt would be an understatement.

I'll let the pics speak for themselves. I'm ready to get back in the swing of things here and get a deer to the butcher. Lord knows I've had enough duck and goosin for at least until the season comes in on Sat.

What a week!

-D




































Drew napping mid hunt. I dragged his ass all over Canada and don't know another 30 year old let alone a 60 year old that could keep up. On Saturday morning he was sprinting after geese. It was a good thing he wore his running shoes.


Our host Andy

[JMS-ILM]

awesome.....did you carve that wigeon???

[Dave Sikorski]

-D

[brandon558]

damn nice job you two. looks like it was an outstanding week!

Were you free lancing or private/public land?

great pics!!

Brandon

[Dave Sikorski]

I did not carve the widgeon. Ira McCauley from www.momarsh.com carved it. It will travel around the country and be auctioned off on duckboats.net to fund the site.

It's hollow white cedar and painted in Goldens acrylics. The grain was raised and there are rasp marks along the back that look like feathering.

It's friggin gorgeous!

We were freelancing. We have a host who I met through a friend that grew up in Manitoba. He knows most of the surrounding land owners and secures permission for us.

We stay in a hotel in town and are helped with what is where by our host. Two days we hunted pea fields that were owned by Andy the host. It was sick to say the least. We watched clouds of 500+ mallards, and flocks of geese as far as the eye could see.

-D

[clt_capt]

Nice trip. Pretty dog there!!!

[Dave Sikorski]

Check out the cackler in the third pic, second post.

How cool is that little thing? I wanted to save it for mounting, but the one wing was a little torn up.

The crane on the right is going on the wall. They were the coolest experience of the trip. 500 of them feeding in a stubble field. We waited between them and their roost and the passed at 20 yds. It was sick!

-D

[Dave Sikorski]

A few more.

We hunted the field in the background of the duck cloud.

-D

[WAHOONBOX]

HOLEY TOLEDO......

ONE OF THE BEST PICTORIALS TO DATE!

[SAXIS ISLANDER]

nice pics...how was the freelancing experience?? Were the landowners easy to work with?? It seems that there is alot of area to hunt with little pressure. Correct assumption??