MichaelLudwig
Well-Known Member
There we were, six against thousands, and when the guns were quiet and the smoke cleared ... there was not one dead duck on the ground ... LOL ... And so began our adventure of waterfowling in the Peace River country in northern Alberta.
Unless you have been there, you would not believe the countryside. Flat fields of harvested wheat, peas, and canola as far as the eye can see, literally, as far as the eye can see, and dotted everywhere with lakes, not ponds, but lakes, of varying sizes from 50 acres to 5,000 acres and more, and every one of these lakes is holding migrating waterfowl.
Our hosts, Kevin and Patti McNeil of Blue Sky Outfitting ( www.blueskyoutfitting.com ) are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Both hunt, Kevin more so than Patti, but Kevin has a passion for waterfowling, duck hunting in particular, that is almost unrivalled in most people that I have met. It shows in the way he treats clients, and is even more telling in the way he respects his quarry. If it were practical for Kevin to be a member of LPWA, he would in a heartbeat, and we would all be better for his passion and enthusiasm.
So, back to the beginning, my daughter Michaela and I arrived in McLennan about 4:00 PM (local) on Wednesday the 18th of September. We were greeted by the four other hunters we were to hunt with. Kevin & Patti had been over in Peace River and were on their way back with some last minute supplies. When they arrived, and all of the niceties exchanged, we were assigned our living quarters for the next three days. Very nice, very clean, very spacious rooms complete with satellite TV, kitchens, bedrooms, and bathrooms. Everything you would expect in a good hotel suite really.
Our hunt begins on Thursday the 19th at Oh My Lord It's Still Dark Out Thirty, or 5:30 AM local to us hardened waterfowlers. Everyone packs into two pickup trucks and off we go to the fields. When we get there everyone pitches in and sets up the decoy spread and blinds. I notice in the back of the trailer there are about 6 cases of shotgun shells and recall thinking "that seems like a little bit of overkill". After an hour of work we settle in to await legal shooting time. Meanwhile, just as the sun begins to creep over the eastern horizon, about a half hour from legal, we begin to get inundated with ducks. Not just a few ducks, hundreds of ducks. At one point three of us are standing outside our coffin blinds having a chat and ducks begin to light into the decoys with not just one, but several, landing within ten feet of us. This is incredulous to me and I am assuming these are ducks that just might be a little left of center so-to-speak. So I asked Kevin, in my own colorful vernacular, what's with the ducks lighting in like this. The explanation; most of these ducks have never seen a human before, let alone been shot at ... they have no fear of us. Those that were shot at, were shot at over six months ago and the memory is long gone. legal shooting time rolls around and there is not one duck to be found anywhere, but there are geese, and they start to roll in. The wind shifts from southeast to south west and now our set is hooped. We can get lots of birds to come over, but none will even try to land in the decoys. We're stuck pass shooting. To make matters worse, a flock lands in the field about 600 yards north of us. Yes, the same field we are in ... fields are huge out there. Now we're really screwed. As we all know, there is no possible way that a decoy set and calls will ever compete with live birds. All in all, we manage a half dozen birds for the morning shoot.
Back to camp for a brunch of scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and coffee, and a well snooze.
The afternoon hunt takes us to a field just off the shore of a small lake. When we get there we bust out about 300 birds, and promptly set up right where they were sitting. A quick set and we all hunker down to hunt as birds we already in the air. Darned if the wind didn't change direction again from the southwest back to the southeast. This time it's a little more in our favour. Birds will at least try to work the decoys and we get quite a few opportunities. All in all we take 16 birds. Mostly Canada's but a couple Specks too.
Back to camp for a supper of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies, and Cookie's homemade buns. Geez those buns were good!
Friday morning we're off again good and early. This time to a pea field. Once again as the sun creeps over the horizon ducks start working the spread. A virtual carbon copy of Thursday morning, only this time, come legal shooting time, the ducks kept coming, and coming, and coming, and coming. The action is fast and furious. The number of ducks and the way the bomb into the spread is almost intimidating. I started the morning with two boxes of shells in my blind, and another half box in my pockets. Keep in mind, I'm shooting my 10 gauge Browning Gold auto loader and although Kevin supplied the ammo, all he had for me was BB's and T's. Now I'm no expert marksman with a shottie, but I'm no slouch either. In less than sixty minutes I'm shouting "rounds complete" ... I am out of ammo. I have burned through two and a half boxes of 10 gauge BB's. Thankfully my 10 Gauge Browning gold auto loader shoots like a feather and I haven't felt a thing all morning. Luckily for me, one of the other guys picked up a couple boxes of 10 gauge shells by mistake and I was rearmed, reloaded, and back in action. Remember those six cases of ammo that Kevin had in the trailer? I should have taken that as a clue to what we were in for. Fifteen minutes later we were limited out and headed back to camp for another great breakfast of French toast, sausages, and hot coffee ... Cookie worked her magic once again.
The Friday afternoon hunt was a bust. It was just too damn hot. We did manage a couple of geese. Darren and I doubled up on one Canada, and I managed a big Speck quartering away at about 65 yards ... nice shot if I do say so myself ... LOL
Back to camp for another wonderful supper and some great conversation with Kevin and Nathan (our guides) and our fellow hunters. Then it's time for bed 'cause I'm whipped.
Saturday morning we're in another field on the east side of a small lake. Anticipation is palpable because we can hear a few thousand birds on the water and man are they noisy, I mean really noisy. Quickly we set up. We set up so fast that we had to wait nearly an hour for legal shooting time. Once again, just as the sun creeps over the horizon, ducks. Ducks everywhere. So many ducks you have to get in your blind to keep from getting clipped. Just as quickly as they came, they were gone. But the lake is still noisy. About 15 minutes after legal the lake begins to noisier and it builds to a crescendo that will almost make your ears bleed and suddenly it goes absolutely quiet which lasts for about 20 seconds. Then the birds start again. This time it is a racket like you have never heard before, and suddenly "whooosh" they take off from the lake ... and every one of those birds goes WEST !!!! Talk about lunch bag letdown. A couple of wayward ducks fall to the guns and that's our day and our hunt.
Would I do it again? Absolutely, but for the ducks and geese I would go in mid October, not September.
I got to spend 3 days hunting with my daughter. For that, the month doesn't matter, three days are good days.
Was it worth the price? To me it was. To others it might not be. It's $900.00 a day, plus your flight, plus your transportation to and from McLennan. But, Kevin pays for the ammo ... all you need
If you have a "bucket list" of hunts to go on ... add this one. I promise, you won't regret it.
Unless you have been there, you would not believe the countryside. Flat fields of harvested wheat, peas, and canola as far as the eye can see, literally, as far as the eye can see, and dotted everywhere with lakes, not ponds, but lakes, of varying sizes from 50 acres to 5,000 acres and more, and every one of these lakes is holding migrating waterfowl.
Our hosts, Kevin and Patti McNeil of Blue Sky Outfitting ( www.blueskyoutfitting.com ) are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Both hunt, Kevin more so than Patti, but Kevin has a passion for waterfowling, duck hunting in particular, that is almost unrivalled in most people that I have met. It shows in the way he treats clients, and is even more telling in the way he respects his quarry. If it were practical for Kevin to be a member of LPWA, he would in a heartbeat, and we would all be better for his passion and enthusiasm.
So, back to the beginning, my daughter Michaela and I arrived in McLennan about 4:00 PM (local) on Wednesday the 18th of September. We were greeted by the four other hunters we were to hunt with. Kevin & Patti had been over in Peace River and were on their way back with some last minute supplies. When they arrived, and all of the niceties exchanged, we were assigned our living quarters for the next three days. Very nice, very clean, very spacious rooms complete with satellite TV, kitchens, bedrooms, and bathrooms. Everything you would expect in a good hotel suite really.
Our hunt begins on Thursday the 19th at Oh My Lord It's Still Dark Out Thirty, or 5:30 AM local to us hardened waterfowlers. Everyone packs into two pickup trucks and off we go to the fields. When we get there everyone pitches in and sets up the decoy spread and blinds. I notice in the back of the trailer there are about 6 cases of shotgun shells and recall thinking "that seems like a little bit of overkill". After an hour of work we settle in to await legal shooting time. Meanwhile, just as the sun begins to creep over the eastern horizon, about a half hour from legal, we begin to get inundated with ducks. Not just a few ducks, hundreds of ducks. At one point three of us are standing outside our coffin blinds having a chat and ducks begin to light into the decoys with not just one, but several, landing within ten feet of us. This is incredulous to me and I am assuming these are ducks that just might be a little left of center so-to-speak. So I asked Kevin, in my own colorful vernacular, what's with the ducks lighting in like this. The explanation; most of these ducks have never seen a human before, let alone been shot at ... they have no fear of us. Those that were shot at, were shot at over six months ago and the memory is long gone. legal shooting time rolls around and there is not one duck to be found anywhere, but there are geese, and they start to roll in. The wind shifts from southeast to south west and now our set is hooped. We can get lots of birds to come over, but none will even try to land in the decoys. We're stuck pass shooting. To make matters worse, a flock lands in the field about 600 yards north of us. Yes, the same field we are in ... fields are huge out there. Now we're really screwed. As we all know, there is no possible way that a decoy set and calls will ever compete with live birds. All in all, we manage a half dozen birds for the morning shoot.
Back to camp for a brunch of scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, and coffee, and a well snooze.
The afternoon hunt takes us to a field just off the shore of a small lake. When we get there we bust out about 300 birds, and promptly set up right where they were sitting. A quick set and we all hunker down to hunt as birds we already in the air. Darned if the wind didn't change direction again from the southwest back to the southeast. This time it's a little more in our favour. Birds will at least try to work the decoys and we get quite a few opportunities. All in all we take 16 birds. Mostly Canada's but a couple Specks too.
Back to camp for a supper of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies, and Cookie's homemade buns. Geez those buns were good!
Friday morning we're off again good and early. This time to a pea field. Once again as the sun creeps over the horizon ducks start working the spread. A virtual carbon copy of Thursday morning, only this time, come legal shooting time, the ducks kept coming, and coming, and coming, and coming. The action is fast and furious. The number of ducks and the way the bomb into the spread is almost intimidating. I started the morning with two boxes of shells in my blind, and another half box in my pockets. Keep in mind, I'm shooting my 10 gauge Browning Gold auto loader and although Kevin supplied the ammo, all he had for me was BB's and T's. Now I'm no expert marksman with a shottie, but I'm no slouch either. In less than sixty minutes I'm shouting "rounds complete" ... I am out of ammo. I have burned through two and a half boxes of 10 gauge BB's. Thankfully my 10 Gauge Browning gold auto loader shoots like a feather and I haven't felt a thing all morning. Luckily for me, one of the other guys picked up a couple boxes of 10 gauge shells by mistake and I was rearmed, reloaded, and back in action. Remember those six cases of ammo that Kevin had in the trailer? I should have taken that as a clue to what we were in for. Fifteen minutes later we were limited out and headed back to camp for another great breakfast of French toast, sausages, and hot coffee ... Cookie worked her magic once again.
The Friday afternoon hunt was a bust. It was just too damn hot. We did manage a couple of geese. Darren and I doubled up on one Canada, and I managed a big Speck quartering away at about 65 yards ... nice shot if I do say so myself ... LOL
Back to camp for another wonderful supper and some great conversation with Kevin and Nathan (our guides) and our fellow hunters. Then it's time for bed 'cause I'm whipped.
Saturday morning we're in another field on the east side of a small lake. Anticipation is palpable because we can hear a few thousand birds on the water and man are they noisy, I mean really noisy. Quickly we set up. We set up so fast that we had to wait nearly an hour for legal shooting time. Once again, just as the sun creeps over the horizon, ducks. Ducks everywhere. So many ducks you have to get in your blind to keep from getting clipped. Just as quickly as they came, they were gone. But the lake is still noisy. About 15 minutes after legal the lake begins to noisier and it builds to a crescendo that will almost make your ears bleed and suddenly it goes absolutely quiet which lasts for about 20 seconds. Then the birds start again. This time it is a racket like you have never heard before, and suddenly "whooosh" they take off from the lake ... and every one of those birds goes WEST !!!! Talk about lunch bag letdown. A couple of wayward ducks fall to the guns and that's our day and our hunt.
Would I do it again? Absolutely, but for the ducks and geese I would go in mid October, not September.
I got to spend 3 days hunting with my daughter. For that, the month doesn't matter, three days are good days.
Was it worth the price? To me it was. To others it might not be. It's $900.00 a day, plus your flight, plus your transportation to and from McLennan. But, Kevin pays for the ammo ... all you need
If you have a "bucket list" of hunts to go on ... add this one. I promise, you won't regret it.
