Canadian hunt was killer!!!

[Muskie456]

I have really enjoyed following the photos and stories on this forum so I thought it was my turn to contribute. I was fortunate enough to kill a nice buck with my bow in Sept. It really opened up my fall simply because I no longer have a buck tag (the circles I run in do not cross tag bucks)My brother has been bugging me to go back to Canada with him for years and I no longer have an excuse not to. The plan was set. My other brother Dan and my Dad thought it sounded like a nice change from sitting in a tree (we primarily archery hunt anyway) so we loaded the truck up and headed north on a wild goose chase.

Here is a recap of our Canadian hunt

Day 1: We set approximately 500 Soft Shells, 200 Silosocks, and 100 Canadian Bigfoots in a cut corn field. We were a little late so the first three snows in caught us off guard. They were convinced enough that they wanted to land with us that they came around for another look. This gave my brother Dan enough time to load his gun. We all watch him pull up on the first birds he has shot at in years and he let rip. He started his Canadian trip with a clean double. We all gave him Greif about not pulling the triple….

We ended up with 34 birds that morning. 17 whites, 11 darks, 4 green heads.

Day 2:

My Brother Pete and I got a tip from a local about where there was a good white shoot so we drove a little South and found the area that he was talking about. Wow, I’m not going to guess at the amount of birds but it was more that I have ever seen using one particular area in my life. We found the landowner, got permission and we were set for the morning hunt. We felt confident enough in the field to pull the entire group of guys (another 4 guys)as well as the local that turned us on to the field. That morning we set 500 soft shells, and 250 silosocks, Here are the results:

We killed 180 snows in an hour and a half. That is two geese per minute. These birds wanted in this field so bad that as we were shooting birds over the set the birds 200-300 yards behind them would just keep coming. It was as good as it gets.

Day 3:

We found a field with approximately 1000 darks and 3000 ducks. We set up for that in the afternoon. Our set was 100 Canadian Big foot, and 200 Soft Shell mallards. We ended up with 7 big honkers (10lbs.-12 lbs.) and 20 ducks. We really only try to shoot greenheads but we did get a couple hens that were behind greenheads (flack birds). The birds moved fields on us. They were tracking more west than the night before. More on this later.

Day 4: I was laid up with the stomach flu. That was 24 hours of my life that I hope to NEVER relive. My Dad two Brothers went out and had another great snow shoot. They set out 500 Soft Shells (It was so windy that they did not want to manage more decoys than that) and had their way with them. They killed 60 birds that morning.

Day 5: Was a bust. We ended up trying to find another duck shoot but it just never panned out. We could not get a hold of the landowner of the field we REALLY wanted (the one to the West) and couldn’t find another one before we ran out of day light. We could have put another snow shoot together but we really wanted to pound on more greenheads.

All in all it was a great trip and a lot of fun to spend time with family. I don’t see my brother Pete very much and it is always good to spend time with him.

[PierBridge]

Talk about a dream trip~ Nice work!

[Powerstroke]

Great story.

[Musky Buck]

Not trying to offend anyone at all and great hunt looked fun as ever, but my ? is these guys dumped 256 snow goose/lesser carcasses behind my dads after returning from Canada, what do people do with that many geese ?

[Ufatz]

Ya know, I realize you fellas had a great time of it, but I gotta be honest with ya and ask the same question "What do you do with all those birds?"

I guess I'm just getting too old but the sight of that many ducks and geese just piled up dead didn't brighten my day much.

I have the same reaction when I see the guys in Mexico or other countries to the south blasting hundreds of doves in a day. But at least I believe most of those birds are eaten by somebody.

Last time we became involved in a situation like that my brother and I simply stood up, broke our guns and hollered "That's it"....and stopped the shooting. Our Canadian outitters throught we were nuts.

Like I said, maybe I'm getting too old for this stuff any more.

[DonBo]

Sounds like a great trip to me. Always fun to pull the trigger. As for the above posters, don't let 'em get you down. I'm sure those birds will all be used for sausage, beer sticks, jerky, etc. Really not all that much meat on a snowgoose anyhow.

[Ray Esboldt]

Looks like a fun trip to me. And, to have only one bad day out of 5 is pretty darn good.

[BrdHunter01]

I know some people that go to the Dakotas for spring snow goose hunt and shoot that many birds. They take them in for processing and those goose sticks are really really good! He, I should say we, eat them all summer and winter while fishing. I know his group does not waste there birds. I'm sure that most don't and of course there are always some bad apples out there.

[cbrooks]

Nice work muskie 456! I'll just add What birdhunter01 said, in the spring a few of us took down about a hundred snows. Made them into jerky sticks. They were great.

[Muskie456]

There are always the moral police that always assume the worst. It is really to bad that people feel the need to comment. So you can sleep easier at night I will explain what it is we do with the birds. Our house keepers at the hotel asked if they could have some birds so we gave them some and we do eat birds for dinner a couple nights. After that we ended up with 35 birds a piece that came back to MN. We keel the birds when we are in Canada and breast them out once we get home. Once breasted we bring them to Shamps in Pine River and get wild rice brauts and ring sausage made out of them. I don't know if they throw them away and just put pork in because what we get back don't have any game to them at all. I really see no differance in what we do vs the majority of deer hunters out there.

[fishuhalik]

wow, dream hunt indeed! i always wonder, did you bring enough ammo or have to buy some there? maybe i'm a pesimist but i'd bring about 10 boxes a person on a 5 day hunt. looks like you went through that in 1 or 2 days!

[Muskie456]

Fish:

You can bring 200 rounds across the border without having to pay additional tax. We each brought a case and they didn't give us any grief about it. No one had to buy shells but towards the end of the hunt you were making sure that each shell counted. On that snow goose shoot that we killed 180 they were decoying so well that there was alot of chances at doubles. Rarely would you shoot the 3rd time simple because at best you are goind to send a sailor. You were better of reloading and looking down wind because ther were more coming.

[Ufatz]

Good for you Muskie; glad to hear it. And happy you had a good hunt.

[Powerstroke]

I do like the comparison to deer hunters. Taking 3-4 deer will create a lot more meat than 100 geese.

My former boss used to do a Saskatchewan hunt every year and always had cheese sticks for the crews at work.

I thought cleaning 10 ducks from my hunt was a lot of work, so I don't envy you at all.

[Scott M]

Nice hunt Muskie. Mind if I ask approximately where you were at?

[Muskie456]

Southern SK. I guess i don't want to get more specific than that. It wasn't my hunt so I don't want to give up something that wasn't mine on the internet.

[Scott M]

Fair enough. Saskatchewan is on my bucket list!

[Musky Buck]

Sorry I wasn't trying to be the moral police, I just saw this pile at my dads a few weeks back and asked my dad like good heavens how many are in that pile and he said 256. I asked my dad what do they do with 256 geese for 4 guys ? Heck of a fun hunt I bet the memories for you guys are priceless and the sound of geese must have took weeks to get that sound out of mind for sleep purposes.

[uwleagle]

Congrats on a great trip! I made my first trip to hunt up in Saskatchewan in September and we had similar results. It was an absolute blast. I was amazed at how many species of birds we shots over an all white sillosock spread. We only hunted 3 days. We shot our limit of ducks every day and also tons of Snows/Blues, Specs, and Canadas. We also got 2 banded Ross Geese. Definetly trying to plan to go back again next year.

[Feathers Rainin]

Awesome! Fun is an understatement for a shoot like that. Snows taste like a sweet tasting mallard nothing like a honker. So much you can do with the meat just like any meat, be creative and go to town!

So I gotta ask one question, is SK priority to deer hunting next year?

[nobody05]

I also went to Sask this fall. Never had a hunt like those 5 hunts in my life. Not guided. Just drove up there and had no issues with finding good hunting land. 500 somthing birds in 5 hunts. A trip of a lifetime to say the least. Never felt to good to eat a hamburger after we came home though.

[NoWiser]

Nice work Muskie! Looks like an awesome hunt!

[Muskie456]

So I gotta ask one question, is SK priority to deer hunting next year?

[LovenLifeGuy]

Great hunt! Our trip to canada this year was not as good as that, but plenty of shooting. I just made homemade sausages this last week and they turned out great. I ended up using 75% goose and 25 lean turkey. Turned out very good!

Again, great hunt!