Well it was one heck of a week waterfowl hunting with my buddies Lee(AZ) & Brad(TX).This was the second year they have come up to join me in Alberta. It was looking touch and go with them coming later this year than last but it could not have been better. They arrived just in time to kick off a week of hunting with the last good flight of Snow Geese to come through our area. I had hunted the Snows a couple days earlier with another buddy, Rick(ONT) and we took 82 of our allowed 100 on the final hunt of his visit. That was a wednesday. On friday Lee, Brad and I set up for the Snows and we were rewarded with Snow Geese coming into the decoys feet down often in flocks numbering in the hundreds. We ended our inaugral hunt with 51 Snows, 1 Canada and 7 ducks. We could have easily shot our limit of ducks but had enough birds to clean with the Snows and Lee and Brad prefer the duck shooting and were happy to call it a day on the geese and focus on the ducks for the rest of their days.
They could not have timed their trip any better as a storm a few days earlier and a switch in winds brought in ducks in huge numbers. Add to this plummeting temperatures and north winds and it set the stage for a week of waterfowling those boys had never experienced.
We hunted every day after that initial Snow Goose hunt and limited out on ducks every hunt. Brad even took one on one hunt with his recurve bow and Lee tried out a 1949 mfg 32" full choked Model 12 Heavy Duck I acquired a few months ago and loved it. On one hunt he even shot his fathers Remington Model 11!
I was fortunate enough to be able to put a couple of my SxS's to the task through the week, my Super Fox and my NID 4E 16ga. and I thoroughly enjoyed shooting drake greenheads all week with them.
Though I had said I was wrapping it up thursday inspired after starting to read the Ithaca Gun Company book Lee delivered to me I just could not say no when Lee texted this morning asking if we'd like to do an afternoon hunt on a field they had located thousands of ducks feeding in. I could not say no, nor could my wife and we joined them for a hunt. I finished off my season shooting my limit of all drake mallards using my NID 4E 16ga. Another season has come and gone and with the acquisition of another AH Fox I will be having restored I am already excited for next season. Looking back over the 14 years I've lived and hunted in Alberta this has been the most amazing week for duck hunting to date with limit shoots of ducks every single day we focused soley on ducks. It's been a week I'll never forget. Here are some pics of our week of waterfowling, Alberta style!!
First day Snow Goose hunt.
Day 2 On the left yours truly with the NID4E 16ga. In the middle is Lee with his fathers Model 11..
Day 3 Lee, Brad & myself with our limit of all drakes. I shot my Super Fox on this day.
Day 4 Brad with a hen mallard he took with his recurve bow!
Lee with the 1949 32" full choke barreled Model 12 Heavy Duck I acquired a few months ago. Lee was the official tester and gave it his 100% approval!
The guys, myself and my wife with our limits the first day my wife decided to come along.
The later part of the week the weather took a big turn, temps dropped, winds switched to N x NW, small potholes froze over and concentrated the ducks on bigger waters and those bigger flocks fed together. Three different fields were being used in the area nearby and each had a few thousand ducks feeding heavily going back and forth from feed to water all day long.
Day 5 Limit down and birds were still coming in by the hundreds!
Day 6 We hunted on back to back consecutive days in the exact same spot with the exact same results.
Day 7 My wife joined us on our final hunt which we did in an afternoon field shoot. We drove into the field pushing the birds out, set up fast and hunkered in. We hadn't even gotten our guns loaded before the first flocks returned and less than 90 minutes later we were limited out yet again, birds cleaned and on our way home to share supper together. It was an awesome week! My holidays are over and it's time to go back to work to make $ to have the B grade Fox I recently purchased restored and ready for next season.
My wife returning to her blind with the pair of mallards she knocked down to complete her limit. She shoots a 20ga. Beretta A400 Explore. I'm working on getting her into a SxS!
