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Exceeds Expectations
   

Canada hunting trip exceeds expectations of attendees October 9, 1998

By BILL KARR,  WON Staff Writer

LLOYDMINSTER, Saskatchewan -We were seated comfortably in stand-up blinds that we had just constructed in the middle of a pea field in Saskatchewan, Canada, surrounded by hundreds of goose decoys, and I just hoped that even a part of the huge flock of geese I had seen the evening before would return this morning.

My fears were unfounded, as geese began arriving en masse just about shooting time, and by the time the flight thinned out and we unanimously decided to leave about 10:a.m., we had 25 honkers, 11 speckled-belly geese, 5 Ross' geese and 5 ducks lying on the ground.  That's 41 geese and 5 ducks for 6 hunters! Not quite limits, but all we wanted at the time.

Seldom does a hyped-up hunting trip keep up with your expectations, but the first annual WON HUNTS CANADA goose and duck hunting trip surpassed those of many of the 22 attendees, myself included. In fact, despite the fact that some of our hunters had been hunting for 60 years or more, most everyone agreed it was the best goose hunt of their lives. Again, me included.

This Western Outdoor News sponsored hunt was headed up by Pokolodi Outfitting of Edmonton, Alberta Canada, run by Bobby Lindsay, and he put out a lot of effort to make sure that we were taken care of during the trip. The guides, Randy Hubert, Terry Bruggar, Paul Norman, and Bobby Lindsay himself were all experienced, knowledgeable guys with Great personalities.

 WON On-The Spot

The 5-day trip began out of San Francisco for some and airports farther south for others, but we all met in Salt Lake City where we boarded the plane for our final leg to Edmonton, where four Suburbans picked us all up for the short trip to the Nisku Inn, where we all had room for the night. Lindsay and crew drove us into Edmonton where we feasted on Chinese food at a good restaurant, then back to the motel for a good nights sleep, although some took advantage of the Jacuzzi and indoor heated pool.

The next day we were picked up at 10:a.m. and headed out for our final destination of Lloydminster. About 2 hours out we stopped at Pleasantree Gun Club in Vegreville where we all broke into groups for a pheasant hunt, followed by an ethnic Ukrainian meal that really hit the spot. Then we were off again, arriving at the Imperial 400 Motel in Lloydminster, right on the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.

The first order of business after getting checked in was to scout for geese so we could find the fields that were in heavy use, so Lindsay and the guides fanned out over the thousands of square miles Pokolodi can hunt. A couple of the hunters and I went scouting ourselves and found a pea field with thousands of geese feeding. It only took us a half hour to find the land owner and get permission to hunt the next day.

We were in four groups and all had our own fields to hunt, so we were off early with a need to set up our blinds and spread the decoys before shooting time. Every group found what can only be described as phenomenal hunting the first two days, as unwary and unhunted honkers, lesser honkers, snows and Ross' geese poured into our decoys. The flights were generally over by about 10 or 10:30 but anyone who didn't have their limit of 8 dark geese, of which 5 could be specks, wasn't shooting straight (yours truly was one of them!) In addition to the 8 dark geese, the limits allowed for 10 snow geese and 8 ducks.

The evening duck hunts were a bit of a letdown for most, as the shallow roosting ponds had dried up during the hot summer and the only other roosting areas were in deep natural marshes that proved very difficult to hunt. the real duck migration had not begun, but most of the morning blind setups had flocks of hundreds of ducks come in, and twice in one day my group had at least a thousand ducks and geese within 60 yards, landing in the decoys, swirling overhead, and generally creating "buck fever" in every hunter.

each group of 5 or 6 hunters had at least 2 out of 3 excellent hunts where between 46 and 58 geese and ducks were taken per group, and ice chests were full of plucked birds on the way home.

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