re: Canada Duck Hunt

Check out Top Of The Flyway outfitters in Peace River Alberta. Top notch outfitter!

Search around Edmonton. We went north to a town called Viking. I’ll see if I can find the outfitter. 6 of us shot 240 in 3 hunts

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I’m beginning to explore the idea of traveling to Canada to hunt. MWP, how was your experience with the outfitter?

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It was awesome. I went with Lights Out Waterfowl. They are a great outfit. Very good property, great new lodge, and top notch owners/guides. Highly recommend but they do a ton of repeats so plan that accordingly if you are looking at them.

Also when you find a farm with tons of birds, how do you know who exactly the farm owner is? A lot of those fields are giant. The ones I've hunted were owned by those menonite colonies.

Happy to share information:

I fly into Edmonton. But Saskatoon would be just as good I guess

I rent my truck from Avis or Enterprise. Edmonton is a big oil hub. So when you rent a pickup there you get a full sized 4 door, 4wd pickup.

I rent a box van trailer from Uhaul. The biggest one they have. You will fill it up. Truth is pretty soon I will buy one and then just keep all my stuff in the trailer over the winter.

They have ownership apps up there just like here so you can see who owns everything. But mostly you find birds and then go to the nearest farm house and knock on the door. If they're not the owner they know who is and they can tell you who is and usually will give you their phone number.

It's impossible to stress how nice everyone is up there. You almost never get told a flat No. If they say No it's something like: Well my son in law is coming this weekend to hunt that field so I dont want it shot..... or, ive got cows right next to that field and I don't want them disturbed.

But that's maybe 20% of the time? The rest of the time they're happy to let you hunt.

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I’d be interested in taking my dog. How difficult do you think that would be?

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It wouldn't be a problem. When If I ever retire and still have good health and the vinegar to do so, I'm gonna drive up with my gear and a dog. I think all you need is your paperwork on vaccinations and all of that.

No i just stay in a motel. They're like 80 bucks a night. And you can usually find one that has a restaurant and bar so you have everything you need in one spot.

I can tell you this: You won't have time to cook or sit by the fire. You'll barely have time to sleep.

When you DIY you double the work, and cut the hunting in half compared to guided hunts. And thats a generous breakdown. It might be triple the work for 1/3 the hunting as more accurate.

You stay hammered down the entire time you're there. Cleaning birds, breaking down spreads, building blinds, driving and scouting, knocking on doors, etc etc etc. It's technically a vacation but it's the hardest work you'll do

How do you store the birds till you fly home? That’s got to be a feat in itself.

You're welcome to come with us next year and bring a friend. As long as you promise to go find your own area once you get going. And what I mean by that is that I hunt in about a 5-8 mile circle around one small town. And there's other towns 12-15 miles away. So I would want you to start exploring over there so that I wasn't creating competition for myself.

There's never really a problem with DIY guys. But the outfitters are getting thick. And they're Grade A assholes.

We didnt have a problem this year. But last year I had one block me in on a field and put a finger in my chest and tell me I wasn't welcome. And that he would do everything to protect "his" area. And that I couldn't hunt farms that they had permission on. Even if I had permission too etc etc.

I had to tell the guy that he probably wasn't familiar with Americans. Because in general we're not easily intimidated. So we kept on hunting. And didn't even see or hear from that guy this year.

Yeah the new rule in Manitoba is 7 days. In Alberta it's 7 days and then you can get another 7 day license. Not sure about Saskatchewan.

They are targeting the old timer retired dudes from the States who show up on the first of Sept and follow the birds down through the middle of Nov.

They hunt for 75 days on one license and theyre basically exploiting the resource.

I don't mind the 14 days in Alberta. And then theoretically I could go another 14 or whatever in Sask and then another 7 in Manitoba and that would be way more than I ever need.

The push however is to make DIY against the rules to where you have to hunt through an outfitter. If they do that then I would be pissed.