We are pleased to say that we had another
good outfitting fall in spite of strange conditions. There was water standing
everywhere from last year but this summer southern Saskatchewan had a drought
until late July and then got more than six inches of rain in short order. Most
of the crops were poor but difficult to harvest because of ponds in the fields.
Crops that didn’t germinate in the spring started to grow in August! As of
November 1, we have knee high canola blooming in numerous fields! Another
strange thing was that the birds were not in their traditional locations. When
a person is trying to keep tabs on 1,000 square miles, like we are, that adds
to the challenge.
We are thankful that many of the “free
loader” hunters that have come to our area in the past, stayed away. It is nice
that some of the biggest landowners here understand what is happening and are
starting to ask if the person is a taxpayer in SK before they give permission
to hunt on their land.
In 2014 we set new camp records for ducks.
This year we set records for both honkers and cranes. Crane decoying is rather new to us and added some good excitement
and variety. We had several great early
season honker shoots (and a couple
of ugly ones at the end of the season). Fortunately we still had lots of ducks…and they cooperated nicely. We
started field decoys ducks several years ago and it has now become our most
common and successful hunt.
The snow
geese were notoriously hard to decoy unless the weather was favorable. The
success rate in our afternoon hunts was down from previous years. It seemed
that the snows were two weeks late and had very few juveniles with them. I am
sure that the relentless spring hunting has eliminated any birds that decoy
easily. We are proof that a new decoy trailer and new decoys don’t
automatically make the birds cooperate. After having some time to reflect on
our season, Dan and I are already making numerous adjustments that should
improve our snow goose decoying. I am optimistic that we are getting better
faster than the birds are getting smarter, but sometimes I wonder.
We have decided to limit our business to
five hunting parties per season and only do one hunt per week. The longest hunt
we now do is a 4 ½ days. That will help maintain the highest quality hunts
possible. Four out of the five groups we had were returning hunters and all
included at least one father-son combination. After the season, I was able to
go decoying with my 3 sons and 3 grandsons. That is as good as it gets. I want
to say a special thank you to all our returning hunters. It was wonderful to
have you here!