Tanya
10-13-2012, 12:20 PM
Finally got around to posting about our Northern Alberta waterfowl excursion. After a year of planning we made it up to the Peace River country of Alberta for a different sort of waterfowl hunt than we experience here. The main quarry was Specklebellies and different sizes of Canadas. We managed to mix in a few snow geese and scare a few ducks as well.
Took our time driving up there and visited Slave Lake. It was good to see how well they are recovering from last year's fire devasation. Had an epic meal at Lou Lou's Pub and Grill, a must stop if you are there. Went for a walk along the beach of the Lesser Slave Lake, a pretty place.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/TRV58/LesserSlaveLake.jpg
The following day we headed to McLennan AB to meet our outfitter. Sat on the porch of the house we stayed in enjoying a beverage and listening to thousands of geese and sandhill cranes passing over us from Kimiwan Lake. Our friends Linc and his son Mitch (fowl weather on the site ) got in in the wee hours and the first morning was a 4:30 wake up. We headed to a barley field and proceeded to brush up the layouts and help put out the decoy spread. The number and variety of geese overhead was amazing to us "coasties".
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/TRV58/omittedbluesky.jpg
We hunted till 8:30 or 9:00 and then headed back to our accomodation and a wonderful breakfast provide by Cookie. After breakfast it was goose cleaning time, then a brief rest and off to try our luck with diver ducks. Did you know that diver ducks fly much, much faster than puddle ducks? :mrgreen: Anyway, the weather was much too nice for duck hunting, but we managed a few including a blue wing teal - thank you Mitch. A beautiful place to spend the afternoon and early evening even when you've stepped in a hole and filled your waders on the way to the spot.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/TRV58/Duskatthelake-1.jpg
The following morning the geese weren't as co-operative, but I managed a nice double on one group. We nixed ducks and went for more geese in the afternoon. It turned out well as we filled our limit. We did bag a few of the "rare, no longer endangered" Aleutian sub species.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/TRV58/P9270106.jpg
Took our time driving up there and visited Slave Lake. It was good to see how well they are recovering from last year's fire devasation. Had an epic meal at Lou Lou's Pub and Grill, a must stop if you are there. Went for a walk along the beach of the Lesser Slave Lake, a pretty place.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/TRV58/LesserSlaveLake.jpg
The following day we headed to McLennan AB to meet our outfitter. Sat on the porch of the house we stayed in enjoying a beverage and listening to thousands of geese and sandhill cranes passing over us from Kimiwan Lake. Our friends Linc and his son Mitch (fowl weather on the site ) got in in the wee hours and the first morning was a 4:30 wake up. We headed to a barley field and proceeded to brush up the layouts and help put out the decoy spread. The number and variety of geese overhead was amazing to us "coasties".
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/TRV58/omittedbluesky.jpg
We hunted till 8:30 or 9:00 and then headed back to our accomodation and a wonderful breakfast provide by Cookie. After breakfast it was goose cleaning time, then a brief rest and off to try our luck with diver ducks. Did you know that diver ducks fly much, much faster than puddle ducks? :mrgreen: Anyway, the weather was much too nice for duck hunting, but we managed a few including a blue wing teal - thank you Mitch. A beautiful place to spend the afternoon and early evening even when you've stepped in a hole and filled your waders on the way to the spot.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/TRV58/Duskatthelake-1.jpg
The following morning the geese weren't as co-operative, but I managed a nice double on one group. We nixed ducks and went for more geese in the afternoon. It turned out well as we filled our limit. We did bag a few of the "rare, no longer endangered" Aleutian sub species.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/TRV58/P9270106.jpg