I’m back into the swing of things in BC after spending 6 days gunning in Alberta in the Edmonton area. I’m quite lucky to have a good friend who lives just outside Edmonton and we basically exchange hunts between BC and Alberta, both getting into birds not common to where we live.
This year I arrived mid day and after getting my license in order we headed off to a pond for some bluewings and they didn’t disappoint, sorry no pics, it was as short hunt as Marty had a meeting to go to, but 5 birds in a little over an hour is never a bad thing! It was warm a sunny, a theme that would follow us the whole time there. Alberta has been warm and dry lately, with the birds 2 or 3 weeks behind normal and low water in most spots this year.
The first morning out changed last minute as Marty got a call that a goose shoot was on and there was some space, who can say no to an offer like that?
I got the opportunity to hunt out of a willow blind for the first time, comfy easy shootin and as best I can tell it mattered not to the birds…
A first for me occurred on this hunt, I limited (with 4 doubles! The birds worked perfect and well you can see the results.
2 limits here, not sure of the weight but freakin heavy to say the least! We breated them out and ended up with 30lbs of meat which will be made into pepper sticks and salami, Yummy good!
Next we headed to the water for a diver and bluewing shoot and they did as they should! The bag was quite a mix with Cans, redheads, bluewings, bluebills and mallards
One of my targets for the trip was Cans and Redheads which at this time of year in Alberta are usually brown to eclipse, but I was able to get a nice drake redhead and a Can that’d be around 75% prime, Oh and it tasted great for dinner last night!
Marty is one of the biggest collectors of my work, so when I go to visit it’s like see old friends again. Even better is hunting over my own blocks which is cool because as of late to keep customers happy I’ve just been gunning plastics instead of building my own rigs. This teal rig I carved over 2 or 3 years and includes a couple eclipse birds, but the lighting make them a little hard to pick out.
Specs were a big hope of mine for this trip having never shot them before. A good friend of Marty has sole access to 8 sections and held a spot for me (do they get any nicer then that?) to hopefully get some specs. Well today was not the day, the birds (specs too) would work to about 100 yards and then flair. As best we figure the frost/dew on the decoys shone like mirrors and until the day dried them off all we could do was sit and watch. 15 honkers and 7 mallards isn’t a bad to me though!
We get to see some neat stuff hunting that others are in bed for, how about a moonset over the decoys while drinking coffee?
Reply With Quote
Buddi doing what she does best!
Their steaks, roasts and burger to me! Tom 
