kitchrat Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Hi Folks, another report from Kitchrat in Canada!! After my week with the outfitters on the prairies, it is time to go solo. The Creston Wildlife Management Area, strangely, allows hunting for $10/year. It includes Leach Lake, Duck Lake and borders the huge Kooteney Lake. The birds fly out each morning to the fields in the south, I hope to ambush a few from a dyke crossing the area, with farmland behind so I can retrieve anything I hit rather than lose it in the marshes. Alarm goes off at 4.00am, coffee, porridge and a quick check with the BC Highways webcam to make sure Kootenay Pass is clear of snow, then the 90-minute drive to Creston. I stumble my way along the dyke, through frosty grass and reeds to a likely spot, guided only by the faint lights of dawn showing behind the foothills of the Rockies (I've forgotten my head torch!) The ducks start to fly 1st but they are too high, one group is lower and I think I can drop a bird but the Laws of Physics prove me wrong!! Then, groups of geese start to take off. You can hear them getting ready, honking builds up, then they fly. I'm in the wrong place, the dyke is 2 miles long, it's guesswork where to set up. I do get one group to head my way with the goose call but they are still a bit high and a bit out from me so any bird I might hit would fall in the marsh. I'll wait for a better chance. I don't really know what I'm doing with the call, just try to make the noise our guides made last week, but that was calling birds to feed, not just calling passing flocks. I don't use my black flag, that is to attract the attention of distant skeins, by pretending to be a bird landing. Do you real wildfowlers use flags in the UK? THEN, the fog rolls in!! I can hear geese overhead but I can't see them. Surely the sun will burn the fog off soon........ WRONG!! I sit for another hour, hearing geese but seeing nothing. However, I do get to watch a beaver doing a roof repair to his lodge with mud, so that's nice. Eventually, the sun wins it's battle with the fog, revealing the Rockies with the 1st snow of winter and also the fact that all birds have now gone! I decide to spend the rest of the day planning my next attack, looking for better places to shoot from etc. Most of the birds seem to have come from Six Mile Slough, but the layout of marshes, river channels and so on make it inaccessible without a boat and a dog to retrieve - I have neither, so keep looking around. I do find a very professional-looking hunter's camp, really nice tent with stove and chimney etc. Talking to the chap there I learn that his team have a cow elk tag and are out in boats in Six Mile. He also tells me that he had spoken to the Conservation Officer, who warned that there were 2 young grizzly bears in the area and also that wolves had killed an elk there last week. Not like the Wash.....? We hear a heavy rifle shot, maybe they have filled the tag?? Finally, I try to find where the geese are feeding. Eventually I track them down about 10 miles south, just near the US border. They are feeding on canola (rape to us) stubble. This would NEVER happen on the prairies, so I was told, because the stalks, which are left long, stop them landing and the seed must be too small. Down at Creston, however, the field had been cultivated, which got rid of the stalks, and the lost seed had re-germinated, giving the birds a table of new growth. Goes to show how farming practise can change the feeding patterns, in the prairies they do minimal cultivation then direct drill, because of soil erosion worries. Well, I found my geese, but also found lots of "No Hunting" signs. My day is done, just the ride home. After the prairies trip,the expedition was no help in filling the freezer but a most interesting day none the less. I saw the beaver, 2 coyotes and 3 whitetail deer and learned a few more things, I hope!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Always good to see beaver! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudpatten Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Great write up! Thanks for the paragraphs mate, much easier to read! Yes, us real fowlers do use goose flags and have done for some years. What sort of call were you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 Thank you for posting of your exploits. I too am pleased that you found the 'enter' button. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawntredder Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 was born out in a calgary alberta many moons ago...always fancied a trip back for some duck n goose shooting...maybe one day,dont know if its in that part must be if its near the rockies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchrat Posted October 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 (edited) Great write up! Thanks for the paragraphs mate, much easier to read! Yes, us real fowlers do use goose flags and have done for some years. What sort of call were you using? Yes, I double-spaced the paragraphs and it worked this time!! The call is a Primos Canada Goose Flute, but I don't really know how to use it. There are some instructions with it and plenty of advice of You Tube etc but it isn't easy!! Sorry it's hard to read, struggling to get below the 300KB limit!! All good clean fun though!! Edited October 30, 2014 by kitchrat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchrat Posted October 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 was born out in a calgary alberta many moons ago...always fancied a trip back for some duck n goose shooting...maybe one day,dont know if its in that part must be if its near the rockies And you moved to the UK??? Good result for the Toon this week, about time too!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nic Posted October 31, 2014 Report Share Posted October 31, 2014 was born out in a calgary alberta many moons ago...always fancied a trip back for some duck n goose shooting...maybe one day,dont know if its in that part must be if its near the rockies Its about a 5 hour drive from Calgary if that helps...we were going to emigrate at one point to a small town at the top of Kooteney lake near there are artificial spawning areas for the salmon.... lots and lots of bears in the spawning time, it becomes a no go area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisheruk Posted October 31, 2014 Report Share Posted October 31, 2014 Always good to see beaver! Especially one playing with mud!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted October 31, 2014 Report Share Posted October 31, 2014 Interesting read Kitchrat. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchrat Posted October 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2014 Its about a 5 hour drive from Calgary if that helps...we were going to emigrate at one point to a small town at the top of Kooteney lake near there are artificial spawning areas for the salmon.... lots and lots of bears in the spawning time, it becomes a no go area And you chose to stay in the UK?? Up near the Kaslo/Lardeau area you have good sledding, dirt-biking, quadding, fishing, hiking, boating etc etc. The wildfowling will be a bit quiet and there are NO pigeons but you could move up to deer, elk or moose..... Not much work though??unless you are a logger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted November 1, 2014 Report Share Posted November 1, 2014 A very interesting read. Thanks for taking the time to write it up. I hope you get under them soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawntredder Posted November 1, 2014 Report Share Posted November 1, 2014 And you moved to the UK??? Good result for the Toon this week, about time too!e a was only 3 when a came back to england,me mam n dad where from uk they had emigrated but it didnt work out....so came back to this ....hole!!! aye 3 good results but a wont hold me breath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchrat Posted November 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2014 a was only 3 when a came back to england,me mam n dad where from uk they had emigrated but it didnt work out....so came back to this ....hole!!! aye 3 good results but a wont hold me breath Shame they brought you back, Calgary is a real Boom Town now!! Toon beat 'pool, super run of results, long may it last. I think they need a few Geordies in the team again, (or Brits come to that!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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