Spats McGee
Administrator
For decades, my father has wanted to duck hunt in Canada. He always wanted to shoot some of those "stupid ducks." You see, by the time ducks get down to Arkansas, they've seen every decoy ever carved, heard every possible way to blow a call, and been shot at for a few months. As I'm sure you can imagine, some of them are pretty skittish by the time they get here. Heck, I'd be skittish, too, if lots of folks kept jumping out of hiding and shooting at me.
Anyway, earlier this year, my dad called me and my brother up and said that if we were ever going to go, this was the year. He's in his 70s and not sure how many more years of hunting he has left. Dad and I flew out of Little Rock Sunday morning. My brother flew out of St. Louis and we all met up in Denver. While I won't bother you with all of the details of travel, I will say that the TSA & customs folks that we dealt with were all very, very nice, both on the US side and the Canadian side.
Anyway, my mother booked our hunt through Prairie's Edge Outfitting. We were going to hunt Monday and Tueday (morning and evening) and then Wednesday morning before flying back. When we arrived Sunday evening, there was a letter for us at the hotel, telling us to be ready for a 6 p.m. dinner. So Dad, brother and I all headed down at 6, and met up with 3 other hunters who were going to be in our hunting party, who all turned out to be really nice guys. The guide pulled up and said, "I've got six hunters here, and three are from my beloved home state. I need to know who can finish this: Woo Pig _____!" Naturally, the three of us said "Sooie!" (For those who don't know, "Woo Pig Sooie" is how you "call the hogs," our University of Arkansas Razorbacks.) Turns out that we flew hundreds of miles to hunt with a guy who graduated high school 10 miles from where I now sit, and was a helluva nice guy.
The guide introduced himself as Trey Crawford, and my brother said something about "knowing that name." It turned out that my brother did know his name. At dinner, one of the other hunters asked just how close Trey was going to be able to call them in. Trey's response: "Sir, I'm not gonna brag, but I am gonna tell you the facts. The fact is that I'm a three time World Duck Calling Champion and a Champion of Champions. I'll have them about there (indicating about 8 feet) for you to shoot." Over dinner, he proceeded to hand out all of the necessary forms and stamps for us to hunt.
It was unseasonably warm in Saskatchewan, so the hunting wasn't all that great. We never did kill a limit, but that was a function of the weather. The birds just didn't feel any pressure to move or to feed. We killed a few every day, though, and had a couple of exciting flurries where our blinds sounded like a war zone, so that was good. In Arkansas, we always hunt the water. Flooded timber is my favorite, but we hunt flooded fields, too. In Canada, we hunted layout blinds over cut fields of peas. I took a pair of waders, but never even put them on. I wore gumbottom shoes to the hunt.
Even though we didn't kill limits, Prairie's Edge took care of all of "their" things very well. We emailed them a few forms and they took care of all of the licensing. They helped us figure out exactly what we needed to do to take shotguns into Canada, & they have shotguns for rent if you don't feel like dealing with that. They had a world-class guide who didn't treat us like idiots, even though he knows worlds more about waterfowl hunting than I do. They had scouts who looked for the ducks, and the guide had a well-trained dog. I would have gone to retrieve my own birds if I'd had to, but I'd much rather let the dog do it.
I am not in any way affiliated with Prairie's Edge Outfitting, but if I were going back to Saskatoon to hunt, I'd be happy to hunt with them again.
Anyway, earlier this year, my dad called me and my brother up and said that if we were ever going to go, this was the year. He's in his 70s and not sure how many more years of hunting he has left. Dad and I flew out of Little Rock Sunday morning. My brother flew out of St. Louis and we all met up in Denver. While I won't bother you with all of the details of travel, I will say that the TSA & customs folks that we dealt with were all very, very nice, both on the US side and the Canadian side.
Anyway, my mother booked our hunt through Prairie's Edge Outfitting. We were going to hunt Monday and Tueday (morning and evening) and then Wednesday morning before flying back. When we arrived Sunday evening, there was a letter for us at the hotel, telling us to be ready for a 6 p.m. dinner. So Dad, brother and I all headed down at 6, and met up with 3 other hunters who were going to be in our hunting party, who all turned out to be really nice guys. The guide pulled up and said, "I've got six hunters here, and three are from my beloved home state. I need to know who can finish this: Woo Pig _____!" Naturally, the three of us said "Sooie!" (For those who don't know, "Woo Pig Sooie" is how you "call the hogs," our University of Arkansas Razorbacks.) Turns out that we flew hundreds of miles to hunt with a guy who graduated high school 10 miles from where I now sit, and was a helluva nice guy.
The guide introduced himself as Trey Crawford, and my brother said something about "knowing that name." It turned out that my brother did know his name. At dinner, one of the other hunters asked just how close Trey was going to be able to call them in. Trey's response: "Sir, I'm not gonna brag, but I am gonna tell you the facts. The fact is that I'm a three time World Duck Calling Champion and a Champion of Champions. I'll have them about there (indicating about 8 feet) for you to shoot." Over dinner, he proceeded to hand out all of the necessary forms and stamps for us to hunt.
It was unseasonably warm in Saskatchewan, so the hunting wasn't all that great. We never did kill a limit, but that was a function of the weather. The birds just didn't feel any pressure to move or to feed. We killed a few every day, though, and had a couple of exciting flurries where our blinds sounded like a war zone, so that was good. In Arkansas, we always hunt the water. Flooded timber is my favorite, but we hunt flooded fields, too. In Canada, we hunted layout blinds over cut fields of peas. I took a pair of waders, but never even put them on. I wore gumbottom shoes to the hunt.
Even though we didn't kill limits, Prairie's Edge took care of all of "their" things very well. We emailed them a few forms and they took care of all of the licensing. They helped us figure out exactly what we needed to do to take shotguns into Canada, & they have shotguns for rent if you don't feel like dealing with that. They had a world-class guide who didn't treat us like idiots, even though he knows worlds more about waterfowl hunting than I do. They had scouts who looked for the ducks, and the guide had a well-trained dog. I would have gone to retrieve my own birds if I'd had to, but I'd much rather let the dog do it.
I am not in any way affiliated with Prairie's Edge Outfitting, but if I were going back to Saskatoon to hunt, I'd be happy to hunt with them again.