[Fetch]

I have good news & bad news.
More good news than bad. So I'll start there. Sask. is SOB Heaven & the people are GREAT up there.

Only saw 2 small flocks all across northern ND on the way to Portal ND.

Then only saw 2 small flocks from the border to Weyburn Sask.

Had no hassles at all crossing the border - they had all the forms right there & were great & very helpful.

Monday bought our licenses & stamps at a convience store, that was also is a post office branch, in Weyburn. (also had my 1st frozen capachino) Then it was on northward to Wynard Sask. Just south of Quill Lakes - we came up to Quill from the south east & it was dry & saw very few ducks or Geese (at least SOB's) We saw a few of the Canada variety, but were not interested in shooting Canadians in their own country

Did see 2 moose, one in ND & one in Sask. on the way up & several flocks of sharptails.

On Monday evening we finally started seeing SOB's flying & followed one flock to where they were all pileing into one field. (a pea field) found the owner - got permission to set up decoys there the next am. & went to Wynard motel (got the only room left a cancelation at 7:00 pm)

Next a.m. we were there about a hour before sunrise & 4 guys from Indiana were already in the field setting up I drive up to them & ask if they have permission ??? They say yeah & I ask the name of the owner (not the same name as I had - from the night before) I have a plots map of all the landowners around the Quill lakes - free from the motel we stayed in. They are in the wrong field - the one to the west is the one they have permission for - (now I feel like I'm back in ND :roll: ) They are all apologetic & kissing our butts. BUT never asked us to join them. We say, we may set up in the other end of the field & leave & decide to forget it. Go to Wadena & have breakfast & when we come out of the cafe there are SOB's flying all over the place & we go looking for where they are going. We find the MOTHER Load. & meet two farmers that are going out & scaring them off their lands, every 2 hours or so. So we volunteer to set up decoys in ones pea field & the others Oat field that is swathed. (I don't ever recall shooting SOB's out of Oats ???) But they would not leave this field. The fields up there are generally 1 mile wide & 2 miles long. & there is food for the SOB's everywhere. So we have a very good shoot. & get to see a wolf ??? or BIG coyote steal a few of our cripples We see the other 4 guys from Indiana later & they got only a few.

We came back there the next day & had a good shoot again - Could'nt get the Specks to commit to our decoys though ??? Never hunted them much before - weird sounding geese for sure (I tried to make sounds like them - but only scared them away - ???)

That night we stay in Wadena & then scout north of Quill Lakes - not many SOB's that direction. So we go back to south of Wadena. & do OK again. (had no trouble giving away geese)

Next evening we go west & of Quill & see a **** load of SOB's sitting on the west end of Quill. We then go see friends staying in Raymore - They are doing OK - But we want to see where all the geese on the west end of Quill go & feed so we don't join them. Plus there were no rooms in Raymore. So we are looking for a place to stay too.

We end up in a town called Goven - Northeast of Last Mountainlake. & we see the biggest concentrations of SOB's we have ever seen. & we have have seen some big concentrations. We hunt there one day & do well. We are in awe the #'s of SOB's we saw in this area We then head into Regina to get a good room.

(Hey Cariboo!!! I went to Tim Hortons)

Motels are older & OK up there, but not really nice, if you know what I mean. & I'm only talking cheaper chain nice compared to here - most are mom & pop motels but the better ones are booked long in advance. Plus there is lots of road construction & oil field workers in the area.

Had absolutely no hassles crossing back into the USA at customs either

So that is basically the good news. The bad is - not many ducks up there & it had been very dry up until the last month. So there are not going to be many ducks coming down from up North of us. My part of ND was wet all summer & had lots of ducks. Alot more than we saw on over 1500 miles of scouting. Never saw many SOB's from Regina to home. NW ND is very dry & not alot of ducks either. Finally started seeing ducks around Minot & lots back in our neck of the prairie.

The SOB's had just moved in & seemed to be more each day we were there.

I can see why they don't come here until weather forces them to.

 

[KEN W]

Glad to hear you got into them Fetch.We hunted that area a few years ago,but not many large Canadas there and that is what we concentrate on up there.
As far as the Whitefronts we've always had problems with them unless we put out out Whitefront decoys.They always seemed to land away from the snow decoys.Did you use an e-caller? Did you hunt them in the afternoons?

 

[Perry Thorvig]

Thanks for the good report, Fetch. Sounds, like a guy should haul a travel trailer along to make sure you don't have to sleep in the car. I know what you mean by the condition of the motels. Doesn't seem to be a lot of reinvestment in those babies. They are in kind of rough shape. But, for us hunters, who cares. It's not like you are trying to impress the wife.

 

[KEN W]

You're right Perry...As long as I have a warm,dry place to sleep and get cleaned up.Those motels in the small towns aren't much sometimes.We stayed at a place in Grenora once that didn't have a fire escape.There was a large ring in the wall under the window,with a heavy rope attached to it to get out in case of fire.My wife would have refused to stay there,but we were just fine.
By the way how was the hunting for you this past weekend?

 

[Perry Thorvig]

Well, Ken, let's put it this way. Last weekend was a good equipment tune-up trial for when there is real snow goose hunting in North Dakota after Halloween. We didn't do very well. (See my report at waterfowler.com. But, we did report the first snow goose kill in North Dakota. So, I suppose there was some consolation.

 

[nodakoutdoors.com]

6 days and counting for our group.....

Thanks for the report Fetch, hopefully the weather will hold out.

by the way...I love the rundown hotels. If we were staying in a Marriot, it just wouldn't be hunting...

 

[Fetch]

A couple of these places were pretty bad - I'm not a total clean freak - but most of our worst low priced motels are the ritz in comparison. :-?

Next time I'd try to make a reservation in the better places. Were just lucky we did'nt have to sleep in the Tahoe

This old buddy of mine has one of those breathing machines - cause he snores - UNREAL ! ! ! This is the 1st time in years we have shared a room - cause he is so bad :roll: Plus he would be so damned worried someone would steal his decoys - He would'nt get much sleep anyway I have set up decoys & slept in the field the night before many times - used to have a Dodge Station Wagon that my son & I slept in alot. Hunting & fishing trips all over the state - even brought a electric heater & always found a place to plug in - In fact the 1st time the Twins were in world series we were in a field setting up decoys that night. (fond memories of those days) I should scan some of my old pics - I used to take alot of pics back then :thumb: