INTERLAKE MANITOBA CANADA GOOSE HUNTING (PART 2)
INTERLAKE OUTDOORSREALITY CHECK. As the sun sunk low to the west, the Canadas stretched for what I’d guess to be 3/4 mile in freshly harvested grain field, long lines and vees of them descending in escalator waves. “The killing field,” said Troy, explaining that’s what some non-resident hunters that watched it for years had named it. The morning game plan was simple: lots of decoys. Knowing we’d not stop them all and they’d build up elsewhere, we needed to attract incoming birds. Two trailers worth, the spread stretching 100 yards wide. At least. It worked. Big Canadas. Sailing in on outstretched wings like commercial jets. Black-paddle landing gear outstretched beneath them. “Churchills” they call them, indicating the Eastern Prairie Population honkers originating up on Hudson Bay. Probably the same ones that flew to the deep south back during grandad’s day. Char Dawg working the east side of the spread, a big yellow male working the west, non-resident and resident honker limits plus an impressive number of mallards and pintails accrued when we called the hunt, ceding the field to hungry geese. Months of season remaining yet. Breakfast afterwards with new friends that felt like family since day one. Amazing the countless nooks and crannies throughout North America like here between 2 giant lakes that real waterfowl hunting culture is deep rooted. Found myself wondering when it was that Dustin Doll and Troy Bennett and company realized the paradise existing in their own back yards.
