Tabla de contenidos para June/July 2023 en Wildfowl

IT’S HEARTBREAKING, to the soul of the adventure-seeking waterfowler, this new closure of Manitoba to freelancing US bird hunters wishing to hop the border and hunt the Holy Land, where the migration builds and starts. Under new rules designed to prioritize the resource for Canadian outfitters and offset an increase in competition, non-residents must now buy a $218 permit good for just 7 days either through a lottery or from a Canadian outfitter. Saskatchewan and Alberta are paying close attention to this new Manitoba Doctrine. The province will grant a permit to all applicants this year, but next year that changes to a tight lottery too limited to really plan an international trip. As a young man in Seattle, friends would tell me of crossing into the Bow River country…

❶ BAND #: 1987-12173 HUNTER: David Blackburn, Holmen, WI SPECIES: Black Brant (M) BANDED: 07/17/2012 | Piasuk River, AK RECOVERED: 11/15/2022 | Aleutians East Borough, AK ❷ BAND #: 2257-24647 HUNTER: Charlie Radford, Lansing, KS SPECIES: Mallard (D) BANDED: 09/09/2022 | Upham, ND RECOVERED: 11/17/2022 | Lake Shore, KS ❸ BAND #: 1154-10114 HUNTER: Ben Dreessen, Kingsley, IA SPECIES: Green-Winged Teal (D) BANDED: 08/04/2020 | Northway Village, Alaska RECOVERED: 11/10/2022 | Salix, IA 2,281 mile long-distance -champ- ❹ BAND #: 2197-40666 HUNTER: Jacob Blunt, Dubuque, IA SPECIES: Lesser Snow Goose (M) BANDED: 07/11/2016 | Coral Harbour, Nunavut RECOVERED: 11/04/2022 | Grenora, ND ❺ BAND #: 1028-57109 HUNTER: Jack Oman, Center, CO SPECIES: Canada Goose (M) BANDED: 06/20/2006 | Antero Reservoir, CO RECOVERED: 11/23/2022 | Center, CO Flyway Veteran ❻ BAND…

SHISH KEBABS: A prerequisite for every summer grillmaster. With their alternating colors, ‘babs are a work of art. A tasty, succulent work of art. With chunks of Canada goose secured to each skewer, when grilled over a hot open fire—or even on a hot flattop—the end result is crispy textures with perfect medium-rare meat inside. The good news here: You can make this with either skinned or plucked goose breasts. The marinade is incredibly simple: just add ingredients together, simmer, cool, soak goose chunks. If you can’t or don’t want to locate Sichuan peppercorns to add to the marinade, not a major deal. They do add a bit of citrus zest to the marinade, but it is subtle. A recommended list of vegetables is listed, but what you want to…

IT WAS AN EARLY-SEASON HUNT, taking place in Utah’s Cache Valley in October 2022. Jeff Clines was hunting ducks with his friend, Sky Olsen and Olsen’s son. It was only the second hunt for The Barge. The hunters drove 45 minutes from Clines’ house to the ramp, followed by a 10-minute boat ride. They set two dozen decoys on an average, 30-degree morning. After setting up panel blinds in the reeds to hide them, they parked the boat well away. “It was the first hunt for my female yellow Lab, Sage,” Clines said. “It was a bluebird day with clear skies, but ducks were coming in without a care. They decoyed mainly one at a time and we just picked at them, letting the dogs take turns retrieving. Sky has…

WHEN TENNESSEE RESIDENT Austin Davis got a notion to try crane hunting, he did what many wily waterfowlers do when breaking new ground; he hired a guide. After learning the ropes on several guided hunts, he gained enough confidence for a DIY hunt, which would prove both challenging and rewarding. “The day before our hunt, my best friend, Bra dley Buchanan and I went out on a scouting trip on Chickamauga L ake,” said Davis. They scouted public land all day and found plen ty of birds, but access was limited. “All the private land around the Lake is leased by guides, so we thought the little strips of mud flats between the refuge and private land was the only way to go.” While setting up the decoys, the duo…

❚ GO-DEVIL 18X60 OPEN FLOOR PLAN W/ GALVANIZED 40-HP SURFACE DRIVE If you run on the salt or in brackish water, Go-Devil’s 18x60 combined with their galvanized-frame 40-hp surface-drive should be on your wish list. This boat is as tough as it looks and includes an open floor plan leaving room for everything, including the kitchen sink. Standard features include a large storage box to keep things stowed, tapered chines to help you roll off obstruction, and it even has a grab bar to make sure you don’t fall out during launch! The galvanized-frame 40-hp surface drive is not only crazy fast, it all also resists corrosion, reducing the need for extremely tedious off-season maintenance. Starting at $21,700 | godevil.com ❚ GATOR-TAIL EXTREME 1754-GTR40 XD L PACKAGE If you’re ready…

IN MY 46 YEARS of shooting a shotgun, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve shot clay pigeons at a range. So, when the folks at HEVI-Shot asked if I wanted to shoot some clay birds, I was honest. “Not really, I’m good with the 40 yard paper test, I just want to go shoot ducks,” I said. They ignored me. The automated thrower was turned on, 30 yards out. The first clay that flew by at a 90º angle from left to right, I missed. But the limbs in the trees, 80 yards from where I stood, right in line with the bird I’d just missed, dropped like they’d been instantaneously pruned. That caught my attention. The next clay that sped by, I barely led…

“Don’t shoot the brown ones,” Captain Todd instructed. “And if they dive at the shot, hit them again as soon as they pop up.” He passed a shotgun and box of shells to my gloved hands, stepped back to the steering console, and the boat roared away. It was suddenly quiet in the layout. Zen-like. Comfortable. No sound but the lap of waves. No sight but the silhouette of foam decoys, bobbing against an orange horizon that extended to England, I guess. Unless Greenland got in the way. “11 o’clock. You see ‘em?” Photographer/videographer Mark Webb was in his own layout boat ten yards behind, collecting footage for Savage Arms. Sure enough, six fast-flapping specks could be seen against the sunrise, 10 yards above the surf. They were feet-down between…

FIOCCHI’S GOLDEN WATERFOWL BISMUTH load is the newest, and deadliest, addition to the beloved Golden Waterfowl line from the Italian shot-shell manufacturer. The terminal advantage that waterfowl hunters gain when using premium non-toxic shotshell alternatives such as bismuth or tungsten is undeniable. Their heavier density simply allows them to hit harder and subsequently penetrate and kill waterfowl more efficiently than their steel counterpart. Fiocchi’s Golden Waterfowl Bismuth loads are no exception. Bismuth was the first non-toxic steel alternative to arrive on the scene after the lead ban in the early 1990’s. With a density of 9.75g/cc, bismuth falls smack in the middle between steel (7.5g/cc) and lead (11.34g/cc), making it roughly 25% denser than the steel used in standard waterfowl payloads. Besides the increase in terminal performance, bismuth gives hunters…

WHEN IT COMES TO duck dogs, there is nothing more important than steadiness. This training concept surely conjures up images of ducks raining from the sky, with a black Labrador sitting calmly, eyes marking, and legs planted firmly to the ground. But in reality, steadiness in the field is simply an advanced act of restraint and it is something we can work on progressively and daily with our retrievers, starting when they are little. PATIENCE IS THE REWARD I like to start steadiness around the food bowl as soon as I bring a puppy home. I have seen this approach used from many trainers here and overseas and it makes sense to me. When a retriever is older there is nothing more valuable to him than a duck, but when…

In late January, 15-year-old Grace traveled with her dad, Chris Nicolai, to St. Paul Island in remote Alaska. They were hunting king eiders with mutual friend, Jeff Wasley, of Four Flyways Outfitters. Far offshore, they were about to pick up a nice king that another hunter in the boat had shot. “The ocean was rough and temperatures were well below freezing, and everyone in the boat had set down their guns trying to focus on retrieving the drake eider that was bobbing in the waves,” recalls Chris, a Delta Waterfowl scientist. “Then Wasley shouted, ‘king, someone shoot it!’ Grace didn’t hesitate grabbing her gun and killing it. It was so cool to see, this little girl in rough seas with a boatload of grown men, nailing the shot!” Sweet to…

It’s hard to argue against the wood duck being America’s most beautiful duck. I grew up in south-central Minnesota, and my earliest gunning for waterfowl was over flooded crop fields. A long time ago, I sat on a plastic bucket, hidden in an October corn field. Just before legal shooting light ended on a drab, cloudy day, a pair of wood ducks whistled into a flooded soybean field. Fortunately, they were close enough for me to collect the pair with my 20 gauge, even with a severe case of duck fever. I’ve lived in North Dakota most of my adult life, and wood ducks can be few and far between. I’ve been fortunate to experience the breathtaking thrill of thousands of snow geese descending into the decoys in a stubble…