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Diary
of the Adventure with Dad
Part 2, The Hunt
10/09/02
The day has finally arrived. I left the house at
5AM for the airport. Caught a flight to Memphis, then to Minneapolis and
on to Edmonton. I met a nice woman on the flight from P-Cola to Memphis.
She has a son in the Navy that just finished Officers Candidate School
and is starting flight school. We talked about flight school and she told
me how scared she was for his safety and I gave her my right wing view
of life. At one point she started to cry, not for the safety of her son
but because she misses her baby boy. I am proud of her and her son I will
never meet. I really appreciate our military and the parents that raise
those kids. Met up with my Dad in Minneapolis for the final leg, it was
great to see him. I saw him in July but I never get to see him twice in
one year. We got the typical hassles at customs in Edmonton. Paid the
stupid firearms use tax (we brought our own) then caught the shuttle to
get our rent car. The phrase, "I would rather be lucky than good" struck us when we noticed our hotel where we were going to stay on our
last night was right across the street from our rental car drop-off point.
The roads out of Edmonton are great, the country is beautiful. On the
2.5 hour trip to Edgerton we saw Moose, Deer, Elk and a lake full of snow
geese. The lodge is about 10 minutes from Edgerton. We stopped in Edgerton
and bought our license and ammo. The License was $130 each and ammo was
$24 a box (The tourista price). We got to the lodge about 4:30, wow was
it nice, 3 floors, all wood, a huge separate garage and workshop and a
great view, temp. of 50 degrees, we were in heaven. Only the cook, (Gail)
was home. Darryl and Chris the guides were out scouting. Six more hunters
were coming but we had it to ourselves for 3 hours. When the other 6 hunters
arrived and the guides got back we sat down for dinner. All I will say
about the food at the lodge is, if you you want to diet or if you have
a weakness for large amounts of great food, don't stay there. I bet I
gained 5 pounds in 3 days.
10/10/2002
My Dad has a saying, "The early bird gets the worm because that's
what they deserve" The 4AM wake-up came way to soon in my sleep cycle.
We got dressed and went upstairs. On arrival we were told my pants, blue
jeans, and my Dad's coat, black, would not cut it, we had to be in full
camo. Some of the other hunters loaned us some gear and off we went. I
will get to the other hunters later, they are nuts! We hop in the two
Diesel Suburbans, the 99 I sold Darryl and a 98 with 158k miles. These
trucks are a testimate to the diesel Suburban, they get used in the hardest
way. They run in 4wd every day pulling a trailer in the worst of weather.
We got to the field and began the setup. 4-5 Blinds to deploy and assemble
plus put out the decoys. We were finished in about 45 minutes. You change
locations every day so you setup and takedown every day. My ARC AAA flashlight
was awesome for pre-dawn work. It is small enough to tuck under my hat
to be used as a headlamp. If I could only have one flashlight, this would
be the ARC AAA. I use it nearly every day. 30 minutes after first light
the geese start coming. I sat with Darryl the first morning and watching
him call in the birds is nearly poetic. He brings them in so close you
could just about use your shotgun as a bat. Some of the birds land right
in the decoys. Our hay bale blinds looked so real you couldn't tell they
weren't the real thing from 100 yards. We shot plenty of birds the first
morning. I was shocked at how fast a 12 pound goose can turn around and
fly away, I missed several times. The afternoon hunt was extra fun because
I sat with Dad. Less birds but a great time with the old Man. I doubt
I will ever forget that afternoon. Just me and Dad in a blind telling
lies, watching the geese come in and enjoying the perfect weather. We
discussed the merits of a hay bale blind and how "we" could
improve upon it if we had $200k to spend on blinds. We saw geese flying
so very high migrating south and the ones that turned back in and gave
us a shot. At one point a flock was getting close and I turned to my Dad
and said, "When they get here take the shot, don't worry about me,
I'm gonna get my shot". When the geese were on top of us and beginning
their flair to land Darryl made his standard call, "Take em".
We threw back the roof, stood up, took aim, I waited to hear the sound
of my Dad firing and once he blasted away I let loose myself, we both
missed. It didn't matter, neither one of us cared. We were just buddies
out having the time of our lives. That night the temp started to drop
and I think that may have made our coon-ass co-hunters a little more crazy.
10/11/02
We wake up to 24 degrees. My Dad says he isn't feeling good so we go without
him. The setup was not as fun at 24 degrees and 10 knots of wind. More
of the same as the first days hunt just colder. Inside the blind is fine
but once you go outside your hands, toes and ears remind you of your location.
After the morning hunt we take our geese to the Hutterites. The Hutterites
are an interesting group of people. They all live in a compound. They
farm, make blankets and coats and clean geese among other things. I believe
they are similar to Mennonites. All of our bread, potatoes, and vegetables
came from them. Friendly folks but a little different. It starts to snow
when we get back for lunch. It snows all afternoon and quits about 5.
Dad goes scouting with Chris while we are out on the afternoon hunt. It's
not as fun without him. Back at the lodge that night the "Coon-ass
6" as I started to call them were running wide open. These guys from
New Orleans tease each other mercilessly. Three of them are cousins and
the other three are lifelong buddies. They kept us in stitches the entire
trip. I couldn't have asked for a better group of guys to hunt with. They
ranged in age from 50 to 66 and went by the nicknames, "Tootie",
"Sport", "Bubba" and so forth.
10/12/02
We wake up to 16 degrees and this southern boy is starting to whine. Dad
was feeling better but decides not to risk it and stays home again and
the rest of us go out and freeze. Had a ball wish Dad was there. Darryl
the guide has a saying when he sees someone peeking out from their blind, "Get down, don't let them see their worst enemy". We get back
to camp, pack-up and say our good-byes. I shot an extra large "Honker"
that morning and brought it home to mount. We are on the road by 12 noon.
We stop at the hardware store where we bought the ammo and try to sell
back our unopened boxes, they turn us down. That's not the bad part though,
I left my backpack in the store, it has my cellphone, passport and e-ticket
inside. I made it home without it and will have it back in three weeks.
We went to dinner with an old friend of Dads and his daughter and fiancee
back in Edmonton. They were super folks and had wonderful things to say
about Dad. Dinner was good as well. I had a thing called a "Baseball
Sirloin" It was the size of a tea saucer and 2" thick, looked
more like a filet. It was the best steak I have ever eaten and I am not
a sirloin fan.
10/13/02
Back to the airport at 6AM. Next vacation will be one where I get to sleep
a little bit. No hassles about not having the passport. Nice flight with
Dad to Minneapolis where we say good-bye. I made it home about 6:30PM.
What a trip, it was everything I hoped for and more. A trip of a lifetime
and an adventure with Dad.
If
you have a desire to go goose hunting in Canada. Contact Darryl Wise at
www.thewiseman.com
Great accommodations, Great Food,
Great and Comfortable goose and Duck hunting
I give it a 5 Star rating
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