Prairre Post

farmstead
farmstead

Fall on The Saskatchewan Prairre is “special.”Everything seems to be moving, the sky is alive with  waterfowl which are in the staging mode,when the weather turns for the worse  they head south.Birds from the North drop in  on every cold front.It’s a great place to be for a Watefowl Hunter.

The Duck Blind
The Duck Blind

It’s also a great place for a Upland Bird Hunter as it is classic pointing dog country.Big is a understatement to describe the terrain in which the Gray Partridge and Sharptails are found,huge is better.

Hunters and Bird Dogs part of the Fall ritual
Hunters and Bird Dogs- part of the Fall ritual

The Bird Dogs eat it up stretching out and hitting the edges where native grass and wheat stubble come together,the experienced dogs stay ten yards  off the edge knowing full well that any closer they may ‘bump’ a covey of Huns,they know the birds need to be pointed from a far.

Big Country =Big running Dogs
Big Country =Big running Dogs pointing Huns in a patch of  native grass

The Expanses of native grass are home to Sharptails and in some years lots of them.Like the Huns they don’t tolerate sloppy dog work and when in they are found in large groups it gets challenging as the flock is spread out and very skittish,but thats part of it.When they hold  it all comes together,the point ,flush and retrieve are frozen in time.

LouLou points a single Sharptail
LouLou points a single Sharptail
A Brittany and a Sharptail
A Brittany and a Sharptail

Two chokes are better than one,the second being at least IC and

Go to the light
Go to the light

number 6 patterns best for the long shots as the birds can excel to 45 MPH ..fast.You can never over lead,and it is easy to be behind the bird when you squeeze the trigger.In the course of an hour the dogs will run twelve miles you will walk three,and the walk back to the truck is further than you think.

Superposed and Huns
Superposed and Huns
A Pointer and a Brittany team up on a Covey of Huns
A Pointer and a Brittany team up on a Covey of Huns
Snow Geese
Snow Geese
A long retrieve
A long retrieve

This is Pothole Country,the Labs get there turn also.Working the Duck Blind in the chilly AM they stare intently into the sky.As you call  you also watch your dog  see where the buzzing ducks are at.

Curly tailed Mallard
Curly tailed Mallard

They circle overhead ,dropping lower and lower then  they buy into your decoy spread,flying up the J with their wing’s cupped  it’s game on,Mallards and Pintails are awesome,but beggars can’t be choosers take the Wigeon  and Teal too.

Yellow Lab and a Green Head
Yellow Lab and a Green Head

To the naked eye it’s a bleak landscape full of nothing,dig a little deeper and the beauty appears.From the friendly farmers,the feel of the short grass under your feet, to the hidden gem of a coulee that slices through the country side   there is more that meets the eye while hunting the Big Country.

Grain Bin from another era
Grain Bin from another era