My Pilgrimage to Canada!

After more than a decade of dreaming, years of planning and more than a few hours in a plane, I was on my way to Canada.

This trip meant a lot to me for many reasons.



A typical closing weekend at Scott and Lisa's farm in NZ
L-R, Dave, Simon, Scott & Myself

My dad and I loved to hunt waterfowl together. Dad wasn't a big traveller and thanks to a broken back, 20+ hours spent in a plane was not something he would have enjoyed. He did however sit down with me and watch all the waterfowl hunting dvd's that came out of Canada and we often talked about what it would be like to hunt in such a dream destination.

After my dad passed away following his long battle with Alzheimer's, it highlighted to me that life is short, and we only have so many days on this great adventure called life. What's more, none of us know just how many days we have. It made the decision to turn the dream into a reality an easy one and the pilgrimage to the Mecca of waterfowl hunting was on.

I was very fortunate to have met a great couple in Scott and Lisa back home in New Zealand. I met Scott through another hunting buddy of mine on a duck hunt, and with a mutual love of hunting, beer, food and banter, we soon become very close mates. Since we met, I've spent the last weekend of each waterfowl season on his farm, bringing some mates up to have a boys weekend hunting ducks and turkeys while his wife was back home in Canada with the kids visiting her family. That is where this trip first took shape.

Lisa and Scott told me to pop up to the farm one day as Lisa's father, Brian was over from Canada. Brian is a keen hunter and landowner, and after I brought around dinner of fresh blue cod and lobster that I had caught that day, we settled down to talk logistics. He said if I ever wanted to come over, he, his family and friends would help make it happen.

We exchanged a few emails over the coming years, until I was finally able to commit. He and Scott put me in touch with Lisa's cousin, Joe, based in Alberta. The rest, as they say, is history

Arriving from London to Edmonton at midnight on the 19th of September after a 21 hour flight, the international airport set the scene well. EVERYONE was a hunter! It was the start of the prime hunting time for Alberta and there were camouflaged clad hunters everywhere and after I managed to spot Joe, I introduced myself and we were off. Having talked on the phone once and sharing a few Facebook messages, I am sure neither of us knew what to expect, but with Scott having paved the way, I knew we would have plenty in common, and that was an understatement. We were kindred spirits and the 3 hour drive back to Hardesty gave us plenty of time to have a yarn.

On arrival at Dwayne's house at just before 3:30am, Joe showed me to my room and how to turn on the hunting channel (the fact that there is a hunting channel is just awesome!) and told me to set my alarm for 5am as we were in a blind at 6. I couldn't believe it. I had been on Canadian soil for less than 6 hours, and I was already hitting the fields!

The alarm didn't even go off. I was so excited I never slept, and watched water-fowling on TV instead. I turned off the TV and my alarm one minute before it was to go off and hopped out of bed. The only thing that's changed from when I was a young boy was this time I wasn't already wearing my hunting gear before I got out of bed! I met Dwayne who's place I was staying out and who was our resident "main man" on the birds, along with his long time friend from the US, Wayne, and his son Dennis. We loaded the pickups and off we went.

We were to hunt a huge field, and we found John and Tanner down waiting for us. Joe, Dwayne and I took off with headlamps to locate the bird sign, then we set up the blind and set out the decoys. We parked the trucks and dropped the trailer off around the field to discourage birds from landing in other parts, then as always, it was a waiting game.

My first hunt in Canada was all I had hoped it would be. My first Canadian sun rise soon brought with it plenty of birds. We all got our fair share of shooting and I was thrilled to have bagged my first greater and lesser Canada's, my first Pin tail, my first American Wigeon and my first speckled belly goose on day one, along with a few mallards as well! I got to spend plenty of hours in the blind getting to know the guys I would grow to become very good friends with over the next two weeks. I made equally good friends with Joe's Griffin, Mavis and John's Lab, Ed. These two dogs were in for quite a lot of exercise in the next few weeks!

How many great friendships have started in the hunting blind I wonder?

After the shooting was done, the first hurdle was to find Dwayne's trailer. The field was so big, that he forgot where he parked it and it took three pickups 10 minutes to find it. When I say we were hunting a big field, it was BIG. We cleaned all the birds, leaving a wing attached to the bird as is the custom in North America to prove the birds identity. We then returned home for lunch and a well earned nap, before heading out for an evening hunt, where we finished with another great shoot on a small field. The evening was spent sharing stories and enjoying a pot roast of moose while sampling some Lambs spiced rum.

With a good bag of ducks and geese on my first day in Canada, new species ticked off my list and some great friends made, my pilgrimage had started with a bang. I had no idea that this was just the beginning of the amazing experiences I would have over the next 5 weeks.

 Dwayne, Wayne Dennis
Myself, Joe, Tanner, John

John, Ed and I with the groups evening bag.