WATERFOWLER'S HEAVEN WITH JOHN E. PHILLIPS
Sky Carp
Editor’s Note: Ducks and geese rained from the
sky like a giant black cloud. Although making an exact
count was difficult, the cloud appeared to have 300
to 400 ducks in it, a flight of 20 speckle-bellied (white-fronted)
geese and about 50 Canada geese. I waited in my Ameristep
bale blind for Bob (Rip) Clark of Edmonton in Alberta,
Canada, to call the shot. When I finally heard him say
the words I’d been waiting for, “Take ‘em,”
the Canada geese had dropped down through the swarm
of ducks and were right in front of my layout blind.
In
Canada, the guides at Dog ‘N Duck call snow geese
sky carp. The snow goose isn’t a
good-eating goose—just as the carp isn’t
a prized fish. So although hunters can take 20 of them,
and their numbers need to be reduced, rarely do hunters
actively pursue them. Too, hunting sky carp can be very
difficult. They usually fly in huge flocks, and you
have a lot of eyes looking down on you when you try
to call them in to your blind. Many times you’ll
only get one chance to take birds out of a flock of
300 to 500 before the birds fly away. “Even though
you can take 20 of them a day, these geese have become
a nuisance for landowners and farmers because of their
ability to destroy a crop in one night,” Clark
notes. “They’ve also become a nuisance to
themselves because their
numbers have grown so rapidly they’re destroying
their own habitat. Sometimes we’ll have small
flocks from 5 to 20 snow geese come in to our decoys,
and we encourage our hunters to take them. They provide
good shooting action, and by taking as many as we can,
we’re really helping to protect the resources.”
I’ve never been on a hunt where I’ve seen
and taken more geese and duck in my life. The ducks
came in so strong that many times, I would just sit
in the blind, watch the birds come in to the decoys
and let the other hunters shoot them. When you see more
than 100 ducks and geese competing for a spot to land
less than 20 feet from your blind, the sight leaves
you awestruck. When wave after wave after wave of waterfowl
come to your decoys each morning and each
afternoon, if you are a waterfowl enthusiast as I am,
you’ll assume you have died and gone to heaven.
I believe every waterfowler who really enjoys the sport
of taking ducks and geese over decoys should plan a
trip to Alberta at least once in his or her life, because
it’s a trip of a lifetime that you can relive
again and again.
To learn more about Dog ‘N Duck, call (780) 913-1337
or (780) 416-3825, e-mail clarkrd@shaw.ca,
or visit www.dognduck.ca.
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