Feathers and Fins in Manitoba’s Interlake Region
By Mike Hungle
Earlier this year, my family fished with Stu McKay’s Cats on the Red (www.catsonthered.net) near Lockport, Manitoba. During that trip, Stu learned that my son Kyle and I were avid waterfowlers. A few weeks later, he called me and asked if Kyle and I would like to return to Manitoba in the fall to hunt waterfowl with Daryl Stanley of Stanley’s Goose Camps (www.goosecamp.com) and also spend some time on the Red River fishing for catfish. Daryl’s son Matt had turned 12 this year and the plan was for the two boys to meet and hunt together. As for myself, I would get to tag along.
Finally, the day came for Kyle and I to make the six hour drive from Regina to Manitoba’s Interlake region. Shortly after our arrival, Daryl suggested that we brush our blinds for the morning hunt as the forecast was for rain that evening. What a great decision! It started to rain as we were finishing up and poured rain all night. By morning, it had rained over two inches and it was still raining when we got up.
With all the rain, there was no way of driving into the field we wanted to hunt. So we put four dozen Pro-Grade shells, the blinds (under a tarp), a four wheeler and an ATV trailer onto Daryl’s flat bed trailer. The plan was for Daryl and I to set things up in the rain with hopes that the rain would stop. Once it stopped, we’d get the boys in the blinds and wait for the hungry geese to come at us. As luck would have it, the rain quit and the boys were in the field to help put the finishing touches on the spread.
The rain stopped and we were ready and waiting. The hunt started out great! Five birds came straight at us and Daryl called them right in tight. Matt was shooting one shell at a time in an over under and pulled the trigger first. As his first goose ever collapsed in mid air, Kyle and I opened fire and each doubled.
Talk about a good way to start the season! Two more flocks came in and the boys got three more honkers. Then as quickly as the rain had stopped, it started back up again and came down in buckets. At that point, the birds quit flying. We attempted to weather the storm and hunkered down in our blinds. It was raining so hard that even with the doors closed, the blinds were starting to fill up with water! The boys were getting wet and cold, so we walked to a distant clump of trees to warm up and get out of the rain. The boys never warmed up and since the rain wasn’t quitting, we pulled the pin. Daryl took the boys to the truck and I walked back to the spread to start taking things down. Thankfully the down pour changed to a light drizzle. After a couple of trips in and out, we were ready to head back to camp.
However, before doing so, I snapped a couple of pictures to capture Matt’s first day of hunting and Kyle’s first out of province hunting adventureOn our way back to camp, the drizzle changed back to rain, so instead of going fishing, Kyle and I headed to Oak Hammock Marsh. We toured the visitor’s interpretive centre and I touched base with some acquaintances that I knew at the Ducks Unlimited Canada headquarters. It was an informative and well spent rainy afternoon.
Unfortunately for the second day of our hunt, Matt was unable to participate as he had hockey practice to attend. Hockey is very important in the Stanley household as Daryl played in the NHL with the Vancouver Canucks and Philadelphia Flyers. So, instead of Matt hunting with us, Daryl’s guide Tom Balzer, his son Ryker (14) and family friend, 79 years young, Fred joined us the second day.
For this hunt, we travelled further north into the Interlake region and hunted a small 20 acre oats field under seeded with alfalfa. We had to walk everything in and the boys helped out with this chore. Their reward for doing so was to witness several flocks of big geese locked up and setting into the decoys. It was a fun hunt and very exciting to watch the young boys shoot. Numerous ducks buzzed around the field and small potholes, but none close enough for a shooting opportunity. Then, a pair of wood ducks swung over us. Kyle picked out the immature drake and folded it up. It was a great moment. In all my years of hunting the Canadian prairies, I had never seen a wood duck during the hunting season, let alone shot one and my son had just shot one.
A GREAT MORNING FOR ALL!
That afternoon, Kyle and I headed over to the Red River to see Stu and do some cat fishing with him and his friend Dave. The river was flowing hard with all the rain and this seemed to stimulate the cats. They hammered our baits hard and gave us great battles.
While on the water, we spotted a lone pelican sitting on the shore. Stu had a hunch it was caught up in fishing line and figured we should check it out. Sure enough, the poor pelican was badly tangled…but not enough to keep it from trying to get away. After a short chase down the river, I scooped the big bird up with the fishing net and dragged it aboard. Thankfully Stu knew how to grab the bird and while he held it, I cut the fishing line off the bird and removed a hook from its wing and from its foot. We then released it and it swam away.
The fishing action was incredible and fast paced. The afternnon flew by. After our fishing excursion, we headed back to Daryl’s place and made a plan for the next morning. Geese were plentiful in the area, but since there were some wood ducks in the area we had hunted in the morning, including some mature drakes, we opted to return and try for some ducks. Our spread would be simple, a dozen full body duck decoys and four full body Canadas just in case some geese visited us. It was a perfect sized spread, considering it would be just Kyle, Daryl and I walking the gear in.
Unfortunately, the wood ducks didn’t co-operate. However, we did manage to shoot some other species of ducks and some big Canada geese. The highlight of the morning was listening to my son Kyle call geese, work some into range and knock some down.
Unfortunately, before we knew it, our trip to hunt and fish in Manitoba’s Interlake region was over. It was a grand adventure of seeing new country, meeting new hunting friends and spending time on the water fishing with our friend Stu. Kyle slept for much of the ride home and while he did, I thought about how the Interlake region of Manitoba is so rich in feathers and fins.
