October 19, 2016 by Gildas Paradis

2016 Fall waterfowl season is over for us. I wish i could say it was the best year we ever had but not a chance.

The area received way too much rainfall in a very short time right in the middle of our busiest weeks. Nature added another 6 inches of water to already soaking wet fields making field access almost impossible. On fields that we could hunt sleighs full of decoys and blinds had to be walked in load after load. Finding a dry spot to laydown in was not possible, so everyone endured a very wet hunt from all sides. 

All this rain had to go somewhere and it quickly found it's way to our doorstep, being at the mouth of the Valley River. This flooded the river rendering it non usable for boat travel. It also washed an amazing amount of trees and debris down river into the lake. Once the river flooded our dke protected us at the Lodge but it washed over the roads and we litterally were driving down a small section of road in a boat to get to our boats at the lake shore. 

Nothing came easy this season. The birds displayed a strange migration once again. Geese were steady but no real spike in great numbers. Puddle ducks came and went but were hard to nail down also. Diver ducks, came and left very fast not showing any interest in hanging around. There are some theorys to why that happened and i believe at least one of them. 

We often take things for granted, and learn some the hard way. Nothing i know can manipulate the weather nor the birds but adjustments and built in flexibility can make a difference. Adapt is maybe the word to decribe this business of chasing waterfowl. Adapt and adjust, and then do it all over again trying to keep up with the birds.

We have a few changes in store for our future hunts, stay tuned as we iron out some wrinkels with our plans for next year.

Posted in: Waterfowl Hunting