December 11, 2009 by Gildas Paradis

Fall hunts are over and a challenge it was. The weather was all over the place without rhyme or reason. It was warmer than most falls but snowed for a few days in early October. We seemed about 3 weeeks behind a normal season/temps right up until last week when the temps dropped to -34C. This blind sided everyone as we didn't expect that after such warm weather.

Whitetail season

We normally have snow and freezing temps for our November "rut" deer season, but this year it was T shirt weather. Too warm for any deer movement and surely no snow to track the game. Everybody had a great time but discouragement was knocking at the door testing the patience of of our deer hunting guests. We managed to bring in 3 bucks and some great stories of the ones that didn't present a shot. We also only had 1 wolf sighting which surprised us.

Waterfowl season

The fall bird season ended good with birds around well into Novemeber. The duck hunting was sporatic as we experienced a very early migration at the end of August that chased a LOT of birds into Norht Dakota. Then we waited on a slow but steady migration in late September. The ducks didn't cooperate as well as they have in past years but better than some years. Watching different areas around us it was apparent we had it good as far duck numbers go. Field goose shooting was great in the early season with plenty of Canadas around feeling very comfortable and in many small/med flocks. Early Oct we saw 3 days of pure Snow goose migrating and they managed to push most of the Canadas out in a week. After that we couldn't buy a goose.

Grouse numbers are high and the few hunters who pursue them do well. Sharpies and Ruffies being the prdominant birds.

Black bear

Our black bear seasons are spring and fall. The spring hunt was tough with weather being the culprit. The ice stayed on the lakes an extra 3 weeks longer than normal. The spring was late and so was the natural food stuffs bears need to get their digestive system moving. Once the greenery bloomed though, they went nuts and ate the baits full bore. We killed a few nice bears this spring and we are very proud that we produced a 25 year quest color phase bear for a vetran bear hunter on his second trip with us.

Our fall bear season was very good, as we hunted early and late with success in all weeks. Our waters edge baits produced in the early fall season when the weather was hot, the bears needed lots of cool water. The later fall hunt showed some massive bears with a bruin weighing in at 425 lbs, 7ft 4 in. During that hunt the hunters had a once in a lifetime experience. They witnessed 12 wolves attacking a giant bear in broad daylight, 100 yds out in fron tof them. What a wild world out here, i will write the full story on that soon.

It is hard to write about a whole year of hunting in a few short paragraphs. The seasons were challenging at times but which ones aren't? All hunting can be difficult at times, the important thing is we are up to it no matter what. We learned to take the bad and the good, the most important thing is to enjoy every moment.