Thunder Creek Outfitters

Thunder Creek Outfitters - world class outfitters in southern Saskatchewan.
We would love to introduce you to some of the best bird hunting in North America.

Catch and Release Goose Hunting

 

2023 Fall Report

I notice that most outfitters don ‘t write annual reports. That’s understandable. When the season is over, we need a break. I got into the habit years ago and I think it has some benefit. First, for me. I want to reflect and be thankful…and be reminded of ways to improve our equipment and operation. So…here goes.

Once again, I am struck with the uniqueness of each fall. It was on the warm side, and dry, which made my life less stressful…but the most interesting thing was that we had a steady SE wind for nearly two weeks. Usually, an East wind brings rain. Not so. It sure was nice to have the birds looking into the morning sun instead of us. Of course, as we predicted would happen, the birds eventually got “stale”. We had good snow goose numbers but were waiting for the juvies from a good hatch to migrate to us on a NW wind.

We had a lot of happy and excited hunters. One of our groups averaged nearly 100 birds per day. The upland game birds were very numerous, and the duck count was solid, but our focus was decoying the wily snow goose. Many of the ducks and specs were the collateral damage of snow goose shoots. The guys shot 4 banded birds in one hunt, notably a spec that was more then 20 yrs. old!

We are still in our dry cycle. This spring looked like it was over because of a good snow cover and runoff that filled our favorite ponds, but it ended up being very dry. The local hay crop was marginal and made the wheat straw worth baling which encouraged the framers to cut their stubble short making it tougher to hide blinds. That reminds me to cut my 500 FB snow decoy stakes shorter. The decoys look a bit more natural that way and of course, on sunny afternoons the long shadows created were a problem.

I am very appreciative for the fact that we were not rained out once and now a few days after being finished, winter is suddenly arriving with a vengeance. Within a few days the ponds will be frozen until spring. There are many things in life that we don’t have control over. Weather is certainly one. I thank the Good Lord for the way things worked out. I hope you enjoy the rest of your hunting season. Thank you for enriching our lives!

God Bless,

Carl Hinderager

Thunder Creek Outfitters