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where is the best in your opinion

6K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  Ace's_Owner 
#1 ·
is most of canada awash with ducks and geese or is there areas that are better than others. There is not alot of information over here about this. Th reason i ask is i would like to perhaps move over to canada from Scotland to work for a year or 2 but would still like to shoot waterfowl but wouldnt want to end up somwhere i couldnt go shooting i was thinking of going to calgary.Pm me if its better as i know from experience folk dont like plastering there best spots all over a forum myself included!! :lol3: cheers Steve
 
#2 ·
Most of Canada is awash with waterfowl but some areas are more awash than others.

I do not live anywhere near Calgary (I'm in Toronto) but I have been there lots of times and it's a great place with great people. And fom a hunting perspective, the area around there is amongst the best. Any of the 3 prarie provinces and you will see plenty of ducks and geese - more than elsewhere in Canada. So I'd say pick whatever city in the praries (the provinces of Alberta, Saskatewan, and Manitoba if they didn't teach that in Scotland :smile: ) which is best suited to you, what you want in a city, what jobs are available, etc.

Calgary is the most cosmopolitan of the prarie cities, the largest of them, and has the best air connections as well. Not to mention lowest income taxes, no provincial sales tax, cheap gas, etc. The downside is that real estate is $$$ due to the oil boom. If you are coming on an ex-patriot package and your employer will foot a cost of living allowence, no problem. If not, the real estate there is about as epensive as Toronto and Vancouver. It's not London, UK bad but by Canadian standards housing in Calgary is 2 or 3 time more expensive than other prarie cities like Regina, Saskatoon, or Winnipeg.

Within a reasonable drive from Calgary you have ducks and geese, deer, Elk, a few upland bird species, some of the best trout fishing, etc. Not to mention being a 45 minute drive from the staggeringly beautiful Rocky Mountains.
 
#3 ·
I did think about saskatoon but everyone semmed to moan about it being so cold in the winter so i thought if its that cold the ducks and geese wont hang about in the snow as they loose condition over here pretty quick when theres snow is it the same over there? If it falls under minus degrees here for 7 consecutive days we get a wildfowl ban, it happened last year i couldnt shoot geese for a month!!! Not good i had withdrawl symptoms :lol3: So i thought maybe saskatoon might have a limited window of shooting if its that cold but i may be wrong. Ill go anywhere there,s geese ducks and carpentry work!!! Geese and ducks come first though :yes:
 
#4 ·
There is no cold ban here like in the UK. The season is the season is the season. The cold just affects how fast the ducks and geese get the hell out of here and head south. If YOU do not like cold you won't like the Canadian praries. -20c is a not all that uncommon a temperature in the winter months with dips into the -30c's and worse. The dates for last year's Alberta season and limits are here: http://www.ec.gc.ca/rcom-mbhr/default.asp?lang=En&n=F18502AF-1 and you can see all the other provincial seasons and limits at that site too. 2011 info not yet published but it will be about the same.

The hunting in the praries is also a lot different than in the UK. EACH of the prairie provines are about 650,000km^2 or more than double the size of the whole UK. Then there are almost no people. So we have a lot less hunting pressure and there are a lot more places to hunt. Also, in the praries, a lot of the duck and goose hunting is field hunting from layout blinds or around small marshes (aka., potholes, micro-marshes) not like the typical estuary shooting in the UK.

There are some big inland lakes which have more of the marsh shooting you would be used to but those are further east in the prairies (ie, Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba).
 
#5 ·
I live in Calgary but Calgary is not what you hear about the fishing and hunting it was a long time ago now there is urban sprawl plus lots of posted no hunting. The reason I go for my annual 7 day safari to Saskatchewan is threefold, I grew up there and went to school there and know the areas and people and there are many hot spots and the people are more understanding of hunters and usually give permision the other hunting like deer and moose yields many trophies and deer are abundant and fishing is great with loose regulations. Saskatchewan has a leading economy and has many job openings and if you like curling it is the place to be
 
#7 ·
The old wildfowl doesnt hang around for long in the snow!! Does vancouver with its milder climate have wildfowl there for a majority of the season then? Your shooting season is alot shorter than ours. Over here we can shoot on the shoreline from 1sept to 20th feb with inland shooting starting from 1st oct until the end of january. We have a pheasant season that also runs from oct-jan so when the geese arent here in numbers you can hit the pheasants. The goose shooting in my area doesnt really hot up until the november time further up north its pretty good but here in the solway people come far and wide to shoot a solway goose.
 
#9 ·
Is that pretty steady shooting all season? Is there alot of land taken up with outfitters or can you acquire land to shoot yourself or public access. There is next to no info overhere if i google it i just get outfitters websites which doesnt intrest me id rather shoot without the help of an outfitter!!
 
#10 ·
blakloks said:
Is that pretty steady shooting all season? Is there alot of land taken up with outfitters or can you acquire land to shoot yourself or public access. There is next to no info overhere if i google it i just get outfitters websites which doesnt intrest me id rather shoot without the help of an outfitter!!
Accessing land for shooting is very different here than in the UK and even the US.

1., "Navigable water" can not be privately owned and is owned by the Crown (meaning the Federal Govt) and is free access for all. No owning streams like in the UK. While the land that abuts the water can obviously be owned, this opens up a lot of area.

2., It is ILLEGAL for a land owner to charge an access fee for the purpose of hunting. They can prohibit you from their land but they can not charge a hunting fee. A lot of hunters scout out good locations and then simply knock on the owners door and ask permission. While it does not always yield success it often can. Politeness and preparation go a long way.

In general, there are a lot less hunting clubs here than in the UK or US because there is so much more land access. While it is not as open as it used to be, it is hugely more accessible than in US and, especially, UK.

Which is to say, I shoot public land and most here do.
 
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