Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Stories! As hunters and outdoors people that seems to be a common thing we all have lots of. Join your amateur guide and host on this channel Ken as he gets tales from guys and gals. Chasing that trophy buck for years to an entertaining morning on the duck pond, comedian ones, to interesting that's what you are going to hear. Also along with some general hunting discussions from time to time but making sure to leave political talks out of it. Don't take this too serious as we sure don't! If you enjoy this at all or find it fun to listen to, we really appreciate if you would subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for. checking us out! We are also on fb as Hunts on outfitting, and instagram. We are on YouTube as Hunts on outfitting podcast.
Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Bird Dogs, Big Bucks, And Breaking New Ground. Navigating Saskatchewan`s Landscape
When a lifelong hunter from New Brunswick relocates to Saskatchewan, the learning curve becomes a fascinating journey through Canada's diverse hunting landscapes. Dave shares his nine-year adventure adapting to prairie hunting while bringing along his east coast hunting ethic and determination.
Saskatchewan's trophy whitetail reputation comes with controversy, as we explore the lottery system that gives residents preferential access while limiting opportunities for other Canadian hunters. The sponsorship system for family members offers improved odds but still no guarantees, creating frustration for hunters wanting to experience the province's legendary deer hunting without hiring outfitters.
The conversation takes a serious turn discussing Chronic Wasting Disease management across provincial borders. With CWD now detected in 59 of Saskatchewan's 83 wildlife management zones, hunters face new regulations and ethical questions about testing, transportation, and consumption of harvested animals. We compare different provincial approaches to containing this 100% fatal deer disease and the role hunters play in management efforts.
Dave's enthusiasm peaks when sharing his expertise training German Shorthaired Pointers for pheasant hunting. From the natural instincts of backing another dog's point to the remarkable ability to track injured birds through dense cattails, his stories highlight the special partnership between hunters and their dogs. His detailed descriptions of pheasant behavior – including the surprising fact that they can run faster than they fly – provide valuable insights for anyone interested in pursuing these challenging gamebirds.
Whether discussing the prairie moose that feed in canola fields or the limitations of wildlife management funding, this conversation spans the breadth of Canadian hunting experiences with authenticity and practical knowledge. Dave's journey reminds us that adapting to new hunting environments requires both respect for traditional skills and openness to learning new approaches.
Check us out on Facebook and instagram Hunts On Outfitting, and also our YouTube page Hunts On Outfitting Podcast. Tell your hunting buddies about the podcast if you like it, Thanks!
this is hunts on outfitting podcast. I'm your host and rookie guide, ken meyer. I love everything hunting the outdoors and all things associated with it, from stories to howos. You'll find it here. Welcome to the podcast. Hey, thanks for listening to the podcast. We've got another great one for on to talk about those, but in this episode we talk about pheasant hunting, bird dogs, the impacts of CWD, moose hunting, saskatchewan whitetails and lots more. If you guys want to leave us a review on Apple or Spotify, that'd be great. If you want to reach out to us, you can on Facebook, hunts on Outfitting or by email, huntsonoutfitting at gmailcom.
Speaker 1:Before we get started, I got to tell you about my magazine that just came in the Canadian Access to Firearms. Look, I got to tell you, whether you are Canadian, american, european or wherever you're from, if you're a gun enthusiast, this is a great magazine. To grab a coffee or a cold drink, sit back and look at it. Yes, it's actually paper, mailed to you that you can hold in your hand, while most things are just online. These guys pride themselves in actual print magazine. If you're looking for guns, ammoing supplies, clothing, you name it, it's in there. It's going to tell you about all the gun shows going on in canada, all kinds of dealers hunting knives, it's. It's great, it's fun to look at, just sit back, relax, especially on these cool winter nights. You're gonna enjoy it all.
Speaker 1:Right, let's get to the podcast. Yeah, so it's funny, dave, uh, the other weekend, so I hunt with your and trap a bit with younger brother Scott, and then, uh, you were the oldest of four and then I was going to have you on the podcast and then I was like well, I've never met Dave before, so I should call him and talk a bit before what we're going to go over. And then we ended up talking for almost three hours and it was great. And then I got off the phone with you. I'm like shit, I don't know what we're going to talk about still. But yeah, uh, well, you're an east coaster and you moved to, uh, saskatchewan.
Speaker 2:You've always been, uh, been hunting yeah, originally new brunswick, canada, and grew up there and like, introduced pretty young age. Yeah, rough grouse, I guess, is what we started. Mostly my dad wasn't much of a deer hunter. We did a little deer hunting but I kind of took that passion on myself as I got older, had a good buddy in school that me and him were all through the bush all the time and building tree stands and stuff. So started deer hunting 16 and uh really just kind of got more and more into it over the years.
Speaker 2:Um, I ended up out here in Saskatchewan the nine years now we're going on. Um, I always wanted like I had guys I worked with at the mine back there that uh would come out to outputters deer hunting stuff and just seeing the big bucks that they shot. So it was always something to come out and hunt. And then I got the opportunity to come out and work and live here and uh, I kind of jumped on it more for the hunting than the work and uh, yeah, so that was uh, nine years ago, been hunting out here, seeing quite a difference as a lot of a lot of opportunity to hunt different animals here too, compared to New Brunswick.
Speaker 1:You shot a lot of you know you're credited of one of our friends, dalton Patterson. You got him into hunting. Well, he always kind of hunted a little bit and then you were you're quite a bit older than us and then he'd see you hunting at his grandparents and see you coming out with these big bucks. And that's when he was like, oh, I'd like to go hunting deer now, I think but I mean a lot of people you moved to saskatchewan. You've shot some smasher bucks there and you some people listen to this might be thinking like, well, yeah, anyone can shoot a big buck in saskatchewan. But you proved yourself in new Brunswick first, because you got some deer here that were no slouches as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, like that. So Dalton, when he was getting into it, like that's when I was really really getting into deer hunting and more and more, and I worked for Dalton's grandfather for a few summers, so kind of got an eye on the land early on. And then when I started hunting there Dalton was just turned 16, I guess, when he got his first deer license. So he was getting into it. That year his grandfather actually got to sit with him for his for his first buck. But like, yeah, that's, that was kind of when I was really really getting into the deer hunting then. So getting Dalton into it kind of ruined my spot. He, he took it over for sure, but he, uh, he's, yeah, good, good on him.
Speaker 2:That day, like we went out, I had two bucks on camera that year. They were both pretty good deer. So we went and sat. He, I think he left school early and uh sat the evening. He shot his pretty quick. We had blue, the grunt call in this. Uh, eight point, I'll, I'll be going back and forcing this guy from terms of four by four. And uh, and it came out and I said, do you want to shoot it? And yep, and he shot it and dropped it right in its tracks, and so he was supposed to come with me the next day.
Speaker 2:I remember that, and he he called in sick on the hunt and, uh, the next morning I shot the other one. It was a. It was a 10.5 by five. He's kind of mad at me because he wasn't there. We shot both those deer that evening and then the next morning. I've had pretty good success on that land. It was a good spot back there, for sure. I think coming out here, though, and just bringing the New Brunswick mentality on hunting there and the work that it took to find good deer really helps you to be successful out here, cause there are a lot of deer, but it still takes takes a lot of work to narrow in some good ones, for sure.
Speaker 1:And there's a find here. Uh, you know, for those listening that don't know what it's like hunting in New Brunswick, there's a lot of hunting pressure here. I don't know. In saskatchewan, I'm guessing it's a big province, it's a lot more spread out, but here I mean you've got somebody breathing on your neck, down your neck everywhere, it seems really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was one thing I noticed for sure out here, like there's, there's definitely hunting pressure more in the rotten rifle season so like I try and take advantage of bow season. There's not as much. But uh, I was running some numbers by the other day and I kind of looked it up myself just to see what the difference is. In New Brunswick you'll find your deer are probably condensed more into a couple zones, really like your high numbers. And out here I mean there's deer right across the province up north to the Boreal Forest. You get further north there's less deer, but you guys actually sell like 3,000 more deer licenses in New Brunswick than they sell in Saskatchewan.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's crazy. I think like we're limited here. So Canadian residents, it's a lottery system for them. So my brothers are fortunate because I can sponsor them and their odds go up quite a bit to get drawn to come out here. I can sponsor them and their odds go up quite a bit to get drawn to come out here. But uh, as a regular Canadian resident, they think like you're like 10% odds to get lucky enough and draw a license. So most of them, if you want to come here. You're going through an outfitter.
Speaker 1:That's what I wanted. I didn't know if you wanted to get right into that first five minutes of the podcast, but it's all right. So there's a little bit of a I guess you could say deer hunting controversy over in saskatchewan, because I mean, it's not there. Everyone knows the saskatchewan's home of the big bucks world renowned, it's known for that. You've got outfitters. They're selling really high dollar hunts on these big bucks and um. But yeah, for like you said for a canadian resident, if you had a friend come down just to want to hunt with you, you said he can't really do that. It's got to be a family member that's sponsored to go.
Speaker 2:That's right. So when I landed here, so when I first moved out, I landed here right into the rules trying to figure out what I need to hunt, I guess. So instantly I look and you need to be a Saskatchewan resident for at least six months, so hold a license, a driver's license, in Saskatchewan for six months. So I went, got that like the second day I was here just so I knew I was going to get the opportunity to hunt, and uh, so I had to miss out. Actually, just the way my timeline worked out, I missed out on all bow season and I got to start hunting rifle season. So, like the week before rifle season, I was technically able to buy a license. But if you're not a Saskatchewan resident, yeah, canadian resident lottery system or or outfitters your only option. So I've had my brothers out. So, like, like I said, when I sponsor them, I think their odds go to like 80% or something for for them to draw a tag.
Speaker 1:So still not guaranteed though.
Speaker 2:No, it's not guaranteed. So, like, uh, my older brother, he's put in three times. The one time he was successful was COVID, so he couldn't come out cause he would have had to hunker down for two weeks when he went back so he couldn't really pull it off and then he was drawn. He wasn't drawn the next time he put in. He actually wasn't successful with his 80% and then the next time he got drawn. So he's been out for one hunt. And then my youngest brother, pat, he's been out twice now for two hunts, but at both times he's put in. He was successful, yeah.
Speaker 1:So do you think I don't know if you want to step on any toes here and there's nothing wrong with, uh, you know, outfitters trying to make good living, but do you think that is probably? I mean, is the deer population low in saskatchewan and that's why? Or you think the outfitters are like well, you know, let's just settle down on how many people just come in here and hunt that aren't going through us.
Speaker 2:I think that the outfitters definitely have some say. But like honestly, like I know, like talking to Manitoba residents, like that at one point they could like Canadian residents could just buy a tag over here and and come over. So I'm not sure what the rule change happened there, Like whether it was some hard winters and they've seen a major dip in deer numbers and it just hasn't gone back. Like we haven't got the population back to where they want it to be, to open it up a little more. So I think this is the draw system. They can kind of they'll open up more like more dependent now on seems to be more dependent now on like complaints on farmers of crop damage and stuff like that. So like they're seeing the numbers coming up like crazy, then they'll give out more Canadian resin tags. So in the lottery system, I think they can up their numbers and down their numbers based off what they're seeing for populations.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, Do you think that the elk compete with the deer? Because we were talking before that. The elk population seems to have done, would you call it exploded there?
Speaker 2:In this area, so like elk and moose, is definitely so I'm Southeast Saskatchewan, like areas with majority farmland, right, yeah, so, but elk, like you'll see a lot of elk along our valleys and stuff, and like since I've been here I've noticed the numbers have gone up quite a bit, like it's from what I'm just seeing around and stuff, but like so it's also a lottery system. But like I know a lot of farmers have been complaining about the elk and like anyone bale grazing near that valley is getting hammered by the elk. So but the numbers like my understanding just talking to guys around here like the elk population was never huge till 10, 15 years ago it started growing quite a bit and like now the numbers are pretty healthy for sure, but as far as competing, like um, they'll be in the same areas, but it's like you won't see, I don't find you see the deer numbers as high where there's elk okay um, like the elk will definitely, especially in the rut.
Speaker 2:Like my, my cameras will dry right up as far as deer when the elk are in rut, they kind of get out of their way and let them do their thing, it seems. But elk can take over a spot pretty quick and then it kind of depends on what crops the farmers are growing to like. I know there's one area that I've seen a lot of elk and farmers growing beans one year and then the next year I was down there scouting and looking and like really never seen the elk. So they kind of move around depending on what, what they have to feed on and, uh, they seem to winter in the same areas where the feed is like. I know, like a farmer that bale grazes every year, I'll felt, and he's getting hammered every year right now. Most likely the same herd just hunkers in there for the winter.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, that can cost the farmer a lot of money.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean the crop insurance thing is one thing, but like, and you see now, like I've seen down at the park, so like we have Roddy Mountain National Park down south of Mead County Lake and like they actually opened it up one winter, they opened 100 tags up just to go in there. It was like a February hunt because the numbers were so high and they were doing so much damage to the farmers' feed for the year. Oh, wow, yeah, you'll see once in a while they'll take control of it or try and take control of it and cut the numbers down when it's when it's getting out of control. But it's, it can be, they can be an issue, I guess for some yeah, but and then so the deer population.
Speaker 1:You know it's steady. And then we talked before and you said that, um, you'd messaged uh, was it doug durham from meat eater that's right and that was on the CWD, the chronic wasting disease. So you guys, actually you do have a problem with it there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's right across the province and it's definitely heavier in certain zones. So, like we have a program where you can drop off your head, or I think it's the part of the spinal cord in the back of the head, so like it's found in the spinal cord in the back of the head, so like it's found in the spinal cord brain of the deer. So like what people do is you can drop your head off, you can test it for CWD and they'll get back to you whether it's been positive or not. So they go off of those numbers to uh figure out the problem areas, I guess. But uh, so what?
Speaker 2:The reason I messaged Doug was Manitoba got its first case here a few years ago and then the government did a call. It was during the hunting season but they flew around and they shot 600 deer to test them all and they came back with one positive out of those 600. So people kind of got irate over it and it was all over facebook and everything. And then, uh, so I just kind of messaged out just like it was this the right way to do this? And I know manitoba just doesn't want it to get in their province and spread across the province. So that was the the goal of it. And uh, he said when politics get involved down there, so they were doing the same thing there. They tried to do a call on deer in a hot area. So what he was saying a hot area was like 25% of the deer tested were coming back positive. So the only way to really control a dead deer is the only way to control it because it spreads so easily. And so he's saying the hot areas is what they should be doing Calls on or up the tag numbers and stuff like that. But the problem was using, like, your government to do the call. So he's saying the best solution is to use the hunter.
Speaker 2:And that's kind of what manitoba switched to here because they took so much heat over that that they, uh, they offer I think it's like three mule deer tags in these zones of the border zones oh wow yeah, where the muley were crossing them over. So like mule deer tags in these zones in the border zones, oh wow yeah, where the muley were crossing them over. So like muleys kind of migrated across Saskatchewan slowly and like we had decent numbers in our zone out there in the Capel Valley and then they kind of migrated into Manitoba. So that's what they actually found. The positive cases was in mule deer. So they offer three tags to anybody who wants them, but they have to get the head tested.
Speaker 2:Okay, uh, mandatory test. That's just a five dollar tag so they can shoot two does in a bucket at least what it is and then they had to mandatory test. They've been doing that for the past couple years just to try and keep cwd on this side of the border, but it's uh, it's a hard one to control it, like so many different ideas on how to control it, and I think, like Doug's saying, like, basically your call, like to shoot, shoot so many in the zone and then test them, and if you get a hot zone, like you really got to knock the numbers down to control it. So it's a tough topic for a lot of people because it's where it's found. Like in Saskatchewan, if you're going to be taking your deer to a butcher or anything like, everything has to be deboned. They can't cut through bone and it's all deboned meat. So not found hasn't been found in the meat, it's found in the spine and brain, right?
Speaker 1:so yeah, I got a little bit of facts here on it for those wondering what we're talking about, I guess. So it's not CWD, known as chronic wasting disease. So far it only seems to affect cervids, so any mammals of the deer family. As of right now, there is no known treatment or cure. It's in. I wondered this and I looked it up. So it's in the same family as BSE, mad cow disease. Yeah, so it's a prion disease, right? Yeah, yeah, so I kind of figured that. Right now it's currently found in saskatchewan, alberta, quebec and manitoba and it's been detected in uh 29 us states. For saskatchewan, though, they think that it came through uh elk that were infected unknowingly, that were released in the province from South Dakota in the 1980s. Then it was first detected on a I think it was an elk farm in 1996. And then in the wild in 2000 in Saskatchewan. And as of 2022, in Saskatchewan it's found in 59 of the 83 wildlife management zones. Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's pretty, that's all very accurate. So it's like. Also, the thing with CWD is 100% fatality rate. So it's not like EHD, where actually like EHD looks so bad because you've seen so many dead animals, but actually like a lot of them can actually survive EHD, but with the CWD it's 100% fatality rate. So within two years of getting it they're saying they will be dead. So it's. But it can look a lot of the same, like when you see one that's really run down, like I've had one doe that I'm sure, sure had cwd, it's out of that. Or she was 14 years old and dying because she could see all her ribs. She just looked very sick and it's that's what you'll see, kind of the end of their life.
Speaker 1:They'll, they'll be very run down, but like you can shoot a deer that you think is perfectly healthy and look good and it can come back positive yeah, and then they're worried about it too, because when the animals are infected by it and it keeps progressing, uh, there's a lot more motor vehicle accidents with deer and elk, and all that because the animals are just not alert. They're just not, you know, themselves.
Speaker 2:Yeah it would definitely be affecting their brain at that point for sure, yeah yeah, Another interesting thing about Saskatchewan, though.
Speaker 1:like we were talking you guys, so you guys don't have deer registration there.
Speaker 2:No, so well, we don't have a deer registration, so what we have is a hunter's survey. So it's. It became mandatory here a couple years after. Here before it wasn't mandatory but you can do it optional. But now, yeah, that was kind of new to me. So when I was first hunting, like what are we like when you shoot a deer? Like you register or whatever? And the guys like register, and they were kind of like what are you talking? So that was definitely new to me when I moved here. So, yeah, I think the hard part is where we just set up the registration stations, because there's a lot of rural areas You'd be driving hours to try and find somewhere to register a deer.
Speaker 2:So now it's mandatory for us to take the hunter's survey, which they use a lot of it for numbers. So you're using the hunters who are in the woods a lot to gather pretty good data. So then at the end you basically say you have beers, you've seen an increase, decrease in the population and whatnot. But they ask if you've been successful and they review other questions along with what you shot and everything. And then every license you buy. You actually have to do that. So I even have to do it for pheasant, for sharp-tail grouse, for Hungarian partridge, so like everything that I've hunted that year I do a survey on and it's all gathered data.
Speaker 2:I think it's good. So like we'll get a ledger and you can fill this ledger out just to kind of keep track. So if you're doing a lot of off land you can fill it out just to keep track what days you hunted, like numbers you've seen if you limited out and stuff like that, so it's what zones you hunted, so everything's stretched out here. Like I hunt pheasant three hours away from home so we go right down to the state's border, basically no-transcript good to keep track of and keep track of their numbers. We do release a lot of birds down there too. That's a big thing, for pheasant helps out a lot yeah.
Speaker 1:I, uh, I got it. I think we were talking before. I mean, I get the idea of those surveys and all that, but I think, uh, I'm going to say my opinion. I think they're kind of bullshit in a way, because, okay, I I'd filled out correctly. There's a lot of people like we had to do it here one year for moose season and they wanted you to say how many black bear you saw, how many moose you saw, how many deer you saw, right, well, you've got a wildlife management zone that somebody people want to get, say, more moose out of. They just marked in oh, we saw, you know 50 moose this time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so like you just think you want to up stuff like that. So like I would say that I don't think like this is the only data they go off. If I'll say that because, yeah, like even last year, like talking with one of my buddies like where I hunt I've hunted every year since I've been here. Yeah, I had one of the worst deer seasons as far as what I've seen on my cameras and even hunted and like just one of the worst seasons I've had there. So I was like my survey is going to say like yeah, I hunted zone 34 numbers declined, for sure is what I would say.
Speaker 2:But he's, on the other hand, he's hunting zone over, he's an hour away from me and he's like man, like that was like the best year I've seen on camera, so like he's not that far away, he's going off that.
Speaker 2:And like we do the horn measuring night at the wildlife and like seeing some of like really good bucks this year there compared to the last couple years. So like it can vary that much between zones, like what they're really taking for data off this and taking to heart I'm not sure how much of it is, but I mean yeah. So, like I don't think they're gonna be like, okay, this one guy says that the moose numbers are crazy. And then, like you're going to have probably majority of them are going to be a little more honest, right, and like, so how much they take to heart? Like not going to take every survey and say, okay, this one guy says, like, the deer numbers are crazy. So then all of a sudden, you get a bunch of Canadian resident tags and stuff. So I think it's to keep track of your success rates, um, more so than to take your numbers and adjust your tags off of it, right, I?
Speaker 1:find too. Well, I find too that people I mean you think about it at the end as well People are like, oh shit, I forgot to fill that out. Uh, how many did we see? Like I don't want to just kind of rush through and make up numbers, but I mean, I think the biggest thing is, you know, you see other provinces in Canada and in states I find a lot of states do a good job of this you see the biologists going out there like, oh, we're doing this radio collaring on on mountain lion or radio collaring elk, or we're ear tagging black bear and this and that, and I mean I don't, I find here anyways, we don't see enough of that. You just here anyways, we don't see enough of that. You just can't beat boots on the ground.
Speaker 2:I think with all the money that we spend on buying hunting tags and you know our all our licenses and donations and this, and that that we we should have more biologists out there doing what they should be doing, I just don't think there's enough of that personally that too, and like I mean we can go on like I'm talking about like how many ceos we got now strung out there across our province and they're basically complaint-driven they don't even have time to go and just Activation officers yeah yeah, and I think every province is in that same boat. We've seen such a decline in budget for those guys that you're not getting as much data from them. So it's I don't know how it. Boots on the ground are definitely good, but like you're gonna have success stories based off every different hunter. There's only so many guys are actually put as much time as I put in to shoot a deer, so like it can look good from one person and then the next person who goes out for two, three times. So like part of my survey, I put how many days and how many hours that I'm sitting in the stand. So I'm probably going to look at that and be like, okay, this guy he's sitting in the stand like a long time Probably going to have a little more accurate data than someone who went out three times and says the numbers are way down or way up or whatever, right, so I'm sure there's an algorithm that they use to try and get accurate data out of it, but I don't know how much the tags actually adjust off the surveys.
Speaker 2:I think they do have a good idea of the numbers across the province. As far as deer and mule deer Because our tags especially mule deer there's a higher population in certain zones and they have a lot more tags that are released. But you're going to see a lot more as far as lottery, a lot more people putting in for those zones too. So your, your odds aren't always higher there than they would be in a zone with with less deer, yeah, or mule deer. I guess you see that same in new brunswick. As far as moose, like your, your better zones are going to get hammered, so your odds are actually quite a bit less. But, like they, they do have a good idea on the numbers. I don't think they use them. That's it for that, but more for the success side of things, how many people are successful at the end of the year? Yeah, the decline of their population, right?
Speaker 1:So yeah, it's true. Yeah, you know, it'd be nice if more money was put out for everywhere states. I found the states is pretty good and some provinces in canada do as well, but not everywhere. Everyone could do better. It's just the fact that, like I said, our wildlife here is such a great renewable resource that does bring money in, either through outfitters, ammunition sales, licenses and all that, and it just needs to be managed better, better, a bit better. You know, just kept a closer eye on and more biologists out there and just making sure that it's, you know, good for generations to come. But then you get politics involved and, yeah, yeah, Like we were talking.
Speaker 2:I was talking with my friend the other day and he was like the, the number of the number we get back to conservation of our license sales and whatnot, it's not enough to put into conservation and put into wildlife management Very small fraction of what we put into it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I mean, hopefully that'll improve and I think sometimes that depends on who's in office. But we don't get into politics on this podcast just because I'm sure everyone. The reason why is I tell everybody because chances are, if we all went to the polls tomorrow, anyone listened to this podcast. We're all voting the same way, so there's no need to get into it, that's right.
Speaker 1:But, dave, on another note too, so you're a bird dog guy and an upland bird dog guy. Why don't you tell us a bit about? So? Your uncle, kevin, who I've been hunting with before, showed out he's got Brittany Spaniels, correct.
Speaker 2:That's right. So, yeah, kevin, he got me into the dog side of things for sure, yeah, like. So I hunted with him and his dogs quite a few times and then we ended up at a field trial and kind of got hooked on the English pointer out there and shortly after that I think I bought my first dog at 19. I bought an English pointer and hunted with her back there her whole life and when I moved out here I really didn't know, I was thinking nothing but deer. When I moved out and I kind of got talking to some guys at work and they were talking about the number of pheasants down south and like they've done some hunting down there and how crazy it was. And uh, by the time I got my pointer out here she was 14, so she was a retired dog, so I wasn't really going to load her up, take her down. So we ended up there was a post online. I ended up going switching over to the german short hair pointer and uh, he was actually bred for show but his dad was a hunter and stuff. So I was just like, well, whatever, I'll get him into the hunting. So he lives back in the country and he took the bird hunting very easy and is eager to please just unreal. So he was an easy to train dog. Um, I didn't do much fine-tuning training, like I didn't pen raise birds or anything, but I just got him out in the bush lots. We did a lot of spring. We went shed hunting stuff and I was getting them around birds that way and then just around home there we would have a pretty good population of sharptail grouse and Hungarian. So I got them on those. And then a friend of mine followed suit and bought a Sherman Shorthair Pointer, another one bought a small Munsterlander Kind of all the same time. They're all pretty much the same age.
Speaker 2:So next year we started jumping down south, driving down, kind of figuring out the area. So the first year we definitely, I'd say we struggled a bit at figuring out the whole pheasant hunting thing. It's definitely not the same as walking through the bush for roughies or or going after sharp tail or huns here. But we, uh, we figured over the years. We've been hunting them now for six years probably, I think what it is and like we go down now we're pretty successful. We know the area pretty well and the numbers can be year to year they can change quite a bit, but likely. This last year was one of the best years we've seen for for uh, pheasants.
Speaker 2:But like the big success thing, there is, like I said, a lot of they released a lot of pen raised birds and that just kind of helps maintain your wild bird population and carry it over year to year. If you're going down, you get three, three roosters for the day is your limit. So you pop three roosters and you know those were pen raised birds. Well, you've got three wild birds that are going to carry on the next year. So it's uh, it's a fun game going after them. I know you guys are just getting started out there with them, but yeah, thanks to yeah part of thanks to your uncle, your uncle kevin, there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we had our first, uh, pheasant season. Was it no, this year or last year?
Speaker 2:this year, yeah yeah, this year last I was talking to them about it. So that's what you're saying. They're trying to figure out what zones and it's the same here. So the pheasant season is by a license. Really, they're only condensed in the southern zones. There's no pheasant up where I'm at. There's no need to condense it to any zone really.
Speaker 1:You just open up the seasons province wide and we go down where the pheasant are. Basically, yes, ours is, ours is two weeks season here. I mean we just start, yeah, so this is the first season this year and, um, two weeks season and it's uh, it's two roosters a day. And yeah, no, we went out. It was fun, it was uh, it was hard hunting. Um, it was interesting, we learned a lot and uh, I'd see why, like you see those pictures of guys out upland hunting and all that, and they've got, like you know, in the back of the truck. They've got this kennel full of upland dogs and I was like why, why did they bring so many dogs? They run them all at the same time. Is it like hounds? Like what's up?
Speaker 2:And then I realized the dogs, yeah, so like, when we go down, it's a, we do a one day, we do one overnight or a year. Usually we get a big group of guys come down, like, uh, so we run our dogs. We'll usually have four or five dogs there and then we can have a nine guys or come down with us and uh, but like, yeah, you get the first day and so like, first day the dogs are full of it, and then the second day they're toned down quite a bit and like we do a half a day, probably the second day, so you kind of kind of watch them. They'll run themselves to death. Be like your dogs, I guess. Like, yeah, they'll go until you tell them to stop.
Speaker 2:But we uh, it's all creek beds down there and swooze, so like you're trucking through cattails and creek beds where you can disappear, like drainage ditches and stuff. So it can be tough going when you're trying to find those holding birds, like it's, but at the end of the day it's a fun day. And and uh, the dogs are pooped on the way back. We drive three hours down where they're just staring out the window the whole time, and then get there and hunt the day and it's usually pretty quiet on the way back yeah, yeah, for the people too, I'm guessing people are usually pretty tough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I heard a rumor about your first dog, this coming from your brother that she would point birds up a tree.
Speaker 2:She's pointed birds. Yeah, she was, that's impressive.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Her instinct was pretty crazy. Like she was really really good with woodcock out there and just her. I guess her struggle was if we got on some roughies and then you know that they'd take off running. She'd have a struggle at holding the point there but yeah, like birds would just jump up land in a tree and stuff she's. She's pointed apple trees with multiple birds in them and like, pretty, pretty impressed with her. A lot of times it was it's. Her instinct from the start was good and like yeah, I was 19 so I didn't put the time into her but I should have because of if I did she would have. She would have made out for an unreal dog. She did. She had her days where she was. She was very good. She'd have her struggle, days where she was a little more stubborn, but yeah, yeah she was a pretty impressive dog for for the time I had to put into her.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's what we were talking about before. I find the females like I've got male and female, uh, coonhounds and then beagles, and the females, uh, I find they're twice the hunters. They're real good. But the only downside is no offense, they're like any female. They'll get in their little mood, sometimes a little more sensitive, or they just you know, they they're just, they get in their moods. They're females, I guess. Yeah and um, yeah, that can be interesting sometimes, but when they want to, I they're. I find they're much better than the males yeah, no, and I would say the same.
Speaker 2:Like I got two males now, but like my males I got two totally different dogs, like their personalities are totally different. So it's kind of kind of neat to see the difference. But like Jagger is my oldest and he, his instinct, and like eager to please, and like he's always looking at me for for something he wants to do, what I want to do, and like that was the difference between him and Tess, is like my, my female English pointer, like she, she was like no, I'm going this way, you can follow me, sort of thing. She was never looking at me, she was doing her thing and she was good at it. I I looked like an idiot quite a few times when she, when I didn't trust her, wasn't with her. But but uh, like I found with my male Jagger's definitely his instinct's a lot higher than Boone, my poppy I guess the poppy's two now.
Speaker 2:But I kind of wanted to get another dog just to learn from Yager because he's been that good for me. So we've been running them together. I've been running them both together for two years now and they seem to complement each other for how different they are. Boone's pace is just a little slower, where Jaeger's is a little quicker, so anything he misses Boone can pick up on. It's pretty awesome, I guess, when they both work out together.
Speaker 2:I've had a lot of double points on Bird where Boom will back him every time he points and backing's just like his instinct to point because Jager's pointing right, so he's not really on the bird. But when Jager's pointing and like Jager will do the patterning, like in the field, so like when we hunt pheasants, like you really want to be going into the wind and Jager you really want to be going into the wind and the aggro will do the pattern. He'll go 50 yards back and forth, 50 yards out one way, come back and forth, and all of a sudden you'll see him start kind of narrowing in and like he's getting on a bird. So that's when I know to like catch up to him, be on him and stuff, and like when he throws that point down and boom puts it back on him and stuff.
Speaker 2:And it's really nice when it works out for sure. And it's really nice when it works out for sure. They just seem to complement each other a lot and seem to work out Like we have our days for sure you go down and you have a rough day with them, and then just that one point at the end of the day makes the day a lot better. But they've been pretty good dogs to me. But I do see the difference between the female to male as far as just natural instinct to hunt and drive.
Speaker 1:But I've uh had a good time with these guys for sure yeah, and I've seen that at well people training and stuff too where they have like a cutout silhouette of a dog pointing and then they'll use, they'll have that pop up and then you know the actual dog come along like oh shit, are we doing this?
Speaker 2:and like they'll, they'll point to, kind of thing yeah, and like I didn't, I didn't realize the backing. I thought the backing itself you would have to put a lot of training in, like exactly that, like with the pop up and stuff, yeah, but I mean, right from a pop, when we lived back on our acreage, he, uh, like Jaeger, would put a point on anything in the yard, like a Robin or something, and like boom, a pup, like I would say. At that point he was well under a year, maybe eight months, and he was starting to back his points just in the yard there. So it is a lot of instinct for them just to do that too. Like I said, I just thought that was more something you had to pound into them. I didn't.
Speaker 2:My main thing when I was bringing a second dog in was I didn't want him to come down and ruin my first dog, right? So like the agar puts a point on and boom runs in and bulldozes him over to see what's going on. But he does really good at the the backing thing and not not ruining those points, not ruining the agar, yeah, yeah, don't have to keep them so solo you can. I really want to just run them together instead of one dog at a time, but it's. That's the nice part about two dogs too. If the agar is getting older he's six now so in the coming years he's going to start slowing down and maybe not get the full day hunt in where I can keep going with my younger dog.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and then one of your other dogs. You went on a little bit of a drive. Uh cross border to get one of your dogs.
Speaker 2:Right, I did a little investigating there online and trying to find another german short-haired pointer at that time. So I narrowed another guy down in minneapolis tumbleweed outfitters is what he's called and uh, he was breeding. He breeds quite a bit. He does a few litters a year. And uh, I seem like he put a post on for his next litter and like, uh, the father came from a truex kennel in north dakota and his dad was a tank. I was seeing videos on him. So I'm like genetically I was just like, oh, I would like to have a little bit bigger dog the second time, because Jagger's leveled out at 45 pounds.
Speaker 2:He just that's his size. And I was like, well, you know, down in cattails and stuff, it'd be nice to have a bigger dog get through those. So I got talking to him and then he gave me first option, first pick of the litter. So I couldn't really pass it up. So I I uh picked boone. A couple weeks in he kind of told me to be patient and like, look, look at the pups and see what they're like, personality and stuff.
Speaker 2:I was kind of hooked on boone right from when he was born and so, yeah, I ended up going down there. So I worked the night shift and I got a quick nap and then drove 10 hours to Minneapolis, uh spent the night, went and met him in the morning and uh had a good chat with him on just a little bit of training ideas and stuff like simple things and and uh, he was promoting their, the uh, the Inuksuk dog food from back east. So I was telling him that's actually where I was from, but yeah, he's a, he knows the good in the Inuksuk dog food from back east. So I was telling him that's actually where I was from. But yeah, he's a, he knows the good in the Inuksuk and the high protein and he's running dogs non-stop and he said there's no food that can match it for him.
Speaker 1:So Is he a reseller? Because I mean, the way Inuksuk works is you don't see them in the big box stores you know, like Walmart and Costco or whatever a lot of it is. They have good, trusted resellers, guys that believe in it and actually feed it, and then that's you put your address in on a map and then you can find out who's reselling it. That you know chip to them and then you know that's where you get it from.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know if he's a reseller or not, I just like if he's a reseller or not, I just like he has a pallet of food there Every time he does an order. He orders a pallet because he's running nine of his own dogs nonstop and he'll be training other people's dogs. He'll have a dozen dogs there throughout the summer. Oh wow, he's busy with the dogs and he yeah, he hammers through a pallet I don't know how long and I'm talking to him. He orders by the truckload.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, oh it is. It's great stuff. I mean, you see so many people with working dogs and stuff feeding it, and obviously it's not by mistake, it does work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I've used it with my dogs and especially when you're hunting those pheasant hunts and you're down there all day and they're running hard. There's a good recovery having all that protein for them. So yeah they definitely love it at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I mean, with all the pheasants that you guys are running, it's when I think of Saskatchewan and you know I've been down there and worked through a lot of it Uh, you know, you see the and all that Do you guys have a big presence of pheasants forever down there.
Speaker 2:We have a small presence, I would say, as far as public land. It's hard to find a lot of public land down here. It's all farmland, a lot of private land. We got the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation group. It's a non-profit by hunters for hunters that people will donate land to and the wildlife itself will buy land off farmers and try and keep it original. There'll be lots of bush on and stuff. So down there there's not a lot of bush and stuff so you're not seeing as much Saskatchewan wildlife land as you are.
Speaker 2:Ducks Unlimited has some land down there for public use and there is one quarter that we go on. It's pheasants forever. So there's a small presence there but it's built for good cover for them and good feed for pheasants. So, like we go there, it's usually got lots of birds but it's a tough one to hunt with dogs. Not a lot of holding birds there. They're mostly feeding in the trees and stuff. So they're kind of a bird. Once one takes off, they all take off, but there is a bit of pheasants forever. I don't know if it's actually active right now, but they do have land here that we can use.
Speaker 1:So if anyone listening to this is part of Pheasants Forever, Saskatchewan needs a little help.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it'd be nice to see some more of that land down there. For sure that can help the birds out because in any drought year a lot of their cover gets mowed down for baling. The farmers have a hard year to get feed. They'll bail up their cattails for the cows so it's kind of tough on those years for the birds. But they've definitely had a couple of good years here recently and there is a piece of wildlife land there that we hunt. That's really good for them. They hold the cattails and there's enough tree cover and stuff like that for them. So they do have a bit of land like that. A lot more duck limited than I thought would be down there and it kind of stays the same. Like farmers can bail some of the duck limited but most of their sloughs kind of stay original and help out the birds A little more pheasants forever would be nice to have a presence down there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you guys, like when I said, when I think of Saskatchewan and being there, I think that there would be really prime pheasant habitat, especially guys you know are on the border of, uh, the dakotas and that's that's known as, like, the pheasant mecca of the world, and I just, yeah, you think that pheasants forever would do uh, yeah, have a bit more of a presence there. I do know that ducks unlimited and delta waterfowl yeah, they do a lot there. In that I found this out last night the delta waterfowl dinner is that, um, about 70 percent of of the ducks in North America at one point or another will nest or go through the prairie pothole region. So that was crazy.
Speaker 2:That's a high number, yeah, yeah, for like waterfowl here. Like I said, that's not something I've dove into yet. I kind of take on a lot when I'm deer hunting and pheasant hunting, yeah, but like we'll drive down south, that I've dove into yet. I kind of take on a lot when I'm deer hunting and pheasant hunting, but we'll drive down south and you'll have fields that just look like they're snow covered with some snow geese. There is an insane number that comes through here, like spring and fall get wild. We do have a spring snow goose season so you can actually get out early for them when they're coming up through, but when you get the migration going on it it's non-stop birds flying like a lot of geese, mallard and, uh, the sandhill cranes the other one that was new to me when I come out here that, oh yeah, they're a pretty neat bird, yeah yeah, yeah, I find those interests I do plan on.
Speaker 1:You said you may have some leads. I want to have an outfitter on to talk about them because, uh, the rip by the sky, I'm interested in learning more about the cranes. It's uh, it's unique.
Speaker 2:I like unique hunting yeah, it's definitely a hunt that I'm I'm gonna have to do here sooner than later, because it's it's quite a bird when you see those things stand out in the field like they're huge, yeah and uh, it doesn't sound like they're as hard to decoy in stuff like that, like when you're trying to bring them in. But when you really find where they're landing is the main thing. They do a lot of scouting for that. You can't just kind of randomly set up and bring them in. It seems if you hit the fields that they're going to feed in and stuff, you do pretty well yeah.
Speaker 1:Then we talked before too. I mean, you really found a difference in you know you have pheasant loads for your shotgun out there that you use, like it's not just, oh, we'll use number six, you know, lead, whatever good to go, but you really do find that the actual, the boxes pheasant load, that makes quite a difference.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I started using that Like when we first went down, never really paid as much attention to it and like if you're hunting the du, like I said we were, we're gonna do steel load notes, but it's uh. There's a couple loads that we use, like one of my friends got me on. One is kent's super fast lead and then the super pheasant winchester, like they're a heavy lead and like when you get in the prairies, I guess like it's windy all the time. So if you can cut some of that wind out on these birds it seems to make a big difference. You're knocking them down a little further out too and kind of help you at the end of the day. But we definitely know there's quite a difference when we're using a better load, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it helps greatly, I know I didn't know much about it. It's like when we went out with your Uncle Kev and your brother Scott this year and your brother Scott this year, he was like oh, we got got to have pheasant loads. I was looking for pheasant loads, could I have them? Dave was talking about them. I was like what? I didn't know anything about it. And then I just got number six, you know lead, whatever. But um, yeah, then I got looking into it a bit more.
Speaker 2:I'm like okay, yeah, no, it's.
Speaker 2:It's like your specific's wild, like pheasants are a big bird like compared to even like the sharpies out here are a little bigger than the roughies, and like those pheasants like yeah, we get three-pound pheasants, we're shooting like little heavier loads nice, because we've run into it so many times.
Speaker 2:Like where you wing a bird and that thing hits the ground running and it's gone.
Speaker 2:And like without dogs, like I've had jagger he's pretty amazing at it actually like for a winged bird or injured bird, uh, hunt them down and finding them, like we've we've been in areas six flu cattails and like friend of mine shot one and it looked like it buckled dead bird and like we get over there and we're looking like jagger just keeps turning and ripping into the middle of the slew and I was like yeah, you're get out here like dead bird, we're trying to find this bird and like he just keeps wanting to go into it like we couldn't find the bird. So I see you guys keep running around, I'm gonna follow him into the middle of the slew, I guess. And so I followed him like 200 yards in the middle of the slew. He found this bird dead under some cattails and like pheasants like I followed this group and they do. Pheasant fact Friday and they put one out which kind of blew my mind. But they can actually run faster than they can fly.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so when you see a pheasant like one thing like we were terrible at when we were first went down, like you put a pheasant, like one thing like we were terrible at when we were first went down, like you, you put a pheasant up and if you missed it, you'd watch the thing go land. 300 yards away you're like, okay, I seen where it landed. But like by the time you get there, that thing hit that thing. It hits the ground running and it's about 10 miles away by the time you get to where it landed.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, yeah, we learned they're a quick bird.
Speaker 2:They're a quick bird, they're a tough bird, like when you, when you wing them, it's really nice to have a dog to find them, because you're hunting in pretty thick cover. So if they can get in there and get hunkered down in something, they're pretty tough to find yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, we learned about that, about how fast it can go, because we'd have some, we'd go out, they'd fly up and land. We're like sweet land, your brother just take off in a you know mad sprint. He's like over here. He's over here and you'd never see it again.
Speaker 2:It's no, it's a good way to tire yourself out really quick. But um, no, and like with dogs, like the hard thing is like you're hunting holding birds, you're looking for that bird that's sitting tight and not busting like you can. It can be frustrating some days because you get out there and like you get some skittish birds they're busting up 100 yards away from you, like you're seeing birds flying everywhere and you're like what is going on? Like you can't get on anything, and then all of a sudden you just get that one holding bird and that's what you're after with with dogs yeah it's not frustrating once you figure out what you're actually doing, but like you think you're doing something wrong.
Speaker 2:But just not all birds are like that and if they're up feeding and stuff, they're not going to be, they're not going to be holding. They'll be pretty skittish and once if they're in a group, when one of them takes off, they're likely all gone pretty quick yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:So I mean, what are the other kind of birds that you guys hunt out there? You guys got some unique, uh, critters that aren't all over north america. I guess you get. What is the sharp tail gross the Hungarian, do you?
Speaker 2:have any chuckers? Hungarian partridge no, chucker, the Hungarian's a smaller one. There would be a lot like a chucker, small like that. But they're a fun bird. They're really explosive but they're in big groups. They're so tough to when they bust up to try and narrow in on one of them and get a shot off. So I've got a couple of them, but I usually target the sharpie where, where I live, like they can be in. They can be in good numbers and they'll hold. Sometimes they can be skittish as well. But um, there is roughies too. Like we all go after roughies late season, so like the, the sharpie and hungarian season ends like november 15th, I think it is okay so like, even we go down for pheasant, we we get into sharpie and hunt.
Speaker 2:So it's kind of nicer going earlier and you kind of got all three birds you can go after. So you're going to get the hunt sharpie and pheasant and after the 15th it's pheasant only right till January 1st, and that season is the same as the roughy up here. So like, up here if I'm going to hunt late, it'll be, it'll be straight roughies and usually if you get in along creeks and bush and stuff like that, you can find quite a few of them. Yeah, they get a pretty healthy number. So that's our, that's our upland here, I think. Up north I think you can get into ptarmigan, but I've never been up that far. Okay, yes, dave.
Speaker 1:So switching things up a bit because I'm curious, but learning all the similarities and differences between east coast hunting and, you know, at west um moose, so you've been on a successful moose hunt here in new brunswick in the east. Uh, yeah, it's real different hunting in saskatchewan, isn't it?
Speaker 2:way different. Yeah, so moose in our area my understanding kind of moved in here, um, I'm gonna say five to ten years before I moved out here, so it's kind of a new hunting season to most around here. But, um, it's also a lottery system so I was successful when we, when I first moved here, the lottery system goes like you build status, starts d, c, b, a, then goes super a. Your odds go up quite a bit when you hit this super a, okay, and then after 10 years of super, able to go to the legacy pool and like when you get legacy you're pretty much guaranteed a tag. Um, but when I first got here, the way they worked, their system is, you started out raiding a pool and then went super a and I think the purpose of it was to try and get more people into hunting, get them better odds of being successful quick and and uh, new hunters like kids and stuff were getting better chances at getting one of these tags. So I drew my moose tag four years in out here, four years of putting in for the lottery which I put in out there for 12, and I went as the second gun on one hunt out there. But but uh, yeah, it was quite a bit different for me. So, like the deer or the moose population here is pretty good. Like my mom come out one time and I remember we drove from one town to the next and I think we've seen eight moves, but it's good. The difference is like it's it's prairie, so it's they don't have as much bush to hide in, I guess, but like when they're out, yeah, you can see a lot of moose. So when I uh the area was hunting deers, I've seen really good moose numbers.
Speaker 2:The first couple years I was here like I had some pretty awesome trail camera pictures of the moose fighting in front of my camera and so I knew there was moose in there and it kind of butts up to some wildlife lands. I was like three quarters of wildlife land with a couple of quarters of private that I was on and, uh, I kind of set my cameras up, put all my time into moose that year and the? Uh, the bull went up again. So I sat total of three days. Uh, the bull went up again. So I sat a total of three days morning, evening and a little warmer days. So the third day and evening I went back in and started calling At this point. I called eight different bulls in three days.
Speaker 2:So when you get a condensed piece of bush, that's where they're going to be hunkered into. So especially during the rut, they kind of seem to all migrate into one chunk of bush and they they're going to be hunkered into right and so especially during the rut, they kind of seem to all migrate into one chunk of bush and they'll sit tight in there. Like our deer bow seasons will run right through, right through moose season. So like I've been in my stand and had cows blotting right beside me and a couple bulls walking around while I'm sitting there waiting for a deer. So it's uh kind of neat that way where you're hunting right in the middle moose season.
Speaker 2:But my moose season here was two weeks. I had actually for the first part of the season there's actually a late season too, I forget the dates for that but another two weeks for a late season, but during the right two weeks. And yeah, I called this bull in third day and I kind of regretted not hunting with my bull because he came right across the front he's 25 yards right in front of me and I shot him on the third day. So like kind of neat thing with all of it is just how condensed they are, how high the population to look, but they're just so condensed in one little piece of bush, right, so be more spread out in New Brunswick.
Speaker 2:Uh, I mean, call them for three days.
Speaker 2:You're hoping for that one moose to come out out there.
Speaker 2:Right, so be more spread out in new brunswick. Uh, I mean, call them for three days, you're hoping for that one moose to come out out there. Right, so you're, you're kind of not, you're not condensing your population of moose right into one little piece of bush. So it's, it's neat that way and I guess my season out there like we were hammering three day season then, so it was it was tougher to try and get one in there and be successful there, but it's pretty, pretty neat the difference in in hunting there to here as far as moose, like it's, but it seemed a lot easier where you're at in saskatchewan, right, I mean, when we think of moose hunting here, you're thinking of bogs, swamps, water, real hard time getting them out using argos and just putting your back through your atv or quad in saskatchewan through hell, but out there it's a little drier yeah, it's like I think you still want like a good wet area as far as like some sloughs for like them feeding and stuff through the summer.
Speaker 2:So like one guy that year from work took me to, he's like, oh, you gotta come back to my dad's land. He's like, dave, there's so many moose there. And like I was like, okay, well, it's a pretty dry year. So we got back there and I was calling, calling, like getting nothing, no response, nothing was around. Like we went for a quick walk and like all the sloughs in his bush were like dried right out. There was. There was really no water source there for him at all. So and he's like I swear last year like you could have just come in here and pick the moose, like it was like there were cattle, I believe, yeah, but like we couldn't even find a track. So I think like, was it dried up?
Speaker 2:That year they kind of moved to where it was a little bit wetter. So you still want a bit of water source for sure for them. But like, yeah, exactly what you said. Like out there you're, you're kind of looking for that bog or something like that they're going to be in all the time. It wouldn't be that way here but they do. They do still like some water source for sure. So, like, this land is wildlife land that I was on and there's some good sized sloughs in there that hold quite a bit of water. So kind of knew they would be in there and uh, I didn't know they were gonna be in there, the that I had. There was a lot of younger bulls that I called out, but the one I shot he was a pretty mature bull and I was happy shooting him for sure. But I've seen some bulls out here, like just in my travels to work and stuff that were kind of below your mind in the prairies.
Speaker 1:Oh really, it must be weird seeing them in, uh like for us here anyways, in farmer's fields yeah, it's a totally different habitat for them, but like they're, you got a grain-fed moose out.
Speaker 2:Here is what it is. Like, yeah, and uh, like the the different crops, like you can, you'll see them in the canola at some point, like when they. I think when the canola flowers out, there'll be quite a sugar content, okay, in them. So, like even the deer, you'll see the deer and the canola and moose and then, like they kind of move on to different seeds.
Speaker 2:But uh, main thing, like any alfalfa farmer late in the year, like there was a, there was a field south of my place where I lived in the country and and uh, in the late season, like I've seen groups of eight moose out in that field. Like that for late season. Like, yeah, they'll, they'll definitely be grouped up in those small pieces of bush, but like there was a lot more bush along the valley, like they'll be spread out quite a bit more there. But the southern part here in the 34 where I am, it's majority farmland there's a few little valleys and and uh, but like you'll see them pretty condensed in the small pieces of bush. So, yeah, you can be, you can be successful here for moose and you can be a little bit thick here. I find I know like a lot of guys hunt moose out there. First thing comes out when you call it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're probably going to take it right yeah, it seems to be what the way it goes, just uh, yeah, you never know. And everyone seems to be kind of in the same areas too. I guess I mean, yeah, there's competition definitely. I think the two-week season too, like I was kind of in the same areas too, I guess I mean there's competition definitely.
Speaker 2:I think the two-week season too. I was kind of like, holy, that's going to be, I would say, easy. But the way it was, when you have a two-week season, not everybody's just like okay, I got to get out there the day before with my setup and everything. Not as many people were that eager to get out because you got that much more time to to shoot a moose.
Speaker 2:So yeah and then if you don't get in the early season, you got a late season. You can try this late season. To me I wouldn't say it wasn't an option, but like I wanted to get it during the rut and do the calling thing and stuff, like you get in the late season, you're just kind of looking for for thatose.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, no, it's definitely neat. You guys don't have any wild turkeys out there yet, do you? No, no?
Speaker 2:So like that's something they're actually trying to get, Like my friend Cody's on the wildlife, like he was talking about it. So the wild turkey's kind of the same as the pheasant, it's not something you can just pen-raise and release, right, yeah, right. And so it's something that we got to look into with Turkey Federation to try and trap some live ones and bring here. Manitoba actually does have wild turkey and there's like kind of flops over from the southern part of Manitoba. You got turkeys and then you come over here and we get the pheasant on the southern side of the province. But it is something they're looking into trying to get get put in here. I'm not sure how it will work, but it'd be neat to see. Like I was kind of one thing I missed out on a new Brunswick, that kind of that all came in after I moved out here, so I never got the opportunity to to go after the Turkey yet, yeah, but uh, and yeah, the Manitoba to Turkey, like it's.
Speaker 2:It's the same as our pheasant. It's for residents only, so like non-resident can't come over and get a tag, or I don't know if they do outfitter sport, I don't think they do. I think it's just same as the the pheasant here. It's for Saskatchewan residents only Kind of limited. It's kind of kind of sucks for guys in the province. Like I live so close to the border. A lot of my buddies are in Manitoba but can't come over and go pheasant hunting with us. Right, yeah?
Speaker 1:But the Manitoba you're saying you're looking at moving. It's a little easier to get your non-resident deer tag there is it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Canadian residents can actually buy over-the-counter deer tags in Manitoba Secrets out there's a lot of people like friends of mine like that have people come. They come from quebec, they come from all over the place because they can buy over the counter deer tags and hunt over there yeah, well, how do you find the deer population?
Speaker 1:is there, both mule deer and in whitetail?
Speaker 2:the mule deer is not as much like the mule deer Like it's it's definitely heavier like Western Saskatchewan than it is here. So like Manitoba side it's kind of just getting there and with the CWD and them open up three tags I don't think it's going to get very far. But they do have muleys that will travel the Valley on their side. Deer population like they have a pretty healthy population still. Like even though they have the canadian resident tag, a lot of people hunt them and stuff like there's guys that I work with that shoot good deer every year and see lots and I wouldn't be much different than what I'm hunting really right yeah, um, further east mantle, I'm not sure like this.
Speaker 2:That's like these guys are pretty close to the Saskatchewan side too, but yeah, it's all the same terrain, really A lot of farmland and stuff like that, so it can be pretty good Like I drove through the valley there in the winter and like there would be 400 or 500 deer in their valley throughout the winter.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they all winter down there, but it's's same here. Like you're gonna have them condensed in certain areas in the winter when they're feeding.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it's, it's interesting, just yeah, finding the differences, not, you know, not even canada and just other places in the world you think about, you know somebody from, say, maine if they go out hunting in colorado. Or you know, you're from new brunswick, you're going hunting in saskatchewan and just yeah, just seeing few similarities, a lot of differences and it's interesting just adapting to hunting sometimes the same animals, but just in completely different climates yeah, I don't think like it's like the deer population.
Speaker 2:Here's the difference. But as far as hunting, like there's still still a lot of guys that shoot small bucks. There's still a lot of guys that road hunt, there's like it's that's all the same, shoot small bucks. There's still a lot of guys that road hunt. There's like it's that's all the same as New Brunswick. Like you have so many of the guys that like put in the time to try and shoot a big deer, but like not necessarily the case that you know you have lots out here. But there's guys that are just as happy shooting the smaller buck. They want the meat and they're doing the sausage making in the fall and it's more about the meat to them. So it's it's not all that different as far as like hunting mentality, I guess, but the deer population would be the big difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah Well absolutely. Yeah, dave, you know I can't thank you enough for coming on the podcast. I hope to have you on again, and we're going to get this time coming on. I just want to talk sort of broadly about, uh, you know, the different kinds of hunting and all that. Next time, though, I'm thinking we'll get into some more specific deer hunting stories that you have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I definitely have a. I have a few good ones, for sure I'll I'll keep her next time. No thanks for having me, Ken, Appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Good chat, chat. Yep, you bet. Thanks. All right, guys. Thanks for listening in. Until next time, shoot straight, vote right, keep your lines tight and we'll see you next time.