Saskatchewan

Clair Kofoed and Dave Brown (right) heading in from an impromptu evening goose shoot in Saskatchewan.

I am posting this ahead of other reports (Michigan, Prairie Chickens, Montana...) while it is fresh in my mind.  I just returned from a week of bird hunting in Saskatchewan at the invitation of Dave Brown. Dave maintains an outfitting operation in Cabri, Saskatchewan and invited Clair Kofoed and I up for an 'end of the season' hunt - a casual event that was most enjoyable for all of us. 

The Hungarian (grey) partridge is a sporting bird, and is nearly perfect for hunting with pointing dogs. And we found Saskatchewan to be a Hun paradise - rolling wheat fields interspersed with prairie islands and brushy draws. This is the finest partridge hunting I have yet experienced. We moved as many as 10 coveys a day and in some very beautiful cover. 

We found the waterfowl hunting to be very good, even though we spent 80% of our hunting time chasing Huns and sharp-tailed grouse. We took both geese and ducks. Geese were incredibly abundant - snows, Canadas, and white fronted geese were overhead in huge numbers every morning and evening.

Dave runs a string of pointers and Brittanies, and he hunts his very stylish and capable bird dogs two at a time. They find a lot of birds, but neither Ted or Clair's setter Thorn suffered in comparison. 

We finished the hunt with a Wednesday evening game dinner of Huns, Sharp-tails, mallard, sprig, and both snow and Canada geese that Clair prepared over a smoky alder wood charcoal grill. Wine, sourmash, Scotch and cigars were also on the menu. Great times with old and new friends. Thanks. Dave Brown!