Set out today to hunt the place I went to high school. A small town on the Saskatchewan prairies. I haven't been back in 40 years and at that time it thrived in upland and ducks but not a goose or pheasant to be seen. Still no pheasants but plenty of Canadian geese.

My objective was to see the land, drive the old roads, see a few very old acquaintances and try one large slough that used to be full of canvasbacks.

Met up with an old high school chum who now farms 62, quarter sections of land. He said he only saw one upland bird this season. I can see why. The farmers have planted up to the edge of the road, no ditches, bulldozed every dried up slough possible (it was very dry here this year) and along with herbicides and pesticides there isn't an upland bird left.

My slough that I used to sit around and dream of shooting a canvasback those long years ago still held a good raft of them. At that time I had no dog, no boat and had little idea of how to hunt them.

Today I had no boat, have 2 dogs, but still no idea of how to hunt them. They sit out in the middle of the slough much too far to shoot and slowly shy away from the side I was on.

There were plenty of other ducks but I had little desire and only took 2. The bunny was a bonus. Surprisingly, my younger lab retrieved it.

I had a good day, reminded me of my younger days and saw some great country that really should hold a lot more upland birds. Sadly, I won't be back again.

Remington 1894 B Grade

Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.