Photos by Dame Spartas.

For those most familiar with it, or hunters researching Alberta waterfowling for the first time, it's the dark goose gunning Peace River Country has to offer that gets the most attention, the most press. And rightly so. With eight bird dark goose bags, and limit shoots the rule rather than the exception, its fair to say Peace Country Canada goose hunting, if not unparalleled, is tough to beat anywhere.

"But what about ducks? Will I get some duck shooting as well?" the inquiring wildfowler might ask.

The few days of gunning I enjoyed in the Peace Country last October answered that question pretty dramatically.

The Hunt
That first morning's hunt began to unfold as so many in Peace Country do. Kevin McNeil, me, and his clients, Winston Chance of Maryland, and Kim Ward of North Carolina, both of whom were on their first Canadian prairie hunt ever, were putting the finishing touches on our goose spread when the day's first birds, mallards, began their bonzai attack. Some scraped the deck, simply materializing from the still black western sky. Others rushed in silhouette overhead, their pinions shredding the heavy, dense air with that whoosing sound that always sends shivers down my back.

Even as we stood in our dimly lit world of blurring wings and happy duck-chatter; I could clearly see the drop-jawed amazement on Winston and Kim's stubbled faces. Striding up in his typically fast-paced gate, Kevin, after having parked the truck and trailer, intoned, "Let's get down in the blinds boys. Time to lock and load." At that the hunt was on.

Once settled in Kevin announced, "It's your hunt guys. You can take some ducks now if you want. Or you can wait for better light to pick the drakes." The temptation for the newbies was, understandably, too great. But the results, after their first two highly-productive vollies, were predictable. Just why it is, given that ducks are born 50/50 on a sex basis, I don't understand; but shoot in low light conditions and you'll invariably kill hens on a ratio of 3 to 1 or worse, just as Winston and Kim did in the early going. With the dust off their gunning bottles, both quickly agreed to hold out for the brighter shooting conditions that would allow them to concentrate on the greencaps.

But by that time the geese were on the move, prompting Kevin to put the ducks temporarily off limits. Still, even as the geese began to work, and we started to tally our share, the ducks, in naive, smoke-like clouds, continued to roll over our pea field. When there would be a lull in the goose flight, all we had to do was flip on our two wing-spinners, and we'd have, much to our mutual delight, the ducks in our laps. It was then the drakes began to pay the price. Still, it was the geese, per Kevin's instructions, and in total agreement with my inclinations anyway, that always took precedence.

Ours proved a banner morning to be sure. We were in the right field and on the "x". With our goose limits wrapped up, Kevin finally gave the green light on the ducks. Our duck bags, the substance of which was the centerpiece of that evening's dinner, were topped off in short order.

Even as we collected the rig, mallards, though in then smaller flocks, continued to flood the field. The great goose hunt aside, all Winston and Kim could talk about was the ducks. And that's how it continued over lunch.

"Look guys," Winston, sensing in Kevin and I no small amount of puzzlement, "you gotta understand. We do a lot of goose hunting back on the Eastern Shore, and have for our entire lives. But never… 'and we mean never' Kim interrupted, "have we seen ducks like this.

"Don't get us wrong", Winston offered. "We enjoy the goose hunt thoroughly. But if all we gunned for the next two days was ducks, we'd be fine with that."

"What we've seen this morning alone…and I mean in terms of ducks…has already made this trip", Kim added.

There was no doubt these boys meant what they said, a fact not lost on Kevin. "Well then", our eager-to-please Canadian host replied with a wink and a grin, "we'll have to see if we can show you another decent duck shoot or two, though I hope you don't mind if we throw in a few more geese as well."