Canada. Every waterfowlers dream. A land of parklands, prairie potholes, liberal bag limits, and more birds than you can imagine. Of all the provinces, however, Manitoba might just be the most underrated. While it boasts enormous wads of mallards and geese like the other provinces, guides like Kris Wujcik, of Michitoba Outfitting will tell you that Manitoba may have a ‘leg up’ when it comes to the experiences you can have hunting across the border.
Land
Manitoba is one of the few provinces allowing outfitters to lease land from landowners. While leasing land can be a controversial topic for some hunters, it goes to say that when you book your trip to Canada it’s nice to know that outfitters like Kris have put in the time and effort to lock down the best possible hunting ground for you. Even though freelance waterfowl hunting is common across Canada, it’s not for everyone and it can be extremely competitive. Not only that but when it comes to water between the different provinces, the more water you have the more ducks you’ve got, and Manitoba is one of the wettest provinces and typically has good annual precipitation numbers, meaning lots of suitable habitat for waterfowl.
Pressure
“My first couple years guiding I hunted the same stretch of ground. North and south six miles, and east and west about three miles. That’s all I hunted the entire season”. As soon as internet chat rooms and social media came on the scene Kris noted that it became increasingly more difficult to do that. Nonetheless compared to other provinces, especially those that are big on the freelance scene, pressure has not had as serious of an impact on duck hunting. Which Kris says goes back to how much water Manitoba contains. “It’s one of the easiest places to kill ducks if you like to hunt water, there are so many high-quality opportunities because of all the water we have. From big water to marshes to potholes, there’s just so much of it around. It’s still relatively easy even to freelance out here if you want to kill mallards, some areas are harder than others but if you’re in the highest concentration of potholes, that is the best duck hunting there is right? That’s what Manitoba is”.
Birds
Manitoba’s duck limit is eight, limited only on redheads and canvasbacks. “One of the unique things is that you could dry land hunt and kill eight drake wood ducks on a hunt and that’s something you can’t do west of us and for the most part their all drake flocks. I could also take a group of say, six hunters and kill 48 hen pintails. I would never do that and I don’t let the guys I run shoot many pintails because we’re not just hunters, we’re also conservationists. At most we like to let our guys shoot one or two per person”. I’m sure everyone down in the states has their opinions on pintail bag limits and is at least somewhat aware of the so-called “pintail problem” as it’s often referred to. Although limits might be different in Canada, Kris feels he has an obligation as a hunter and user of this resource, to show restraint for species like pintails that have been plagued with population declines. Sometimes it’s not about how many you shoot. Seeing a ball of pintail, or any duck for that matter, roll into your spread can be an experience in and of itself- and in Manitoba, there is no shortage of ducks.
It’s also worth mentioning that Manitoba has some of the best goose hunting around, boasting a fifty bird limit for snows, five bird limit for Canadas, and five sandhill cranes. “The Canadas that come through are absolutely insane and we get decent snow goose feed, a lot of the time we hunt feeds that are 1500-3000 birds”. While tornados of snows are quite the spectacle Kris doesn’t mind smaller feeds or flocks of snows working his spread, if anything it educates fewer birds and still allows for great hunting. “If you’re on a goose feed you’re gonna kill ducks”.
Views
Wing shooting aside, Manitoba has some of the most beautiful landscapes and spectacles anywhere in Canada. “I was guiding some guys from Mississippi and Louisiana, we were setting up decoys in the morning and they started to freak out. I heard them say, what the hell is going on with the sky? Did we eat something bad because it looks like it’s moving!”. What Kris’s clients were actually seeing was a special and rare phenomenon, the Northern lights. In the last twenty years, while with clients, Kris has only seen it happen in the spread like that three times.
So what can you expect if you make it across the border this year to Manitoba? For nonresident hunters, the season starts the 24th of September and hunters have the opportunity to chase the whole gamut of waterfowl species Canada has to offer, whether that be with a guide or as a freelance hunter. One thing though is certain, Canada is a special place to be able to hunt and between the thousands of birds, scenic views, and the possibility of catching a glimpse of northern lights while setting out your spread, Manitoba should be on your waterfowl hunting bucket list.
