Hunt Season Report – Wild Goose Lodge – October 01 to December 08, 2007

What a difference a year makes! Coming off a 2006 season that was plagued by a slow start due to extra warm conditions both on PEI and Labrador, we were all wondering what we were going to get this time around. We had a good hint things would be different when hurricane type winds blew through Atlantic Canada up into Labrador in late September and that seemed to get things stirring as we had far more geese the first week of the season than last year and they kept coming the second week and stayed steady for the month and well into November. As well we had much better cropping than in 2006 as the heavy winds prior to the season and a ripe crop combined for more grain and corn on the ground than most of us could ever remember, so we had a lot more “tending” fields. In 2008, the season starts October 06 and ends December 13 and we welcome the later start date, as that will allow the birds to settle in well. In 2009 the season is slated to start a week later still, a move all stakeholders support.

What we did not have more of this season were hunters, as many hunters who came to the Island in 2006 took a pass to see how the hunting would be this time around. In our case, we are fortunate to have a large percentage of repeat business but we still had our first drop in hunters in many years. It was also probably a case of some hunters getting spoiled during the six years prior to 2006, when most of the time the hunting was excellent. This season, almost all of the hunters who came to the Island went home happy and of course the “word of mouth” will be positive going into 2008.

I get to chat with hunters from many Provinces and States and everyone agrees that fall hunting has been affected by global warming. We have not had an early winter in many years and we laughed at Environment Canada when they predicted an early winter and said this winter would be a throwback to those bitter winters many of us remember. Well, by the third week of November the ground was frozen and by the fourth week we had our first heavy snow and you know what happens with your birds once the ground becomes frozen and snow covered. By the last week we only had a few thousand birds left in Malpeque Bay and they were sitting there asking us for a reason they would want to land in a field. We went black duck hunting the last few days and the boys are just as happy to shoot a big Northern Black anyway (by that time, all the clientele had come and gone and we were getting some hunting in ourselves). We always have a little staff party at the Lodge the last night of the season and I wish those of you who have often praised my guiding staff for how they go about their business, could have seen them trudging out the door to their final hunt of the year, in yet another snow squall and much later than they had planned on. We all agreed it was a great way to end what turned out to be an excellent season of hunting.

We look forward to hearing from old friends during 2008 and if you have yet to hunt Prince Edward Island, we would welcome the opportunity to give you information and have a chat.

Good Hunting!

Jim Duggan

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