Northern Lights and Morning Flights: Birdtail Waterfowl’s Unforgettable Hunts
What happens when you mix a top-notch outfitter with a world-class resource? Well, in the waterfowl hunting world, you get Birdtail Waterfowl. Spearheaded by ace waterfowl hunter, you have the owner of Birdtail Waterfowl, Paul Conchatre. Believe me when I say Paul is the real deal, and every single hunt shows it.
The Prairie Pothole region is the Crème de la crème of inland waterfowl territory. It’s vast, it's wild, and it's an interstate to millions of birds every fall. For a waterfowl hunter, the drive to Birdtail is an appetizer to what you can expect for the next few days. When you drive by thousands of birds and dozens of potholes loaded with ducks, reality starts to set in that you’re about to have a lot of fun.
Top-Tier Accommodations and Amenities
Birdtail Waterfowl has a beautiful property that they call home. It’s organized, spacious, and functional. There’s a changehouse for all of your hunting clothing, a skeet range, an ammunition vault, and every other facility you could imagine at a waterfowl lodge.
No Details Missed
A standard day at Birdtail Waterfowl is a goose hunt in the morning and a duck hunt in the afternoon. They offer other specialty hunts, such as sandhill crane and divers, but we were on the traditional goose and duck program on this trip.
With professional goose guides in the morning and professional duck guides in the afternoon, it doesn’t take long to see Paul’s discipline, professionalism, and passion in every single employee at Birdtail. The trickle-down effect is special to witness and very enjoyable to be a part of. Everyone has a slightly different job, but they all serve the same end goal: make it the trip of a lifetime for every single guest that drives through that gate.
Stunning Landscapes
When you take the dedication of the crew at Birdtail, and you combine it with the Prairie Pothole region that they call home, you’re really cookin’ with gasoline on the waterfowlin’ front.
A Hunt to Remember
We had one hunt that stood out not just for our trip but also for my entire life of waterfowl hunting. It was a morning hunt and started with a stunning show of the northern lights that we watched right in camp as we loaded the trucks.
Normally, mornings are goose hunts, but the twist was our goose guide, Jay Kuypers, figured we might be better off treating it like a duck hunt. He told me that the night prior, ducks were piling into the field in the thousands. So, the next morning, we set up for ducks, and boy, were we ever happy for that.
We were welcomed with one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen in the duck blind, followed by flock after flock of ducks from every direction. Low, high, left and right, they all wanted to land exactly where we were. It was poetry in motion, and if Leonardo Da Vinci painted a 5-man morning duck limit in Canada, that was it.
Anm Extra Special Moment
We all love waterfowl hunting. Of course, we do; that’s why we’re there. That being said, sometimes hunts or even moments are extra special. On that duck hunt, we had one flock in particular that worked perfectly, and we shot well as the birds hit the deck; we all just looked at each other, and all we could do was laugh. Nothing was funny, but it was just one of those moments when you’re with your buddies in the duck blind, and everything is just right.
Top Tier Guides = Top Tier Product
Although hunts will have different outcomes, every single hunt we had at Birdtail had one thing in common: Our guides' dedication to making that specific hunt as successful as possible. Hunting is hunting, and at the end of the day, not every hunt is going to be a beautiful sunrise limit in an hour. That being said, for a guide, every single hunt is an opportunity to do everything in their power to make that hunt as successful as possible and leave it all on the field, and that’s exactly what they do.
A Foggy Morning Goose Hunt
On our last morning at Birdtail Waterfowl we were greeted with a fog that was as heavy as you could ever imagine. Just standing next to someone, you could see a slight haze between yourselves. As we set up the decoys, we did what any other waterfowl hunter would do in that situation, and we crossed our fingers that the fog would lift. It didn’t.
For the entirety of the hunt, our visibility was less than the distance to the edge of our spread. In other words, birds were inside of our spread before we saw them. It made it quite difficult to be ready for flocks, but we did what we could, and most importantly, our guide, Jay, did everything he could to increase our odds.
We had some fun and got some birds, and it was a perfect example of how a pro guide can skyrocket your odds of a successful hunt on a tricky morning. You wanna see a guide earn his wage? Take away his sight, his flag, and leave him only to have his ears and a call, and that’s it. When you still have birds 10 feet off the ground, cupped, ready to land 60 feet in front of you, and the only reason they’re there is because your guide’s calling brought them there, you’ll know what I mean when I say these guys are pros.
How Birdtail Waterfowl Sets Themselves Above the Rest
One thing that I really admire about Paul is that although he’s the boss, he listens. Most importantly, he listens to his guides. Last year, his guides came to him and said ‘Hey Paul, we should switch to Dave Smith Decoys and here’s why. Paul listened; it made sense, and now Birdtail runs Dave Smith Decoys, and the guides swear by them. And that’s the kind of thing that makes a good operation, great. Listening to the guides who spend every day in the field and evolving their toolbox to deliver a better product.
Birdtail Waterfowl: You Should Be Here
Birdtail Waterfowl is a special place. They’ve checked all the boxes and got the right team for the job. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my travels, it’s that the team is everything. If you have the right people around you and everyone has the same goals in mind, really good things are going to happen. From terrific accommodations to delicious meals to truly spectacular waterfowl hunting, Birdtail is the complete package. If you’re looking for a once-in-a-lifetime Canadian waterfowl experience, Paul and Birdtail are ready and waiting.
Book Today!
To Book your Hunt at Birdtail Waterfowl, Vist www.Birdtailwaterfowl.com
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28 Turcotte Cove Winnipeg, MB R3R 3V9 (204) 294-2694 Website