Read daily Journal Entries from Fred Zink's goose crew as they head to Saskatchewan, Canada. Fred and several other Avery^® Pro-Staffers have been traveling north of the border into Canada for many years. Hunting for geese in the morning will be the focus of the trip, but they will also be working to bring you some enjoyable video footage, daily reports and photographs over the next couple of weeks. From the initial scouting reports they are in a great area that is holding tens of thousands of ducks and geese. Be sure to visit averyoutdoors.com daily to read how the hunts are going in Saskatchewan.

Bring on the Geese! - Day 1 Saskatchewan, October 6, 2003 By Fred Zink, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Monday, October 6, 2003 LOCATION: Sasketchewan SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:04 a.m. / 7:14 p.m. WEATHER: Sunny TEMPERATURE: Lows in the 60's highs in the mid 70's WIND: South wind at 5 mph. EQUIPMENT USED: Greenhead Gear® Full Bodies, Power Hunter™ Blinds, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Avery® Floating Duck Strap, Remington 11-87, 3 #2 Remington Nitro Mags, Zink Calls LM-1 Goose Calls. HUNTERS: Brian Bowers, Sean Hammock and Fred Zink. Field and Clay Hudnall took the positions of cameramen on this particular hunt. JOURNAL NOTES: The hunting spot was a very large rolling barley field that we located the night before. The previous day the field was holding around 5,000 snows and 1,000 Canadas. As we approached the field in the dark this morning we saw a large number of snows sitting on a roost pond too close to the field that we intended to hunt, that broke guide rule #28(always follow the birds to their roost so you now how far away from the roost you are hunting) MY MISTAKE. After setting the spread in the dark, we decided that we would have one good crack at the snows so we needed to make it a good one. The majority vote was not to shoot at anything until we could make it count and it paid off, after landing well over 300 ducks into the decoys the snows finally made their move as the first flock of 100 lifted off of the roost and headed our way, they dropped in on the first pass at about 30 yards we let them circle for another pass at 20 yards and on the third circle the bottom fell out as they started landing within 10 yards of the Power Hunters!! The rest of the birds were back flapping and it was our turn to make the move and three of us cut 10 out of the first bunch. We had one more bunch of snows do the same thing and then the Canadas started coming out of the east. We started in on the Canadas with hard, fast calling and after 3 bunches sliding on us, we changed our calling to a very soft style, much like we would do when calling giant Canadas. The change worked and we called in the next five bunches, the hunt was over. We ended up with a limit of 24 Canadas, 21 snows and 11 wigeon that we shot for lunch. All in all it was very bad weather for hunting, but good conditions to test the new Greenhead Gear Full Bodies. As well as they preformed on this tough day we can't wait to see how they work when the weather is in our favor. More to come! (L to R) Brian Bowers, Sean Hammock and Fred Zink after a great start to their trip to Canada! Scouting Day - Day 2 Saskatchewan, October 6, 2003 By Fred Zink, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Tuesday, October 7, 2003 LOCATION: Sasketchewan SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:04 a.m. / 7:14 p.m. WEATHER: Sunny TEMPERATURE: Lows in the 70's highs in the mid to upper 80's WIND: No wind EQUIPMENT USED: None HUNTERS: Brian Bowers, Sean Hammock, Fred Zink, Field and Clay Hudnall JOURNAL NOTES: Due to the extreme temperatures and terrible hunting conditions that are in our area we decided we would spend the day scouting and obtaining permission for upcoming hunts. We also gathered RM Maps for the areas we plan on hunting for the next two weeks. Sometimes you have to do the homework instead of hunt, which will really pay off in a few days. The warmer weather is causing the birds to feed one time a day and they are moving very little. It looks like cooler weather is on the way. A Day for Wigeons - Day 3 Saskatchewan, October 8, 2003 By Fred Zink, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer (L to R) Avery Pro-Staffer's Sean Hammock, Fred Zink and Brian Bowers on a nice wigeon hunt on Day 3. DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 2003 LOCATION: Sasketchewan SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:05 a.m. / 7:14 p.m. WEATHER: Sunny TEMPERATURE: Lows in the 60's high around 75 WIND: Southeast 5 mph EQUIPMENT USED: Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Wigeons, Migrator™ Blinds, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Avery® Floating Duck Strap, Remington 11-87, 3" #2 Remington Nitro Mags, Zink Calls XR-2 Duck Calls. HUNTERS: Brian Bowers, Sean Hammock, Fred Zink, Field and Clay Hudnall ran the video cameras for this duck hunt. JOURNAL NOTES: Duck hunt took place in a dug out pond located adjacent to a barley field where a large number of mallards had been feeding. Ducks usually use the closest water source available to cool their craw from the heat built up from consuming grain. However, this evening hunt the heat wave continues throughout much of Canada and only a few mallards showed up at the barley field but there were plenty of wigeon to take their place. The hunt ended with a limit of ducks including 2 pintails, 2 gadwalls, and 20 wigeon! We Request Cooler Weather - Day 4 Saskatchewan, October 8, 2003 By Fred Zink, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Thursday, October 9, 2003 LOCATION: Sasketchewan SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:06 a.m. / 7:15 p.m. WEATHER: Partly sunny TEMPERATURE: 55 degrees WIND: West 20 mph EQUIPMENT USED: Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Full Body Decoys, Power Hunter™ Blinds, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Remington 11-87, 3" #2 Remington Nitro Mags, Zink Calls LM-1 Goose Calls. HUNTERS: Brian Bowers, Sean Hammock, Fred Zink, Field and Clay Hudnall ran the video cameras for the hunt. JOURNAL NOTES: We set up was in a rolling barley field just south of the roost that was a mile away. The geese in this warm weather we are having are coming out later than normal and anyone that has hunted lessers understands that the golden hours are first light and after the sun gets some height to it. There is usually a 30-45 minute period when the lessers will not finish and with the geese coming out later than normal most of them were coming through the decoys during the bad time frame. All in all it was a good shoot, but not many birds to work with in the warm weather. We are going to head north for cooler weather. (L to R) Avery Pro-Staffer's Sean Hammock, Fred Zink and Brian Bowers, Day 4. Headed North for Cooler Weather - Day 5 Saskatchewan, October 10, 2003 By Fred Zink, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer We set our 20dz Greenhead Gear Full Bodies in rows, placing the feeders in the grain rows and the actives where the food was not located giving the illusion of the geese walking to the food. DATE: Friday, October 10, 2003 LOCATION: Northern Sasketchewan SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:06 a.m. / 7:14 p.m. WEATHER: Partly sunny TEMPERATURE: 43 degrees WIND: West 20 mph EQUIPMENT USED: Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Full Body Decoys, Power Hunter™ Blinds, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Remington 11-87, 3" #2 Remington Nitro Mags, Zink Calls LM-1 Goose Calls. HUNTERS: Brian Bowers, Sean Hammock, Fred Zink, Field and Clay Hudnall ran the video cameras for this hunt. JOURNAL NOTES: We have moved further north in Saskatchewan due to the warm weather and hooked up with our good friend Grant at Buck Paradise Outfitters. Friday morning we set up in an oat field. Due to the late September rain the grain has re-seeded itself and in the headlights of the truck the field revealed bright green strips of re-seeded oats, showing the geese passing over the exact location of food availability. We set our 20dz Greenhead Gear Full Bodies in rows, placing the feeders in the grain rows and the actives where the food was not located giving the illusion of the geese walking to the food. it all worked very well, we had our limit of Canadas, 21 lessers and 3 greaters by 8:15. Paying close attention to details like where the food is made the difference as the geese landed just yards from our Power Hunter Blinds. (L to R) Avery Pro-Staffer's Fred Zink, Sean Hammock and Brian Bowers, Day 5. Scouting - Day 6 & 7 Saskatchewan, October 11-12, 2003 By Fred Zink, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Saturday & Sunday, October 11-12, 2003 LOCATION: Northern Sasketchewan SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:05 a.m. / 7:13 p.m. WEATHER: Partly sunny TEMPERATURE: lows in the 30's and highs in the mid 40's WIND: West 10-20 mph EQUIPMENT USED: None HUNTERS: Brian Bowers, Sean Hammock, Fred Zink, Field and Clay Hudnall. JOURNAL NOTES: After moving further north we wanted to spend a couple of days scouting. We decided to scout Saturday and Sunday (you can't hunt Sundays in this area). We found several areas holding large numbers of ducks and geese. We'll continue to scout in the afternoons but these two days of scouting have helped us locate some different areas that we will be able to hunt. We are really looking forward to hunting Monday morning, the roost we located had several thousand birds! Headed North for Cooler Weather - Day 8 Saskatchewan, October 13, 2003 By Fred Zink, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Monday, October 13, 2003 LOCATION: Northern Sasketchewan SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:04 a.m. / 7:12 p.m. WEATHER: Partly sunny TEMPERATURE: 55 degrees WIND: North 5 mph EQUIPMENT USED: 20 DZ. Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Full Body Decoys, Power Hunter™ Blinds, Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallards, Remington 11-87, 3" #2 Remington Nitro Mags, Zink Calls LM-1 Goose Calls. HUNTERS: Brian Bowers, Grant Kuypers, Sean Hammock, Fred Zink, Field and Clay Hudnall ran the video cameras for this goose hunt. JOURNAL NOTES: We set up in a barley field approximately 3 miles north of the roost with a 10-15mph wind at 5:00 a.m. By daylight there was not a breath of wind. The frost hit hard right at daylight and covered our Greenhead Gear® Full Bodies with a thick layer of frost. About that time the geese lifted from the roost and headed in our direction. The only problem was that there were huge strings of geese coming, and they were only 300 yards apart. As the first flock caught sight of our decoys and heard the calling it was on. We let about 20 hit the ground and, when the remaining 100 started backflapping, we cut in to them hard. When the shooting stopped, another flock appeared but this time they were snows and Ross' - after three low passes where we landed snows on each pass, the final pass put over 1,000 snows inside 60 yards and some of them within 15 feet of our Power Hunter Blinds. When the shooting was done, 4 shooters had taken 7 snows and 4 Canadas from one flock! The geese continued to come from the south, but with the sun rising our frosted decoys took the appearance of shiny glass figures and began flaring most of the geese. After the sun had cleared the horizon and burned off the layer of frost, some big Canadas started coming from the south. With some talking on the calls, they sailed right into the spread. At the end of the hunt we had taken 16 lessers, 4 greaters, 4 Ross' and 3 snows. Considering the windless conditions and sunrise frost, it was an awesome experience. (L to R) Avery Pro-Staffer's Brian Bowers, Sean Hammock, Grant Kypers and Fred Zink, Day 8. Thick Fog Makes for a Tough Day - Day 9 Saskatchewan, October 14, 2003 By Fred Zink, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 LOCATION: Northern Sasketchewan SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:04 a.m. WEATHER: Thick fog TEMPERATURE: 40 degrees WIND: Northwest 5 mph EQUIPMENT USED: 20 DZ. Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Full Body Decoys, Power Hunter™ Blinds, Remington 11-87, 3" #2 Remington Nitro Mags, Zink Calls LM-1 Goose Calls. HUNTERS: Brian Bowers, Allen Treadwell, Sean Hammock, Fred Zink, Field and Clay Hudnall ran the video cameras for this goose hunt. JOURNAL NOTES: Today's hunt was with Allen Treadwell of Red Head's Pro Hunt Team. Our plan was to film a lesser Canada goose hunt for Bass Pro's Outdoor World. We found ourselves hunting in a rolling barley field east of the roost. Our bad luck continued with the weather. At first light a very heavy fog pushed in from the northwest cutting our visability to less than 100 yards. This meant one thing, feast or famine. All we had to do is get the geese to see us or hear us and it was over. The first flock that we heard passed just south of us, but with some strong calling we turned them around and out of the gray wall of fog 60-70 lessers appeared with feet down and as they started landing in the spread we dropped the hammer. We took 8 birds with three hunters in the blinds. Then it was down hill from there, we only heard 2 other flocks in the distance and it was over before it even got started. Sometimes the geese have the luck on their side! (L to R) Avery Pro-Staffer's Fred Zink, Sean Hammock and Bass Pro's Allen Treadwell, Day 9. Headed North for Cooler Weather - Day 10 Saskatchewan, October 15, 2003 By Fred Zink, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Wednesday, October 15, 2003 LOCATION: Northern Sasketchewan SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:04 a.m. WEATHER: Cloudy TEMPERATURE: 40 degrees WIND: Northwest 5 mph EQUIPMENT USED: 20 DZ. Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Full Body Decoys, Power Hunter™ Blinds, Remington 11-87, 3" #2 Remington Nitro Mags, Zink Calls LM-1 Goose Calls. HUNTERS: Brian Bowers, Allen Treadwell, Sean Hammock, Fred Zink, Field and Clay Hudnall ran the video cameras for this hunt. JOURNAL NOTES: We hunted again with Bass Pro Hunt Team's Allen Treadwell. Our plan today was to film another lesser Canada goose hunt. We setup in a rolling oat field just north of the roost. The hunt had all the elements of a great morning, until just before daylight. Out of the north came a dense wet snow covering our decoys with a thick 1" layer of snow. After an hour of sweeping snow off the decoys, the snow finally let up some and as soon as the snow ended the geese started arriving from the south in very large flocks. The first flock of 100 birds set their wings for our spread of Greenhead Gear full bodies. Then four large flocks came from the same direction, but they were too close and arrived too soon to do anything with those groups. Then a couple of small groups of 10-20 birds started coming from the south and east. These flocks were much easier to decoy. We ended the hunt with 7 greater Canadas, 19 lessers, 1 adult snow and three mallards. (L to R) Avery Pro-Staffer's Brian Bowers, Sean Hammock, Fred Zink and Bass Pro's Allen Treadwell, Day 8. Heading to Southern Saskatchewan to Chase Ducks - Day 11 Saskatchewan, October 16, 2003 By Fred Zink, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Thursday, October 16, 2003 LOCATION: Southern Sasketchewan SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:06 a.m. WEATHER: Sunny, Crystal Clear Day TEMPERATURE: 40 degrees WIND: East 10 mph EQUIPMENT USED: 4 DZ. Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallard Decoys, Remington 11-87, 3" #2 Remington Nitro Mags, Zink Calls XR-2 Duck Calls. HUNTERS: Brian Bowers, Allen Treadwell, Sean Hammock, Fred Zink, Field and Clay Hudnall ran the video cameras for this duck hunt. JOURNAL NOTES: We duck hunted today with Bass Pro Hunt Team's Allen Treadwell. Our plan today was to film a nice mallard hunt in southern Saskatchewan. We setup in a cattail slough that was holding a large number of mallards the night before. The 20mph East wind was perfect for our setup and the mallards tried desperateley to get into our slough. We had large groups of mallards as well as pairs and singles, which made for a great duck hunt. We ended the hunt with 30 drake mallards and 2 drake pintails. What an awesome morning to be in southern Saskatchewan! (L to R) Bass Pro's Allen Treadwell, Avery Pro-Staffer's Fred Zink, Brian Bowers and Sean Hammock, Day 11. Heading to Southern Saskatchewan to Chase Ducks - Day 12 Saskatchewan, October 17, 2003 By Fred Zink, Associate Avery® Pro-Staffer DATE: Friday, October 17, 2003 LOCATION: Southern Sasketchewan SUNRISE/SUNSET: 7:07 a.m. WEATHER: Sunny TEMPERATURE: 40 degrees WIND: Southwest 15 mph EQUIPMENT USED: 20 DZ. Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Full Body Decoys, 4 DZ. Greenhead Gear® Life-Size Series™ Mallard Decoys, Remington 11-87, 3" #2 Remington Nitro Mags, Zink Calls XR-2 Duck Calls. HUNTERS: Brian Bowers, Allen Treadwell, Sean Hammock, Fred Zink, Field and Clay Hudnall. JOURNAL NOTES: Today we setup in a pea field 3 miles southeast of a large slough. This was a dry field hunt, the first one of the trip. We elected to do this so Allen could make his 1:30 flight out. The mallards started arriving just after first light. We had 6 groups of over one hundred birds backflapping in the decoys, it was an awesome experience for all of us and my lab "spook" got quite a workout. When we finished we had taken 3 snows, 3 blues, 45 drake mallards, 2 pintails and 1 hen mallard by friendly fire. This is our last hunt in Canada and I would say it was an average year and we should all pray for some serious precipitation up here or we are going to be in trouble in the States. It's extremly dry in Saskatchewan. We are already making plans for next year's hunt! (L to R) Avery Pro-Staffer's Clay Hudnall, Sean Hammock, Field Hudnall, Brian Bowers and Bass Pro's Allen Treadwell, Day 12.