On a school day in October, I was crossing the Canadian border with a deadly weapon and a small suitcase. No, I am not a terrorist. 

My dad and I were headed to Alberta, Canada to hunt: ducks, geese and mule deer.

To start off my adventure in Canada we flew to Denver then crossed into Canada in Edmonton where we were met by a guide who picked us up in a gold Ford Excursion.

The trip took a long agonizing ten hours of traveling before we arrived at the camp that we would be staying at in Alqurve, Alberta.

For the next six days, I would wake up eat a bowl of Rice Krispies before putting on my Mossy Oak Blades camo, grabbing a 12 gauge Benelli Super Black Eagle II to hunt ducks and geese in the surrounding wilderness.

Usually we would hunt for the waterfowl no more then twenty five minutes away from camp. When we arrived to our destination, it would still be dark and all the men in camp would set up about 100 decoys mixed with ducks and geese. Once all the decoys had been set out, we would all hop in our own layout blind and wait for sunrise.

The ducks and geese would begin to surge off the water surrounding the county. We would begin to attract to the waterfowl with a small plastic mouth call to get them close enough to shoot.

Once the hunt was over we would pick up all the ducks and geese and the decoys and load them into the truck and head off back to camp.

When we got back to camp most of us would sleep for a few hours and then get ready to go off and hunt mule deer. Hunting these mule deer would be tricky. I would be all alone on the side of a mountain with my bow spotting the deer then making a game plan on how I would kill this deer.

I would need to be able to find a way to get down the mountain as quiet as possible to get close enough to the deer and get a shot.

As the week neared an end, we had killed limits of ducks and geese everyday and still have yet to kill a deer. As things usually go though when your hunting deer, the biggest buck I’ve ever seen walked out fifty yards in front of me the last ten minutes of light on the last day. He ended up smelling me and running off. It was a heartbreaking to miss him, but it’s what makes you want to go back and do it again.

Though that incredible trip to Canada is now over, my next hunting expedition will be tonight. Deer and pigs. Right on my own land. But I won’t soon forget the experience and beauty of Canada. I saw the northern lights and got to experience the most beautiful waterfowl migration I’ve ever seen.

I would encourage anyone who hasn’t been to the Great White North to go. It’s a sight you will never forget.