wild guide: waterhen waterfowl
The rustic charm of the lodge and it’s
beautiful riverfront setting made us
immediately feel that we were right where
we wanted to be. The deer on the wall of our
cozy, freshly updated cabin welcomed us in
and we knew we were home – at least for
the next 3 days.
We unloaded our truck and met with
Lodge owners Jon and Karissa Warkentin
to discuss the hunts they had planned for
us over the next few days. It was apparent
right away that the Warkentin family was
the heart and soul of this place, as they
welcomed us into their home.
The Warkentins, originally from Colorado,
and their 5 children moved to Waterhen,
Manitoba in 2013 when they purchased,
what they renamed, Harvest Lodge. Since
then, business is booming and the lodge is
growing in popularity.
While we were to partake in some of their
epic waterfowl hunting, the lodge also offers
awesome black bear hunting and world
class walleye fishing. We saw a 30.5 incher
pulled out of the river by another guest
during our stay. We intend to return, rods in
hand, for some of that action! Though we
certainly didn’t miss the fishing, however,
when we had such great waterfowl hunting.
On our first morning, after a hearty, home-
cooked, 5am breakfast in the main lodge,
we headed out on Lake Winnipegosis for
a diver duck hunt. Our guide, a local First
Nations man named Clay, had the area
dialed in and took us out to a small island
peninsula surround by tall reeds. After laying
out our decoy spread, just before sunrise,
we pulled the boat up into the reeds and as
soon as the sky lit up, so did the birds.
We had only two shooters the first
morning so filling a limit of Redheads with
our Winchester SX4s was easy. So easy
that we were able to pass on filling our bag
with the, much smaller, buffleheads that
frequented our decoy spread.
We finished up well before noon and
made it back to the lodge in time for lunch.
We quickly came to find mealtimes were
our favourite time of day. All the hunters in
25 Wild Guide
. Winter 2018
Sunrise over Lake Winnipegosis
from the boat blind.
the camp would gather at the long table
in the main lodge, along with owners Jon
and Karissa, and share a meal as well as
our tales from the day and loads of hearty
laughter. The camaraderie was palpable and
w