Most of the hunts have taken place in East Central Saskatchewan, a locale he makes a yearly pilgrimage to in pursuit of his favourite fowl.
“To understand my addiction to waterfowl hunting I feel I must give a little history of my family,” said Lough, 77. “Although he was not critical of people who hunted, my father was not a hunter. He had no interest in spending time afield.
“My great grandfather Levi Burton of Twillingate, NFLD. was a commercial fisherman and hunter to provide food for his family. He hunted sea ducks and as money to buy powder and shot was scarce he would only shoot waterfowl on the water. After carefully lining the birds up he would pull the trigger to obtain as much meat as possible.
“My mother believed I inherited my love of hunting from Levi and encouraged me to hunt from an early age. She would gladly cook any game I harvested.”
It wasn’t long after starting to hunt Lough began a lifelong love of hunting ducks in particular.
“Although I had hunted rabbits and partridge for a couple of years my first encounter with duck hunting started in a beaver dam slough on the outskirts of Port Arthur, Ont., now Thunder Bay,” he told Yorkton This Week. “A friend and I knew the ducks were using this water as we had scouted prior to opening day. I had managed to shoot a single mallard duck and my addiction to waterfowl hunting began.”
A look to the west
Lough’s addiction eventually brought him west.
“I started to visit the prairie provinces to hunt 58 years ago,” he said. “My wife’s uncle owned a farm near Steinbach, MB. We would travel to Manitoba to hunt on Saturday as hunting at that time was not allowed on Sunday. The return trip was 900 miles to hunt for one day.
“I usually made the trip for my one day hunts at least three times a fall. Of course gasoline was only 45 cents a gallon and the environment was not a consideration. We hunted ducks and geese as well as prairie chicken morning and evening.
“We attended the local barn dance on Saturday night, drank a little ‘white lightening’ and enjoyed spending social time with the local farmers.”
But stories soon brought Lough deeper into the Prairies.
“I had heard of the exceptional waterfowl hunting in Saskatchewan and yearned for the opportunity to hunt geese in one of the best waterfowl areas in North America,” he said.
“A friend of mine, Harold Haukeness had relatives in Saskatchewan and had hunted the previous year in Cabri and Estevan. He suggested I accompany him on a hunting trip in 1969. Harold lived in Vermilion Bay, ON., and we could not arrange a time to hunt until Oct.30. Arrangements were made for me to travel 225 miles, stay overnight and leave for Cabri the next morning.
“I left home in snow flurries, but shortly it turned into a winter blast with eight inches of snow falling en route and overnight. Harold could not believe that I had traveled in the snow storm and perhaps thought that I was not right of mind.
“However, he said he would phone Cabri and seek out the hunting and weather conditions.
“Ed Caza, a local guide, told us there was no snow and geese were fairly plentiful and we should be able to collect a few. The trip was a huge success with decent hunting in Cabri and very good duck hunting standing on ice in a slough near Weyburn.
“Falling through the ice several times was the added bonus. I was completely hooked on Sask. bird hunting. I returned the next year to hunt Cabri with three friends from Thunder Bay and indeed hunted in that area for about 12 years.”
The hunt for more ducks continued
But Lough yearned for better duck hunting.
“Although goose hunting was good at Cabri duck hunting was spotty at best, with only a few sloughs to hunt south of the river. I decided I needed a new area with a better concentration of ducks,” he said.
“An older friend of mine by the name of Bill Fleming had been hunting the Wadena, Quill Lake area with local guide Steve Kwasnitza. Steve was a skilled guide and had been written up in American hunting magazines at that time. We arranged a day to hunt with Steve on our way home from Cabri one year and enjoyed a great day afield.
“We never fired a shot because we had only informed Steve we were coming the day before and he had not had a chance to scout. Steve showed us the area. We saw hundreds of birds and were delighted with our newly found duck paradise. Arrangements were made to return to Wadena for a week the following year; that was the start of my hunting in Sask. for two weeks each fall.
“The following year when we returned to Wadena, Steve was not available as he had previously booked clientele. We headed for Ponass Lake as we enjoyed water hunting and thought this would be a great place to start.”
The dedication to the hunt above almost all else then came to the fore, taking Lough away from answering emailed questions.
“My wife just heard geese going over our house in Lintlaw, (they bought the house to stay in while duck hunting each fall),” he explained. “I didn’t hear them because of my hunting in the early years without hearing protection. I must drop the pen to scout for tomorrow’s hunt. I will continue my story on my return.
Back from the scouting trip
“Having arranged tomorrow’s hunt I will now continue.”
Lough retuned to thoughts of long ago ducks at Ponass Lake, north of Wadena.
“The first day on Ponass Lake with chest waders and water up to our waist we shot two ducks,” he said. “The second morning was no better and we returned to Wadena for breakfast at the local cafe. As we lamented our first day and a half we took comfort in the old duck hunting saying, ‘If you have lemons enjoy a glass of lemonade’.
“A nearby farmer had heard our chatting and laughing about our poor luck and approached our table. The farmer was John Semko from Lintlaw and he invited us to his farm as the ducks were eating his barley swaths. Directions were given and very early the next morning we met John as we were entering his home site. I naively asked him ‘where are the ducks?’ He laughed and said, ‘they are not eating in my garden’.
“He ordered us to follow him to his barley field. There were literally 1000 or more mallards and John said, ‘the little bastards are eating hourly’.
“We set up in the swath and in a few minutes we were shooting mallards. After a while John returned in a great hurry. He was yelling we had to leave his field. We were shocked and wondered what we had done wrong. But John explained the birds were more intense in his barley field across the road and needed to be chased out. He was going to town to buy us shells but we turned his offer down as we had a more than adequate supply. We quickly moved to the other field, built a bale blind, ‘melted our guns’ and had our limit of birds.
“My transition to a Lintlaw duck hunter was guaranteed. And here I remain hunting 50 years later.”
Taking time to helps ducks too
It wasn’t long before Lough was not just a hunter, but an advocate for ducks.
“During our early years hunting in Wadena we decided to attend our first Ducks Unlimited banquet,” he recalled. “Milo Mahlum, an outstanding auctioneer, and one of the finest people I’ve ever met was doing the auction. We struck up a friendship and when Thunder Bay decided to host our first DU event we invited Milo to be the auctioneer. He returned 11 times and set record prices for items at our auction.
“In the meantime I decided since there were so many DU banquets in the surrounding area I would attend auctioneer’s school in Billings, Montana. Booking into Western College of auctioneering was a great choice and after graduating I started to auction for DU Canada and various charities. I donated my time to auction 135 banquets for DU Canada including auctions in Ontario, Sask. and northern Minnesota.”
However, Lough was not always on-side with DU policies.
“I became disillusioned with DU Canada about 20-years ago,” he said. “They decided to remain neutral on gun control in Canada. Without shotguns law abiding hunters cannot hunt. Duck hunters started DU and are its most loyal and ardent supporters. Although I realize DU is in partnership with the Canadian government on many projects a few simple words of support for Canada’s dwindling waterfowl hunters would have been appreciated.
“The last straw was when DU placed ‘Foot Traffic Only’ signs on their properties. The average age of a waterfowl hunter is 50-plus years. As duck hunting on water requires bags of decoys, a shotgun, shells and miscellaneous items, it is very difficult to carry everything to the slough. In effect ‘Foot Traffic Only’ has turned into ‘No Hunting’ on the properties that the hunters built.
“I presently actively support and auction for Delta Waterfowl as they are pro hunter and farmer friendly.”
The annual migration has continued
But why a half century of travelling to the local region to hunt?
“I have often been asked why I keep coming back to Lintlaw,” said Lough. “For over 20-years my friends and I had Thanksgiving dinner with John and Helen Slusarchuk and their family.
“Often I have had a ‘wee nip’ with Bob Schindel Sr. after a little duck hunt.
“Enjoyed a vodka straight with beer chaser at Joe Bialek’s farm.
“And had coffee with the Klassen’s.
“If I were to mention everyone that I have visited in their home it would be like reading the local phone book.
“To all I am grateful for their hospitality.
“I have returned to Lintlaw for weddings, anniversaries, several graduations and recently the wonderful 100th year Lintlaw celebration.
“Lately a great many Thanksgiving dinners have been enjoyed at the Cameron and Patsy Last farm.”
And just as importantly Lough has been able to pass on his love of hunting ducks to others – younger people who will be the duck hunters of tomorrow.
“I have had the pleasure to introduce many young people in the area to waterfowl hunting,” he said. “They are a joy to be with. I am proud to have taken over where Leo Weinhandl left off. Leo was as fine a hunter as I have ever met. He enjoyed our outings and would enjoy taking photographs as much as hunting. He was the original area youth mentor and introduced many young people to waterfowl hunting.”
The times they were a changing
Through the years many things have changes, most in fact, except of course Lough’s love of hunting ducks.
“Have things changed since I first arrived. Of course they have,” he said. “Because of economic necessity farms have become much larger. Sloughs have been drained, stone piles buried, more land cleared and in general the area improved for farming.
“With fewer places for the hunter to hide the hunting has become a little harder.
“But with today’s big machinery the land must be altered to accommodate today’s farming methods.
“Originally two-three quarters was a family farm. But today 10 plus quarters are fairly common. Grain is now desiccated and straight combined and little swath remains in the field so waterfowl are not such a problem. Of course canola ‘poor duck food’ is a huge part of crop rotation now and was not common when I first arrived.
“There are many more hunters today and three guiding services in the immediate area.”
And, what about 2021?
“I would say that hunting this fall has been average,” said Lough. “The local yearly hatch of birds looks to be down and hunting older birds is more of a challenge.”
Lough realizes the number of hunts remaining are dwindling.
“As I near the end of my hunting career I have been truly blessed to have stumbled on to Lintlaw, met the areas great people and have been welcomed into their community,” he said.
“Often when we arrive back in Lintlaw people will say ‘nice to see you back home’.”
