Who is your Outfitter?
We have built Ongaro Outdoors from the ground up. With vision and purpose we have methodically put together not just a great waterfowl hunt for you but, rather, a three day, hassle free, action packed, hunting experience. We have taken the headache out of planning your trip with a Canadian outfitter. You will receive formal correspondence and open communication via our 24 hour 1-800 number and Internet connection. All licensing and paper work will be taken care of for you so you can focus on enjoying your hunt. You need not rent or pay for ground transfer vehicles - we will pick you up at the airport or hotel and drop you off at the end of your three day hunt. Your birds will be taken to the processing plant where they are processed and frozen. You are welcome to bring your own retrievers - our clean dog runs and kennels will safely house your dog. The boot dryers that await you at the end of the day is another small comfort we provide. Exquisite full course meals need no mention. The list goes on. Although these conveniences set us apart from other outfitters, it is our outfitting system that truly makes us a model for other outfitters to follow.
From Opportunity to Success
We maintain the highest standard of equipment to ensure every possible opportunity to increase your success. To contend with the various hunting situations that arise throughout the season, we have heavily invested in high quality and large quantities of hunting gear and equipment. Guides, spotters, trucks, decoys, blinds and trailers are the essentials we provide. Through my partnership with Chrono Mfg Ltd, we have designed, developed, tested, and currently manufacture the Goose Chair, Robo-Goose and a new realistic silhouette - the Deceptor. We now boast a combined accumulation of over 750 decoys including Carrylite Duck floaters, Robo-Goose Robotic Silhouettes, Carrylite Super Magnums, Flambeau Persuader Full Bodies, Mallard & Canada Goose Deceptors, and Carrylite Snow Goose Shells. Flags, calls, portable blinds and the myriad of other hunting components are also part of the system. Decoys are only a small part of the equipment requirements. Two fully enclosed fiberglass trailers ensure that the decoys and Goose Chairs make it to your hunt clean and dry. Quads eliminate the risk of not getting into the fields when its too muddy and are used on an as needed basis. Guides have their own fully equipped 4 wheel drive trucks complete with cellular telephones and county maps which facilitate landowner communication and relationships. Our roomy airport transfer vehicles get you to the lodge and back in comfort and safety.
The System
Our outfitting system involves two key components: spotting hunts and properly using equipment. Let me explain. We hunt two parties of four in separate fields miles apart. We have four guides including myself. As you roll in on your first evening, we have been spotting the fields & potholes of the parkland putting duck & goose hunts together for you - patterning birds and setting up access. While you are hunting with one of the two guides in the morning, the two guides not hunting are out spotting hunts for the evening and next morning. Your afternoon hunt presents a new guide and a new hunting situation. The morning guides have been transformed into spotters checking up on the morning reconnaissance and putting more hunts together; the process continues. The system involves a great deal of team work and communication. There is no competition among guides as we are all aware that the spotting program is the key to delivering a quality hunt for you. We are a team!
Execution
Executing the hunt is where the proper use of all the equipment falls into place. We anticipate the birds arrival by at least one hour - which is ample time to set up the decoy spread, Goose Chairs or blinds and retire the vehicles out of sight. This is where your guide's expertise and hunting savvy of local hunting techniques and conditions take you through the final steps before the hunt begins.
Behind the Scenes
The process also involves efforts behind the scenes: Linda fields all calls & inquiries during September and October when its tough to get a hold of me - I'm in the field. She takes care of any last minute surprises that may crop up and ensures that regular daily operations at the lodge remain in fluid motion.
At Ongaro Outdoors
We can offer you vast combined hunting knowledge, hard work ethic, a promise of commitment to you & the sport of waterfowling, and both personal & professional integrity. The hunting resource speaks for itself.
The Quarry
Alberta offers some of the finest waterfowling in the world. At Ongaro Outdoors we have worked hard to build a world class waterfowling operation centered in the heart of Alberta¬s pothole country. It is here where hundreds of thousands of ducks and geese nest and raise their young. The primary nesting species are Big Northern Mallards and Greater Canada Geese. This local bird production coupled with the continuous stream of migrating Canadas and Mallards (from the furthest northern reaches of Alberta) combine to create some of the finest waterfowling in the world. To add to this, tens of thousands of Snow Geese and Whitefronted (Specks) Geese migrate through in the early season. This makes an early season multi species hunt a reality.
Why is our area so attractive to Waterfowl?
To start, there are hundreds of potholes everywhere. To add to this, there are a number of major staging waters within a 20 minute drive from our hunting lodge. As well, there are many other unnamed lakes dotting our landscape which rear and stage several thousand more birds.
The Hunt
Your worry free hunt begins when we pick you up at the airport in our comfortable airport transfer vehicles. From here, we make the one and a half hour trip to our new 3100 square foot lodge. You are greeted here with Alberta style hospitality and a wholesome, professionally prepared meal. The balance of your evening is spent in the Great Room where the crackling of a fire and the ambiance of a hunting lodge soothes the excitement of the hunts to come. In the morning, you wake to an early yet leisurely breakfast. A carefully scouted hunt awaits the arrival of you and your hunting party. The shoot goes as planned, there are no surprises. The staff are very experienced and your satisfaction is our number one goal. Your return to the hunting lodge is welcomed by a hot lunch. There are a few hours reserved for relaxation and lounging. In pothole country, the birds do not fly during the midday hours. Their food source is plentiful and they need only feed in the morning and again in the evening. Mid afternoon brings your departure for an evening hunt. This hunt has been carefully spotted while you were enjoying the morning hunt. The fowl come tight into the decoys whether in a field or over a tiny pothole. The shooting is fantastic. Your successful hunt ends with a round of pictures and is followed by another exquisite full course meal. The evening is spent relaxing in the Great Room or in the TV Room where any video footage can be enjoyed by all. Your second day of hunting is more of the same. The third day comes too quickly. It starts out with breakfast and another goose or duck hunt. Your hunt is followed by a leisurely lunch. By then, your cleaned birds have been delivered back from the processing plant and are ready for packing (remember to bring large coolers). By mid afternoon the gear is loaded and the drive back to Edmonton is under way.
The Limits
Alberta is graced with among the most liberal limits in North America. Daily duck limits are 8 birds (all of which may be Mallards) with a possession limit of 16. Canada goose limits are an impressive 8 daily with a possession of 16. Snow goose limits are 10 daily and 30 in possession but they do not affect the dark goose limit. Limits may have changed since the last printing of this document. Please call to confirm.
The Gear
What will you need to bring? Along with your favorite shot gun and other personal hunting essentials, be sure to bring a warm waterfowler's parka, water resistant boots (to keep the morning dew off your feet), hip boots, a large cooler, and your camera or video recorder. Shot shells are always available at the hunting lodge.
The Fine Details
Three day hunts commence each Monday & Thursday and end each Wednesday & Saturday. Parties of two to eight are preferred. Your three day hunt commences from Edmonton, Alberta. Meals, accommodation, hunting gear and fully guided hunts are included. Ground transportation is free. License fees, ammunition, and game processing charges are additional. Hunt cost subject to 7% Goods & Services Tax.
Biography - Claudio Ongaro
Claudio Ongaro started his working career as a schoolteacher in 1988, at the age of 22, after graduating from the University of Alberta. He taught full time for six years and part time for six years while building his outfitting business. There he taught Communication Technology at the high school level and is well versed in video editing, video recording, photography, digital sound editing, digital image production, and full scale multimedia authoring.
He has been, writing outdoors related articles and, a waterfowl guide and outfitter for over a decade. He outfits for waterfowl in the world famous prairie pothole region in central Eastern Alberta and outfits for Trophy Whitetails and Mule Deer in Alberta's remote Western foothills.
As an avid outdoorsman, Claudio has also competed aggressively as a Walleye tournament angler and holds the 1993 Alberta Top Overall Team of the Year with his wife Linda. Both Linda and Claudio have held field staff status with Shimano since 1990. This competitive nature was spawned early, in the field of cycling, where several Alberta Provincial Championship Medals adorn his wall along with a Bronze National Medal in the Team Pursuit event earned at the Montreal Indoor Track in 1984.
Claudio's personal hunting has taken him from the wind swept cactus strewn prairies to the muddiest, get stuckest swamps of the lowlands and as high as the snow covered peaks of the Rocky Mountains. He has taken several big game species including numerous trophy Whitetails and Mule Deer. The high country has yielded a huge pure white Timber Wolf and a Rocky Mountain Bighorn Ram. Mallards and Canada Geese have also swarmed over many of his decoy spreads, both, while guiding and simply enjoying a waterfowl hunt.
Heading to the West coast has always been a part of Claudio's passion. Northern British Columbia waters have produced several Tyee sized fish including a double header where he and Linda boated a 57 lb and 51 lb Chinook (King) salmon. Claudio became Vice President of Chrono Mfg Ltd in 1991. There he helped develop well-accepted hunting products such as the Goose Chair, Stealth Blind, Deceptor Silhouette Decoys, and the full line of Cro'snest Treestands all still manufactured by Chrono. Ongaro Outdoors, under Claudio's guidance, has recently launched its latest venture the Northern Giants Outdoors Video collection. Unfortunately, not everyone can venture north into Canada, which bursts with trophy class big game, fish and waterfowl. "I wanted to bring all of this outdoor adventure that we enjoy to people that will never otherwise be able to experience it!"