One local couple with a passion for hunting are getting the once in a lifetime opportunity to live out their dreams of having their hunts seen by people across the country.
Leo Paquin and his wife Susan, who moved to Bonnyville in 2011, were given the unique chance to be apart of Wild TV's show The Search. The show takes eight teams of hunters from across Canada and airs video they've shot themselves of the groups' hunts. Viewers then get the chance to go online to vote each week for their favourite team. The team with the most votes at the end of the season wins the opportunity to have their own hunting show for one season aired on Wild TV.
“I've always been into hunting and fishing ever since I was a young child, but it wasn't until I moved to Bonnyville that I started capturing it on camcorder,” said Paquin.
The Paquin's are just half the team aptly named Coyote Country, with friends Martin Tailleur and Mitch Visser making up the other half.
“We just started videoing and inadvertently started naming ourselves Coyote Country. At that time we were hunting coyotes so it kind of stuck,” noted Paquin.
While in the process of burning DVD's of their hunts for family members, Paquin said he decided to put an extra copy in the mail to send to the show's producers. After watching seasons of the show himself, the couple was notified in July 2014 that they were going to get their chance at stardom. The members of Coyote Country had from the end of August until the end of December to gather all the footage they could to submit. Paquin said that the group was able to submit seven different hunts to be aired on The Search.
The majority of the recorded hunts took place right here in the Lakeland, with some in the Alberta Rocky Mountains. There is one hunt that Paquin is particularly proud of.
“We have a 14-year-old daughter and she's (going to be) on the show. She harvested her first bear and her first animal ever, so that's going to be aired and I'm kind of proud of that.”
Starting the first week of April, The Search will be aired on Wild TV on Monday and Wednesday at 2 p.m., Thursday at 3:30 a.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m. Paquin said he knows not everybody likes to hunt, but his hope is that people in the Lakeland will still support someone from their own community.
“For those that aren't into hunting I would hope that they would support the local community. For those that are into the hunting aspect, it would be great if they would vote for us…but any votes means the show gets more exposure and promotes the hunting industry because these days hunting is being scrutinized so much.”
Paquin added that if it weren't for all of the local businesses that have sponsored Coyote Country and the private landowners who gave permission for the group to hunt on their property, the venture wouldn't have been possible.
“Hunting and being in the outdoors is a passion of ours, you look at some of these people that do this for a living and I kind of think ‘that would be awesome to have your own show,'” said Paquin. “At least if we can win this it will give us a chance to experience it for at least a year.”
To learn more about Coyote Country visit www.coyotecountry.ca; or to vote for teams participating in The Search go to www.votethesearch.com.
