The local hunting community has a group of newly crowned celebrities in their midst.
Coyote Country, which includes Bonnyville residents Leo and Susan Paquin, came out on top in season two of The Search. Aired on Wild TV, the hunting show took eight teams from across Canada and pitted them head to head to see who was the most intriguing hunting group.
“It all comes down to the votes…so we're really surprised that we had a lot of people voting for us,” said Leo Paquin. “Hats off to our fans, friends, family and coworkers that helped us out.”
Their television stardom doesn't end there. As the winners of The Search, Coyote Country now has seven months to shoot and edit footage of their hunts for their own 13-episode television show.
“Now that it's all soaked in a little bit, it's scary and exciting all at the same time but we're really looking forward to the challenge,” said Paquin.
Paquin and his wife moved to Bonnyville in 2011. It was then the hunting and fishing aficionado started filming his kills and catches. Along with friends Martin Tailleur and Mitch Visser, the foursome formed Coyote Country. After submitting a DVD of their hunts to the show's producers, the group was notified in July 2014 that they were getting the once in a lifetime chance to be on The Search.
They edited a number of hunts, many of which happened right here in the Lakeland, to be shown on the network for viewers to vote on. Up against seven other hunting squads, Coyote Country rallied up the most votes.
“It's definitely a dream of ours. We're going to take it one step at a time and concentrate on this year and see how well received we are, then go from there,” said Paquin.
While there's still six weeks until hunting season, the group already has some hunts they've banked up and are ready to edit.
“We started filming some other adventures earlier this year, back in February, we did a wild bison hunt north of Fort McMurray where we were successful,” explained Paquin.
He added, “This spring, my wife Susan got a spring black bear and we also filmed a couple fishing episodes, one on the North Saskatchewan River.”
For the remainder of their hunts, Coyote Country has planned to cover the entire province. The four hunting enthusiasts will be heading to the Rocky Mountains to hunt horned sheep and are going to take a shot at a do-it-yourself fly-in moose hunt in northern Alberta.
Keeping to their namesake, the group will also film some coyote hunts locally. Paquin said they're hoping to try their hands at chasing down some waterfowl.
“We've got quite a bit of work still cut out for us, but we're up for the challenge.”
In the meantime, Coyote Country is in the process of attaining some local sponsors to help cover the costs that go along with province-wide hunts. Despite winning The Search, Paquin said their prize isn't entirely free and they are still on the hook to cover some of the expenses.
While there isn't a clear time frame for when Coyote Country's show will be aired on Wild TV, Paquin noted it is likely to be in the spring of 2016.
“Basically, in the next seven months we have to get all of our footage and have it all edited, have it all completed for final submission.”
With the dream of Coyote Country having its own television show on the horizon, Paquin said they're thankful for everyone in the Lakeland who helped them get to this point. If you didn't have an opportunity to watch the group's hunts during The Search, all of the videos that made them the winners are posted on their website.
For more information on Coyote Country, or to watch videos of their hunts, go to www.coyotecountry.ca.
