The continued prosperity of the fur trade prompted HBC and rivals such as North West Company to expand trade networks into Canada's western and northern boundaries. In 1789 and 1792, Alexander Mackenzie, an employee of North West Company stationed on Lake Athabasca in Alberta, led two expeditions intent on finding a nautical passage to the Pacific Ocean. His first excursion led him to the Arctic Ocean, along a river that was later named in his honor. On his second attempt, he navigated the Peace and Fraser rivers, ultimately reaching the Pacific in the summer of 1793.

During both trips, Mackenzie made journal references to the waterfowl he encountered on the way. Traveling near the Arctic Ocean, Mackenzie recorded lots of activity on the breeding grounds: “Saw many Wild Fowl to-day with their Young Ones, but they were so shy that we cou'd not approach them.” However, in June of 1789, he noted, “All the Banks of the [Slave] River are covered with wild Fowl. We killed 2 swans 10 Geese 1 Beaver this morning without losing an hour's time, so that if we were for the purpose of hunting we might soon fill our Canoe.” While hunting geese and ducks was an important way of securing food in the wilderness, Mackenzie's crew had no time to linger at good hunting spots. Their mission demanded that they stay on the move.

Hunting with Lewis and Clark

Building on the foundations laid by the early colonists and explorers, North America's population grew during the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1803—nearly 200 years after the founding of Jamestown and 30 years after the founding of the United States—President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's Corps of Discovery to explore the continent's vast western frontier. That same year, Jefferson had effectively doubled the size of the nation by purchasing the Louisiana Territory from France. This vast tract of new land represented another pristine area largely untouched by white Americans or Europeans. Like Kelsey, Mackenzie, and the early colonists before them, the Corps' members left the comforts and familiarity of society and set off to face the challenges of an unexplored wilderness.

As this group pushed west, game was their primary source of food, and hunting was key to their survival. Fortunately for Lewis and Clark, they encountered game of legendary proportions.

On their trek, the expedition traveled across the Mississippi, Central, and Pacific flyways and crossed paths with hosts of migrating waterfowl. While camping on the Columbia River, Captain Clark complained in his journal that he was kept awake during the night by multitudes of waterfowl. Dinners consisting of duck, goose, brant, crane, and swan also appear frequently in the journals.

Captain Lewis recorded at the end of July 1805 how a duck had provided an opportune meal. During a walk along the Missouri River, he managed to get somewhat ahead of the slow-moving main party and found himself alone at dusk: “By this time it was getting nearly dark and a duck lit on the shore [within] about 40 steps of me and I killed it . I cooked my duck which I found very good and after eating it layed down and should have had a comfortable nights lodge but for the musquetoes which infested me all night.” In many ways, this scene captures the essence of the explorer's lifestyle; Lewis had to take all that nature gave him, both duck dinners and mosquito bites.