Bengough -
The Burgess Ranch in the Big Muddy of Southern Saskatchewan was the location for the Toronto based Mantracker reality show, filmed in the Spring of 2007. The two episodes aired this last summer and fall on Canadian Outdoor Life Network and are running in reruns this winter.
Michael Burgess and his son Lane were honoured to ride as Mantracker's sidekicks/guides as he pursues his prey through the Burgess Ranch. Mantracker and Michael tracked Jesse and Nathan, two Hamilton, Ontario residents, through the hills of the Big Muddy.
When filming of the first race was wrapped up the race was on again with Mantracker and Lane Burgess tracking Buck and RJ, two tactical police officers from Barrie, Ontario to the conclusion of the second episode.
The terrain that had to be maneuvered by both man and horse is normally rough and rugged but it was made more complicated by the rains received shortly before and during filming. The prey arrived at the Burgess Ranch with the typical thought of Saskatchewan being flat, but when they left they and the film crew that did all the filming on foot, had a new respect of what Saskatchewan is really like beyond the Trans Canada Highway.
The filming of the two episodes took eleven very busy long days but the experience was thought of as a vacation without having to leave the ranch for the Burgess family, who were all involved either as guides, Executive Producer assistant or craft service provider.
Seeing the ranch through the eyes of a stranger's camera makes one appreciate what you sometimes forget you have in your own back yard. The Burgess family was proud to be able to share their ranch with the Mantracker crew and their TV audience. Since the airing of the show this last Spring, Mantracker Terry Grant and Michael Burgess were also featured on the cover of an Alberta based magazine, Canadian Cowboy's February/March 2009 issue presently on the news stands.
