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Thread: Suffield Alberta - The Prairie Elk Experience

  1. #11
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    Apr 2014
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    Re: Suffield Alberta - The Prairie Elk Experience

    Thanks for all of the effort and great writing for your thread.
    It's Mom not Mum
    It's Fries not Chips
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    It's School not Shooting Range

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
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    langley
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    Re: Suffield Alberta - The Prairie Elk Experience

    As promised, a telling narrative. A photo is worth a thousand words but you do have a way with words!
    It's good to hear a guy with your experience fill us in on the history and management of this hunt.
    Thanks...and how is that old English teacher doing?
    Finland is a neutral country - but the guns point to the east.

  3. #13
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    Sep 2009
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    Cool Re: Suffield Alberta - The Prairie Elk Experience

    It seemed to me mere minutes since I had drifted into slumber, and in fact, it likely was when my BC Partner kicked open the bedroom door and roared Coffee is ON!!!
    Wiping sleep from my eyes, I staggered to the kitchen, noisily complaining about Truck Butt after the run from BC and a full 700+ kilometer run the previous day.
    The searing coffee was a welcome relief, and was shortly working it's Magic. Aches and Pains quickly gave way to the rush of Anticipation that came roaring back at Full Steam! Time to Load Up!

    The "Hunt" Day One

    Packing four of us into the rig was interesting even with the four doors! Three rifle, lunches, ammo, orange vests, spotting scopes and all the gear we thought there was a remote possibility of needing squished in tight. Thankfully the truck had been started quite early, and it's heater held sway against the chill of the well before dawn hour.

    Racing up the highway towards the Briefing Point, I realized we were damn early. As in an hour early! LOL! Nothing quite like the prospect of The Hunt to get the old bones rolling it seems! Once at the appointed gathering spot, we met up with the fellow who would be commanding Truck Two for our impending foray. He is well rehearsed on the Base, having been directly involved in no less than three successful hunts this season. We quickly bundled all of The Lady's equipment and rifle into his rig, and wandered inside the briefing hall. Although we were early, there was already a line-up. Many had not filled out their forms prior to arrival, and that stalled the process for some time. Eventually we were up, and sidled up to the table to complete our registrations. The fellow who did this was quite efficient, although more than a little doubtful regarding our chances of success...

    While we waited for the briefing presentation, we held close to the registration table so as to overhear any tidbit of intel that might prove useful. None of that was forthcoming. In fact the alternative was much more predominant. Most of the hunters seemed downtrodden and discouraged. They were not helped in that aspect by some of the comments from base staff suggesting "You guys are your own worst enemies" & "there are no elk left in the open areas" & "most of the elk have left the base". Although these gentlemen were polite, it was rather plain to see they were burned out and pessimistic at this late stage of the "Elk Herd Reduction Program".

    Through the previous openings, we had heard of great numbers of FN attendance. Thus we were quite surprised when only around a dozen showed up for this briefing. As the last of the hunters & their crews slowly wandered in, it became apparent that there was no way this could be wrapped up in time to allow an approach to the area before first light. Oh Well...
    When the CO finally did call the meeting to order, a quick survey suggested there were about 140 folks attending all told.

    The briefing was informative and explicit, explaining the nature of this "reduction" and clearly defining the Rules all who ventured onto the base must comply with. Some I kind of wondered about such as the No Photos rule. One can scrutinize the area quite closely via Google Earth, and at the time I simply did not get that (I eventually realized some of the why's - more on that later too...). Others made perfect sense such as the Ban on touching any ordinance found laying around out there on the prairie. For us, although informative, the meeting did nothing to relieve our impatience to get rolling...

    After the CO finished up, a biologist gave a follow-up presentation. This same routine was to be adhered to for the next few days. Then suddenly the CO called the meeting over, and a Mad Rush for the door ensued! Already forewarned about this development, we were staged to get out of Dodge Damn Fast! As I we did so I heard one older Gent cry Holy chit as folks scrambled HARD around him for the parking lot.

    Again already forewarned, our truck was parked in a rather strategic position. That meant a good 100 yard DASH, something I can proudly say my aging body managed quite nicely thank you! That put us into the number six position as the trucks now hit the highway North towards the only two entry points onto the base. Traffic that morning seemed damn near "sedate" in comparison with what would happen in subsequent mornings, and rolled along barely above the posted speed limit.

    Arriving at the first gate, we realized 3 of the trucks in front of us kicked it up a gear and continued on the highway north. Two turned in front of us, and we now slid into position three. Good News. Once on the base, the two leaders did not slow their pace, continuing at damn near highway speeds towards the eastern front. We carried along, dropping a little behind, yet still leaving the parade following behind us.

    Having carefully studied the supplied map, we knew exactly where it was we wanted to be. At the critical corner, both rigs in front of us turned south. Excellent. Position Number One! Now our speed dropped to a crawl, and our eyes STRAINED to find an elk. Hoping against hope that the Big Bulls we had seen the previous day from directly across the river might have made a mistake and slipped out of the Wildlife Refuge, we looked for any sign suggesting that, or perhaps even the Bulls themselves. As predicted, the briefing had eaten up a fair amount of the breaking dawn, and we proceeded perhaps an hour or so later than any of us would have preferred.

    Topping a little knoll, the driver hit the brakes as we saw a Good six point standing less than 400 yards into the Safe Zone staring at us. Behind him were several more, and all appeared quite relaxed in the knowledge they were Safe from our aspirations. The tracks of the Big Six indicated he had crossed over from the open area mere moments before our arrival. Bummer. We immediately backed off out of sight, then rolled up on a far off vantage point to see what the small herd might do. From there, we could see many more well behind them, perhaps 1200 yards distant, feeding contentedly on the gentle hill tops. As more trucks rushed up to and by the scene (funny - most simply did not appear to even see these animals?) it became quite apparent that these elk were not at all interested in venturing off the Wildlife Reserve. So Close, yet so FAR Away!!

    We sat another spell, hoping that situation might improve. During that time, we checked in with Truck Number Two who had headed to the north west section adjacent to where we had spied the herd with the spike the day before. Thought from our experienced crew was where there is one small herd, there are most likely more. Their report was Grim. Trucks had actually passed them at Warp Speed headed to the north east, creating a couple dangerous moments. But, in their favor, none ventured into the area they were looking in. Unfortunately that did not pan out, and they saw not even a single set of tracks on the fresh skiff of snow. So, they were headed east working along the northern boundary and hoping...

    Abandoning the herd before us, we wandered back around and south to the border of where we were allowed to hunt. Examining the map, it was immediately clear that only a little less than 1/3 of the base was open to us, but we bolstered our spirits and committed to a Solid Effort. No tracks were seen in that block, so we rolled up again on our high point to verify the bull herd had stayed put. They hadn't. In fact most had slipped over the top of the rolling hills even deeper into the Sanctuary. Sigh.

    ...
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNNhzkJ-UU&feature=related

    Egotistical, Self Centered, Son of a Bitch Killer that Doesn't Play Well With Others.

    Guess he got to Know me

  4. #14
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    Arrow Re: Suffield Alberta - The Prairie Elk Experience

    Now began a slow and winding journey from the south east corner of the open area towards the north west. Although our other Team had not located any elk in that area, armed with GPS coordinates we believed we might. So sights set, off we went. Along the way we encountered some great herds of antelope all largely unconcerned with our presence. The same cannot be said for the mule deer and coyotes encountered, for each was in Full Fly as soon as they saw our rig. Made us wonder if they had been targeted of late? We also ran across small mini-towns constructed I guess to resemble far off potential battlefields. Some were actually quite realistic, and all certainly looked well out of place on the rolling prairie! Even more out of place were the plywood tanks and trucks scattered here and there, lending an almost surrealistic aspect to our wanderings.

    As we approached the area we wanted to investigate next, we ran into another road block. Apparently the entire north west corner was another of the No Go zones, and the GPS marker blinked on the screen well inside of that. Damn! Guess that is exactly why those elk were there...

    And so we wandered off towards the north east corner, stopping to scope from many high points along the way. More mulies, more antelope, no elk.
    Eventually we ran into the same set of tracks heading north off the base we had seen the previous day, and we of course got out to verify that.
    Just then a Range Patrol truck came rumbling up from the East, so we flagged him down for a chat. "Nothing taken yet. No amount of tracks seen nor reported in the open areas. Seems they are all inside the protected areas." Not exactly words of encouragement...

    We bid them Good Day, and continued our journey east - back the direction from which they had just come. When we arrived at the north east corner and turned south, it was damned apparent the crew we had just met pumped us with misinformation. Tracks all over the road from this morning. Two gut piles from the same. And a chatty fellow who had witnessed the events as the first trucks rolled in there. About 125 elk were out. One bull dropped right there, another hit and made it inside the Refuge (apparently retrieved by the same crew who we had just chatted with?). Most ran back into the Sanctuary, but there was a current Running Gun Battle engaging a herd on the flats and hills to the south west of us. We thanked the fellow, and rolled to a high point towards the southwest. Along the way, we encountered the fellows who had shot the two bulls that morning. They were sitting having coffee just off the road, and we easily identified the two as a 6x6 about 320" and a spike.

    From the next vantage point, we could see where trucks had pursued the elk cross-country, and apparently at speed. It wasn't overly difficult to determine their circular flight path in the fresh snow, and the presence of the odd truck parked next to a downed bull confirmed that. Certainly looked like a Gong Show of some sort had occurred! Another truck idled up, and the frustrated hunters inside related their tale of woe. Apparently these two fellows had seen a herd well removed from those that were ambushed right on the road, and decided upon a foot stalk to close on them. They had gotten pretty close, when the first of about 15+ trucks came roaring across the prairie towards the herd. Deciding to make the best of a worsening situation, they took careful aim, and hit the two largest bulls at about 300 yards. Both bulls remained in the herd, and wobbled over the gentle hill in front of them, accompanied by the sound of near continuous rifle fire. By the time they reached their hit animals, other "hunters" had them tagged and were loading them. WTF?? We were later to learn that a few Bad Actors in the pursuit vehicles had been witnessed actively Flock Shooting into the herd, and that several (including cows) had staggered, wounded, back to the Sanctuary.

    Gong Show? Far worse! I recall making the comment This is the Mad Max of Elk Hunting! Get us the hell out of here!!

    And so we wandered back down to where the Bachelor Herd was, and sat up on a point where we could study them from a distance. An hour or so before dark, the entire herd made it's way back over the top and slowly fed towards the Wildlife Sanctuary boundary. Not another truck in sight. We called in our second Team, and could tell by their voices they were at least as Frustrated as we were. Advised them to set up on a different hilltop, well away from the herd, and watch. With any luck, they might venture out yet...

    Alas that was not to be, but at the last glimmer of light they were still headed in the right direction. Feeding slowly into the wind. Maybe, just maybe they will cross out tonight...

    Shocked by some of what we had heard and seen, the ride back to the main gate was solemn. There we learned the "harvest" was in the teens, at least some had collected their bull... some quite apparently by whatever means possible...

    500+ kilometers later we arrived back at my Buddy's Hacienda. And so a couple stiff ones to dull the pain, and we reviewed the many calls from others that had also been hunting. Pretty well all reported the same findings, and several noted they were pulling out of the scene and not returning. Although I could not blame them, we never even considered that alternative...
    Maybe that Bachelor Herd will come out tonight, and stall long enough in the morning for us to capitalize...

    Sleep came Damn Fast even with my consternation at the day's events, and the now well enhanced case of Truck Butt struggling to keep me awake...
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNNhzkJ-UU&feature=related

    Egotistical, Self Centered, Son of a Bitch Killer that Doesn't Play Well With Others.

    Guess he got to Know me

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
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    Williams Lake, BC Canada
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    14,168

    Re: Suffield Alberta - The Prairie Elk Experience

    Hmmm great reading Matt...so realistic it makes me want to throw up...lol..fortunatley you saw elk..

    Keep up the epic wonderful narrative..
    Cheers
    Steven

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    christina lake
    Posts
    847

    Re: Suffield Alberta - The Prairie Elk Experience

    Does not sound like any hunt I would want to have a tag for. I'd rather have less game but enjoy my time in the field more

  7. #17
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    Sep 2009
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    Port Alberni
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    Arrow Re: Suffield Alberta - The Prairie Elk Experience

    Wait for it Palmer, there is more...

    After penning / reliving that last installment, I feel a Pressing Need for a Rum!

    Off to fetch that up, then back to the task at hand...

    Cheers,
    Nog
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNNhzkJ-UU&feature=related

    Egotistical, Self Centered, Son of a Bitch Killer that Doesn't Play Well With Others.

    Guess he got to Know me

  8. #18
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    Feb 2013
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    Over here by this spruce tree...
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    Re: Suffield Alberta - The Prairie Elk Experience

    WOW! BARRRRFFFFFFFF......Doesn't really sound like a smart/effective way to manage... Eventful adventure though!
    "Pimpin' aint easy"

  9. #19
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    Feb 2013
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    Over here by this spruce tree...
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    Re: Suffield Alberta - The Prairie Elk Experience

    Quote Originally Posted by IronNoggin View Post
    Wait for it Palmer, there is more...

    After penning / reliving that last installment, I feel a Pressing Need for a Rum!

    Off to fetch that up, then back to the task at hand...

    Cheers,
    Nog
    ^^ Ah yes I too went for a stiff rum after reading all that!
    "Pimpin' aint easy"

  10. #20
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Yucatan Mexico
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    14,832

    Re: Suffield Alberta - The Prairie Elk Experience

    I'll try to find something to wash down this great read as well!

    Cheers
    https://oceola.ca/
    http://bcwf.net/index.php
    http://www.wildsheepsociety.net/

    I Give my Heart to my Family....
    My Mind to my Work.......
    But My Soul Belongs to the Mountains.....

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