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Thread: New Hunters Paths To Success

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    Armstrong
    Posts
    480

    New Hunters Paths To Success

    Well, I’m not really sure where to start. This is my first “success” post and I have so much to say. I guess I’ll take a good friends suggestion and start near the beginning but be warned, this is probably going to be very long. I’m a talker.

    Apologies ahead of time for poor grammar, writing, etc..

    My immediate and extended family did a lot of hunting growing up and our dad often brought us along. Unfortunately I was too young to remember most of it and when my parents got divorced, that was the end of it. I rekindled with my dad about 10 years later but by then he wasn’t doing much hunting anymore and I wasn’t really thinking about it much at that point in my life either.

    As a lot of you may know from my previous posts, a few years ago my brother and I decided to reintroduce ourselves to hunting along with our spouses. Sadly my dad passed away unexpectedly just before that. I wish he could have been here to watch and help us learn and hear about our adventures. And oh the adventures we’ve had..

    My brother and I and our spouses get along really well and all share a passion and love for the outdoors. Whether crabbing, fishing, camping and now hunting, we really try to spend as much time outdoors as we can and often find ourselves doing it together. (Can’t beat great company!) As soon as we started hunting we quickly realized it was a rekindled long lost love and we quickly became addicted. Most of the time though it was mainly my brother and I who were leaving camp well before first light while our spouses slept in.

    We started hunting part way through the 2015 season. It mainly consisted of hair raising driving situations down snowy hills (see previous posts – don’t worry, I quickly learned the importance of good chains) and a lot of just getting out there and exploring. We spent a lot of day and overnight trips in Region 2 and the occasional camping/hunting trip in Region 3. A few grouse bagged and a lot of does seen but no bucks.


    2016

    My first full hunting season and man was I excited. Again, we spent all of our time in Region 2 & 3 on a mixture of day, overnight and 3-4 day trips but this time it had a lot more excitement. I really can’t explain how excited I was to be seeing sign and so much of it at times. I was often reminded by my brother to stop spending so much time staring at the ground and more time looking up.. I try not to think about how many deer I probably missed by staring at prints..or crap.. Our techniques were usually a mixture of driving, walking or sitting. Every morning or evening was usually spent hiking in and sitting somewhere. One particular morning mid season, we were driving to a spot we planned on getting out and hiking when I looked out my brothers window and saw deer. I quickly smacked his arm. “Deer!!” They were probably only 10 feet from the truck and seemingly unbothered by our presence. At first glance, we thought they were all does but quickly realized there was a young spike in the group. My brother anxiously whispered “There’s a buck! Go get it!” I grabbed my gun and was about to jump out of the truck but hesitated. “What are you doing! Go!” But I didn’t. “It’s only a spike.. it seems small. And it’s so close to the truck.. and we’re only 10 minutes into the morning. It doesn’t seem right. It’s too easy.” After some more urging, I quickly snapped back, “You go get it!” At this point, the deer were casually walking down the road ahead of us and slowly out of sight. My brother hesitated and ultimately decided against taking the buck as well. It was 10 minutes in on the first day and I really did think we were going to see “lots” more. Oh how naïve and wrong I was. Not a buck to be seen for the rest of that trip or the season. We quickly realized the mistake we made and it has bothered us (mainly me) ever since. I was new, looking for my first deer, wanting meat in the freezer and I passed on a buck. What was I thinking..? A lot of great experiences and a few grouse summed up hunting in 2016...

    A look at the buck I passed on.. Yes.. I even took a picture. I know, I already hate myself for that decision.



    Part 2 to come...
    Last edited by Dash; 12-08-2017 at 04:07 PM.

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    Armstrong
    Posts
    480

    Re: My Hunting Seasons So Far

    2017


    This season was going to be different. I was pumped. My husband and I and a friend had our first successful LEH draw for a moose in 8-23. My husband and I spent a couple weeks exploring some of that MU in the summer and mapping out spots of interest and potential camps. Come September, we decided we would spend our first hunting trip in that region and do some more scouting at the same time. My brother tagged along and we had a great time with a few close calls, a couple grouse harvested and some more spots mapped out but no luck with big game.

    Our next memorable trip was in mid October, again with my brother and his fiancé. A new area that we hadn’t been before but had done a fair amount of research on. It was cold (great) and very windy (not so great). We were worried how that would effect our hunting. One windy morning while our spouses slept my brother and I decided to get up and at least do a drive hunt. A couple hours in while we looked out the window and joked, my brother frustratingly jokes “Why can’t I just see some damn deer!?”.. I looked out at the front passenger side and.. “Deer!!” My brother quickly looks where I’m looking and grabs his clip, gun and is out of the truck like a bolt of lightning (although surprisingly quiet?) but they’re on to us and quickly making their way across a cut to the edge of the timber where they stalled for a bit. I got out with my gun and sat on the opposite side of the road. Both our binos were up as we crouched down but neither of us could make out if any were bucks. One had an incredibly large body but we just couldn’t be sure as they were too far at that point. We sat and watched for a while but eventually made our way back to the truck.

    We drove a couple km’s and took another spur before I quickly realized the inevitable.. I had to pee. Too much coffee. Dammit. Well, it could be worse.. I told my brother to stop. “C’mon, lets just go a bit further. I think it deadends up here.” I reluctantly agreed, not wanting to be the annoying nagging little sister. About 500 feet later we’re at the end and it’s a great spot but I’m too focused on the task at hand. I bail out of the truck (not so quiet) and make my way over a bank behind the truck. At that point, I guess my brother realized his coffee had kicked in as well and he was out of the truck at the front doing his thing. Pants up (barely) and getting ready to make my way back.. “Tracy don’t move!” Shit. I freeze. Literally. Don’t even have my outer lair completely up. I can’t see him. I can’t see what he’s looking at or where he’s looking. But I know from the tone of his voice he must have spotted a deer. Could it be a buck? He sounds different than before. I didn’t move a muscle. Having spooked a lot of deer in the past with barely any movement, I wasn’t taking any chances by taking a step or pulling the rest of my lairs up. I’d be damned if I was going to be the reason my brother didn’t get his buck. I hear the truck door open. He’s getting his gun. Then nothing. Dammit. What’s going on? I stand there for what seemed like forever but in reality was probably about a minute when and all of a sudden I hear his feet shuffle in the gravel. I knew. I knew what he was doing. Holy crap, he’s positioning himself to shoot. Then “Boom!”.. Another round chambered.. “Boom!”. I’m pretty sure at that moment my heart stopped completely but I still didn’t move. “Tracy! Tracy, get over here. Get your binoculars. I got one!” Holy. Crap. Pants completely up, barrelling up the hill, in the truck, binos on and looking (even though I didn’t even know what direction at that point) and then back down and looking at him. He’s smiling but visibly in shock. I can’t contain myself anymore. I burst with emotion and run towards him, bear hugging him and babbling incoherently. I pull back and take him by the shoulders, looking at him. “You got one!? You seriously got one!? You saw him go down? How did it happen? Where did you get him? Where is he, how far? What happened?” (I missed it all, I had to ask a lot of questions). He points (that far?) and quickly explains how it happened. The buck was in the treeline and walking slowly along it, stopping occasionally to eat. He was at 390 yards. I was shocked. My brother has practiced a lot more than I have, is a better shot than me and a lot more confident in his shooting abilities but I was still shocked. It seemed so far away. He missed the first time and the second shot dropped the buck in his tracks. He got up and ran a very short distance before disappearing again. At this point I had tears in my eyes and was practically jumping up and down. I really can’t put into words how excited I was for my brother. We’ve worked so hard and him especially. Unlike me, he had a lot of close encounters with bucks on his own separate trips. He deserved this.

    After waiting a couple minutes, we both geared up and made our way slowly up the cut. It was a quiet walk. We focused on where we were going and kept an eye out for tracks. We caught the bucks tracks and followed them up the hill. Over a small hill and there he was. I’m pretty sure we both let out a massive sigh at that point. He was a gorgeous, healthy, 2 point. After some high fives, hugging and cheering, we took a look at where he came from. He had only gone 20 feet. We could see where he initially dropped, ran forward, stumbled then quit. After a few pictures it was time to get to work.



    I laughed at the fact everything in my pack was new and unused and the fact that I was finally getting to use everything but proud at the same time that we were both prepared and had everything we needed. After getting him open, we quickly realized it had unfortunately nicked his gut enough to create quite the mess. After a half panicked call to curly top from the top of the mountain, our fears were eased and we quickly got him cleaned up, back to the truck and back to camp. It was a great learning experience. We worked on him in camp for a while after, thoroughly washing and making sure he was good and clean before packing up and coming home the next day. My brother hung him in his garage and spent a generous amount of time making sure there was no hair, dirt, etc before bringing him the butcher.

    Part 3 and more to come..
    Last edited by Dash; 12-08-2017 at 04:07 PM.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    vancouver island
    Posts
    1,667

    Re: My Hunting Seasons So Far

    Way to go great deer congrats !
    wonder what’s over the next hill?

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Williams Lake, BC Canada
    Posts
    14,168

    Re: My Hunting Seasons So Far

    Hmmmmm Congradulations. .amazing recount of the events. .bringing the emotion to the events..truly enjoyed it all.
    Well done and thank you for sharing..it is appreciated.
    Steven

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    Armstrong
    Posts
    480

    Re: My Hunting Seasons So Far

    Thanks guys! I have a lot more to post but I'm falling asleep so I'll do it tomorrow

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    Behind your trailcam
    Posts
    490

    Re: My Hunting Seasons So Far

    Haha, the enthusiasm is great. Look forward to hearing the rest of your adventures.

  8. #7
    guest Guest

    Re: My Hunting Seasons So Far

    Great to see ya post this up Dash!
    This group of beginners are determined folks. Can't wait for the rest of the story!

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Hope
    Posts
    12,398

    Re: My Hunting Seasons So Far

    Nice! What a great read thanks for the details and the great story(s) you made my day Dash
    I'll be watching for the rest ..
    its gonna take a life time to hunt and fish all this

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    Armstrong
    Posts
    480

    Re: My Hunting Seasons So Far

    Our next trip was for our moose leh. After renting a wall tent from an extremely generous HBC member, we left on November 4th and planned to stay for a week. We headed for Lumby with the intention to hunt the Harris Creek area. Unfortunately some unforeseen circumstances delayed our travel and we arrived a lot later in the day than we anticipated. After some brief exploring we made the call to stay in the motel in Lumby for the night and start over in the morning.

    Up before first light and we were off. I had a lot of different areas marked for potential camps but most of them were pretty far in. I worried about the conditions. We took it slow and did a lot of drive hunting along the way. Unfortunately the recent snow storm that hit the area before we arrived, although great for hunting, was making driving difficult. It wasn’t long before we had the chains on but even then it was becoming challenging in spots. Sadly most the areas we had scouted previously were just too snowed in. We tried hard to get into one particular area we found in the summer and were incredibly excited about (I appropriated deemed “moose meadow) but the truck was starting to push snow and constantly losing traction, even with chains. We got out to take a breather before making the call on what to do next and it wasn’t long before I was seeing moose sign. Not overly fresh.. But it was the first sign I had seen all day. Sadly I knew where they were leading and it was still quite a ways away. Even if we set up camp here, the daily trek would be far and difficult in such deep snow. To be honest, we’re not in great shape and well aware of our physical limitations. On top of that, if it snowed significantly again we could be in trouble. (the forecast was questionable) It just wouldn’t be smart or safe to attempt it. After all, I also promised my friends wife that I would get her husband home in one piece.. Reluctantly we made the call to abandon that area. I was feeling pretty down and frustrated but tried to look at the bright side. At least we successfully researched and scouted an area I felt strongly about and confirmed there were moose in the area later in the season. At least we were learning and honing our techniques.

    My plan A didn’t work and B and C were not working out either but we descended back down and checked out some great spots lower in elevation. No moose sign but an endless amount of deer sign which got my spirts lifted. After finding a good spot we headed back down to the main road to give my brother a call and let him know where we were going to be. He was busy but planned to come for a few days later in the week. Once down at the main road legal shooting light was nearing its end so we decided to put the rifles away. My husband got out of the truck to do this when he disappeared from site and I heard a crash and a heart wrenching moan…. Crap.. Our friend and I scrambled out of the truck and quickly found my husband on the ground clutching his knee. Shit. He slipped on ice and smashed his knee into the cement. Like most men, my husband has a high pain tolerance and doesn’t show a lot of emotion even when he is suffering. But the look on his face, tone of his voice and the way he was holding his knee told me it wasn’t good. I knelt beside him and examined the leg. He could move it, it wasn’t broken. He made the call not to go to a hospital (in hind site, we probably should have). Back up on his feet and in the truck we sat and discussed our next steps. I told them we needed to go home. He needed to get off that leg and have it looked it. A couple minutes in, I could see visible swelling through his pant leg. Being the stubborn but loveable b@stard he is, he refused and demanded we put him up in the motel so we could continue hunting. “Absolutely not. I’m not going to leave you there, by yourself, with no vehicle, suffering” etc etc. After some more debating and bantering, we decided we would all stay in the motel. Definitely not ideal but this would allow me to keep an eye on him but still get out and make the most of our hunting trip. It would cost more for sure. More gas, hotel etc. unused tent rental, etc. but it didn’t matter. We’d figure it out and make the most of it. So that was that. We set up in the motel for the night and strategized. We’d go day by day and reassess the situation at the end of each day.

    The next morning, I got up, made sure he had everything he needed, made sure his leg was propped up and left a note as to where we’d roughly be. I also marked on my maps where I got sporadic cell phone signals previously so I would call and check on him later. Off we went… Hopefully things look up…

    Part 4 to come..
    Last edited by Dash; 12-08-2017 at 05:54 PM.

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    region 9
    Posts
    11,528

    Re: My Hunting Seasons So Far

    Way to go Dash good deer those young muley bucks do taste good..

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