Alpine Hunting

[Brez]

Be prepared to deal with grizzly at that time of year. They are everywhere in the alpine. If you are so lucky to get one, be sure to take it to the tree line and hang it high! Really high! And camp as far away as possible. The alpine is swarming with those things at that time of year. It's not uncommon for me to see 2 or 3 a day in September.

Especially when the alpine huckleberries are ripe!

[Ltbullken]

Head east to the monashees! Some pretty fine alpine out that way and not too far from you. Look for road access to get you close, hike on out and fill up that fine pack you bought!

You are in the middle of alpine muley country. Best bet is to use the summer to go hike the high country to scout what is actually there.

[twoSevenO]

Be prepared to deal with grizzly at that time of year. They are everywhere in the alpine. If you are so lucky to get one, be sure to take it to the tree line and hang it high! Really high! And camp as far away as possible. The alpine is swarming with those things at that time of year. It's not uncommon for me to see 2 or 3 a day in September.

Which region do you hunt? I'm no expert, but 2-3 per day sounds like a lot. I hunt reg 3 alpine and have never seen more than 1 in a day. They have pretty large ranges, how could you cover enough ground to see a different bear same day?

[jtred]

Even though the days of seeing multiple mature bucks per day seem to be gone there is nothing I enjoy more than getting up on a ridgeline and slowly working my way along it. I glass, I still hunt timber patches, I sit and watch alpine meadows, early afternoon often finds me fishing a subalpine lake for the cutthroat I'll prepare for supper. I may have moved to the Kootenays too late to experience the abundant herds of mule deer I still relish the hunt, the adventure of it. The past six years or so my passion has turned to these high mountain hunts, some are multi-day hunts spent camped on an alpine lake, most are just gruelling day hunts but each and every one of them is highly anticipated and appreciated for what it is. An adventure, the chance at seeing that buck, maybe even taking the shot. They are still out there and the fact that we have this opportunity is something that will get me up there on that ridgeline for as long as my body will let me. Yes there are easier ways and easier places to kill a deer but for me none will match taking my first mature mule deer off a mountain.

To everyone who is considering getting out there and hiking the high country I say don't wait. Equip yourself as well as your budget allows, educate yourself so you can be safe(yes be aware of bears but keep in mind you're more likely to be run down crossing the street than having a bad bear encounter), find an access point and head up there. You'll never regret it and you can not kill an alpine mule deer sitting on the sofa at home.

[Bugle M In]

Man, brings back memories of being up there one year on opening day, and almost getting myself (unknowingly) between a sow and her 2 cubs (gbear).
Boy, was my heart rate racing for quite sometime afterwards!
My experience was, once, even if a little snow falls up high, the deer seem to leave (head down into the treeline).
Suddenly, it's as if nothing ever lived up there.
But, back then, I hunted in an area that had had a natural fire/burn years before, so it was a magnet to bring deer into, and come evening, you could spot 10,s upon 10's of deer in that bowl.
But, logging finally showed up, all over the place, just a little lower in elevation, and that was it for that area.
On top of that, guys on Quads wouldn't stay out of the hiking trails, even though they were banned in that area.
Seemed to be a "grey area" for them, as to "where the boundary" was. (back before gps).
Anyways, it's a great way to hunt early in the season.
But yes, do take some time to get in there a scout around, and try different areas, different trails.
But, do keep one eye open for gbear.

[twoSevenO]

Anyone got pictures of these alpine bowls with dozens of deer in them? As someone who got into hunting when the deer were already well on the decline i would love to see what it looks like when there were that many around. Last year I went up into one of my spots with a member off here and we saw like 6 or 7 in total in an alpine bowl that's probably 3-4 km across. I thought that was pretty good. But to see like 20-30 would be nuts.

Steelhead are at some of the lowest numbers they've ever been at too .... but can't let that discourage you. We are still catching them. Just a little more work to find them, that's all. Same with the deer. I'm not going to give up the Sept 1 alpine hunt until i start seeing zero deer for a couple years .... then it might be time to move on. Maybe i'll take up sheep hunting instead for the early season hunt.

[kootenaihunter]

Anyone got pictures of these alpine bowls with dozens of deer in them? As someone who got into hunting when the deer were already well on the decline i would love to see what it looks like when there were that many around.

Would that be does and yearlings and such? From what I've read and seen, muley bucks tend to occupy the fringes of livable terrain, being high alpine and low lands bordering fields, leaving the prime habitat for the does and fawns. Would they have lived in larger herds in general when numbers were bigger?

I too, am just genuinely curious regarding past encounters.

[Bugle M In]

Honestly, this would have been "before" that winter kill off back in like '96 ....
Shit, that was so long ago, could have been '86....lol.
Like I said, that was a long time ago.
Lots has changed...you know...like when all you had were horses or your own 2 feet....ONLY.
Also, there was little logging in the area, for from long long ago.
Cutblocks can be great, but, when you have them all over the place, then so are the deer.
Little pockets here and there, scattered all over.
Not just one small area that is prime for miles and miles, which, in that case, deer will congregate at in larger groups.
That's what it used to be like there....not any more.

[kootenaihunter]

Another sad thing is that it's tough to reap the benefits of wildfires in the coming years because the good timber is often harvested up and just ends up being a cut block burned down to the mineral soil.

[Brez]

Honestly, this would have been "before" that winter kill off back in like '96 ....
Shit, that was so long ago, could have been '86....lol.
Like I said, that was a long time ago.
Lots has changed...you know...like when all you had were horses or your own 2 feet....ONLY.
Also, there was little logging in the area, for from long long ago.
Cutblocks can be great, but, when you have them all over the place, then so are the deer.
Little pockets here and there, scattered all over.
Not just one small area that is prime for miles and miles, which, in that case, deer will congregate at in larger groups.
That's what it used to be like there....not any more.

About 15 (may have been 20) years ago, I took a buddy bownunting into my favorite muley spot. It used to be a 6 hour hike to the alpine and another hour to camp. We saw 18 different bucks in a day and a half hunting. They were all within minutes of walking. Of course we got SFA but we had a blast. We'd be stalking a buck and jump 3 or 4 bedded or hiding in the thickets. The weather changed from clear skies and warm to dumps of snow and we weren't prepared and had to vacate. Both mornings we had to pussy-foot past feeding grizzly to get to the deer. Now the clearcuts go to within minutes of the apline, and there are atv trails everywhere and guess what.....no deer. I had a saying that if you find a spot with goats and griz, you'd probably have a pretty good muley spot.