SS's 2018 season

[Rattler]

Wow great fishing adventure...thanks for sharing. Looking forward to rest of your season...

[Sitkaspruce]

Finally trip had to end....our last night and on the run in, we had another great view



Boat fished awesome, has a ton more room that old boat, cruises great with the 333hp, is pretty good on fuel and best...has a place for people to lay down.

Trip home was uneventful and soon we were busy cutting, vac sealing and freezing.







We bought a travel trailer this summer and spent a few weeks getting used to sleeping off the ground and enjoying our time camping and exploring BC and Alberta. We had a trip planned for the last week of Aug, first week of Sept travelling the EK, WK, OK, Caribou and PG......but then these damn things called fires started and off went my wife and the holidays were out on the backburner.

But there was blessing in disguise there...….

Cheers

SS

[Sitkaspruce]

Where you find that stove? New or used? Interested in one myself!

Sorry Moosin, missed your question. Found it on Kijjii. Brand new for $125 including the hose kit. We were looking for a heater and stumbled across this one. It is a very efficient little unit and once it gets going, you have to turn it down to low or it will cook us out.

Cheers

SS

[HarryToolips]

Great pics, looks like you guys really know how to fish.....

[corywilson13]

Wow - looks like you and your crew have an excellent annual fishing trip. I’m sure many on here, including myself, are more than slightly jealous. Looking forward to hunting pics to finish your 2018 season.

[Sitkaspruce]

Due to being busy with life, I finally got my cams out in late June.

I had 4 out, where I usually run 8-9, again, just not a lot of time.....and again, a piss poor excuse....people you need to find the time to do the thing you enjoy doing and make you happy!! You only get one shot at it, so do what you can.

Anyways, here are a few picts from the summer











Cheers

SS

[Sitkaspruce]

The cams had the usual squads of does and fawns, cows and calves and sows and cubs and all looked good through the summer.

Not sure what this guys was carrying but he didn't stop to show and tell. I didn't find any evidence of any thing dead, so it must have come form a distance



This guy was interesting, a legal bull after Sept1 but only a 2.5 year old, Only saw him a couple times on camera.



One of the bulls that I was after



And one of my target bucks if he stays around. he was at the same place last year as a 6x5 now he is 5x6......

Last year



This year



There is lots of bucks this year: lots of 2.5-4.5 yo bucks. I have some others I will post up later.

Cheers

SS

[HarryToolips]

^^^^^ Very nice critters....

[Sitkaspruce]

Sept rolls around and opening day found me walking through the bush in the rain and snow. I found one rub and not a lot of sign. The same the next day.

Sept 5 I decide to head out to a spot that I have shot elk in past, but for some reason this year did not out up any cameras. The area was pretty much a blow down mess with lots of old age spruce and aspen blowing down over the past 6 years. But the elk hang out in this stuff and if there, they can be hunted.

I get off work and run home to pick up my gear....and realize that I had left my cell back at the office....so run back has me thinking in my head....1630 now, leave at 1645, an hour drive to the spot, and a 30 min hike to the area...dark at around 2030....should be prime time by the time I get there.....or do I go tomorrow right after work....wife at fires, nobody at home....I can go both nights!!!

Get the spot and note that someone has driven a truck down the old access cut line, flattening the spruce, alder and aspen trees in cutline. The weird thing is they drove out....how did they get in as there is only an overgrown logging road (25+ year old) at the back end of the block....I follow the cut, looking to see if they had killed anything back there. When I get to my access trail, the truck tracks kept going. I was curious as to where they had come from and why, but wanted to hike into the old wallow to see if there was any sign. Get to the wallow and am happy to see that it is still a barnyard....smell, tracks and mud on the trees and brush. This site used to be a big water hole/wallow and I have video of bulls screaming, wallowing and basically making a mess at this place in the past. But then we had a 100+ k wind storm one year and all the spruce blew down, covering most of it. Now that the branches have died and broke off, the elk are back to using it.





As I get to the wallow, l start chirping, waiting and listening.....after 10 minutes I sneak down a trail that allows me a little better view. After another 10 minutes of watching and listening, I decide to get a drink and let rip with a bugle. I take the pack off and as I go to open it up, I hear thumping and a branch break. I looked over and saw legs coming down the trail about 40y away. I grab my gun and wait, at 30y I can see he is a bull....but how big?? Has to be at least 3 on one side.....with my heart going from 50-100 in a second, I wait as it is thick in there. At 25 he steps out behind a spruce and stops dead as he could not miss seeing this guy standing there with the gun pointed at him...1...2...3...4....drop the crosshairs on his neck and squeezed the trigger. Hit with a 270 wsm 140 gr TSX at ~3140.....he dropped rather quickly. First animal shot with a Barnes TSX, not much to look at or compare as it hit the neck bones, cut the jugular and kept going into the next quarter.

As he lay



A young 4x5 with a broken tine.

A toast to the elk gods!!





A quick text for help, snap some pictures and got to work quartering and boning him out.

Help arrived at the truck and I started to pack out the front shoulder....did I mention that the area was covered in blowdown....and that the area looks completely different in the dark.....It is approx. 400m from the wallow to the cutline.....in a straight line. What usually takes me 30 min to walk in took me an hour to do a stumble, climb, turnback and crawl over until I got to the cutline.....then another 500m to the truck. The help brought another pack fame and the game cart. We head back in and once we get to the trail, I start to hang flagging.....did I mention that it was florescent green....roughly the same colour as the surrounding vegetation......don't ask....I heard about it for the rest of the night. Just as we got back to the elk, it started to rain.....I finished the quartering job while the boys packed the quarters a third of the way...and bitched about the ribbon and it's colour....it's all I had!! Anyways, we managed to get all the meat to the game cart, load it up and drag it out to the trucks. This game cart has now packed out two elk and numerous deer, pretty good back saver!!

Shot the elk at 1830, home 0300 and would not trade it for anything!! Was a blast and another great hunt!

I never did find out where that truck came in from, will head back there this weekend to see and to see of we can find another elk in the area.

Freezer is full!!

Now on to moose...…..

Cheers

SS

[Salty]

Livin large up there Ken thanks for bringin us along Awesome thread as usual.