I've been a member here for a long time, but I haven't been on the board in quite a few years. I spent numerous years here reading threads, meeting members and learning about hunting. My dad wasn't a hunter when I grew up, so I didn't really have anybody to teach me a lot about hunting. This place helped set the foundation for me to become a better hunter and learn a lot. I want to thank all of you that here that have given advice and have taken new members out. It truly makes a difference. I now have 4 kids of my own and take them out hunting every year, and they're now getting their friends into hunting. We've been successful for at least the past 5 years.
I came here to browse for some info on an area my buddy. He has a doe draw in 3-16 and I haven't hunted there yet, but it looks tough for late season! I realized that if I'm going to look for info from this site, I should at least contribute a bit more.
This year seemed to be more luck than skill, but I'll take it. The last one was by far the luckiest ... and the biggest!
Our first trip of the year was a bust. It was youth season and we went out to a known spot that we had success every year we'd gone there. This year, we were a few steps behind another party the entire weekend. Out of the 6 deer they took out of the area, we stumbled on 5 of their gutpiles. We were in the right spots, just bad timing!
Our second trip of the season was with my daughter and her friend's family out in 3-27. This was their first year hunting with a license and were eager to get out and shoot their own deer. We spent a full day exploring and looking for sign. The second day, we found a decent spot that was a few km hike from the cabin and it was loaded with deer.
The bonus: in 4 days, we saw 2 hunters!
I went for an early afternoon walk with my friend while the kids stayed back to play. Apparently, the teens didn't think I was going to hunt when I asked them to go for a walk with me. They thought I was just going for a walk. We spotted a few does and a nice buck right after entering a cutblock. My friend took this nice 2x2 mule deer at around 150-170 yards.
I ran back to get the truck and the kids. It was a few km hike in, but about a 45 minute drive to get to the spot by driving around the long way. The kids were all really excited and helped drag the deer up hill through the cutblock and we brought it back to the cabin.
The girls really wanted to go out right away because there was still lots of light left, but the boys were tired (and a bit lazy) so they stayed back at the cabin. We walked back to the same cutblock and spotted a small black bear and at least a dozen does. The bear was too small for my liking, so we carried on as he ran off to the trees. My daughter's friend skylined herself as I was creeping around a wood pile and spooked a small buck. While all the does stood around, he was the only one to run off. He first stopped at about 120 yards with a fawn right in front of him, so we waited for one of them to move. She didn't have a good rest or a bipod, so my daughter gave her friend her new rifle (with bipod) to shoot. When he ran another 50-60 yards and stopped, she dropped him with one shot. 2nd deer of the day down! Both the girls gutted him, while we waited for the boys to come help drag another one up the cutblock.
The next day, we walked back to the same area, but not surprisingly most of the deer were gone, except for a few does that walked right up to us. We left to hunt a different spot where they saw a buck 2 days prior on the way in. This one was a complete luck of the draw. We reached a fork in the road and I got out to take a group to walk one way, while the others would road hunt the other way. The girls went with me while the boys went in the truck. They drove less than 100 yards and saw a buck and doe in the middle of the road. They got out and my friend's son got a nice 4x4 mule deer at roughly 40 yards. Not bad for his first hunting trip! That's 3 deer for new hunters in one weekend!
Now for the really lucky one: This past weekend, I only had time for a day trip. The plan was more for a hike and scout than a hunt, but I didn't want to miss a chance at hunting the rut. I had been told of an area in 2-17 by a few friends that held big bucks, but it was a fair bit of work to get to them. We geared up for a 12km-16km hike with 800m-1000m of climbing ... but we didn't need any of it. Just over 400m after hitting the dirt road, this beautiful blacktail was standing right in the middle at roughly 60-70 yards away. My daughter hopped out (didn't even put her boots on) and waited for him to turn broadside. He didn't seem to care about us and walked another 25-30 yards closer before he finally turned. My daughter dropped him with one shot through the heart. He's one of the biggest blacktails I've seen and his sharp teeth showed that he was still quite young. He's a 4x3 (the pic doesn't really show the 4th point) After cleaning him up, we drove a bit further to explore, and took some better pics. She's going to clean the skull and bleach it later this week. It's definitely a wall hanger! 4 deer this year, and I haven't had to gut a single one!
Good luck to all that are still going out this season!
Cheers,
Alan
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