Warnniklz hunting 2015

[warnniklz]

No goat tag this year :-( I do have a Spatsizi sheep draw... but my dad doesn't want to give up his 2 weeks of coho fishing, so he's out. Then my brother just finished his milwright course and is busy looking for an apprenticeship... so that's not looking too promising.

Woe is me, so I figured I could start looking for goats locally. Was scanning the Eureka area... but most of that is LEH. I figured McBride isn't a long haul at all. They also have some promising looking mountains. Also heard of the odd elk kicking around. I've never hunted elk before.
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[warnniklz]

So August long weekend, I boogied over to McBride. I had some spots picked out via google earth. So I arrived well after dark, to a spot that I would park. Slept in my truck and was awake before sunrise.

The mountains looked good when the sun rised... but not as goaty looking as I hoped. The vegetation wash lush... would probably only take half hour to the top if there was a half decent trail.

So I spent the morning glassing and glassing and glassing and glassing. I had some "lunch" and buggered around with the gophers a bit. I decided I would explore the area some.
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[warnniklz]

It was scorching hot out... the creeks were murky and the horse flies were out. I tried some other roads and glassed some other spots. Even drove through a bunch of alders that had taken over a road. Barely missed some wash-outs in the same stroke.

However I did lose my binos at some point. So if anyone finds(or hears of someone finding) some vortex talon 10x42 binos with a vanguard harness... let them know that if they want to give them back.. right here. Lost up Goat River West Pit Road and Goat River FSR. I don't expect to see them ever again... but stranger things have happened.

Definitely found some promising spots, but without binos, it was really hard spending the next two days trying to spot white dots across valleys.
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[HarryToolips]

wicked pics man, good luck on your spatsizi sheep draw....

[barry1974w]

WTF? Your "little" brothers bailing on you? I'll give him a bit of s##t for you. I managed to get a decent billy on LEH out the goat river. But we only saw two goats on that trip......

[Salty]

Nice pics niklz too bad about your goggles. Drove through McBride a week and a bit ago for the first time in about 15 years. Used to go through there a lot growing in PG and I can say that those mountains still do not suck- GL with your season speshly the sheep draw :)

[warnniklz]

Well my hunting season was waaaaay too short.

My plan wasto head into an area me and father love to chase mulies. Got in Thursday afternoon with no problems. Pulled into where I'd camp and met a couple of guys. Their posse had three four points down and a doe. I chatged with them a bit then went out for an evening hike. Seen a dozen or so does and fawns. I had My doe draw in the pocket, but all the ones I seen were on a far side of a ravine. I wasn't going to work that hard for a girl.

Darkness came as I wandered back to camp. I set up camp as seen in post 320 of the camp thread http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?54829-Show-Us-Pics-of-Your-Hunting-Camp-Setup/page32&highlight=Camp+set-ups

[warnniklz]

I climbed into the back of my truck and was in for the night. During the night another couple of crews rolled in. Throughout the night was rather chilly. Froze my toes pretty good. Up before daylight and drove to where my insertion point was going to be. There was some guys camped there and already headed out. So I spun a nut and went to insertion point two. It was a forced march up the mountain. I ended up coming up behind another guy who was working his way to my left. That was ok because I wanted to head to my right anyways. I got to the plateau just at daylight. I was working my way to a lone big fir tree where I'd catch my breath and have a chocolate bar. I was looking at a bunch of cows and horses while watching the sun starting to crest the mountain on the far valley. Then off to my right I seen something bounding through the snow roughly 200 yards out. It was a deer. Hold the phone it has antlers. All of a sudden it stopped half way across the opening and looked right at me. I grabbed my rifle and lined up across my pack. "Turn your head you butch" I said to myself. Then it turned and took off again. "1... 2... 3... 3... where's 4? There's gotta be a fourth"

The deer made it's way to the cows and over the ridge. "He had to be four... running like that"

I gathered my gear and started my way across the plateau.

[warnniklz]

On top the snow was drifted in spots that were knee deep. Where it wasn't deep, it was hard and squeaked like styrofoam.

Finally made my way over to the ridge that the buck had disappeared over. I spent the morning working the ridge. The ridge is timbered and drops 20 or so feet to some more timber. The deer usually herd up like a school of salmon below it. But this year the snow looked deep and there was no sign of movement through there.

[warnniklz]

After I finished along the ridge, I started my way to another tree where I'd take a break.

I worked through a sraw and up the otherside. As I got out of the draw, it was one of the guys I talked to the night before. He was hanging out up top just for the sake of being there. Two of his hunting byddies were working their way around the backside and he was waiting on standby if they needed an extra hand to pack out.

Anyways I continued down the backside of the mountain to a spot where you could glass down on a big area of land with lots of coulies. I sat down and started glassing. Doe, doe, doe and fawn. Kept looking over deer and had a little impromptu nap. I woke up to a doe and fawn staring at me just the next ridge over. I glassed from that spot a little longer and decided to carry on.

I spent the rest of the dat jumping does and fawns with the odd two point peppered in.

Got back to the truck just at dark and made my way pack to camp.

[warnniklz]

That night I heated up the back of my truck with the propane heater while I fixed up camp. Made myself something to eat and climbed into my sleeping bag laced up.

My setup was a piece of plywood, foamy, air mat, old comforter, wool planket, sleeping bag, heavy sleeping bag, wool blanket.

Climbed in and killed the heater. Woke up about 4 hours later pretty cold, not too bad. Just uncomfortable. Fired up the heater and built a fire to keep busy while my truck heated up. Climbed back in. Few hours later my toes were cooooold. Kicked off the boots, heated up the truck and back to bed. Woke up in the morning and off to my insertion point. I made it up before daylight and b-lined it straight to my look out. Glassed a bunch of the what I assume to be the same deer from the day before. Glassed for a few hours then started to pick my way around the mountain.

[markomoose]

So this long song and dance better have an epic ending?Or you were hunting the same spot as me? Cheers Mark

[warnniklz]

As I was picking my way around the top, stopping to glass frequently... I spotted a deer bedded down under a tree near the top of a coolie that was about a kilometre out. Got the spotting scope out. He's a four!! On a scale of 1-10 when it comes to four points, I'd rate him at a four. So you know, a 140 class gross. Not really what I made the trip for, but with the high pressure system and full moon, he was good enough for this year. On top of that, since Mid November 2013 until now, I had shot a smaller sized black bear and the smallest grouse imaginable. So I wasn't going to be too picky.

So I climbed to the top and worked my way around. I was counting the draws as I went by them. I got to the one draw where I only had one draw between me and the deer. I worked my way down while making sure I didn't skyline myself. The deer was bedded uphill facing away from me. I made my way out onto a rocky outcrop. I laid my pack down, and put my rifle across it. Got in position behind my rifle... all the time in the world. I figured the deer to be about 250 yards or less. Dialled my scope up to 12 power. My 6.5x55 shoots like a laser... so I put the cross hairs right behind my shoulder blades. Now this was day two of actual hunting... I have to more days. So I thought "maybe I should hold out for something half decent". Then a breeze came up and reminded me about how cold it actually was. "Screw it I thought, I'll knock this guy over and then go chase my doe".

Crosshairs still on target, squeeze one off and the deer stands up and looks at me. Double you tea eff? Rack another and put the crosshairs centre mass. Squeeze another off. Nothing, then he bolts over the back side like an em effer. I sit there for a moment and replay what happened in my head. "Buck fever?... No... I had all the time in the world". So I gather my stuff and make my way over to where he was bedded down, all while thinking about what just went down. I follow his trail that was clear as day in the snow for awhile, no blood, no hair... nothing. Two clean ass misses.

So trying to figure out what I did wrong. It was early afternoon, so I started hunting my way back to the truck. I seen a good sized doe standing out in the open. Not a far shot, so I lay my bag down once again and line up centre mass. Squeeze one off, nothing... follow up again... nothing. Then she smartens up and bails off the backside of the mountain. Once again I track her for a bit. No blood, no hair... seriously?? Getting a little frustrated, I see another doe. Again! Another round centre mass... she's a little smarter and buggers off right away. Maybe I hit this one. She headed half ass towards my truck. Follow the trail... no sign of a hit. This is straight up ridiculous now. Seen one more doe at 30 yards. Line up... take a second look. Her hips were poking out, could see the definition in her ribs... I should have put one into her, but I bet she's probably already dead now... pretty sick looking. So I bee line it back to my truck. Put my six five away and bust out my 300 win mag.

Next eligible deer is going down. No screwing around. I head up the other side of the valley I was hunting. A lot more snow on this side. Wading through some waist deep snow late in the afternoon. Had another hour or so of daylight left. I look up the hill and I spot a deer. Roughly 150 yards or so out. Lay down, shooting uphill... not the biggest doe, but not a fawn. Good enough for me. I line up and think "shit... I'm going to get bit". Squeeze one off, sure enough the scope kisses me (not enough for a half moon thought) but I keep my eyes on her. She stands there for a second and kind of bounces over the top of the hill. "WHAT IN THE SERIOUS!!?? Did I just miss again?" Grab my gear while I check my face for blood. Just popped a zit, but still got me good enough to feel it. Walk up to where it was standing... "Man it's further than I thought"

Finally get up to where she was standing. No blood, no hair. "I'm giving up hunting" I said to myself. Terrible... Further than I thought, but if I hit her she would have dropped or at least showed some sign of a hit. Start to follow the trail, next thing you know... dark red blood... liver... then big pool of blood... pieces of heart and lung... Right on!! walk up to a lone juniper bush and there she was piled up on the back side. Opened her up... perfect shot right behind the shoulder. Didn't damage any of the front quarters. Cleaned her up and hauled her back to the truck.

Loaded up what little of my camp wasn't in the back already and bailed for home. Driving back I couldn't help but think of that four point.

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[warnniklz]

Got home, talked to my dad about what went down. Now... one of two scenarios caused my problems.

Scenario 1 - When I was picking up a propane heater from my buddies house, I went to turn into his driveway. The road was icy and my truck did a ninety and slid until I got some traction... on dry pavement. A bunch of stuff including my 6.5 went flying across the truck.

Scenario 2 - My 6.5 mostly lives out at my dad's place. My step mom bought a 308 off of me... without a scope. My dad had told me in the summer he had the 308 out shooting. Now I'm not saying he peeled the scope off my 6.5 and put it on the 308 for a day or two. But my grandpa has been known for swapping scopes like bugger for mitts and wiggles. So that runs in the family...

My dad gave me shit about not sighting in my rifle before my trip. But last spring, I smacked my bear no problem at the same ranges and before that... it was shooting like a beast at the rifle range. I hadn't touched it since bear season... it's sat in the safe. So there's been no reason to sight it in. So I know what my theory is... but yeah... I guess innocent until proved guilty.

But I'll consider this a reset season considering it still ended up better than the 2014 season. Though I only got to hunt 4 days this year. After I got home, I did hunt the next two days closer to home. Seen some bucks, one that I thought may have been four and a bunch of does. Found them in spots where road poachers where hitting hard. But I have those deer dialled in to where they hide, come road hunting season. Showed my brother the spot. I've been telling him to hunt there all season and now he's kicking himself for not listening to me. But I did finally see another set of human prints in the same spot... so there's one other person that's caught on.

Until next year...

Got a nice centre cut of deer chops all frenched up, made some jerky, steaks... backstraps didn't last long. Even made some pemican for the first time. Gave some to a buddy and he loved it on a sled trip he just did. Gotta try some bitlong next.

[rifleman]

good read, exciting right to the end.. glad ya got some meat, yer a real die hard hunter... must of been pretty cold

[ncurrie]

Wow great story!! Thanks for sharing:)

[warnniklz]

Day time wasn't terrible. Until the second the Sun dropped behind mountains. Then the tempatire just fell off the charts. At night it was warm up the canopy. Hop in, turn off the heater and sleep for a couple hours. Get up turn the heater on while I stoked the fire. Climb back in and repeat.

Hoping to get up to stewart in february for goats... hope... with hope comes despair

This season was the shortest for me in a looong ass time. That shits going to change come next season.

For the ballistics guys:
6.5x55 - Nosler trophy grade ammo pushing 140 grain accubonds

300 - federal premium tossing 165 grain trophy coppers

[kennyj]

Thanks for sharing your trip.
kenny

[rattling_junkie]

What sleeping bag did you have?

[warnniklz]

Dawson 8 For the main/top bag
http://m.chinooktec.com/index.php/sleeping-bags/trailside-oversized-insufil-1/product/85-trailside-dawson-8-22f-sleeping-bag

Woodland 6 for a bottom bag
http://m.chinooktec.com/index.php/sleeping-bags/trailside-oversized-insufil-1/product/79-trailside-woodland-6-13f-sleeping-bag

[markomoose]

The little duckies on the sleeping bag are cool!Was in region 5 the same time buddy was cold as hell.We had a small wall tent and it was chilly when the fire died.Back of pickup is brutal?OH YA cool story!