Smallfry's hunting 2016

[smallfry14]

I was going to make another thread for my deer hunting this November, but screw it, might as well just put all of my 2016 hunting adventures in one place.
In September I tried my hand at finding a high country buck for a little bit, but being out of shape and having gear self destruct really limited me. There was a whole lot of:
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/DSCN04791_zpsxi9sg5nk.jpg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/DSCN04791_zpsxi9sg5nk.jpg.html)

followed by a whole lot of:
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/DSCN05021_zpsx7lfznzh.jpg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/DSCN05021_zpsx7lfznzh.jpg.html)

no biggins for me.

[smallfry14]

I wanted to try my hand at spending a night or two in the high country searching for a big ol mulie. Packed up my bag till it was 50 pounds and full of everything I'd need to live till I starved to death if it came to that. The start of my jaunt:
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/DSCN04301_zpspfphlpik.jpg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/DSCN04301_zpspfphlpik.jpg.html)

'bout half way to my spot. ~1 km in
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/DSCN04311_zpsggwlvpie.jpg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/DSCN04311_zpsggwlvpie.jpg.html)

So I hiked in 3 kilometers,through a nasty ravine and up some gnarly slopes to get to the ridge I wanted to hunt. I set up my tarp about 40 yards from the biggest bear s**t I've seen in my life and started glassing. As i sat there glassing I felt a gust of wind come up the ridge, and as it met my shelter, I heard a great big tear. 3 eyelits ripped right out of my tarp. As I checked it out to figure out how to set up this $12 piece of paper so that it would stop ripping, I looked up and saw the nastiest, greyest storm that I've seen in a while. Well if that little gust ripped the eyelits out, then that storm was gonna rip me right off the mountain. I looked behind me to where I came from, and a key part of my route back to the road was fogged right in. No way I'd make it through there without getting myself turned around. At this point I had a choice to make. Either wait for the storm and see if I could weather it for the night, or pack my stuff and wait for that fog to lift so I could beat foot out of there before dark. I chose the latter. I packed my camp up and waited for the fog to blow out of the valley so I could gtfo. The very second it lifted, I was up and out of there about as fast as I could.
Havin' a break for water about half way back to the vehicle:
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/DSCN04451_zpsg6pk4wzn.jpg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/DSCN04451_zpsg6pk4wzn.jpg.html)
Bumped about 6-8 deer including 2 small bucks on my way out of there. Definitely going back next year with stronger legs and some new gear for a real trip. Nice area. Glad I left when I did though, because as I drove home I watched a billboard get blown across the road. Storm probably would've whooped me.

[Caribou_lou]

You'll have to throw some salt in there with cams in the spring.

[smallfry14]

Hunted a bit lower for the rest of September, scouted new areas and just dinked around. Found some small bucks but that's about it. October 1st was the opening day of my first bull moose draw. I posted that story already in this thread: http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?131443-My-first-bull-moose-Solo!

Felt very very good to make the most of the tag after applying for as long as I have. Cutting that tag was saweeeeet.
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsibxcdnws.jpeg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsibxcdnws.jpeg.html)

[smallfry14]

You'll have to throw some salt in there with cams in the spring.
Would definitely like to hunt the area harder next year. It's prime habitat for ungulates.

[smallfry14]

After the bull moose draw I was out looking for bucks just to check things out for November as well as get a buck for my brother and a buddy. Found a nice buck in the timber one morning, played cat and mouse with him down the road for a bit before my brother finally got a shooting lane through the bushes. Clean miss through the timber at ~100 yards. That's how she goes.

Hunted quite a few days and eventually found a buck while out with a buddy. Same as the last one. we played cat and mouse through the timber a little bit trying to find a shooting lane. Got a shooting lane after a few seconds and he let the ott 6 bark. Clean miss again , buck didn't even move. He reloaded and let some more lead fly, again with a complete miss. Played cat and mouse through the timber a little bit and finally found him again. Third times a charm , this shot took out both front shoulders and the top of the heart. He was a decent little 3 point.
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsmermz4kp.jpeg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsmermz4kp.jpeg.html)

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsaqkazjwk.jpeg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsaqkazjwk.jpeg.html)

[Shooter Jr.]

After the bull moose draw I was out looking for bucks just to check things out for November as well as get a buck for my brother and a buddy. Found a nice buck in the timber one morning, played cat and mouse with him down the road for a bit before my brother finally got a shooting lane through the bushes. Clean miss through the timber at ~100 yards. That's how she goes.

Hunted quite a few days and eventually found a buck while out with a buddy. Same as the last one. we played cat and mouse through the timber a little bit trying to find a shooting lane. Got a shooting lane after a few seconds and he let the ott 6 bark. Clean miss again , buck didn't even move. He reloaded and let some more lead fly, again with a complete miss. Played cat and mouse through the timber a little bit and finally found him again. Third times a charm , this shot took out both front shoulders and the top of the heart. He was a decent little 3 point.
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsmermz4kp.jpeg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsmermz4kp.jpeg.html)

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsaqkazjwk.jpeg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsaqkazjwk.jpeg.html)

That is awesome!! hahaha
Great pictures and good story! Beautiful country up there.

[AgSilver]

That second picture out of the Pathfinder...love it

[Caribou_lou]

No moose in the Pathfinder?

[kilometers]

Good right up. Awesome season for you!
Just what hbc needs more hunting stories

[Xenomorph]

After the bull moose draw I was out looking for bucks just to check things out for November as well as get a buck for my brother and a buddy. Found a nice buck in the timber one morning, played cat and mouse with him down the road for a bit before my brother finally got a shooting lane through the bushes. Clean miss through the timber at ~100 yards. That's how she goes.

Hunted quite a few days and eventually found a buck while out with a buddy. Same as the last one. we played cat and mouse through the timber a little bit trying to find a shooting lane. Got a shooting lane after a few seconds and he let the ott 6 bark. Clean miss again , buck didn't even move. He reloaded and let some more lead fly, again with a complete miss. Played cat and mouse through the timber a little bit and finally found him again. Third times a charm , this shot took out both front shoulders and the top of the heart. He was a decent little 3 point.
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsmermz4kp.jpeg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsmermz4kp.jpeg.html)

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsaqkazjwk.jpeg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsaqkazjwk.jpeg.html)



Awesome. Now a bear to match my spring one :)

[Surrey Boy]

You take monumental photos, smallfry14. Congratulations.

[HarryToolips]

^^^^lol that last pic is too funny, and great thread man...congrats on the moose! if ya ever get stuck out there in a storm and have to spend the night, find a hill and setup on the leeward side from the wind about 3/4 of the way up the hill, that way you'll beat the wind AND the cold that sets in in the valley bottoms at night..

[smallfry14]

^^^^lol that last pic is too funny, and great thread man...congrats on the moose! if ya ever get stuck out there in a storm and have to spend the night, find a hill and setup on the leeward side from the wind about 3/4 of the way up the hill, that way you'll beat the wind AND the cold that sets in in the valley bottoms at night..
Thanks for the tip. I'll keep that one in mind next time.

And no moose in the pathfinder by the way, but we hooked her up to a snatch block and she pulled it out...that's gotta count for something.
Lots more pictures coming and maybe some video.

[smallfry14]

Hunted the first few days of November with my bow trying to fill my mule doe LEH. One evening just before last light a doe ran across the road about 20 yards in front of the vehicle and stopped in the ditch on the low side of the road. The wind was howling pretty good and in our favour, the bush was cracking all around us and I'm sure she couldn't hear a thing. She stood broadside at what I guessed to be 20-25 yards, slightly downhill. Settled my pins for about a 23 yard shot and let the arrow fly. Could tell instantly that it was a good hit. She put her head down and did a slow trot through the timber as I knocked another arrow and tried stoppinf her for another shot. She stopped at about 60 yards again in a clearing of the timber and stood there. All I could think about was how I just got my first bow kill, waiting for her to tip over. After a couple mississippi's, she just started walking again through the timber and disappeared. Light was fading fast so we just started following her trail, thinking she'd be piled up just out of view from where we last saw her. Boy were we wrong. We followed blood and searched till dark before deciding to pull out.
My buddy went to look in the morning because I had to work, but he came by mid way through my work day and said he couldn't find her. I felt a pretty shitty as I got off work early and we both went out searching.The blood trail went 100 yards downhill, and then she turned sideways and started sidehilling and moving uphill through some nasty stuff. She was going over blowdown instead of around it, and up some pretty steep stuff. We followed her sidehilling for about another 200 yards before there was one last patch of blood where she must've stood for a while..and then nothing. I did circles from the last point of blood, going a bit further each time, and eventually came up empty handed after searching that timber quite thoroughly. To me, that trail looked like one left by a healthy deer with a bit of an oil leak. I think my arrow missed all vitals. It was definitely far back, but no sign of guts or anything. I retrieved my arrow, which was clean as a whistle. Not a drop of blood on it.

[smallfry14]

A few days later we headed out to a different spot to check it out. We found somethin that changed the game a little bit...
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsqdsyowkt.jpeg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsqdsyowkt.jpeg.html)

[BStrachan]

Haha love the pics of the deer hanging out of the Pathfinder!

[smallfry14]

Haha love the pics of the deer hanging out of the Pathfinder!
haha thanks bud!

Nobody curious as to what made that rub?? I hunted that spot solo a couple days later..

http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s483/smallfry14/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps7fnli6wy.jpeg (http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/smallfry14/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps7fnli6wy.jpeg.html)

[Shikari300WSM]

Now m extremely curious!! Haha

[rifleman]

ok good write up and cool pics... sure looks like you had a great season,,,,now come on lets see what made that rub...